Dear Editor: Interesting article and misguided. My favorite part of it is your football analogy to the granddaughter. Guess how many children won’t have the opportunity to hear a coach tell them that next year? I can tell you…a lot.

Interesting how grandpa got some real life help from athletics. Hmm, sounds like participating in sports might have directly affected that fellow following school. In my world, that makes the athletic programs an integral part of education and school due to its direct effect on the students.

One more question — Have you ever dealt with an individual who comes from such a horrible home life that the pinnacle of his life might be making a middle school sports team and being a part of a family? I have, and maybe a tough decision isn’t taking things away from students that they love but cutting back on things for adults that don’t directly impact the student in school.

I wonder if participating in team sports has ever motivated a young person to be successful in school which then translated into a high school diploma, maybe a college degree and quite possibly his being a positive productive member of society. If your answer is yes, then you are correct. You then should also realize the over inflated county figure of $100,000 is a small price to pay in order to keep some people in school and maybe motivate them to be successful, productive citizens.