* This sort of stuff is becoming a bit too common on social media these days…
Gov. Pritzker: I’m sorry, but there can be no high school football until spring.
Opponents: You’re a brutal dictator!
I doubt any of the people making those comments have ever lived in or visited an actual dictatorship. I’ve been to a couple. There’s no comparison.
* The worst, though, is when people like this guy bring up the Nazis…
As part of his push to have Gov. JB Pritzker allow more high school sports competition in the state, Sacred Heart Griffin football coach Ken Leonard compared current COVID-19 restrictions to what Germans did to Jews in World War II — a comparison Pritzker’s press secretary condemned on Tuesday. […]
In a WMAY radio interview on Thursday — two days before #LetUsPlay rallies in Chicago and Springfield — Leonard recalled that his late father, John, had been a staunch Democrat who served in the Army during World War II and later told his children that people should stand up against some government actions.
“He told me … and he told all my brothers and sisters … don’t ever let them take your guns, and do not let them get you like sheep where they just tell you what to do,” Leonard said in the radio interview, ”’cause that’s what the Germans and the Jewish people did at that time. And that’s kind of what’s happening a little bit. I mean, our governor right now is telling our parents that he knows how to parent their kids better than they do, and he’s going to keep them healthy. Well, you know what? That’s a parent’s job.”
Asked about the coach’s comments, Pritzker press secretary Jordan Abudayyeh responded via email: “Throughout this pandemic the vitriolic minority who rejects science has compared public health guidance from medical experts to the atrocities that took place under a hateful dictator who oversaw the murder of millions of people. Those who make these incendiary comparisons either don’t understand history or are blatantly using these comparisons as a way to disguise their anti-Semitism. As a founder of the (Illinois) Holocaust Museum, Governor Pritzker has spent his life dedicated (to) fighting bigotry and hatred and as governor he has prioritized the health and safety of Illinoisans amid this pandemic and will continue to do so.”
Coach Leonard denied to Bernie Schoenberg that he is anti-Semitic or was calling Pritzker a Nazi or a Hitler.
Also, the state does not leave all decisions up to parents. We have things like mandatory attendance, curfews, driver’s license restrictions, vaccine mandates, statutory concussion protocols, DCFS, in loco parentis, etc., etc., etc.
- MOON - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 9:19 am:
Rich in my humble opinion you have totally blown out of proportion what the coach said.
- don the legend - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 9:19 am:
Coach Leonard lives in the tiniest of bubbles and his rhetoric proves it.
- Simple Simon - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 9:19 am:
I guess SHG’s alleged focus on character and morals doesn’t apply to the football program.
- Colin O'Scopy - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 9:20 am:
Shame on Coach Ken Leonard. This hyperbole, and I hope it is just hyperbole, helps no one. It’s football, a kids’ game. Sheesh. My Dad also fought in WWII and he told me, “Colin, don’t let a-holes get you down”. I won’t Dad. I promise I won’t.
- Skeptic - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 9:20 am:
“That’s a parent’s job.” Seems to me there’s an entire agency devoted to protecting children from parents doing their job. I guess that’s different?
- Give Me A Break - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 9:23 am:
Football coaches who equate not being able to coach 15-17 year old boys to Nazi Germany have lost all perspective of their positions in life and history.
Sounds like SHG needs to have a mandatory in-service for their staff on the history of Nazi Germany and lives lost.
- Roadrager - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 9:25 am:
A good guideline for life is to never, ever put your trust in someone who’s really into high school sports. Doubly so if that person has no children in high school sports.
We still can’t open schools for learning safely, and these clowns are frothing as they demand an immediate start to contact drills.
- Someone you should know - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 9:26 am:
You know most Catholic dioceses would throw this guy out on his bum. But Bishop Paprocki does not run a normal Diocese
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 9:26 am:
Football is being played in the spring.
It’s an extra curricular activity.
You can wait, you can’t, a family member can’t, those you don’t know, can’t un-die.
They should listen to Trump, he says this virus is deadly.
- Socially DIstant Watcher - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 9:26 am:
Coach Leonard gets paid to coach. If kids aren’t playing, his job looks at risk. But get a grip, guy; there are many ways to be useful and football isn’t the only one.
- The Doc - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 9:29 am:
Amongst others, the “my father was a staunch Democrat” defense gives the game away. Apparently you are permitted to invoke Godwin’s law if a parent voted for JFK?
