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Re "End the thoughtless tyranny of sports," by Don Gale (Opinion, Oct. 3):
The reason why millions of people are obsessed with sports is not because people have their priorities wrong, but because we pay people to play sports.
If we didn't have professional athletes, the pros who play for us today would be free to form their own leagues and play for free, but they wouldn't.
Without athletic scholarships, only the passionate few would pay tuition to play college sports, especially without pro leagues to entice them.
Our peak interest in sports would probably be at the high school level, which is appropriate. However, in the absence of college and pro leagues, I doubt even high school sports would entice many takers.
Instead, far greater emphasis would be on teacher pay and academic performance.
Sports are good and worthwhile activities, and if we allowed people to play only for the love of the game, they would be regarded with the appropriate level of interest.
Bryan Norton
West Valley City