As I sat in my living room Friday during the nearly four-hour Kentucky State Board of Education meeting about fall sports, I couldn’t help but think how we got to this point.
The last sporting event I covered was the Second Region boys’ basketball championship game between Madisonville-North Hopkins and Webster County on March 10.
After that, the world changed forever. There wasn’t a day that’s gone by when I didn’t look around and think about how off everything felt. Not necessarily bad, but uneasy.
COVID-19 has been living rent-free in our minds for the past several months, and while I don’t know if that’ll go away anytime soon, I think sports, even if it’s just for a few hours a week, could help that.
Whether it be a soccer or volleyball match, a cross country race, a round of golf or a Friday night football game, it’s something that gives us a sense of normal.
When the KHSAA Board of Control made the decision a week ago to go on with fall sports as it was currently scheduled, student-athletes breathed a sigh of relief.
When Gov. Andy Beshear said he wouldn’t overturn that decision on Monday, student-athletes thought they were out of the woods.
Then Twitter broke Wednesday when WPSD-TV’s Adam Wells tweeted he had a source saying the KBOE was going to schedule a meeting to discuss the KHSAA BOC’s decision to continue as planned. Not long after, an agenda was released where it indeed was true that it would be a discussion.
First off, Wells was right. He said there would be a meeting and there was. Did he say his source told him additional information? Yes. Do I think in a million years Wells would lie about that? Not a chance.
Wells is not only a good journalist, but he’s a great friend as well. So much so, my currently fictitious children will call him Uncle Adam.
Secondly, it was announced Thursday that canceling the fall season would not be on the table.
While this was good news, most were unsure of the reason for the meeting.
When the dust settled…four hours later…they agreed to send a letter. This letter would advise that KBOE think the KHSAA BOC should look at other avenues.
That’s fine and dandy, but these kids have been told they could play by multiple entities. Don’t pull them in another direction.
If the season starts and it does become a problem, I’m all for shutting down. I think safety should be practiced all the time.
But I at least think they should have the chance of doing good before assuming they’re going to do bad.