- Bemused - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 9:30 am:
I think someone was once quoted as saying. To be a successful football coach you have to smart enough to be good at it and dumb enough to think it is important.
- DuPage Saint - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 9:30 am:
I hope all this guy does is coach. I really hope he is not the school’s history teacher and also football coach
- Jocko - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 9:30 am:
==he knows how to parent their kids better than they do==
If you can’t follow CDC guidelines, then the answer is yes. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/prevention.html
- Drake Mallard - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 9:30 am:
Further proof concussion protocols are necessary
- Siualum - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 9:32 am:
Wow. What a drama queen.
- Almost retired - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 9:32 am:
This is disappointing and sad. I have difficulty understanding why high school foot ball is so crucial. I don’t hear those demanding high school football be plated and comparing our Governorito Hitler and dictators also advocating for other group extracurricular activities at high school level. There are band programs that involve more youth than football. There are theater and drama programs that involve as many if not more high school students than football. I can name more. Participation in High School football across the Country is gradually decreasing. High School football players have grandparents, have high risk relatives and friends, have high risk neighbors. Empathy for life should be a value. Sacrifice at times to save another human life should be a value. There are good High School Football Coaches concerned about developing life affirming good life long values in the young men they coach. To me, I would not want this High School football coach from the Catholic Sacred Heart to coach my grand children. If Sacred Heart stays silent about his words, it is tacit approval that the elderly and vulnerable in our society are expendable. Not a value I want my grand chlidren taught.
- Osborne Smith III - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 9:34 am:
== @DuPage Saint ==
He’s also the school’s AD and his son is Derek Leonard, who has led nearby Rochester to seven state titles.
- Lucky Pierre - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 9:35 am:
Who ever brings up Hitler and Nazis in comparison to the polarized politics of today is most definitely on the losing side of the argument and is resorting to fear tactics. This has been going on for years by people who know better
There is simply no comparison to starting WWII which killed an estimated 70 to 85 million people including 6 million Jews and whatever the news of the day is.
- TheInvisibleMan - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 9:41 am:
===Coach Leonard lives in the tiniest of bubbles===
Can we stop excusing this away already?
How many times do we have to hear people of supposed faith utter these things before we accept what is happening?
If you are spending time constantly excusing the actions of the people in the organization you belong to, you are the one in the minority in that organization.
This isn’t a tiny little bubble. This is the regular everyday environment in this organization across the state and country.
- Pundent - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 9:44 am:
At a time when adults should be leading and setting an example for kids they have influence over we get coach Leonard. Big time college programs with all of the resources and financial incentives to control the spread of the virus are seeing outbreaks. The most recent of which is Notre Dame. And this comes after they’ve previously issued quarantined orders and implemented on-line learning to stop the spread of the virus. How would Sacred Heart or any other high school safely resume football without any of these resources? And when you compare leadership in a pandemic to Nazi Germany it doesn’t exactly bolster the argument that you can apply sound judgment and decision making.
- Annonin' - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 9:44 am:
Sounds like Ken Leonard is working on his exit interview. Too bad he always seemed like a decent guy and just another jock turning out D1 prospects. Thought SHG was trying to prove it was smarter that everyone else
- OneMan - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 9:44 am:
For football there are concussion rules are part of the national association rules, basically the rules that every state has. In those rules there is no allowance for “a parent or guardian says its ok”
- Ferris Bueller - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 9:48 am:
The arguments that people put forth for the “need” for organized school sports are just idiotic. Like somehow kids will explode with uncontained energy if they don’t participate in a school organized contact sport. Go play soccer in the park with your friends after school, go for a run, but the schools have enough to deal with to try to find a way to keep people safe while delivering their core mission of education.
- Magic Dragon - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 9:50 am:
==Also, the state does not leave all decisions up to parents. We have things like mandatory attendance, curfews, driver’s license restrictions, vaccine mandates, statutory concussion protocols, DCFS, in loco parentis, etc., etc., etc.==
And now you can add, deciding whether they can play sports or not.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 9:52 am:
=== And now you can add, deciding whether they can play sports or not.===
Extra curricular activities are first… a privilege.
They are not a right.
Keep up, please.
