[81alum]

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further, does anyone really value amateurism any more? i don't know a single person who watches a sporting event because it's amateur..

Now you know one such person.  

I increasingly dislike professional sports.  I did not much like any sports, originally.  I became a Stanford sports fan precisely because I found the ideal of a highly accomplished athlete trading their skill for an elite education to be very appealing.  I particularly liked WBB because there was not really a viable professional alternative when I started and so the athletes were doing it for the love of the game and for their education, and not for money.

I think the only options left for me may be to find a sport to cheer for that is not often on television and that has no professional future and so retains something of the old amateur ideal.  What do the rest of you think would be the most exciting/compelling sport that qualifies on both?  Field Hockey?

[81alum]

.
further, does anyone really value amateurism any more? i don't know a single person who watches a sporting event because it's amateur..

Now you know one such person.  

I increasingly dislike professional sports.  I did not much like any sports, originally.  I became a Stanford sports fan precisely because I found the ideal of a highly accomplished athlete trading their skill for an elite education to be very appealing.  I particularly liked WBB because there was not really a viable professional alternative when I started and so the athletes were doing it for the love of the game and for their education, and not for money.

I think the only options left for me may be to find a sport to cheer for that is not often on television and that has no professional future and so retains something of the old amateur ideal.  What do the rest of you think would be the most exciting/compelling sport that qualifies on both?  Field Hockey?