Re: 177 MLB Players from 10 Countries will play in the WBC

Craig Richardson <crichard-tacoma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

>And it works in top-level soccer for exactly the same reason. Results
>equal money. The Victorians who opposed professionalism in the 1870s,
>and today's NCAA and Olympic Committee (for all their myriad faults)
>realized something - there can be no abstract "purity" in a
>competition that is not purely amateur. As soon as you let money in
>the door, the competition inevitably starts to become /about/ money,
>and then anything goes.

I don't think that it's worked that way in practice. In most team sports
professionalism has been the result, not the cause, of a long term
degeneration toward an anything goes attitude. Organizers and supporters
care so much about winning that they try more and more extreme measures to
help their team win. Bringing in pros is just the last step in the
process.

I also think that the "amateur" status of the Olympics and NCAA (Division
I, at least) is mostly a lame cover. They've already degenerated to an
anything goes attitude, and both of them are already about money. Just
look at all the money involved in the Olympics or one of the top NCAA bowl
games. The bigwigs are just using amateurism as an excuse for not sharing
the money with the athletes.

--
Roger Moore | Master of Meaningless Trivia | (raj@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)
There's no point in questioning authority if you don't listen to the answers.
.

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