BRING BACK ILLINOIS HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS
CHICAGO —Governor JB Pritzker announced the easing of restrictions in three Illinois regions during a news conference Friday.
Region 1, including counties in Northern Illinois, Region 2 including counties in North Central Illinois , and Region 5 including counties in West Central Illinois, have met the criteria to move to less restricted gatherings and business operations.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Thursday she had a planned meeting with Pritzker and is “very very focused on getting our restaurants to reopen.”
“The various criteria the state has set, we are meeting most of those,” she said.
I'm not exactly the biggest policy expert around here so don't expect much from this blog. But there's a lot of positive chatter around Chicago very recently because restrictions are about to get lifted on restaurants despite every ounce of historical behavior to suggest otherwise. For that I am both surprised and grateful. Surprised because it basically contradicts everything we've heard; grateful because your man's gotta eat. If the experts say it's safe enough then let's go have some fucking dinner. I happen to love dinner.
But lost in the shuffle of excitement is the fact that Illinois high school sports are still being held hostage WITHOUT EXPLANATION. As everyone celebrates and makes reservations, tens of thousands of teenagers sit at home on a permanent rain delay, mass bullying d-list millennial content creators like myself. Each passing day adds to the hormonal log jam that swells across our neighborhoods. Some of these kids need to go out and hit somebody. Some of them need to get yelled at by a coach. Most of them need to go through the modern American rite of passage of failing to win a state championship.
It was your fault for missing that tackle
Point is I would like someone to start thinking about the kids. If we're loosening restrictions then I think there's room to include the governing body of high school athletics on the zoom call. At least give them a chance to be creative and figure out a schedule. Nothing worse than categorically denying opportunities out of the sake of convenience. Especially when one of the great lifebloods of Chicago sports culture is never letting go of your own Glory Days no matter how much they actually sucked. That's how this works.
Just ask Chicago legend Mike Pantazis. Imagine this interview starting any other way?
Sacrilegious!
Blasphemy!
LET THE KIDS PLAY JB