I can't agree more. And even if you do, querying xml fields in SQL is not that fun.
See our own experience here : SQL first try to get Central data into internal PostGIS database
If you want to use SQL to query your data, as I love to, you can check this ODATA integration within pl-python functions : Pl-pyodk : use of pyODK with PL/Python PostgreSQL functions to pull data from Central into your own database