- Rufus - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 9:53 am:
This is sad, so sad. Thousands of people are are working so very hard to save millions of people from dying from this horrific virus and Mr. Leonard is insistent that playing 1 season of football is far more important. What’s even more disturbing is that there is a large group of people who believe him.
Ignorance is winning—(sigh)
- Excitable Boy - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 9:53 am:
- totally blown out of proportion -
Not only did he compare Gov. Pritzker to nazis, he also suggested that the Jews were sheep that allowed the nazis to oppress them.
In my opinion your brain doesn’t work very well.
- Nick Name - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 9:54 am:
Ken Leonard has lost his freaking mind. Holy carp.
- Birds on the Bat - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 9:54 am:
Thought SHG was trying to prove it was smarter that everyone
I think the posters here have cornered that market.
Also, not that it has any relevance, but Rochester has 8 state football titles.
- BTO2 - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:03 am:
We don’t see or say this often in the CS8 conf, the Chatham Glenwood football team still #1 and defending champs.
- low level - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:04 am:
Emmer’s description matches Trump’s behavior exactly. Condescending and gets personal when he doesn’t have an argument. LOL.
As for Leonard, his comments are so completely out there that I wonder if he played football back in the day and has brain damage resulting?
- Help - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:05 am:
I just do not get it. It’s being moved to the spring. A few months and then HS football will be back. Why is this such a big deal to folks? The season isn’t canceled, it’s delayed. You’ll get your football in spring. Just take a big, deep breath and relax.
- Mr. Hand - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:08 am:
As a role model for many young people, a fundamental disagreement on how things should be handled should not equate to comparisons to Hitler or Nazi Germany.
Unfortunately, this type of rhetoric is too common on both sides of the aisles when discussing leaders.
Difficult situations can often show the character of the people and COVID-19 has brought out the worst in many.
- Mr. Hand - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:10 am:
===The season isn’t canceled, it’s delayed. You’ll get your football in spring. Just take a big, deep breath and relax.===
What if they don’t? Hopefully, they do. If metrics do not substantially improve will Pritzker stick to his guns?
Some people might actually have their brains explode.
- Pundent - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:11 am:
=Why is this such a big deal to folks?=
The decision is based on input from doctors and scientists and there’s a good chance that things won’t be much better in the spring. I suspect that Leonard and others know that on some level. At the same time I get the sneaking suspicion that many of those yelling let them play aren’t buying into ideas like wearing masks, avoiding gatherings, and doing the other things necessary to get the virus under control.
- Lucky Pierre - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:12 am:
Why do on earth do you think JB will approve spring sports? He has a long track record of moving the goal posts.
Very unlikely a vaccine will be mass distributed by then which is his metric.
- Rudy’s teeth - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:14 am:
Is Coach Leonard exhibiting signs of Ralph Kramden Syndrome?
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:15 am:
==At the same time I get the sneaking suspicion that many of those yelling let them play aren’t buying into ideas like wearing masks, avoiding gatherings, and doing the other things necessary to get the virus under control.==
Well that is an easy thing to say with having absolutely no proof. The point is that other states have proven that hs sports can be played safely. And remember, we are not just talking about football here, it is also volleyball and soccer (amongst others) as well.
- FormerParatrooper - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:15 am:
This is one time I wish military service or participation in a program where you go to 3rd world countries were compulsory. Some people never leave their communities or State and have not been to places where there are real dictators. Sure they see them on the news, but until you have been there, spoken to people who experience it firsthand, you don’t fully grasp what it is about. Imagine if you spoke like this in a real dictatorship, you would find you head in a mail sack.
I understand for some high school football is important, some are playing for college scouts with hopes of the NFL. But we also have a pandemic, and things have to be seen from the larger picture.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:17 am:
=Extra curricular activities are first… a privilege.
They are not a right.=
Right or privilege, doesn’t matter. This decision is absolutely impacting kids’ lives in a negative way.
Keep up please.
- thoughts matter - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:17 am:
He’s not the only one throwing those words around in reference to politicians and political parties. I’ve seen lots of memes of people trying to equate the Democrats oversight attempts of Trumps actions to Hitler prior to WWII. This is more egregious because Pritzker is Jewish.
- Demoralized - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:19 am:
Aren’t all of these sports scheduled to be played in the Spring right now? For now I don’t see the reason for the hysteria. Nobody is saying they can’t play right now. They are saying they have to wait until the Spring.
