It may be the middle of March Madness, but I find myself stepping up onto my Soapbox. I will warn that the contents of this post may upset parents of college-aged students who have pampered and excused their children's behavior for their entire lives. Thus warned, those of you can stop reading if you wish. If you continue and get mad, don't blame me -- I warned you. I will also state that I am highly equipped to talk about this, as I am a college professor and have to deal with irresponsible students like this every day.
It was announced during the first half of the Iowa v Grand Canyon game that Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) had multiple positive tests for COVID, and thus were ruled ineligible to play their game against Oregon, automatically advancing Oregon to Round 2. During halftime, the CBS studio analysts were lamenting how disappointing it was that the students would not get to play their game, and maybe the NCAA was being too strict.
My message to the studio analysts -- YOU'RE IDIOTS! That attitude is PRECISELY why this country, more than any civilized country in the world (I have a hard time putting Brazil in the category of "civilized") failed miserably in managing this COVID, and why we are STILL failing (as 12 states have suffered multi-day increases in cases and deaths in the past two weeks). They are basically saying, "We have these irresponsible kids who did not follow the instructions they were given, but we'll just ignore that and let them keep doing the wrong things they are continuing to do."
It may hard for the average self-centered American to understand, but the NCAA is trying to protect the players. Let's face it, they cannot play basketball with masks on, as they need clear breathing to run up and down the court. The players also cannot maintain a distance of six feet apart. Thus, if a team that is potentially carrying COVID (and since it takes 48 hours for live culture to show up in a test, we don't know how many of the VCU players are carriers) is allowed to play, they can spread that to the players of the opposing team, who can then spread it to the next team they play. This is a safety precaution for the protection of EVERY TEAM, not just VCU.
Besides, it is the team's OWN fault that they had to forfeit the game. Let's face it, we all know PRECISELY how to avoid contacting COVID -- EVERY TIME you leave the house, regardless of who you are spending time with, you wear a mask and maintain a distance of six feet. Even if you are spending time with your teammates, you cannot guarantee they are not carrying the disease. Obviously, some VCU players failed to heed that advice.
Now, I understand how confusing this is for the players. After all, they are skilled athletes, so it is a national trend that these kids have basically be given a "free ride" and not punished for anything. I mean, as a college professor, I see this among students of that age, even if they AREN'T skilled athletes. My students cannot understand why they are given a 0 if they don't turn in a homework assignment. After all, none of their previous instructors (or so they claim) ever punished them like that. Even some parents have criticized me, stating that I should not expect these kids to have to work any harder than attending class. Seriously? That's what their parents teach them? Is it any wonder the sharpest increase of COVID last year happened in the two weeks after Spring Break, when all of the Florida-vacationing students (and we ALL know how lax the Florida "suggestions" were surrounding masks and social distancing) returned to campus.
Let's break this down to its simplest form, so anyone can understand this. The VCU students were given instructions about the precautions to take to prevent contacting COVID, and informed of the consequences. They failed to follow those instructions, and the NCAA is following through on the promised consequences. Simple. Let the kids use this as a learning experience instead of sympathizing with them and giving them justification to complain about being "mistreated".
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