Wolf wants to avoid congregate settings. Of course, he gave this recommendation after PIAA had already decided to allow Fall sports so long as people were masked and maintained social distancing.
Philadelphia Eagles Tight End Zach Ertz offered his own perspective on yet another poorly considered decision by Wolf.
I was 15 years old, my parents separated, I was the oldest of four boys, and the only thing I knew how to do, the only way I knew to express myself — I was so frustrated inside, the only thing I could do was play football. All I did was focus, lift weights, play football and play basketball, and that kind of allowed me to release my internal stress and pressure that I had built up.
And [Pennsylvania governor] Tom Wolf yesterday came out with a recommendation that there is no fall football or sports in general, and the adversity that I faced when I was 15 is about 1/1000th of what many kids in this state, in particular, are going to be facing if they don’t have an outlet, if there is no football in the fall for these kids.
As soon as the positives begin to appear, they'll be cancelled--just like in-person school. Right now, no one except Gov. Wolf is prepared to be the bad guy. All the more credit to him.
ReplyDeleteI have been actively involved in organized youth sports for around 35 years as a parent, coach, club official and board member etc. etc. It has been decades since I have been involved with any of my own kids as players. I've coached several boys and girls sports from beginner pre-K kids up through very accomplished high school athletes. My opinion on the current health issue is that there is no easy one size fits all answer that allows all the games to continue until at least quick, easy and readily-available-to-everyone testing becomes common place. I admire Zack Ertz and his WNST wife, Julie but they have the advantage of playing in well financed professional programs that offer tests and the best medical advice and treatment available. Most youth sports programs come nowhere close to that. I personally believe that many youth sports can be played safely although others like football or wrestling will be problematic until testing, treatment, and perhaps even vaccines are available to everyone, not just the pros. The overriding problem however with ALL sports, even the ones that can be played safely, is not so much what happens on the field and court, but what happens off. We have seen that even in Major League Baseball where irresponsible off field behaviors by some athletes have created serious consequences for other players who had been acting responsibly. The same sort of uneven health safety behaviors could be observed at the recent Lehigh Valley high school level baseball tournament that ended yesterday. At all the games I observed, behavior on the field was acceptable if not perfect, but the off field actions of players, parents, spectators, hangers on, etc at some sites was creating much higher risk for everyone. I don't particularly like the general recommendation of the governor and state health officials but unless and until everyone involved both on and off the field has the will and discipline to fully follow safe behaviors, banning youth sports becomes the easiest one-size-fits-all position for officials to take.
ReplyDeleteThere's no credit earned to simply saying "no." An untrained monkey could do that.
ReplyDeleteAs Zach Ertz said, just locking people up damages people, especially kids. The Governor, Legislature, and staff are all high priced talent (at least they like to believe they're talent). Figure something out. Allow sports that are noncontact - cancel golf???? WTH. Give the kids other outlets like fitness and exercise. School clubs should be active, and they're not. Hold classes outside while the weather allows so they can see each other and actually learn something. And if the teacher's union doesn't like it, the Governor should use that executive power he's wielded to disband the union and actually focus on the kids for a change.
Just saying no is easy.
The Banker
If saying no is so easy, then why are so few prepared to take the lead?
ReplyDeleteDoes it really make you feel better for everyone to pretend that it's going to happen when it isn't? There always were going to be consequences for failing to do a better job containing COVID-19. Now it's coming home to roost.
WOLF disbanding the teachers UNION is like a cat turning away from a bowl of fresh milk. Never happen. THEY put him in there....
ReplyDeleteNo. This is no longer about "public health." It's politics by Wolf and the shut down governors. It's hurting our children.
ReplyDeleteYouth sports and travel team tournaments have been going on safely all summer. Kids have been training and doing team workouts as well. The PIAA was set to go. You can "peacefully protest" in large groups without masks, but high school kids can't even run cross country or play golf. That's absurd!
We now know that the deaths overwhelmingly are in nursing homes, care facilities, and people with preexisting co-morbidity. So the real goal here was to crash the economy, make everyone miserable, drag it out until November, get us all to blame the bad orange man and then vote him out by mail. Wolf must have received fresh orders from the basement bunker in Wilmington late last week. Meanwhile our daughters played in a huge travel field hockey tournament down the road in Dover over the weekend. LET THEM PLAY!
I am similar to 8:43AM in positions held with the major difference being time served and still being involved with my own kids playing.
ReplyDeleteI think PIAA and Wolf are playing a very dumb game of political chicken at this point, each trying to avoid having to be the bad guy on the issue. Make a decision and live with whatever the consequences may be. If you shut it down, you're going to be ranted and raved to death on message boards and Op-Eds for a couple months. If you let the games go on, you'll make a small segment of the population happy for the distraction, with not nearly the same level of ranting and raving about it from the other side, but the downside risk is that you very well may end up directly or indirectly causing the death of a player, official, coach or spectator.
My biggest question that I have yet to hear an answer to is - What has changed since we cancelled basketball playoffs, and the entirety of spring sports? The quick answer will be, "Well the kids weren't in school", but the question is still the same, what's changed that we feel it's safer to do so now?
Just cancel HS sports until the Spring. Football, and all indoor sports at this point really just look bleak. I know this will be a painful decision for many HS Seniors and their families (as it was for many baseball, softball, track & lacrosse players last year), but the obvious priority should be on education, while minimizing the risk and spread of the virus back thru the community.
ReplyDeleteI completely and totally get where athletics and other club activities provide a sense of structure and purpose for many kids and in no way would I want to see it removed forever.
That all said, I do think "Club" or "Rec Sports" can and should be allowed if their able to operate safely. These operations are more specialized and can more easily establish and maintain specific protocols for the players and others involved.
