A Debate on College Sports

June 30, 2026 College sports are not a topic I address often, though the subject has surfaced occasionally in my writing. Most recently, in “A Rally on Campus,” I argued that the rapid growth of pickleball on college campuses is a positive development. It gets students off their phones, helps them build friendships, and deepens their connection to campus life. But, earlier this year, in “A Dangerous Bet,” I also criticized colleges and universities for partnering with sports-betting companies that normalize gambling.

Much of our coverage of collegiate athletics has likewise taken a skeptical view. We’ve published pieces with titles such as “College Athletics Is Breaking Universities” and “College Sports Have Outgrown the Schools That Made Them.” We’ve also devoted considerable attention to the issue of men competing in women’s sports—though this overlaps with Title IX issues.

Interesting the writer should select pickleball. It is no different historically as racquetball, squash, badminton, table tennis, and other lifetime sports that were available to college campuses and didn’t draw anyone either. It isn’t the sport. It’s the attitude and hyped misleading of the students.

Another sport was paddle tennis and it differed primarily from pickleball in court design and equipment. It didn’t sell either.

wy69

“Further and better discussion here!”

I’ve been involved with Maria Cantwell up here in Washington for many years. How she would agree or even talk with Cruz is incredible with her ultra liberal stance on anything.

Number 5 is a perfect display of the waste of time of discussing this:

“While interest in women’s sports has increased, the still dominant popularity of men’s football and basketball serves to exacerbate gender inequalities;...”

The reason for the failure of women’s sports to “catch on” is not be cause of gender inequalities, but physical differences and the morphing of many sports to become far more strength and violence oriented.

Men and women have distinct anatomical and physiological differences driven by sex chromosomes and hormones like testosterone. Men generally have higher muscle mass, larger lungs, thicker bone mass, and lower body fat. Women typically have a higher body fat percentage, greater joint flexibility, and proportionally strong lower-body capacities. But unlike most money generating sports, the women’s body is more moved to sports like skating, gymnastics, and competing at their level. So even when there is a possibility of direct competition, the women are given a woder variety of options and expected lesser capacity.

Too many times women have tried to compete with the men in money generating sports like basketball, football, and golf and failed at each one due to physiology differences. Their bodies are not designed to compete at that level with the men.

wy69

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.