Sheldon L. Smith ’64

4 Years Ago

Athletes Don’t Aspire To Injure

Jonathan Young ’69’s letter describing football as a sport of “blood lust” pursued to satisfy “a certain sort of young man” and “to extract money from an older version of those men” (Inbox, Feb. 12) is both hyperbolic and myopic.

It’s doubtful that participants in football (and don’t overlook rugby, hockey, lacrosse, and wrestling) aspire to injure their opponents. And realize that wounded women are carried off in soccer, field hockey, and even basketball.

As for the University “extracting money” from gladiatorial games, Ivy League athletic attendance is so woefully small, the University probably loses money on a large majority of these events.

And I thought Yale was the bastion of Ivy sensitivity!

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