Many academics (US?) grant automatic respect to poets, painters, musicians, and other artists but think nothing of casually insulting a sport or athletics in general. Has someone made a good argument for why one should respect the arts and but not athletics? 1/

Aren't sports basically arts? Athletes have to hone their craft, which requires discipline, expertise, talent, and intelligence. What is so especially wrong with sports? Do we think think poetry competitions are never corrupt? There is no misogyny among painters? 2/

Non-white musicians do not get exploited? Dancers get paid fairly?

I do not believe this is just a principled stance on collegiate revenue sports. It's bigger than that. What am I missing? 3/