Your taxpayer $$$ at work

STUNNING, how colleges, many of them taxfunded, continue to throw millions of dollars at football and football coaches — UCLA’s Jim Mora, highest-paid California state employee, last week was paid $12.6 million just to go away — yet lose games to Day 1- preventable, me-first misconduct.

UConn, Saturday, scored a TD on the last play of regulation to make it 22-21, Cincinnati. But Hergy Mayala, who caught the TD pass, then got busy taunting his defenders. He was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Forced to kick a 28yarder to tie, UConn missed — left, by an inch — game and season over.

Of course, TV’s always eager to help. Sunday, throughout Panthers-Jets, FOX replaced acts of football with acts of post-play incivilities and immodesties — shown in slow motion — as if that’s the essence of football. Perhaps it now is. TV prefers to offend us rather than the offenders. CBS’s studio show, Saturday, twice noted Oklahoma’s star QB Baker Mayfield didn’t start against WVU due to “his antics” in last week’s game.

Antics? Like throwing water balloons out the dorm window? He grabbed his crotch in sideline salute to Kansas fans. They were

vulgar antics. Kansas set the NCAA-builds-character mood when its three captains refused to shake Mayfield’s hand during the coin toss. Yet, it’s still called “sports.”