College sports in the United States are a huge deal. Almost all major American universities have football, baseball, basketball and hockey programs, and (71) millions of dollars each year to sports. Most universities earn millions (72) as well, in television revenues and sponsorships. They also benefit (73) from the added publicity they get via their teams. Big-name universities (74) each other in the most popular sports. Football s at the university of Michigan regularly (75) crowds of over 90,000. Basketball’s national collegiate championship is a TV (76) on a par with (与……相同或相似) any other sporting in the United States, (77) perhaps the Super Bowl itself. At any given time during fall or winter one can (78) one’s TV set and see the top athletic programs—from schools like Michigan, UCLA, Duke and Stanford— (79) in front of packed houses and national TV audiences.
The athletes themselves are (80) and provided with scholarships. College coaches identify (81) agers and then go into high schools to (82) the country’s best players to attend their universities. There are strict roles about (83) coaches can recruit—no recruiting calls after 9 p. m., only one official visit to a campus—but they are often bent and sometimes (84) . Top college football programs (85) scholarships to 20 or 30 players each year, and those student athletes, when they arrive (86) campus, receive free housing, tuition, meals, books, and stipends.
In return, the players (87) the program in their sport. Football players at top colleges (88) two hours a day, four days a week from January to April. In summer, it’s back to strength and agility mining four days a week until mid August, when camp (89) and preparation for the opening of the September-to-December season begins (90) . During the season, practices last two or three hours a day from Tuesday to Friday. Saturday is day. Mondays are an officially mandated day of rest.