While in general I agree with what dannye has written (other than the non-sequitor there at the end) he misses one rather important point. Many sports programs make money for the college. At the University of Texas where worship of the football program is somewhat less important than worship of the state of Texas and somewhat more important than worship of God. The football program not only supports itself, but goes on to support the non-profitable sports programs at UT and then contributes (a very small amount) to the actual purpose of the univeristy. Not only that, but there is a correlation between the performance of the football team and the donations recieved from alumni.

The conclusion I choose to draw from this is that college athletes are not students at an educational institution who happen to also play sports. They are, in fact, paid advertisers. They go out on the field/court/whatever and do their sport thing while wearing the logo of an educational institution. In return that institution gives the athletes diplomas and makes it look like they got an education.

An alternative, and perhaps more amusing, way to think of college athletes is as the college equivalent of those kids who come knocking at your door selling overpriced candy so they can get new playground equipment at their elementry school.