Athletes are the biggest whiners
This has come up a lot in the past couple weeks; it came up today while we watched the news.
There was a rally back on the 8th in Wheaton where a number of students from area high schools met up to protest online learning. They want to go back to school in person. They want to see their classmates and their teachers. And they want to play sports.
Just today, there was another rally downtown at the Thompson Center where students protested that they wanted to play sports, despite Governor Pritzker reiterating that football, soccer, and volleyball are currently too risky and no, they will not happen in Illinois this fall. (Other, non-contact sports like cross-country, tennis, and golf are being allowed. Some athletes from the postponed sports have taken up the active sports for a change of pace.) Here is the text from today's story:
Student athletes, parents rally to demand return of fall sports
by: Judy Wang
Posted: Sep 19, 2020 / 08:00 AM CDT / Updated: Sep 19, 2020 / 02:07 PM CDT
CHICAGO - Student athletes have planned a rally Saturday demanding the return of fall sports to schools across the state.
Even though Gov. JB Pritzker is saying no to fall sports, many high school athletes and their parents are not giving up. Another rally is happening Saturday morning at the Thompson Center to fight for the return of fall sports
Several events happened in the last week to convince Pritzker, Deputy Gov. of Education Jesse Ruiz and the state health department to reinstate football, soccer and volley which were all postponed until spring. The state designated them contact sports that were too risky during the COVID-19 pandemic. Other Midwestern states have reinstated fall sports.
Last week, IHSA sent Pritzker and Ruiz a letter to asking them to regain control to allow IHSA to decide whether kids should play.
Pritzker said earlier this week he was not willing to sacrifice the health of students and their families. He is listening to doctors and scientists.
Saturday’s rally is the first of three rallies this weekend. Another rally is scheduled at 1 p.m. at the state capital. Parents and students also plan to rally outside Soldier Field during the team’s home opener on Sunday.
(It looks like the third paragraph needs clarifying--it should probably say there were several events in the past week to try to convince Pritzker, et al. to reinstate sports. The sentence appears to read that several recent events did convince them to reinstate sports.)
What the athletes are saying is that all the states surrounding Illinois are allowing said sports, and now the Big 10 will be having football as well. Why can't they?
To which I say: Wah.
Stop whining. You act like you are the only students who are being affected by this pandemic. You act like you are the only ones whose chances at college scholarships are being affected.
What about musicians. Wind players and vocalists cannot have proper rehearsals and performances during this time.
What about actors. Theater students cannot have performances during this time.
What about dancers. They are athletic, too, and they come in close contact for some of what they do, and again, they cannot have performances at this time.
Heck, what about cheerleaders and pom squads. They are the supporters of some of these athletic teams. With no games, they have no performances, not to mention competitions and such.
And what about clubs. They likely do not get to meet in person, either. This includes service clubs, social clubs, language clubs, gaming clubs. My cousin's daughter did something called Knit for a Cause. Yes, that's something you can do on your own, but the whole point of such a club is to do this as a big group, talking and visiting with each other as they knit.
Every one of these groups exists for a reason. Every one of these groups can lead toward scholarships. Every person involved in any of these activities is being affected by this situation.
Don't forget the teachers and advisers. They miss their students, too. They don't want to be away from you. However, they are looking at the bigger picture, the one you're too myopic to see. They worry. They fear. They know that the virus may not affect the students all that badly, but they recognize the existence of asymptomatic spreaders. They know that just one student can infect their class--including the teacher. And that teacher may be on the young side, but they have their own families to be concerned with. Their spouses. Their parents. Their grandparents. Their children. What if they pass the virus on to their children, who go about their day and attend their own classes and activities? Now they are spreading disease to a whole new group of people.
I mean, heck--just today, I saw the headline Three NIU sports teams now under quarantine due to COVID-19: men's basketball, golf and football. (Due to the paywall, I cannot access the article itself, but the headline tells the story.) It happened at the college level. It can happen anywhere.
This came up somewhere, though I'm not sure if it was at work or with my dad or even on the news. Why are pro sports allowed to go forward, and even colleges, but not high school level and below? Part of it is money and supplies. Pro sports have the funding available to them to be able to buy all the PPE and cleaning items needed to keep everyone safe, plus all the testing necessary. A number, if not all, of the pro teams have partnered with labs to do the rapid testing. This cost must be astronomical. Schools that are publicly funded don't have unlimited funds in order to do this--unless, of course, you are okay with your taxes immediately being jacked up. And how many schools get enough public funding as it is? How many stories do we hear where teachers are paying for supplies out of their own pockets? Schools already do a lot with a little; don't make them spread that out even further.
Part of the problem is with today's parents. Little Jimmy and Suzy aren't allowed to experience pain. Mom and dad will fight for them tooth and nail, not understanding that they'll end up with kids with little to no resiliency. Let them experience trouble. Let them deal with disappointment. Perhaps this will cause them to come up with solutions so that, should this ever happen again, we are prepared to deal with it so that we don't have to deal with a shutdown of this magnitude. Everyone wants a return to normalcy, or what will pass for normalcy in the near future.
I mean, I get it. I can't imagine dealing with this. I would have been so disappointed if I had to be a senior in high school during this moment in time. However, it is what it is. Instead of fighting against what's happening, find solutions to work with what you are being given. You have other options. You have the power to make the best of this situation. It's up to you to figure things out.