And who cares what other states are doing? Just because someone else is doing it doesn’t make it right.
I want this pandemic to end and as long as people continue to demand this or that it is never going to end. Some of you don’t realize that by demanding these things you are only prolonging the state of affairs we are in right now. Stop it. Because I’m sick of the selfishness some of you are showing. It’s always about you.
- Demoralized - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:19 am:
==Keep up please.==
I think you’re the one that needs to keep up.
- cermak_rd - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:20 am:
Here’s what I don’t get about high school sports. This pandemic has caused people to die. People to lose loved ones. People to lose jobs, livelihoods and businesses. People are stressed economically. I saw a headline that 80000 people applied for an assistance program designed to serve 30000. That’s an awful lot of misery.
And high school sports looks so petty compared to all of those other things.
- Pundent - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:24 am:
=The point is that other states have proven that hs sports can be played safely.=
Other states have proven that sports can be played. Indiana has a pretty popular college team that can’t play safely this weekend. Wisconsin has HS football and they have a positivity rate of 15%. We’re at 3.5%.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:25 am:
Pick a name.
=== Right or privilege, doesn’t matter.===
If it doesn’t matter, then pausing until spring doesn’t matter.
Like you’re lacking in picking a name, you can’t argue rational thoughts.
So, pick a name.
- Sayitaintso - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:25 am:
A stupid remark, but as to the criticisms about him as a leader/teacher of young men, I suspect there would be hundreds upon hundreds of current/former players who would vociferously disagree. And they are speaking from actual experience.
- Cheryl44 - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:25 am:
My 17 year old high senior band nerd nephew is bummed out about his extracurricular activities being put in hold, but he’s smart enough to realize bringing Covid home from playing at half time and giving it to his immune compromised parent would be worse.
- cermak_rd - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:27 am:
Anonymous at Sep 23, 20 @ 10:17 am,
Yes it probably is impacting the students in a negative way. I’m just uncertain how not to have an epidemic affect everyone including student athletes.
But can the students practice within their school? Like run sprints? Pushups, strength training, all that, without contact?
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:28 am:
=== safely===
This has been a great revealer of some of the sheer ignorance of others to play an extra curricular activity.
As pointed out, a “fairly” well known college isn’t playing football this week, you can use the google as to why.
- cermak_rd - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:31 am:
Anonymous - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:21 am,
I don’t think anyone thinks that cannabis dispensary issues are as important as the pandemic and to deal with them no one is proposing doing anything that might make the epidemic worse.
The dispensary issues are matters of governance and of course, government goes on even during an epidemic. And of course, the licenses once running can bring money into the state which can help with paying for the epidemic expenses.
- Give Me A Break - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:31 am:
For those who don’t live in central Illinois, HS sports, especially HS football has become how many old jocks and current parents define their lives.
The Central State Eight and Sangamo Conferences have produced state champions over the last decade. I had two daughters who were cheerleaders and we loved Friday nights in the Fall. But a lot of the parents and coaching staffs around here treat HS football like the NFL.
They don’t have perspective and but in recent weeks, the majority of them have become public health experts and highly trained medical professionals. You hear talk radio around SPI, JB is doing this to harm Trump and kids really don’t have any risk.
I’m ashamed to say many of those people I know and like, but they have no clue what they are talking about.
- @misterjayem - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:37 am:
“This decision is absolutely impacting kids’ lives in a negative way.”
You misspelled “deadly and highly-contagious, viral pandemic.”
– MrJM
- A - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:42 am:
Most certainly tells you what many parents think of their “educational” establishment’s main function. This is what Educators fight all the time
- Huh? - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:46 am:
“Extra curricular activities are first… a privilege. They are not a right.”
What … a … minute. Wasn’t there a judge in Clay County that said fishing was a constitutional right? So by extension, why aren’t extra curricular activities, like high school football a constitutional right? /s
- Football Fan - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:46 am:
There is at least one central IL HS football team practicing every day in helmets and full pads with no social distancing. The practice field is on a main road in plain sight.
Im guessing they have clearance to do this?
- Lurket - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:47 am:
+++ I guess SHG’s alleged focus on character and morals doesn’t apply to the football program. +++
This is a severe understatement. I found it horrific how many parents and fans get drunk as heck on school grounds before every game but I was more horrified when my kids attended SHG. Leonard assures that when his players are caught drinking underage, there is no penalty as tough boys will do things like that. But, football drives the SHG money.
