Mid-November and the snow reminds us that the winter sports seasons are just about ready to start. Just in time to get inside to cover and watch the local sports teams which is ok by me although the weather this fall during the football season has been one of the best in years.
A few leftover items from the football season. It certainly was disturbing to see what happened at the end of the East-Oil City game on November 3rd with a big fight between some players. I've always respected just how tough of a job it is to be a head coach at the high school level. The kids are so different as they grow through their teen years. Some more mature than others, many from different family backgrounds and at their young and impressionable age, it's gotta be tough to control an entire group without some problems. Many coaches do it and have done it.
Some blamed the officials for losing control of the game and that might be true to a certain extent but what the officials can do is limited. They can start tossing kids out of the game at the first sign of trouble but they would be criticized for that. Sometime officials can't win. Let's hope the bottom line of this mess was that others learned from it before it happens again at all levels of high school sports. As I mentioned in a previous blog posting, bad fan behavior, verbal abuse and fights just don't have a place in high school sports. Let's hope it doesn't get to the point where the Erie City schools will have to start playing games in the afternoon to avoid problems both on and off the field.