What am I going to do to make the world better today?

 This started off as a way to vent after a frustrating night.  You may have heard of the drill.  Write it down, burn it and take a shower.

I thought last night was going to be a special night and one that I have waited for the entire season.  Eureka was playing at Francis Howell in a battle between David and Goliath.  Luke Laudel, Trace Ruckman, Nate Parker, and a bevy of budding juniors were coming in to challenge the taller, more physical Howell Vikings with nifty guard Preston Fortner, Sam Maddox, and massive 6'10" Sam Thompson, both LHBA teammates of Nate Parker under coach Eric Bain.  Sam and Nate were second stringers in the 4th grade playing behind Nick and John Kramer.  Sam and Nate moved to Eric and he helped them become fairly good ballers.  I have been watching these guys for seven or eight years.  I really looked forward to seeing them play against each other.

I hate to be disrespectful to the Howell folks, but it was a big disappointment.  So many of us older folks are stuck at home.  We can't go anywhere, we are frightened to encounter someone on the sidewalk.  We look for joy in simple things.  I see many people on the Chat portion of the YouTube talking about how they re-arranged their second job shift for the day to watch their son or daughter.  These are important events for those of us that can't venture out and for those that are not allowed to see our children or grandchildren play these games.

The JV game tonight was on the Howell Activities YouTube which went off without a hitch.  Great work by the student staff.  Howell managed an OT win over the smaller JV Cats and I was ready to dig in for the Varsity match-up.  It never came up.  The Varsity game was moved to another YouTube channel which I found about five minutes into the first quarter.  The live stream, if you could call it that, has a couple of good announcers with a frozen screen.  They tried several more times with other channels with the same effect.  What was going to be a great evening of basketball, became my worst nightmare, checking phones, computers, TVs.... anything to find a live stream.  I managed to catch the final 16 seconds when Howell came down and hit a three at the buzzer to win.  The broadcast ended with an interview with Sam Maddox with a dead mic.  It was that kind of night.  We are lucky that so many of these high school broadcasts are excellent.

Probably the worst part of the night was seeing Sammy Thompson go down with a severe ankle sprain in the few seconds of live streaming in the first quarter.  I hope it is not bad and that he gets back by play-offs.  He's a great kid and I was sorry to see him get hurt.  I think Gateway Sports Venue is going to put up highlights.  If they do post it, don't miss it.

As I said, I marvel at how well most school districts have broadcast their games.  I think they all deserve a round of applause and a thank you note at the end of the season.

But all of this pales in comparison to the pain and suffering that many people have gone through this past year. 

20 million people out of work, Nearly half a million dead from a deadly virus.  Missing a game is nothing.

I think about the fears that my wife and I have, going out right now during the pandemic and then, I think about how a black person feels every day that they venture out. 

I have never experienced these things, but I have talked to several who have explained the fears that they have for themselves and for their children.  Most of us don’t even think about their plight and many in the privileged class have no clue of the prejudices and inequities that people of color experience. 

They have been stopped by police for no reason, followed around in department stores by security for no reason other than they are black.  They have been killed for things that you or I might think harmless.  And the pandemic has taken a disproportional number of people of color too.

I guess that if last night’s fiasco is the worst thing that happens to me during the pandemic, I should be happy. 

I am a really lucky person…. but I have to ask myself, “what are you going to do to make life better for others?” 

I think that should be the first question we ask ourselves when we get up and look in the mirror. 

Wouldn’t it be a better world if we would all do that today?