Mathematics and Sports

Has the sports program in your school district been canceled-the victim of a taxpayer revolt against passing your local school tax proposal because sports are costing the taxpayers so much? Sports are writ large as part of the American experience, from our high school sports to the Little League events that are mythical in American culture. Sports, even in high school, are big business, in the sense that colleges draw on the best high school athletes to come and enrich their sports programs, which in turn nourishes the professional sports industry in America. Baseball, football, and basketball games on broadcast and cable television generate huge sums of money that go into the American economy. U.S. participation in the 2010 soccer World Cup in South Africa generated lots of attention. But sports are also a mechanism whereby American children learn the values of fair play and hard effort, and the meaning of companionship and friendship.