Paul's Birthday

Friday, we went to the Crown & Anchor to have a few happy hour drinks to celebrate Paul's 30th birthday. Things were great until we started discussing the impact of college athletic programs on the quality of education at a university. Then things got a little heated. I'm not sure what was the distinction between people who supported one or the other arguments. We're all academicians so it wasn't nerds versus jocks. It was more like nerd versus nerd. I use the term "nerd" in the most positive sense of the word. My argument was that no matter how good or bad the football team might be, it had very little bearing on the quality of faculty who actually accept positions at the university. I mean, the school invests millions of dollars to support the athletic programs, but I really don't see much benefit from this money when it comes to the classroom. If anything, athletic programs attract undergraduate students. I don't think that a university professor says, "Hmmm, I have an offer from Harvard and the University of Texas at Austin. Hey, Austin has a great football team, so I think that I'll go there!" Anyway, if you have any comments on this, please click the link and reply.
Cheers!