Former Fort Worth football stars, now at Dartmouth, ‘shocked’ by Ivy League decision
Football players of all ages and levels, other than the NFL, and their parents, please listen: This can happen.
The Ivy League is calling it a year, which for two kids from Arlington it means that they just lost a season of football.
Brothers John Paul Flores and Michael Flores graduated from All Saints Episcopal in Fort Worth, and are currently offensive linemen at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. They were at home in Arlington when they received the news from the Ivy League.
They expected the news that the Ivy League delivered on Wednesday when it announced that all fall sports are canceled. This covers football, soccer, field hockey, cross country and volleyball.
What they did not expect was the league saying, in a statement, “A decision on the remaining winter and spring sports competition calendar, and on whether fall sport competition would be feasible in the spring, will be determined at a later date.”
This means football moving to the spring is not a guarantee. It is now relegated as merely a hope.
“I did not disagree with their decision, but the part I disagreed with was how they left people in the cold in that they won’t revisit this until January 1,” John Paul Flores said in a phone interview on Wednesday night. “It was the decision to just push it down the road another five months that shocked me.”
Yes, this all stinks like a busted toilet. It stinks for fans. It stinks for idiots like me who don’t have real jobs.
And none of our “pain” compares to that of the young men and women who play. No, this isn’t cancer but it doesn’t mean this is fun.
“I was shocked,” Michael Flores said. “I was not too happy, especially for the fifth year [seniors] who had to say their goodbyes to the team.”
Even though players are being granted an extra year that was lost to all of the COVID-19 cancellations, sometimes a player has to be done and move on.
Ask any adult who played organized sports as a kid and we will all tell you how much fun it was to play a game “that mattered.” None of us knew how much fun it was because we took it all for granted.
We can all play sports again, but weekend rec’ ball isn’t the same. Finishing a marathon is rewarding, and it doesn’t top beating your rival with your friends.
Shutting down a season, even if the decision is warranted, robs hundreds of thousands of young people who play the games we love of a round of those experiences. Shutting down a season is ending competitive athletic careers with zero warning.
“I know for me I will get this season back, but for some guys this was it,” John Paul Flores said. “Some guys took an extra term to get another season in and now they can’t. There are all of these layers to this.”
Just because the Ivy League announced on July 8 that fall sports are finished means the SEC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-12, ACC and that overrated Catholic school in South Bend, Indiana, will follow suit.
Those schools have far more millions to lose than the Ivy Leagues. They cling to the prayer that it can play a football game in front of TV audience until a fleet of lawyers tell them otherwise.
The Ivy’s decision means that for the first time since sports abruptly stopped in March, the once absurd idea of losing the college football season is now that much closer to reality at the highest level.
“This is uncharted territory and the only thing we can do is make the best out of the situation,” Michael Flores said. “There will be an end to all of this.”
He’s right, but the Ivy League won’t even try to address that until next year.
This story was originally published July 9, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
