Begging To Be Said

 A woman begs on the street of Istanbul.

Driving down the street this morning through a busy intersection in south Atlanta I noticed several high school-aged football players walking in between the cars collecting money.  Ostensibly they're trying to raise money for equipment, which I know is very expensive, or maybe a trip someplace.  Whatever the reason the players were walking past the waiting cars collecting money in their helmets.

What happened to car washes, bake sales or some other "productive" activity designed to raise money?  Since when did coaches start teaching their players to beg?  Let's face it, that's what these guys were doing. What sort of life-lesson is this imparting on the players? 

I grew up as an athlete so I'm intimately familiar with the valuable lessons learned from being a member of a sports team.  Never in my experience did any of those lessons include begging for money, regardless of how effective the technique may be.  Do the ends justify the means in this case?  Does the ability to purchase needed equipment outweigh the lesson that it's alright to stand on the street corner, next to the homeless, "will work for food" guy and beg for money? I would strongly argue that it does not.