More Semantic Confusion. What's "Good" for U-Michigan Is "Good" For The State Of Michigan?

(Commentary posted by Roger Erickson.)

"Michigan, where paying Jim Harbaugh $40 million may sound obscene but, in fact, is a very sound investment."

For whom? For the general welfare of the people of Michigan? Can't such authors finish a conjecture, by placing it into a context? Haven't they heard that data is meaningless without context?

To his credit, the author does include this immortally inane quote summarizing a quite common athlete's view of education.

“Why should we go to class if we came here to play FOOTBALL,” he tweeted ... “We ain’t come to play SCHOOL, classes are POINTLESS.”

Then there's the following paean to reality.

The untold part of the story is this: For every program like Michigan, which can easily afford to pay a coach millions, there are at least four times as many schools trying to compete at the top level of NCAA football that are drowning in red ink. There are 128 schools playing at the Football Bowl Subdivision level. Perhaps half of the 65 in the power conferences are making millions each year. The rest break even — or worse. 

The University of Maryland recently had to eliminate seven nonrevenue sports because it had so much debt — created by overspending on football. That debt also caused Maryland to bolt from the Atlantic Coast Conference after 60 years to join the potentially more lucrative (because of a better TV contract) Big Ten.

Had to? A pronouncement from Empress TINA no doubt. While he's getting on the right track by now, the author doesn't even bother to mention the social impact of all the U-Michigan students now saddled with socially constraining student loan debts.

If we can afford to spend significant chunks of our disposable income watching illiterate people run and jump like cavemen, why the heck can't we just provide ourselves with enough extra income to pursue more innovative interests as well?

Managing - or balancing - fiat is meaningless without aggregate adaptation to context. Does that help?

If you have to ask what public fiat is, please consult your own dictionary, before opening y'erble mouth.