Athletics are a a mixed bag.
Yes, it does suck that some serious idiots get full scholarships to college for athletic ability alone.
However, most of them go to state schools, and they bring in a LOT more money than their education costs.
When I was at Ohio State, not only was all of the equipment for the football team and all of the apparell for the other sports provided by Nike (heck, we even got jackets, sweatshirts, sweatpants, polos, hats, sneakers, etc just for the rifle team), but the school was paid 4.5 BILLION from their endorsement deal. Thats a loooot of money to put towards education, even when you subtract the cost of all the full and partial athletic scholarships. All that is before you factor in how much they make off the merchandising and filling 105,000 seats every other weekend.