- Cool Papa Bell - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:50 am:
I still believe that the football season should have been played in Illinois with mitigations laid out for safe play.
But the HSFB community is making it harder and harder to stand with them. The comparison is inexcusable. Every time something or someone is compared to Hitler it diminishes the true atrocity of WW II and the extermination of six million Jews.
- Precinct Captain - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:52 am:
Are Durkin, Demmer, Mazzochi, and Wehrli feverishly working to get him in the House GOP?
- cermak_rd - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:54 am:
Football Fan,
You know as long as they are doing it with in the school (so not inviting other teams from other areas to come) I really don’t see a problem with them practicing together outside. The whole school is likely sharing germs anyway (I doubt there is a lot of expert donning and doffing of masks) so it’s not like this is adding a lot of extra risks.
- Club J - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:57 am:
This is a sad coming from a football coach. If he was a any other school he might not still have a job today. We are in the middle of a global pandemic where 205,000 people have died and some parents and football coaches are wanting to put their sports before the lives of their children. I just don’t get it.
I guess I’m just to old to understand and I’m not that darn old or at least I didn’t think 56 was old. The coach knew exactly what he was saying and this hasn’t been blown out of proportion by anyone.
- Dotnonymous - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:59 am:
Coach Punchy.
- Dotnonymous - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 11:04 am:
- MOON - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 9:19 am:
Rich in my humble opinion you have totally blown out of proportion what the coach said.
Blow it out of your… proportion.
- don the legend - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 11:17 am:
==Very unlikely a vaccine will be mass distributed by then which is his metric.==
LP. if this is the Governor’s metric and he cancel’s sports in the spring because there is no vaccine, how in the heck is this moving the goal posts?
- Cheis - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 11:19 am:
“our governor right now is telling our parents that he knows how to parent their kids better than they do, and he’s going to keep them healthy. Well, you know what? That’s a parent’s job.”
I would have to ask him where the line is—we have all sorts of laws to protect children from their parents’ poor job performance. Which other ones does he object to? Or is everything okay so long as FOOTBALL!!! ?
- Dotnonymous - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 11:20 am:
The very best behavioral example any coach can model for students is too act as a responsible adult…for sure.
- zatoichi - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 11:22 am:
My Dad was a WWII vet who liberated two concentration camps. When people used the dictator/Nazi comparison he would ask “How stupid are you? I saw what real dictators do. Sit down and shut up.” His actual language would get me banned here. Coach Leonard, please shut up.
- Nick Name - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 11:33 am:
I wonder if Ken Leonard screamed “Nazi Germany!” about the literal concentration camps we’re housing Latin American immigrants in.
- Fighter of Foo - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 11:52 am:
I have voted for R’s and D’s. My whole life. Whoever is better, get’s my vote. Anyone who uses Nazi or Hitler to describe any political opponent gets blacklisted by me. Read a dang history book.
- Jake From Elwood - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 11:56 am:
What a mindless thing to say.
- Last Bull Moose - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 12:05 pm:
I am not sure what bothers me most. The lack of civil discourse. The ignorance of history. Or the dismissal of science.
Our education system needs a thorough review.
- Unconventionalwisdom - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 12:13 pm:
The Governor is right! That simple. This bringing up the Holocaust is an attempt at deflection for the real issue and makes the person who says it look silly.
- Rachel - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 12:13 pm:
I don’t get the casual attitude these football parents and coaches have about this disease. The potential later cardiac issues alone, even for those who had no symptoms initially, would scare the crap out of me if I was raising a potential athlete. I’d make every effort to prevent that child from contracting Covid.
- JS Mill - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 12:26 pm:
=Football is being played in the spring.=
Respectfully, do not count on that. With respect.
=I suspect there would be hundreds upon hundreds of current/former players who would vociferously disagree. And they are speaking from actual experience.=
Reading or listening to his actual words, having him share his beliefs with us isn’t an “actual experience”? I disagree.
And these aren’t “men” that he is leading. They are kids, adn impressionable. I don’t know the man and have never met him. But he told me who he is.
= I just wanted to say we want the parents to make choices, and that’s the bottom line=
Lol, he doesn’t really believe that. What are the chances he is cool with allowing parents to make decisions about playing time, offensive and defensive decisions etc.? Zero. So you don’t get what you want and then launch into ridiculous statements that you know you don’t believe in.
