To the parents of Mississippi State University students, it's time to ask for a refund on that tuition check you mailed off a month ago. Because your kids got out of class today for a football game. Let me repeat that, a major American university cancelled classes so the kids could go watch some big guys with helmets and padding run after an oddly-shaped ball in an ESPN-televised game against the LSU Tigers.
Ah, the American dream. Life. Liberty. And the pursuit of the pigskin ...
Folks, I'm all for some college football enjoyment. And having married a Virginia Tech Hokie, and lived the first year and a half of our marriage in Virginia, I'm well acquainted with the religion that is college football worshipped in most corners of the Southern United States. What they lack in professional teams, they make up for with some intense devotion to their favorite college.
Hell hath no fury like a college football fan denied the ability to watch their team in action. And as I sit here typing this here blog post while wearing my Virginia Tech sweatshirt, I recognize that reverence, and I salute it.
But at the risk of being tackled by one of the faithful, it's still just a football game, a regular season football game at that. We're not talking one of the big bowl games here, just a No. 25 seed facing a No. 3 seed in the SEC.
And these kids are at college. Where they're ostensibly supposed to be learning about something with more real-world applications than how exactly the Bulldogs took down the Tigers. In an economy where the employment rates for college graduates have taken a serious nose-dive, kids don't need more time out of the classroom. They need more time honing their edge of the competition.
This is why the gods (or at least some mysterious geek who should be treated as one) invented the DVR. So kids can go to class, come back to the dorm, and blow off their homework by watching it on TV. At least the whole world will THINK they're getting an education.
Do you think a college football game is worth cancelling classes? Would you want your tuition check back?
Image via Jayel Aheram/Flickr