[gmichnikov]

You appear to have reduced "sports" to "American football". There are a lot of sports out there. Most of them do not come with risks of debilitating head injuries. Participating in sports is a great way for people to stay healthy, build confidence, be part of a team, etc. By and large they are a great thing for kids. I can't imagine how one would find data for this, but I imagine that the percentage of sports-loving parents who push their kids to be pro athletes is about zero.

[illumin8]

Fair enough. My experience is probably colored by the fact that I got bullied by members of the football team in my high school, who were never punished because the football players could do no wrong. In fact, my friends and I were physically assaulted by several football players, which should be a criminal offense, but no punishment or suspension was ever given.

I learned at a very young age that society places too high a value on sports. Basically, it was reinforced by the school administration that it was perfectly fine for football players to bully computer nerds because sports were more important than computer science.

In my opinion, society needs to call these administrative authorities on this bullshit. At least I never listened to them and stuck with computers.