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At the extreme risk of dating myself, I remember the great scene from the movie “Network” (1976) where the late actor Peter Finch, playing a news anchor who hit his breaking point in dealing with everything going on in the country, goes off script and tells the audience the following:
“I want you to get up right now. Sit up. Go to your windows. Open them and stick your head out and yell — ‘I’m as mad as hell and I’m not gonna take this anymore!’ Things have got to change. But first, you’ve gotta get mad! You’ve got to say, ‘I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take this anymore!'”
Sound familiar? Maybe a little like what we are going through now? The issues that provoked Finch have changed, but the anger is growing to the same level.
It sure does resonate with me.
For the sake of this column, I will touch on high school athletics, and high school athletics alone.
Late last week, the word came down that high school sports are being pushed back once again. Dec. 7 was the first date for sports to resume, but now they are “postponed.”
This is garbage.
Club sports continue, often using high school facilities for practice. It’s also getting more consistent for these local club teams to travel out of state for tournaments and come back fine.
Yet this is lost on decision-makers.
With high school sports, at least the kids had Dec. 7 as the carrot to point their hopes toward. Now that is gone and who knows when they will have another hope to cling to, if one even arises.
So, where do we direct our anger?
It is not the Pleasanton Unified School District, as they have their hands tied by the Alameda County Public Health Department.
In my heart of hearts, I believe PUSD would love to see the kids competing. They regularly hear from upset parents and know what it would mean to Pleasanton. High school sports have always been one of the fabrics that makes this community great.
California’s “do as I say, not as I do” mentality is creating a lack of credible leadership in the state and that is trickling down to the respective counties.
What always has me “as mad as hell” is when people sitting behind desks make life-altering decisions for others who are out trying to live life. Now, it is affecting our kids.
I am not alone with these feelings. Parents are getting upset, as are the coaches.
The coaches feel they are swimming in quicksand and are trying to push back. Many coaches are working together in a new organization called the West Coast Coaching Alliance.
James Logan High School football coach Ricky Rodriguez is the driving force behind the WCCA, an organization that now has over 500 members. They count not only high school coaches as members, but band directors and middle school coaches as well.
For Rodriguez what is happening currently runs deep.
“For me this is personal,” Rodriguez said of the shutdown of both schools and athletics. “I see the affects of kids not being able to go to school, not just academically, but socially as well. A lot of kids are struggling.”
Rodriguez, a 2003 graduate of Washington High in Fremont, has been running conditioning camps at Logan for 15 weeks with 100 student-athletes. In that span, they have not had one player test positive.
“I know some people think we are running around unorganized,” Rodriguez said. “But that’s not the case at all. We spend 40 minutes every single day checking the kids in, taking temperatures and making sure they are all safe.”
In the day and age where peoples’ motives are questioned regularly in hopes of discrediting a point of view, most coaches stand above reproach. High school coaches do not take on any position to make money but do it for the good of the kids
“We ask so much of our student-athletes, like homework, studying and practice when it’s regular times,” Rodriguez said. “In times like these, we need to go to bat for them — they deserve it.”
The WCCA needs your help.
“We can only do so much as coaches,” Rodriguez said. “If the parents send emails or call the (decision-makers), it can really help.”
For more information on the WCCA and how to get involved, please contact Rodriguez at Loganhighfootball@gmail.com.
Editor’s note: Dennis Miller is a contributing sports writer for the Pleasanton Weekly. To contact him about his “Pleasanton Preps” column, email acesmag@aol.com.
Yes this Pandemic is maddening.
People getting sick and dying is worse.
People complaining when the efforts to reduce the impact affects them is pathetic.
Couldn’t agree more. California is becoming less desirable to live in. If you’re in fear, stay home. Let these kids play, be social again. Other states have figured it out! Be responsible and practice distancing, but life doesn’t need to shut down. Quarantine and its affects are worse than the very few deaths this overblown pandemic has caused. Life needs to go on.
Give families the choice to let their kids play. You don’t feel safe, don’t participate. Choice is all we’ve asked for when sending kids back to school. There’s a huge lacrosse tournament that happened last weekend in Florida and we can’t even get kids out participating in anything in our own state. Club sports are leaving the state to participate
@dennismiller, @tomstevens and @jackiebrown- might I suggest that if you, and anyone else in your ‘camps’ don’t want to follow the rules, YOU stay home and stop risking my health and the health of other residents just because you don’t believe in or like the current restrictions. Personally, I’m mad as hell at folks who don’t seem to care at all about the health and safety of their fellow citizens.
Look, don’t misunderstand or misinterpret my position- I am very, very tired of all the covid related restrictions. I wish it would all just go away. I would love to be able to hop a plane and travel again, go out to restaurants, wineries, movies, bars etc. I would love to see all our business fully reopen, folks resume fulltime employment, students and teachers return to the classroom and sports return. However, I see the current restrictions as necessary for the health and safety of all. If we allow prep sports to resume before health officials deem it is ok, your game playing kids run the risk of infecting their families, friends, classmates, essential workers, along with coaches and their families and for what purpose, just to play a team sport- seriously, how arrogant and selfish of all involved.
Covid statistics don’t validate your statement that other states have it figured out. I’m happy to hear which states you think are better. In today’s newspaper CA cases are 301/10K folks- Arizona, Florida, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Wisconsin, S Dakota, N Dakota, Louisiana, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana etc. etc. etc. all have nearly twice or more the number of cases per capita. In my book that is not better and not figured out. In my book, California has it figured out.
MLC53 – I respect your opinion. But please understand that those families with kids (who play sports) have a choice and can act responsibly when their kids play, then come home and can take social distancing measures. Sports and after school activities are important in a child’s development. They keep them in shape, social, they keep kids out of trouble and teach lessons. Far too many kids since April have turned to drugs, have become suicidal, despondent, are failing in online school, etc., which according to many experts has been deemed more catastrophic than those who have perished ‘solely’ due to the virus. Please read the statistics between the flu, this virus, mental health & suicides. It can be a win win for all to get these kids back playing and in activities.