Yes, I agree the topic is softball and softball players. The academic aspect was raised and I felt it was too inaccurate to let stand. The lack of recognition of the academic prowess of schools within the different areas of study, stated matter-of-factly that "everyone knows" A > B, indicates the author is probably not qualified to speak on the issue. And should stick with the softball discussion. FYI UT Austin has the #1 ranked accounting school in the country as judged by the Big 4 public accounting firms - and U of I is #3. There are definitely situations, if you are choosing a softball school for academic reasons, you would choose Texas or Illinois over Northwestern. You could make a similar argument for engineering majors as both UT and U of I are rated more highly than NU, though that is a much closer call and depends on what sub specialty you wish to study.