Cal eliminates some powerhouse sports program

[SFP]

The rugby team is usually number 1 or 2 in the nation and their baseball team is pretty good year in and year out.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/28/SPP31FL0IP.DTL&feed=rss.news

[tornado]

That's just the tip of the iceberg in several respects...

--first - other schools will be doing the same, the financial losses are hard to justify...
note that eliminating just those few programs is expected to save Cal $4 million per year now and as much as $7 million per year by 2014.
(those are not my numbers but cited by Cal...)
" ...how synonymous red ink and athletics are becoming, he's worried this is a harbinger of what's to come.
"I think we're going to see more of this happen," he said. "It's just sad it's hitting the colleges"

...and Gary Williams wants to take even more taxpayer money and pay the student athletes a salary! Sure Gary -- why not spend more, it's not yours!

http://one4-all.com/make-money-now-marylands-gary-williams-colleges-can-pay-players-and-should-11/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

--then buried a bit deeper and all the stories are dancing around it...
is the fact, that why are the taxpayers and students who pay tuition on the hook for supporting athletics that they don't play and they don't watch?

as this article clearly points out...

if the sports weren't costing so much money that they do not have then there'd be no need to drop them, right?
"The program cuts are part of a broader campaign to reduce UC Berkeley's
annual support for intercollegiate athletics from more than $12 million today
to about $5 million in 2014. Reducing the number of intercollegiate teams
from 29 to 24 will save an estimated $4 million a year"

Then note again what they name as a major factor in having to do this...
"compliance with Title IX, the federal law that requires schools to provide equal opportunities to male and female students in sports and other activities"

http://www.appeal-democrat.com/sports/baseball-99551-lowden-decisions.html

[SFP]

Gary is looking at evening out the playing field between those that are already paying and those that stay within the rules. GW has lost recruits to schools that have played dirty. I have a source who has told me regarding a certain recruit that went to UCONN. In defense to GW his basketball program has been extremely profitable for the U of MD sports department.

[tornado]

....compliance with Title IX..

we all know that forced compliance with Title IX is a hot issue and is causing serious problems and costs at most schools.........and is largely responsible for so many schools droping sports programs...

I just saw a replay of a John Stossel piece on Title IX...and he gives a VERY powerful argument of how damaging it has been.

Sure you can find a few individuals who have benefitted, but for each example of a person benefitting, there are 10 or more of people who were hurt or not afforded a college scholarship because of this sham of a federal law...

In fact the crowning part of the Stossel piece was when he was interviewing a woman who had made a name for herself in college gymnastics...
and Stossel asked her point blank if indeed Title IX was truly BAD for college sports as it has resulted in so many colleges dropping programs and eliminating sports, and even some schools who have dropped out of D-I altogether...

The woman's answer was, that YES, she agreed completely with Stossel and that he was absolutely right BUT --
that she then demonstrated her SUPREME HYPOCRISY by saying she was happy she "got hers" and that even if 100 other people were screwed because of the law, at least she felt she cashed in so she was still supportive of Title IX.

What a wholly and astoundingly SELFISH and hypocritical viewpoint...
the woman simply didn't care how many other people might have been screwed or cheated as long as she got something for free that was guaranteed by the federal government and that she benefitted while lots of other lost out..
It was, indeed, a very powerful statement on Title IX -- that it's all about the ENORMOUSLY SELFISH desires of a small sub-group of women activists to jack the system with the help of their liberal fed-entitlement/enablers so a few of them can hit the jackpot regardless of how many others get jobbed...or how costly the whole idea is to amateur & college sports.

http://stossel.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2009/08/13/gender-equality-stupidity-2/

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,602543,00.html

http://www.creators.com/opinion/john-stossel/with-government-money-come-strings.html

http://savingsports.blogspot.com/2009/08/john-stossel-weighs-in-on-title-ix.html

[tornado]

Cal had eliminated FIVE sports programs including their storied baseball program...

But - they were able to get extra funding from various sources and now they are going reinstate THREE of those five canceled programs...

--the three they are bringing back are....
Women's Lacrosse, Women's Gymnastics, and the Rugby program...
the Baseball program and the Men's Gymnastics are unfortunately still going to be axed!

[SFP]

Cal had eliminated FIVE sports programs including their storied baseball program...

But - they were able to get extra funding from various sources and now they are going reinstate THREE of those five canceled programs...

--the three they are bringing back are....
Women's Lacrosse, Women's Gymnastics, and the Rugby program...
the Baseball program and the Men's Gymnastics are unfortunately still going to be axed!

The extra funding they received from the Rugby program backers (a national power every year) was enough to save the other two women sports team. The men's baseball team was able to raise enough for their team and a complimentary woman's sports team.