I failed to understand the appeal of sports until a friend once told me, “I look at a well-executed touchdown pass the same way I look at a beautiful painting.” If we consider sports as the form of art in motion, the appeal becomes obvious and justifiable.

A regular criticism of St. Edward’s University is a lack of respect for this appeal, or a shortage of school spirit. We don’t have Div. I teams. Games are attended, but nowhere near as populated as those of other schools. Few people make a big deal about homecoming. The average student either has a low degree of interest in the athletics programs, or none at all.

We should first be careful in confusing sports fanaticism with school spirit. People sometimes point to the University of Texas as a school with a great deal of spirit, primarily due to the success and support of their athletic teams. However, I think UT is out of hand.

Sports are brilliant displays of the wonder of the human body, but can be overvalued. When you consider UT’s athletic budget of over $100 million — $8 million of it wasted on a huge, unnecessary HDTV scoreboard — I fail to see how it could be interpreted as anything but gluttonous.

St. Edward’s school spirit isn’t about sports. In the mission statement, the school promises “excellence in teaching and learning…. [and] commitment to service.” St. Edward’s is one of the few universities that actually lives up to its promises.

School spirit isn’t defined by colors and $8 million Jumbotrons. Instead, it is embodied in students’ commitment to academic success and community service. The multiple academic and service groups on campus, and the numerous scholarships of that nature, prove that commitment.

The goals of service and scholarship make St. Edward’s rare and admirable. Outrageous sports programs may be exciting, but they obscure the true purposes of a college education. St. Edward’s doesn’t make that mistake; the purpose is to gain knowledge and use it to help others.

But sports still have their place. They exhibit the phenomenon of art in motion — the pure magnificence of the human body’s capabilities — and any decent education should foster appreciation for art. If my fellow students would consider sports as such, we would have greater interest in campus athletics teams and admiration for sports in general.

I personally encourage every student to attend a game this semester. Go, watch and enjoy it for the artistic spectacle that it is. Just don’t expect jumbotrons, multimillion dollar stadiums or multimedia gaming centers for the athletes. Such excesses would detract from the love of the game.