I think it's important to remember that while the Governor's comments have delayed high school sports, they have done nothing to prevent kids from participating in club sports, showcase teams, AAU teams, etc. In other words, for those that can afford to pay for their kids to participate this is unfortunate but not the end of their child's season. For those that can't however, their kids participation is done if the PIAA and their local district follows the Governor's suggestion.
ReplyDeleteI suspect this has less to do with sports and more to do with appearing to appease the teacher's union.
"I personally believe that many youth sports can be played safely although others like football or wrestling will be problematic until testing, treatment, and perhaps even vaccines are available to everyone, not just the pros."
ReplyDeleteYes, I do not think non-contact sports like baseball, golf, cross country or tennis should be canceled. That's an absurd over-reaction. But fans who fail to mask or follow social distancing guidelines should be banned, and this should be STRICTLY enforced.
The Paris Accords planned reductions are easier to meet when the reductions can be masked as a global health crises.
ReplyDeleteWe never withdrew in spirit despite Trumps smokescreen, look at what reductions were required for the U.S. and see for yourself... the coasts will bare the brunt, with Wolf shepherding Pennsylvania's required economic diminishment something for which Wolf is eminently qualified.
"You should have let us know"-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdbyFRVzslo
Teen suicide rate doubled in the 2008 economic downturn. This downturn is worse and we're exacerbating teens' problems by eliminating structure, rituals, and traditions. There are no solutions. There are trade offs. We've decided to accept increased teen suicides in order to protect teachers and their families. I dont blame teachers. But we should be honest about the trade off we're making.
ReplyDelete@9:55 fully buying into the conspiracy theory that Biden/Dems have created a massive illusion of fear, brought many businesses to their knees, cast millions into unemployment, callously sacrificed the lives of 150,000 geriatrics (or brought medical professionals into the conspiracy to falsify cause of death) all in an effort to remove Trump from office.
ReplyDeleteYou very well may have Early Onset TDS (Trump Detachment Syndrome).
9:55 - Could you explain how this is politics? What political gain would this be to a lame duck like wolf? It's more likely, power and wanting to leave a legacy. Empty headed cries of "Politics!" are just as lazy as yelling "Benghazi!". It's instant gratification that leaves you feeling a little hollow, doesn't it?. Unplug from fox news talking points and start using the sludge between your ears.
ReplyDeleteDon't be purposely stupid. Wolf has his eyes on a US Senate seat.
ReplyDeleteThis is why you get deleted.
ReplyDeleteWolf. . . in the Senate!? good luck with that.
ReplyDeleteI'm getting nothing of this from my sources in Harrisburg.
Then your sources suck. He is the kind we like, too, totally bland and completely uninspiring.
ReplyDeleteToomey will run for Governor against Shapiro and Wolf will run for the US Senate.
ReplyDeletesounds like a reddit post I just found. My sources have a bit more access than that. Having a rough day? 9:55 is the type of loudmouth that makes me cringe. It's fox talking points and nothing else. I'm certainly no fan of wolf, but at least be loaded for bear if you want to go hunting.
ReplyDeleteToomey lost the trump voters by hinting at a deal on impeachment "witness". That's unfortunate since he is a conservative.
ReplyDeleteShapiro never met a camera he didn't like. He likes to walk the halls in Harrisburg with camera crew in tow. When he gets to the end of the hall he turns around and keeps on walking. He has now business in the capital other than the optics. That's not from my sources, that's what I have seen with my own eyes. 2022 is still a long way off.
I'll check with my people Bernie. Its been a week since we talked. Wolf may run but I think he has worn out his welcome. What does Ron Angle think? Last I spoke with him he was still plugged in to the machine.
ReplyDelete@10:57 AM there is no way that AAU basketball or club sports have anywhere near the safety protocols that our high schools and the PIAA had planned. Games are played in tournaments with multiple teams participating with parents in attendance. This is not to say that I believe that those activities are unsafe either. I think sports for young people is the last place I would worry about the spread of coronavirus considering the other possibilities. I do think that it has become a political tool for those that do not wish to see schools reopen.
ReplyDeleteIs Senator to Governor a promotion or a demotion? Especially governor of a state with the fiscal problems that PA has?
ReplyDeleteI heard the same thing about Toomey (and Wolf) awhile back, but I wonder if the Corona has changed his mind?
"Toomey will run for Governor against Shapiro and Wolf will run for the US Senate."
ReplyDeleteUgh, the worst of both worlds. Flush both of them down the toilet where they belong.
12.33
ReplyDelete"But fans who fail to mask or follow social distancing guidelines should be banned, and this should be STRICTLY enforced."
That is the problem as enforcement is lax.
Your own admission of the gym you frequented was that the guidelines were not being followed.
Most likely they are even looser than before.
So you have to disperse any crowds
Actually, that situation has improved. Everyone is masked, although some idiots lower it down around their chin too much. I will go there on a hot day like today or to lift, but generally avoid it unless I have little choice. I believe masking and social distancing should be strictly enforced in these situations. If hosts refuse to do so, I'll skip.
ReplyDeleteLots of issues being pondered by PIAA and NCAA. Like whistles. Refs can't blow a whistle with a mask. Electronic whistles? What if is malfunctions at a crucial spot? I'd give them two.
ReplyDeleteWolf would make a fine senator. You can't get enough Republicans out of there to suit me.
ReplyDelete@2:30 - I was thinking more of the outdoor type sports, baseball/softball, soccer, lacrosse, field hockey. There isn't a lot of shared facilities, social distancing is more easily accomplished because of field sizes and outside of tournament play, is typically only one game at a time so its basically, arrive, warm up, play then leave.
ReplyDeleteWrestling, football and basketball are much higher risks for participants and because of crowds, for spectators as well.