DR. WALLACE: I'm dating a great girl, but we have one area of conflict. I love college sports but she thinks they are dumb and useless. We both attend the same university and she rolls her eyes every time I bring up my favorite local sports team.

She can't understand why 70,000 or 80,000 people will fill a college football stadium on a Saturday afternoon to watch a major college football game.

I tell her that many alumni enjoy these games and that people often tailgate before the games to hang out, barbecue food and enjoy camaraderie with their fellow fans.

My girl, however, feels these games are but a "guilty pleasure" for people like me who like sports and she feels that they serve no practical purpose at all.

Can you give me a few ideas on what to say back to her as far as their usefulness? I know intuitively that they are more than my guilty pleasure, but I just don't know how to best debate her on this topic. — I Love College Sports, via email

I LOVE COLLEGE SPORTS: Well, it might not be the best idea to "debate" your girlfriend as you wouldn't want to create undue friction, but you can calmly outline your reasoning. Then if she disagrees with your logic, you can both leave the topic there and at least she will have heard your reasoning.

Major college sports do help local economies quite a bit! They create economic activity on a variety of levels and this drives jobs and tax revenues in the community. Think restaurant food and drink sales, memorabilia and team clothing sales, parking, ticket sales, television rights and so on.

A significant amount of the revenue from the major college sports is used to fund many smaller sports at all universities that don't have ways to raise large revenues of their own.

There are also funds given to other parts of a university such as the arts, music, drama and various other programs that many students enjoy and participate in. Your girlfriend may even like and participate in some of the programs that NCAA sports revenues fund.

I WANT TO PLAY ON A SPORTS TEAM

DR. WALLACE: I'm a good student, but not a 4.0, straight-A student. My problem is that I have a brilliant mother who is a great medical doctor. She feels that my B average is a disgrace, especially since she did indeed get a 4.0 GPA when she was a high school student years ago.

My father is a successful businessman and like me, he was basically a "B" student when he was in high school.

Now I have a problem because some of my friends and I want to play on one of our school's women's sports teams. All of my friends are already going to team practices, but my mom told me that I have to get my grades up to straight As before I put any time into sports! I feel this is unfair.

I know you used to be a varsity coach in high school. Were all of your players A students back then? — Want to Play High School Sports, via email

WANT TO PLAY HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS: I can tell you that I had a few "A" students on my teams back then, but more than 80% of my players were not

"A" students. But all of my players, irrespective of their academic grades, learned equally the benefits of playing team sports.

They learned commitment to a group larger than themselves, self-sacrifice, commitment, hustle, camaraderie, functioning well as a unit and they all benefited from the bonds they forged with their fellow players via their shared experiences.

I wholeheartedly embrace allowing student-athletes to be able to play high school sports as long as they achieve at least passing grades academically. And your "B" average more than qualifies you in my book.

Perhaps you can arrange a sit-down meeting with both of your parents together and explain that you feel you are achieving good academic results to the best of your ability and that you feel your high school experience would be greatly enhanced by being allowed to participate on a school sports team.

If at least your father is open to the idea, it might then make sense to seek the input of a sports coach or school counselor who might help to encourage both of your parents to allow you this opportunity.

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. Email him at [email protected]. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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