My girlfriends rant/theory on sports irks me?

[Aidan]

Ok. So i was just talking to her, saying how in math my teacher gives extra credit if your in activites. The highest points being 15 for playing a sport or being in band. And i think thats right. Sports take dedication, effort, time. She totally disagrees. Now get this, she has never played a sport, only knows from what she sees. She says how coaches only care about stars and nobody else. How when people say it takes endurance, dedication, etc, that it is bull. Her example "when people in the stands watch somebody throw a football 2 feet to a person who goes for the touchdown, who will they remember? the person who ran. the star." I was just thinking, "WTF is she saying!?" Like the whole time i said ok, even though i totally wanted to prove her wrong but it would start a fight. Its like what if i told her art is useless, you dont need it to make a living. I have no experience of art. She does. I have played sports for 8 years. I know how everything goes down. So i made up some bs agreement, but really it bothers me she said it. Should i tell her the truth or forget about it? And do you think she is talking out of her ass?
And thing is, i KNOW once i bring it up, all hell will break loose with her.

 

[mr_gees100_peas]

She is a little bit right but mostly wrong. What she is trying to say is that we value athletes way too much for the things they do. A lot of schools spent a great deal of their budge on sport when they can be better spent in other areas. Also, the sport team may get preferential treatment as this can be a god source of revenue.

Her analogy of the "star" is partially correct too. It is a little bit harder to see in team sports but it becomes more ovbious in single player sport. One good example is fighting like the UFC or boxing. As long as the guy wins consistently he is the greatest. The champ. Loose a couple of times and immediately become a nobody, a wash out. In foot ball the quarter back and the runners get the fame. People don't talk much about line backers yet they play an important part. She also complaint about the disproportional pay between an athleet and any other job. A baseball player may get millions a year to warm up a bench yet, a police officer risk his life every day for a meager pay.

That was the part that she was right in. The part where she is wrong is being against sport. Sports in general are very good for people. It makes you healthier. Kids who do sports are less likely to develop bad habits like drugs and other such behavior. It releases hormones that make you feel good which is a natural high. People who do sports and also have good study habbits can be smarter.

The thing is that she has this high school mentality where people are trying to identify themselves. So, if you are not in sport you are not a jock and therefore must belong to another group. This is true in high school but once you get to the adult world it all changes. It is possible and actually very common for a person to be smart or artistic and be in pretty good shape. This attitude that people in high school have about belonging in one group or the other simply doesn't apply to adult life because people already know who they are. Also, critism diminish because people are more concern about putting food on the table than worrying about who is going out with who or what activity some other guy around town does or doesn't do.

Your teacher has a good idea in trying to get kids more active and or involve in activities. It keeps people healthy physically and mentally. However, i can see a little bit of unfairness. If I don't do sports then I don't have the opportunity to earn extra points that can help my grade. The solution is to make points available in other venues besides sport. For example, community service, or other things.

 

[Me]

If it bothers you, yeah, let her know how you feel. Ask her to not be so one-sided, then give her the example with art.

Edit: Tell her before hand that you want to have a respectful debate. And you can refer to that if it gets too heated.