There was a rally back on the 8th in Wheaton where a number of students from area high schools met up to protest online learning. They want to go back to school in person. They want to see their classmates and their teachers. And they want to play sports.
Just today, there was another rally downtown at the Thompson Center where students protested that they wanted to play sports, despite Governor Pritzker reiterating that football, soccer, and volleyball are currently too risky and no, they will not happen in Illinois this fall. (Other, non-contact sports like cross-country, tennis, and golf are being allowed. Some athletes from the postponed sports have taken up the active sports for a change of pace.) Here is the text from today's story:
Student athletes, parents rally to demand return of fall sports
by: Judy Wang
Posted: Sep 19, 2020 / 08:00 AM CDT / Updated: Sep 19, 2020 / 02:07 PM CDT
CHICAGO - Student athletes have planned a rally Saturday demanding the return of fall sports to schools across the state.
Even though Gov. JB Pritzker is saying no to fall sports, many high school athletes and their parents are not giving up. Another rally is happening Saturday morning at the Thompson Center to fight for the return of fall sports
Several events happened in the last week to convince Pritzker, Deputy Gov. of Education Jesse Ruiz and the state health department to reinstate football, soccer and volley which were all postponed until spring. The state designated them contact sports that were too risky during the COVID-19 pandemic. Other Midwestern states have reinstated fall sports.
Last week, IHSA sent Pritzker and Ruiz a letter to asking them to regain control to allow IHSA to decide whether kids should play.
Pritzker said earlier this week he was not willing to sacrifice the health of students and their families. He is listening to doctors and scientists.
Saturday’s rally is the first of three rallies this weekend. Another rally is scheduled at 1 p.m. at the state capital. Parents and students also plan to rally outside Soldier Field during the team’s home opener on Sunday.
(It looks like the third paragraph needs clarifying--it should probably say there were several events in the past week to try to convince Pritzker, et al. to reinstate sports. The sentence appears to read that several recent events did convince them to reinstate sports.)
What the athletes are saying is that all the states surrounding Illinois are allowing said sports, and now the Big 10 will be having football as well. Why can't they?
To which I say: Wah.
Stop whining. You act like you are the only students who are being affected by this pandemic. You act like you are the only ones whose chances at college scholarships are being affected.
What about musicians. Wind players and vocalists cannot have proper rehearsals and performances during this time.
What about actors. Theater students cannot have performances during this time.
What about dancers. They are athletic, too, and they come in close contact for some of what they do, and again, they cannot have performances at this time.
Heck, what about cheerleaders and pom squads. They are the supporters of some of these athletic teams. With no games, they have no performances, not to mention competitions and such.
And what about clubs. They likely do not get to meet in person, either. This includes service clubs, social clubs, language clubs, gaming clubs. My cousin's daughter did something called Knit for a Cause. Yes, that's something you can do on your own, but the whole point of such a club is to do this as a big group, talking and visiting with each other as they knit.
Every one of these groups exists for a reason. Every one of these groups can lead toward scholarships. Every person involved in any of these activities is being affected by this situation.
Don't forget the teachers and advisers. They miss their students, too. They don't want to be away from you. However, they are looking at the bigger picture, the one you're too myopic to see. They worry. They fear. They know that the virus may not affect the students all that badly, but they recognize the existence of asymptomatic spreaders. They know that just one student can infect their class--including the teacher. And that teacher may be on the young side, but they have their own families to be concerned with. Their spouses. Their parents. Their grandparents. Their children. What if they pass the virus on to their children, who go about their day and attend their own classes and activities? Now they are spreading disease to a whole new group of people.
I mean, heck--just today, I saw the headline Three NIU sports teams now under quarantine due to COVID-19: men's basketball, golf and football. (Due to the paywall, I cannot access the article itself, but the headline tells the story.) It happened at the college level. It can happen anywhere.
This came up somewhere, though I'm not sure if it was at work or with my dad or even on the news. Why are pro sports allowed to go forward, and even colleges, but not high school level and below? Part of it is money and supplies. Pro sports have the funding available to them to be able to buy all the PPE and cleaning items needed to keep everyone safe, plus all the testing necessary. A number, if not all, of the pro teams have partnered with labs to do the rapid testing. This cost must be astronomical. Schools that are publicly funded don't have unlimited funds in order to do this--unless, of course, you are okay with your taxes immediately being jacked up. And how many schools get enough public funding as it is? How many stories do we hear where teachers are paying for supplies out of their own pockets? Schools already do a lot with a little; don't make them spread that out even further.
Part of the problem is with today's parents. Little Jimmy and Suzy aren't allowed to experience pain. Mom and dad will fight for them tooth and nail, not understanding that they'll end up with kids with little to no resiliency. Let them experience trouble. Let them deal with disappointment. Perhaps this will cause them to come up with solutions so that, should this ever happen again, we are prepared to deal with it so that we don't have to deal with a shutdown of this magnitude. Everyone wants a return to normalcy, or what will pass for normalcy in the near future.
I mean, I get it. I can't imagine dealing with this. I would have been so disappointed if I had to be a senior in high school during this moment in time. However, it is what it is. Instead of fighting against what's happening, find solutions to work with what you are being given. You have other options. You have the power to make the best of this situation. It's up to you to figure things out.