Well, the Big Ten has passed the 40% rule, 10-1.
 
Here are a few details:
 
   It pertains to ALL participants, not solely scholarship athletes.
 
   Currently, the Big Ten has 4600 male and 2000 female athletes.
 
   This will shift to 4000 male and 2600 female athletes.
 
   They hope to achieve a 50-50 split within 5 years.
 
I have several problems with this, but I'll try to only voice one of them.
Because the number of male athletic scholarships is not decreasing, the
people that lose out are the walk-ons.  Yes, Michigan does not need a 115
man football squad.  But why punish those 15 or so guys that are there just
because they enjoy the game and enjoy saying that they're part of the team
-- even if they never play a game in their career.  These guys don't travel
to road games, so I imagine that the marginal cost of keeping them on the
roster is negligible.  I've always like the 3rd string kicker -- usually
some engineering major that loves to talk it up with the guys and keep his
leg in shape.  No one knows that he exists other than family and friends,
but is it necessary to kick him off the team?  I use football as an
example, but this pertains to hockey as well.  Will every hockey team be
reduced to 20 men, rather than the current 24-26 or even 30-35 for some
of the eastern teams?  I can't agree with this.
 
The biggest question, however, is now that we have Penn State -- how can
we get Wisconsin out of the Big Ten so that it really is 10?!
 
John H
Is there a 50-50 split in war?