See?

Well, that didn’t take long.  A few days ago, I said COVID-19 was going to lead to chaos in high school sports, and Saturday proof arrived in the Sun-Times, with a story about three seniors leaving their two Illinois schools to play football out of state in the fall.

 

All of them are prospects, one or two of them borderline in a way.  A strong performance come September and they go to the big school of choice; otherwise, they could end up at places they probably never imagined, or at less than a full ride.  How sad, disturbing and more.

 

As a parent, I’d have my son think long and hard about such a decision because it’s going to make him appear selfish to his peers and coaches.  Football is supposed to be a team sport, yes?  I wouldn’t want to bump into any of the jilted players or coaches, that’s for sure.

 

But something else is going on here, too.  Maybe we should be thankful to the pandemic for exposing the undue influence colleges exert over high school athletes.  Where’s the NCAA putting its foot down to stop member schools from pushing for early graduation by its incoming freshmen?  It ought to be, you play as seniors in the fall; graduate in the spring; and come to us in August with everyone else.  None of this early graduation crap.

 

Alas, the NCAA must have smaller fish to fry.