[81alum]

Ah, ok, that's a bit better but doesn't solve the issue. The problem is that the statistics WANT to tell you that you should focus on education because your odds of going pro in sports are infinitesimal, but that doesn't reflect the true odds:

1) a high schooler can go pro without going to college. (that's addressed because they normalize it to "number of college players).
2) a college player can go pro in American sports without being drafted. (undrafted free agents).
3) A college player can go pro in a league abroad without being drafted (pretty common in soccer and basketball.)

These aren't the true odds, is the point.

True, they are not the true odds given that there are non collegiate pathways to professional sports.  But also consider that a fair number of players who are drafted never make a team, and some who do struggle along on practice squads or as third stringers and get cut after a season and never get financial security from their sport, and many minor leaguers also never attain financial security from their sport--I would say that these statistics actually understate the imperative of making a wise 40 year decision about an educational degree. 

[81alum]

Ah, ok, that's a bit better but doesn't solve the issue. The problem is that the statistics WANT to tell you that you should focus on education because your odds of going pro in sports are infinitesimal, but that doesn't reflect the true odds:

1) a high schooler can go pro without going to college. (that's addressed because they normalize it to "number of college players).
2) a college player can go pro in American sports without being drafted. (undrafted free agents).
3) A college player can go pro in a league abroad without being drafted (pretty common in soccer and basketball.)

These aren't the true odds, is the point.

True, they are not the true odds given that there are non collegiate pathways to professional sports.  But also consider that a fair number of players who are drafted never make a team, and some who do struggle along on practice squads or as third stringers and get cut after a season and never get financial security from their sport, and many minor leaguers also never attain financial security from their sport--I would say that these statistics actually understate the imperative of making a wise 40 year decision about an educational degree.