Do kids miss their high school games?

We are halfway into April now. A baby step past halfway in fact. Let history record that April 16 was like a day out of mid-winter. 

I told a friend recently that I'd rather re-live the months of December and January than March. And now we have winter in April. A little blast of this can never be ruled out in April. It's supposed to be "little." 

Spring has not made a statement yet. 

Can we now conclude that this is the last year where high schools should be offering the standard spring sports? Can we now conclude that a new approach is needed? Should I assume that the kids really miss the competition? Maybe they don't, or at least not as much as we might think. I think I'll assume they like it. 

So why would we want to persist with our status quo? Nothing like this happens to afflict fall and winter sports. Those seasons follow script. Football is outdoors but it begins in late summer. That is nothing like early spring. 

I'd like to hear some school representatives echo me on how we need a new spring approach. Don't bet on it. They look outside now and try to exercise denial. 

Why such a strong pull for the status quo? 

From an email I received from a friend on Saturday:

 

Brett was interviewing Mary Holmberg on the radio a couple of days ago, she said that her softball teams and fields would be ready to play home games by the end of next week. Hmmm, drove by the Mary Holmberg Softball Multiplex Compound last night on the way to Jazz Fest, glanced at the snow-covered diamonds, and I thought, “Nope.”

 

Hope springs eternal, indeed. 

When I was little we were so anxious about the Minnesota Twins this time of year. We had emotions invested in the Twins. Today the whole landscape for pro sports is different. Yours truly needs a reminder that we're even getting close to the season. As I sit here I don't even know if it has begun. And really wouldn't care. 

I like talking "retro" baseball with friends. And I would enjoy writing more about the '60s phase. Only problem is that I have exhausted nearly every "retro" angle I can think of with my previous writing. 

Those days were quite pre-Bill James and "analytics." I suppose the finely-tuned analysis was inevitable. It does get exhausting trying to keep up with it now. So I haven't made much of an effort. 

"The Onion" humor site came up with some analytics to determine how long it would take for a fan to withdraw from baseball because of weariness with analytics. Rimshot. In the pre-Bill James days we got all excited about batting average, home runs and RBIs. It was short-sighted, we later learned (or were told). Well fine. 

My main concern with all big-time athletes now is that they just stay healthy, avoid life-changing injuries. Football being the worst offender of course. But baseball most certainly poses risks with its "missile" of that little ball. And, remember when Pete Rose pile-drove right through Ray Fosse in the All-Star game? You probably remember Pete Rose's name, not so likely with Fosse. 

Getting back to the subject of high school activities, we of course support these with tax dollars. We're certainly delighted to make that commitment to our kids! But of course there's the "value" angle. What of the canceled events? I have seen the word "canceled" with track meets on the MAHS calendar thus far. If "canceled," then it's a missed experience for our kids. If it's more than sporadic, then it should really concern us. This does not happen for fall or winter. Spring is the real outlier when we have to hope for luck: pleasant, accommodative weather. 

("Canceled" is correct with one "l" or two.)

What does the "softball complex" look like today, Sunday, as I write this? Doesn't take much imagination. Is Prairie Lane showing wear and tear because of the crush of parking that has happened along there so often? What government entity is responsible for that road? Might it face maintenance expenses sooner because of the wear and tear? Stands to reason. Public facilities get used and then there's wear and tear. 

And I imagine the prices charged by contractors only go up? Because inflation is a constant? And up until now we haven't been properly concerned about inflation? In other words, "panicked?" 

 

Personal priority

As always I pay special attention to music at the school. I make suggestions for sports but that is probably futile. Can I offer something re. music? Here I'll state again my concern about PSEO. Please y'all, become aware of this and start asking questions about the effect on our cherished public school. The band director told me at the start of the school year that she was losing four kids to PSEO. 

PSEO is where kids exit high school to take college classes. The kids will say they are eager to do this because they can get college credits accomplished ahead of the normal timetable, thus save money. 

I will assume that any kids in PSEO would be among the better band performers. Administration seems to be aware of the concern that I and others might have. Reportedly they try to calm the waters by saying that a very high academic performance is needed to get into PSEO. But a friend of mine said the high school is quite generous in grading. 

In past times we heard the term "grade inflation" with a suggestion that it was a bad thing. I disagree, as I think it's great the teachers are being generous with the kids. What I don't like is to see some of the most motivated students drift away from regular high school. 

High school ought to be a cherished time in one's life, really. A big part of it is simple socialization. So the PSEO kids are denying themselves some of this. But they talk almost entirely about the money savings of starting college early. Well, balderdash. I could cry when I think of some of these kids leaving Wanda Dagen's band experience. 

And here's a huge warning: What if the number of PSEO kids keeps going up? Might the high school band program as we've known it be endangered? You can always get a group of kids together to sing. But band depends on well-defined sections of instruments with section leaders. Retired Hancock band director Ken Grunig said "don't put the preacher's kid on the tuba." Preachers are of course nomadic. See the issues high school band directors deal with? Or lose sleep over? 

I will cite another prime worry connected to PSEO: What if we start to realize that PSEO is a "racket" for colleges to lasso more kids, to get more kids counted in their enrollment, to thus get more state funding? I mean, colleges do seem rather desperate for students. Who says college students have to be a certain age? It's all about numbers. 

So, what if colleges begin to nakedly "raid" our public schools for students? Can someone allay my concerns about this? Do enough people read this deep into my blog posts? Rimshot. 

The takeaway today is 1) we need a fresh start in how we organize spring sports for high school kids, and 2) we need to rein in or maybe abolish "PSEO." Let high school kids be high school kids. Calling them college students does not make them so. 

For the present, let's just look out the window at all the snow, hear the roaring wind on this Sunday. I have implored the community: let's try to get an "inflated cover" for the Big Cat playing field. But do the movers and shakers listen to me? Sigh.

 

Addendum: The late Tom Snyder used to share the anecdote about the weatherman who said "I'll take a leak out the window."

Addendum #2: Hovering over me as I write about MACA sports today is how Mary Holmberg would disagree with me on one or two things. So futile it seemed, being at loggerheads with Ms. Holmberg. I might shudder. She tends not to be, as they say, "amenable."

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com