[quote]The whole point of the varsity letter is generally conceded to be that you perform in an athletic competition, but it's been expanded to include band, the arts and other pursuits that do the school proud.[/quote]If you are not on a varsity team, you do not deserve it and should be treated as a fraud.

Expanding to include artists and band members comes off to me as giving participation trophies to every loser who bothers to show up and put in the absolutely tinniest amount of effort. Also reminds of the rules where the winning team loses because they score a great deal more than the other team or the games where they don't keep score. All it is done to keep from hurting some poor loser's feelings.