Merc News / Nobody should be playing basketball
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Again what should we expect when the leaders of our country at the National and state levels have no clue or plan in place.
It is interesting that this tournament is what made the discussion jump to a newspaper level
Right or wrong, a lot of basketball has been played around NorCal the past 5 months
Right or wrong, a lot of basketball has been played around NorCal the past 5 months
The crazy part of this facility is my friend coaches a team out of there. He was hospitalized for 31 days due to contacting the Coronavirus...almost lost his life. This facility isn't the only place holding tournaments, trainings , 5 on 5 ,etc...there is hoops being played everywhere , all over the place.
Good article. Thanks to those coaches in the article that put the kids ahead of their pocketbooks. True character is always shown in crazy times. I’m glad we got to identify all of the coaches that are playing right now.
I think it’s a mistake to put too much blame on individual coaches in this situation. Total lack of leadership and planning got us here. We are five months in at this point, with no end in sight and no apparent plan. It’s not realistic to tell people “put your life on hold forever with no end in sight and no plan for a path forward” and then place all the blame on them for the outcomes.
Coaches have families and bills too. Juniors and seniors are concerned about their futures and damaging recruiting prospects (though question when/whether college b-ball will be the same, who knows...but this is not exactly comparable to partying). Families are trying to figure out which end is up.
None of which is to say that basketball is more important than health and safety. Obviously, it’s not. But it’s kind of like opening colleges with wildly unrealistic rules and then blaming 18 year olds for not following them. This is all a mess and people have very real worries about their livelihoods and futures, and pointing fingers at individuals in the middle of it isn’t all that meaningful IMO.
Full disclosure, I’m not a coach nor related to one, but I’m a parent who has let my high schooler play in recent months after total shutdown in the beginning. No tournaments, but smaller environments, masks except when actively playing, etc. I’ve felt extremely conflicted about it at times but... see all above.
Coaches have families and bills too. Juniors and seniors are concerned about their futures and damaging recruiting prospects (though question when/whether college b-ball will be the same, who knows...but this is not exactly comparable to partying). Families are trying to figure out which end is up.
None of which is to say that basketball is more important than health and safety. Obviously, it’s not. But it’s kind of like opening colleges with wildly unrealistic rules and then blaming 18 year olds for not following them. This is all a mess and people have very real worries about their livelihoods and futures, and pointing fingers at individuals in the middle of it isn’t all that meaningful IMO.
Full disclosure, I’m not a coach nor related to one, but I’m a parent who has let my high schooler play in recent months after total shutdown in the beginning. No tournaments, but smaller environments, masks except when actively playing, etc. I’ve felt extremely conflicted about it at times but... see all above.
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I can appreciate that other side. Rationalizing risking a kids long term health for 3 basketball games. I completely understand how many Americans think because we are raised in a capitalistic society that places value on worthless awards and titles. Having a young girl fill her self worth with a 20 point game is completely understandable in America. The rewards of playing 3 good games overshadows the chance that the kids can have heart issues for the rest of their lives. We are the land of the free because we are free to take extraordinary risk for a small reward. I value every parents right to risk their kids lives but I do feel sorry for those kids and also I make sure that the people who benefit financially never get my money or kids and that their deeds are spread everywhere thru word of mouth. The same argument that these AAU teams are making the Opioid companies made the same one. They supplied a product that people needed to feel good about getting thru tough times. They blamed the users for picking their product that was on the free market. Some people just blame the users. Some people blame the drug dealers. I blame both.
Maybe you are right. I don’t pretend to have all the answers. I just know there are a lot of people looking around wondering what the future looks like at all and if there is anything worth caring about. People need a sense of purpose and future and community in their lives and they will try to find it where they can, including in sports and school and work. In the meantime I am going off to prepare potential evacuation routes, since we can never have too many crises at once.
Good luck and God Bless you’ll during the fires and Pandemic. I pray that we will all be around to have this conversations in a year.
Not sure how that’s the main takeaway. I mean, to the extent life encompasses the eventual need to pay for rent and food for ourselves and families, that’s true of pretty much everything we do as humans. But I think it’s much more normalcy-seeking than anything else (edited to add, at least on the family side).
Saratoga, Moreau Catholic, Mitty and O’Dowd coaches are all quoted in the article.
Yep. Hiding behind capitalism because of bad values is America’s history. America was built on people to put profit over children, women, races, genders and religion. Hard times are always the best time to see humans net integrity. All these coaches say they love the kids. Have them choose between their business and a kid or their car payment and a kid. We end up seeing that they make the same choices as a local drug dealer. Well at least their scam is legal.
None of those coaches are playing. Only Payton was identified as a coach that is playing
The end of this is a bad analogy. It paints with a broad brush an industry that has a lot of people in it for the right reasons.
Are we in a pandemic or not? It's tough to tell if you monitor what the club/AAU folks are up to.
I said “Thanks to those coaches in the article that put the kids ahead of their pocketbooks.” They interviewed 4 coaches that put the kids ahead of their businesses. I was giving a huge thank you to those 4 coaches.
Comical that people write things and carry on like they don’t even know what they said,
Godfamilybasketball you specifically said and I quote
Then you come with
“Not sure if you read my post correctly.“
Please help me understand cause I’m confused
Godfamilybasketball you specifically said and I quote
Implying the article identified all coaches playing in Rocklin . SMH
Then you come with
“Not sure if you read my post correctly.“
Please help me understand cause I’m confused
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Yes. Not from the article. Most of us know programs traveling and playing right now from reading the other topics on this website. I feel like I’m trapped in a bad text with you trying to explain. . If we don’t understand each other’s postings Im completely ok with that.
so stop trying to explain, take a break troll the internet for something else to talk about. You've beat this subject down into the ground on the Girls and Boys side
Yes, i got the part about the coaches that put players first.
My comment was in response to your comment "I'm glad we got to identify all of the coaches that are playing right now". Payton was the only coach identified in the article as playing right now. You identified 4 coaches that are NOT playing right now
Good article and it was a follow up on some discussions that we have been having on this forum about the hypocrisy of certain programs just ignoring social distancing and the greater good!
I like a number of the coaches in this article but I think they are being a bit coy in saying no one should be playing when the very well know many of their own players have been all over these social media threads at "Open Runs" and at other Showcase events being posted in videos. I know he and other coaches can't stop players and parents but let's be real. All these coaches know which of their players are out there playing. Not pinpointing anyone specifically and I understand the other side of the argument that California rising Jr. and Sr. are really scrambling to get exposure since many of the other states are operating as if nothing is happening. But again until we stop this virus we are just asking for all sports to go away for the foreseeable future.
I like a number of the coaches in this article but I think they are being a bit coy in saying no one should be playing when the very well know many of their own players have been all over these social media threads at "Open Runs" and at other Showcase events being posted in videos. I know he and other coaches can't stop players and parents but let's be real. All these coaches know which of their players are out there playing. Not pinpointing anyone specifically and I understand the other side of the argument that California rising Jr. and Sr. are really scrambling to get exposure since many of the other states are operating as if nothing is happening. But again until we stop this virus we are just asking for all sports to go away for the foreseeable future.
