Sports vs. learning
Re: “Money boosts playoff chances — Wealthy donors seen as key to playing for titles in revenue-sharing era,” Tuesday news story.
A sure sign of my advanced age is feeling naive and out of step with the trajectory of intercollegiate athletics. Growing up in Dallas, my brothers and I were disciples of the Southwest Conference. And although we enjoyed the rivalries, traditions and pageantry, we never viewed athletics as the dominant identity of the schools we supported.
While attending college, friends who were student athletes introduced me to lessons they learned on the field and in the arena difficult to replicate anywhere else.
There is no doubt the role athletics can play in developing character and confidence in young men and women just as it is impossible to defend the millions of dollars universities annually harvest through their services as student athletes.
Opinion
In a landscape far from stable, money is the driving force leading to an eventual delineation of a handful of institutions which can compete for national titles and the rest.
Along this journey, millions will be spent for trophies rather than to enhance learning at a time when human knowledge is doubling every 13 or so months. It’s fun to play and cheer, but values are being subverted by the desire for success which at its best is fleeting.
Bill Lively, North Dallas
2025 a national nightmare
As we look back over this past year, we have to ask, are our president and elected officials looking out for all Americans or just the population that supports their patrician ideology?
About 95% of all Americans are dealing with the current affordability crisis and the impact of our dollars continuing to shrink as we go into the new year.
If we continue down this path toward a recession and our democracy crumbling under poor leadership and a disregard for the Constitution, we will be faced with a situation that could take decades to repair.
To me, this past year has been a national nightmare. I just pray that we all wake up before it is too late.
So as we enter into this new year, take the time to go vote and save our great nation.
Joe Milligan, Campbell
Voting values the problem
Re: “What do you value?” by Don Skaggs, Dec. 24 Letters.
I think 77 million Americans did vote their values in ’24 — and I suspect that that’s our fundamental problem.
Curtis Carpenter, Dallas/Munger Place
Congress, do something
Re: “2nd group cancels performance — Concerts at Kennedy Center in spotlight after Trump’s name added,” Wednesday news story.
Reading the last paragraph of this story, I keep wondering why President Donald Trump keeps getting away with everything he does, even if it’s illegal.
That paragraph reads, “President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, and Congress passed a law the following year naming the center as a living memorial to him. Scholars have said any changes to the building’s name would need congressional approval; the law explicitly prohibits the board of trustees from making the center into a memorial to anyone else, and from putting another person’s name on the building’s exterior.”
Seems as this Republican-controlled Congress is not doing its job very well. What if President Barack Obama had put his name on everything?
Sandy Elkins, Plano
Politicians don’t follow through
Re: “Political theater,” by Kenneth Mathias, Dec. 26 letters
Mathias says President Donald Trump frequently doesn’t follow through on his pledges, but he said he would close the border and effectively did. No new laws were needed, just enforcement of existing laws.
During his first term, most countries in Europe did in fact increase their defense spending despite what Mathias implies.
Has Trump followed through on all his pledges? No, but what politician does?
Recall that President Joe Biden said, “No more drilling, period!” then went to Saudi Arabia, hat in hand, to beg for them to increase their oil production. I can’t imagine a more insincere pledge than that.
Les Gregory, Frisco
Party picks candidates
Re: “Democrats do more harm,” by Daniel Willis, Thursday Letters.
Willis stated that Democrats do more harm without giving any information as to why. But, that is not the main point for my submission. He states that “a handful of party power brokers, including Nancy Pelosi and a famous actor, decided Biden had to go.”
He complains that President Joe Biden was replaced without one single vote from the public. That is a fallacy. Whether a person elects to run or not run for public office is not up to the voters, but to the party with which that person is affiliated.
Yes, Biden did implode in this debate with Donald Trump which signaled his then being unfit to serve as president, and he had to pull out of the campaign. That would be exactly the same as if he had contracted a physical disease and had to pull out for physical health reasons.
In each case, the public does not cast votes. Replacing someone to run in a campaign is not “one of the most flagrant acts against democracy,” but invoking their freedom within our democracy to do so. Again, it is up to the party itself.
Roger Howe, Whitewright
Inspiring Texans of the Year
Re: “2025 Texans of the Year — Those who lost so much, yet fought for others,” Dec. 28 Opinion.
This was an inspiring — albeit sad — selection for the annual Texans of the Year. I can’t believe what those parents went through, and, despite their grief, they did something positive, which is not easy with our current state government. Kudos to The Dallas Morning News!
Harriet Blake, Grapevine