'Let Them Play' (high school sports in Michigan)

[AllGold]

Big controversy in Michigan because in consultation with health experts the governor put a hold on winter contact high school sports until Feb. 21. The hold was originally to be until Feb. 1st and when it was pushed back, a lot of people lost their minds.

I don't have teen children but I don't see why it's such a big deal to wait until more people are vaccinated and the numbers go down. [Edit: and also to see what happens with the new, more contagious strains. Consider that U of Michigan just shut down their entire athletic department because of B.1.1.7 infections.]

https://www.mlive.com/highschoolsports/2...pause.html

One of the kids who spoke:
"“The thought of suicide crossed my mind,” he told the crowd. “I didn’t feel like I had anything to live for once wrestling was taken away from me and I spent every moment of my day locked away without anything to work for or strive to achieve."

I don't think the real problem is not being able to play high school sports. What is he going to do after he graduates?

[Ca Bob]

AllGold wrote:
I don't think the real problem is not being able to play high school sports. What is he going to do after he graduates?

Run for congress in Ohio?

[Sarcany]

Yeah, let's feature the wrestling kid. Nothing safer than struggling face-to-face with someone in a hot crowded gym in the middle of a pandemic.

[hal]

In california I saw this headline:

"After beating the 49ers, the San Jose Sharks, a Major League soccer franchise and three college athletic programs, Santa Clara County health officials finally met their match this week"

who beat Santa Clara County health officials?

https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/01/29/kurtenbach-nobody-not-even-the-49ers-could-beat-santa-clara-county-and-then-this-bunch-showed-up/

It wasn’t the mighty, billion-dollar 49ers. It wasn’t the Sharks. It wasn’t the San Jose Earthquakes or Stanford. San Jose State or Santa Clara either.

No, the Santa Clara County health department finally met its match when it went up against high school sports parents.

And I could have warned them of what they were going up against.

There’s no group of people more fervid, more unrelenting, than high school sports parents. And if we’re talking about country-club sports, it’s a whole other level. Hell hath no fury like a water-polo parent scorned.

[wurm]

"There’s no group of people more fervid, more unrelenting, than high school sports parents. And if we’re talking about country-club sports, it’s a whole other level. Hell hath no fury like a water-polo parent scorned."

I think for some...not all high school sports parents, they believe their school athlete child could be their meal ticket to the big time. Or at least to a free college education. And I do feel badly for those who are not going to be able to show their mettle on the field or court or wherever. But hell, we are in the middle of a pandemic. It sucks, but it's a fact nonetheless.

[AllGold]

There's a surprisingly small percentage of high school athletes who receive college scholarships. I think it's about 2%.

[wurm]

Point taken. Corrected above.

[DeusxMac]

AllGold wrote:
There's a surprisingly small percentage of high school athletes who receive college scholarships. I think it's about 2%.

There’s much more to it than just scholarships. It can dramatically affect the quality of the college the high school athlete is accepted into, including the Ivys.

[Acer]

We supposedly were a modern society built on self-reliance. Seems like we've evolved into a post-modern society built on selfishness.

[DeusxMac]

Acer wrote:
We supposedly were a modern society built on self-reliance. Seems like we've evolved into a post-modern society built on selfishness.

Couldn’t someone be self reliant AND selfish? I don’t see those behaviors as being mutually exclusive.