Ellis

right for ourselves and for the general population.

I remember the scene in Lansing on Aug. 28 for the “Let Them Play” rally at the capitol building.

Hundreds of football players, coaches and parents came together urging Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the MHSAA to let the fall football season begin.

The promise was “we’d do it right.”

There was an emotional plea for football and fall sports to happen with a promise to adhere to the strict guidelines so that winter and spring sports wouldn’t be impacted again.

Yet, here we are.

Now, let me state that this isn’t about me sitting on my ivory tower pointing the finger at everyone else.

I have not been perfect during the pandemic, as I am sure few have. I have made selfish decisions.

I know that there are many athletes, coaches and parents that did all they could do to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Some took it very seriously and still did until last Sunday.

However, what I saw once kickoff happened for the first football game of the season was a gradual decay in concern.

I saw the continued growth of crowd sizes and the continued decline of safety protocols.

I saw adults go into a gym and take their mask off as soon as they sat down and converse with others with no masks on like they didn’t have a concern in the world.

I saw social media posts of large parties in parents homes.

I saw my own peers in the media not bother to properly mask up.

I saw unnecessary risks. It felt like we were saying to the other seasons, “we got what we wanted, so we no longer care what happens to you.”

Administrators did what they could, but they could never police everyone with all the other challenges they had to deal with day-to-day.

Now, the winter sports athletes once again find themselves wondering what will become of their season. The poor spring athletes have to be wondering the same.

I know this argument carries a lot of political weight and is bound to earn me some enemies, but it shouldn’t have to be this way.

I know first-hand what COVID-19 can do.

Right when the MHSAA stopped the winter tournaments last fall, I developed symptoms after having been at five different athletic events in five days.

The virus started slow, but eventually hit me very hard. I had a fever for a week straight and at one point spent 36 hours just watching the minutes tick off the clock, praying for relief.

I couldn’t walk from room to room without feeling exasperated.

Finally, when I just didn’t have much fight left in me, I went to the hospital.

The virus led to a bad case of pneumonia that took another week to deal with. Since my experience, I still haven’t fully gotten my lungs back. It has been

eight months and I still deal with the impact.

And I still consider myself lucky when I look at how many people have lost a member of their family to the virus.

On top of the illness, I also lost my job during the spring like so many others did. It was an incredibly challenging summer, both mentally and physically.

There was nothing I wanted more than to go back to doing what I love, writing about sports.

This stoppage provides little benefit to me. I should be waving the flag for sports to be pushing through as much as anyone, if my focus was on my own self-interests.

The reality of the situation is, if this has truly been about the kids, then let’s really make it about the kids.

If this whole push for sports has been about the kids, we as adults should accept that maybe our role is no role at all.

If the only way sports can return is without crowds, then let’s do it.

Even if that includes media members like myself.

I do believe that the mental benefits of sports are important for kids and I certainly don’t envy the heartbreak many of them have had to feel over the last year.

It’s time for us to really walk the walk instead of talk the talk.

You want to “Let Them Play,” then prove it.

Do what’s being asked of you now.

Mask up.

Stay home.

If not for the high-risk people around the state, then for the kids.

That’s what you said this was about anyway.