Why I take issue with sports

It's not a huge secret that I'm not a big fan of sports. I understand why people like them, and I have had fun at sporting events. (Watching them on TV is still a mystery to me, but that's a different story.) Of course, I won't ever jump on the chance to watch a game, but that's not the point. Right now I'm more interested in college sports. That is, to discuss them.

And really, I mean to discuss them in the context of a school that is not very big in sports (like the school I currently am at). I have several students involved in sports, and of course that requires them to miss class once in a while. My policy in terms of missing class is, "Go ahead, you can miss every class you want, so long as the work gets done." In other words, I don't care if you have a "note" excusing you from class, because either way, you missed what we discussed and it is your job to get the notes and still keep up in class. Along with this policy is of course the fact that despite official office hours, if I'm in my office and you have questions, I will be more than willing to work with you.

That having been said, I am distressed by the following (not terribly hypothetical) scenario. A student is not doing too well in class, and this student is on two different sports teams. I won't say which sports but suffice to say, they are the sports that make people riot when their team loses. This student has made little comments that rather irk me (For example when I jokingly referred to the idea of extending the class time by twenty minutes this student's response was, "I'm already missing twenty minutes of practice just for this class." One thing to note is that this is a class in his major, not just some general requirement for graduation.), but that's not the issue.

The problem is that this student is in danger of failing this class. Primarily it is due to not turning in work, and when doing so, not really understanding the material. From this fear, the student has come to me to ask for two meetings a week to work through everything. I commended this, and was more than willing to put aside time for this. However, twice now the student has canceled because of sports (both times at the last minute).

Now my main issue: If you are failing in a class that is your major, then perhaps in addition to your full course load you should not be playing in two different sports (especially if it is your senior year and you don't want to spend an extra semester here). While I know college is not just about "them thar book-learnin'," I do know that academics are ultimately priority one. I don't care that athletics bring in money (because that money is always earmarked for more athletics-related things, and never used for academics, and it bugs me that universities are more interested in the overall income of the school, so they feed into it), because quite honestly, it is just a game for crying out loud.