College Sports Teams Follow Pros, Skip Practice in Favor of BLM Protests
“As college athletes, we have been given a platform and it is imperative that we speak out against injustice”
Pro-sports is going to collapse if they keep this up, and college sports is already pretty much ruined for this year because of the pandemic.
Campus Reform reports:
College sports teams follow NBA & MLB, skip practice for BLM protests
College football teams across the country canceled practices Thursday and Friday in protest of the shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old man in Kenosha, Wisconsin who was shot during an attempted arrest on August 23.
Boston College, Western Kentucky University, and many more teams chose not to take the field in an effort to raise awareness and to further the discussion in America about race relations. Some players have organized a Black Lives Matter protest in union with College Athlete Unity, a group that encourages student-athletes to advocate for social justice issues.
“It is unacceptable that Black Americans continue to be disproportionately affected by police brutality. As college athletes, we have been given a platform and it is imperative that we speak out against injustice,” CAU founder and Michigan defensive back Hunter Reynolds said.
Boston College football chose to hold team discussions on how to change a society they see as racially unjust rather than practicing.
“Instead of practicing, the team met together as student-athletes and coaches spoke about educating one another, maintaining social dialogue to help bring our community together, and invoking change in our society,” an official statement from the team read.
Western Kentucky University’s football team took a similar approach and also held discussions concerning the racial climate in America during the allotted practice time.
“We had a team meeting this afternoon regarding the current events in our country. We had very constructive conversation among our players and coaches,” WKU head coach Tyson Helton said. “I made the decision to call off tonight’s practice so our current focus could remain on these issues. We will plan to get back on the field tomorrow and continue having these important conversations as a team going forward.”
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Comments
honestly, pro and college sports cannot collapse fast enough for me.
I love the idea of playing sports. I do not, but have fond memories of my friends in jr high of grabbing our mitts, ball and bat and the 8 of us heading to the park to play ball for FUN. Of playing football and rugby – even us girls – on a hot summer afternoon.
Every “league” I have looked at for my kids is 4-days/week of practice, 2 days of games. The intense nature of it was not what I was looking for. I wanted them to play, but I did not want them to play the way other parents and kids play – as if it is a way to go to the professionals one day and they play/compete that way. Forget that only a fraction of a fraction get that far (especially a white kid from Utah), but they play as 8-yo like that is an option.
Basically, I hope that if the two big areas collapse, perhaps the kids leagues will become more FUN again. And sports will be a pastime not a religion.
Fun in general is gone for kids today. Grabbing mits and bats and heading to the local park to play is gone. Some “authority” believes it must be organized. Even little informal teams have those intense schedules you describe.
As for other play, I fondly remember “hey, kids, let’s go ride our bikes!”, or, good guys bad guys(!), cowboys and indians (!!), or, exploring the neighborhood (!!!).
Between the ages of nine and sixteen I literally wore out two bicycles and was well on the way to a third when I started driving. The only organization of my actions was mine. Looking back, I didn’t know how much fun it could be to hop on the Huffy and just GO.
Kids now are missing out on that fun but they don’t realize it.
.
And, are any sports-based scholarships in jeopardy? I think I know the answer to that one.
The law of unintended consequences is really going to make a dent here. It is no surprise to us that those who play upper-level sports are rarely college material otherwise, and you are going to see a huge drop in “diversity” on all of the Division I campuses. No sports revenue means no athletic scholarships (why is that not on the list of oxymorons?) means no reason to keep those student athletes around, at all. That ticket out of the ghetto has been rescinded. Then we will see the massive decrease in alumni donations, because why donate all those $$$ if there isn’t a pair of primo stadium seat locations as part of the deal? Dumbocrat really sums it up well.
In a way I have to admire the psychologist who mapped this all out ahead of time, because while I can see the bad stuff now as it plays out, it was really beyond my capabilities to see the overall picture playing out successfully from the beginning. Either that or I simply gave people more credit than they deserve, which seems likely since my generation was one where critical thought is part of the process. Having only one child, who is pretty smart, made me oblivious to the weakness that is Generation Why? and how they were so easily duped.
If collegiate athletes were actually implementing a secret death wish for their respective sports…what would they be doing differently than what they’re doing now?
Well, at least there’s still little league. As far as I know that hasn’t been corrupted yet.
Sorry major wood , that was supposed to be an up vote. Big thumbs.
I’m with Morning Sunshine–let all sports collapse–if I’m going to be lectured by someone, it had should be by someone who has better credentials than they’re qualified to bounce a ball, or skate around on an ice rink.
Defund sports scholarships and give it to people who will actually add something to society.
All division 1 sports need to go to the model of the minor leagues in baseball. Let the pro-sports fund their own development programs. This way the athletes will be paid, which is what they want, and the universities will be unburdened supporting them (and free of the presence of athletes on campus, which serves no one). I guess the only thing in the way of this is the multi-$B NCAA, the conferences, college presidents, athletic directors, big $$ college coaches, etc. So who thinks college athletes will get paid in the near future based on what they are up against? OTOH, maybe killing the college model is the only way to escape their indentured servitude. Must be sad when your only options are compliance or burning it to the ground.