Disgraceful.
- Mr K - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 12:41 pm:
The issue that many of these ideological “anti-maskers” or “freedom fighters” forget is that how they “parent their kids” makes a direct impact on *other* people.
If you don’t respect the data — or, more likely, don’t know — the data — you won’t make proper parenting or coaching decisions.
Literature is ideology.
Politics is ideology.
Science is method.
There’s very little to compare between “method” and “ideology” except to say that in this current environment ideology seems to trump method. Hmmm. Wonder why.
Moreover, to assume that we’re “less free now” — or that a politician (driven by ideology, sure) is basing his or her decisions (driven by a rigorous scientific method!) and making you or your kid less “free” — is bosh. Pure bosh. Plain and simple.
And, yeah: coaches need to get a grip. If you want to see rigor (and terror) of playing contact sports in a Covid environment — check out HBO’s latest season of “Hard Knocks”.
Tell me that any school — anywhere — is doing what the NFL is doing — and I’ll say, okay, that particular high school program and coach get a thumbs up.
Otherwise, please. Keep your ideology to yourself.
- Eastside - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 12:49 pm:
It amazes me that the #1 argument I’ve seen made on here is that football is not important yet this post at the time I am writing this has 75 comments and the one about the terrible finances of the State has 8. Maybe commenters should think about that.
- Give Me A Break - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 1:03 pm:
Eastside I suspect if someone compared the budget making process or OMB policy to Nazis and millions of lost lives, you might see the same thing.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 1:03 pm:
=== Maybe commenters should think about that.===
See to your own thinking, as I don’t see a comment from you on the example you use.
To the post,
It’s still confusing to me that “I have a right to have my athlete be infected” is a real take.
“Ok”
- Mama - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 1:35 pm:
==“That’s a parent’s job.”==
You are assuming all parents care or they are smart enough to know what is best for their kids.
- Mama - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 1:44 pm:
Parents are having a fit because they are afraid their son will miss out on a college football scholarship.
- crazybleedingheart - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 1:45 pm:
Just because your granddaddy blamed the Holocaust on Jews doesn’t mean you have to, coach.
- Da Big Bad Wolf - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 2:24 pm:
=== yet this post at the time I am writing this has 75 comments and the one about the terrible finances of the State has 8. Maybe commenters should think about that.===
Yeah I think about the rating agencies with their chicken little announcements every several months or so. Illinois has never defaulted on a bond. They are full of it. Back to sports.
- Teacher Lady - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 3:11 pm:
==He has a long track record of moving the goal posts==
He has a long track record of adapting his thinking based on changes in scientists’ understanding of this pandemic and the advice of public health professionals.
Fixed it for you.
- Lincoln Lad - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 5:05 pm:
Parents should think of exposing young men to the thinking of Coach Leonard. In days of old, sports were intended to teach teamwork… to supporting each other… to standing together against the opponent. The opponent here is the virus… not the effort to contain it so fewer people die.
- Give Us Barabbas - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 5:28 pm:
Sacred Heart Griffin is a very religious private school. And their religion is football.
You can tell what people worship by the churches they build. SHG has their own professional sports clinic built onto their school. It’s not for teaching Latin or French. Or morals and ethics, apparently. Their church is 100 yards long, has uprights attached to the crucifix, and High Services are held on Friday nights.
What I want to know is how the coach and his supporters justify the risk of offering up the lives of parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters, because the holy services must be performed or… something bad happens?
It’s. Just. A. Game. It can wait until spring, or when it’s safe. Until then it isn’t worth risking a single life.
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 11:08 pm:
I get that people like Coach Leonard feel an emptiness at the dimmed Friday night lights.
If your life feels empty because there is no football this weekend, maybe throw a football in the back yard with your son or your dad.
Players get injured and miss whole seasons, the winners don’t dwell on what they have lost, but on what they have and they have to look forward to.
- Clarification - Thursday, Sep 24, 20 @ 11:30 am:
“There is at least one central IL HS football team practicing every day in helmets and full pads with no social distancing. The practice field is on a main road in plain sight.
Im guessing they have clearance to do this?”
Yes, each program has about 20 contact days for practicies, drills, etc. And it’s not just for football either. So you may see groups of kids out there and they do have the blessing of the IHSA.