The News and Observer’s story today about the high price of college football’s assistant coaches (with a corresponding chart ) reminded me of this passage from Murray Sperber’s Beer and Circus: How Big-Time College Sports Is Crippling Undergraduate Education, quoting a student-written newspaper ad for a Midwestern fast-food chain, Jimmy John’s Sandwich Shops:
ASK JIMMY JOHN,
Q. HEY JIMMY JOHN: Why is the University president?s house so big?
A. The president represents all that is important to our school as an institution of higher learning. These hallowed and noble academic grounds are fertile fields upon which the future of our nation is grown. And the University president and the house he lives in must demonstrate to all the priority we place on this important mission.
Q. Why is the coach?s house even bigger?
A. No comment.
