The Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association met electronically on Friday and voted 16-0 to confirm what everyone has known since Tuesday of this week, if not before -- that there will be no high school sports season in this state this year because of the coronavirus crisis.
"In accordance with Governor Charles Baker’s announcement Tuesday that Massachusetts schools will be closed to in person learning for the remainder of the school year, the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) regretfully has cancelled all spring sports and spring tournaments.
"Today’s decision by the MIAA Board of Directors was difficult, disappointing, and one that was deferred for several weeks as Association staff, Association members from the Tournament Management Committee (TMC) and the Board worked aggressively to construct optional structures to save the opportunity for our MIAA 80,000 student-athletes to enjoy a spring season.
"Despite this disheartening but unavoidable action, it is paramount to applaud our constituents, principals, athletic directors, coaches and student-athletes for their positive power of example and cooperation during this unprecedented crisis. The “life lessons” inherent in the games we play will be our resiliency to provide mental and physical strength to focus on the discipline and teamwork to make a difference in the challenging chapters in the Game of Life."
There is nothing in this statement that couldn't have been crafted two weeks or more before Friday's announcement, which begs the question why the MIAA could not have had this prepared for release the moment that Gov. Baker announced his decision to keep schools closed for the remainder of the school year.
As has been the case throughout this difficult time, the MIAA managed to keep presenting false hopes to the state's student-athletes right to the bitter end and then three days beyond it, when it might have been of more value to the youngsters to present a more truthful picture to them.
As I've said before, the MIAA was not wrong to prepare for the possibility that the COVID-19 crisis might subside in time to allow an abbreviated spring schedule. But as weeks passed, Massachusetts became a new hotbed of infection -- and thus, as it became increasingly obvious that the schools would not re-open on May 4, it didn't make sense for the MIAA to continue to maintain such a strong public stance that the season could be rebooted.
Even when Gov. Baker announced the school closure on Tuesday, some coaches were openly looking for loopholes in the order that might have allowed high school sports teams to somehow get around the closure of their facilities and assemble teams in defiance of the stay-at-home restrictions we're all dealing with. At that point, the MIAA should have made it crystal-clear at the moment of the governor's order that there were issues afoot that were far more important than high school sports.
Instead, it waited three more days before issuing its affirming statement -- and then made it sound as if it was the end of a heroic effort to serve the student-athletes.
Nobody is happy about this. I'm certainly not. I was a high school athlete of marginal talent a half-century ago, and I devoted my life to covering school sports for various news-gathering organizations thereafter. Nobody respects high school coaches or athletes more than I do. And this decision actually hit me and two of my closest friends in the wallet, as we would have been calling some King Philip games for North Attleboro Community Television's Plainville Channel over the next few weeks.
But above all, I respect the intelligence of young people. After all, I was one once. When I was a kid, I wanted to know the truth and base my life decisions upon it. I was skeptical of those that told me, "Don't worry, kid, we'll take care of you." I wanted to make my own decisions as much as the law would allow me.
The most important truth in all this? As I type this, there have been 50,360 deaths in the United States because of coronavirus. Take Gillette Stadium and fill it with people, and after introduction of the virus, only 10,000 people would be walking out alive. And the number is still growing.
Stay home. Stay safe. Watch the numbers go down. And hopefully, we'll be back on the fields in the fall.
Of course, it's an exceedingly bitter pill for this year's senior class to swallow. But as they head out into a changed world, I'd like to believe that they will enter it stronger and more capable of handling a crisis of this sort if it should happen again. It was a high price to pay for knowledge, but fortunately, most of you will be alive to meet the next challenge because of it.
And I thank you all for the great moments I got to watch and broadcast before we were all sent to the sidelines for reasons out of our control.
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