Re: recent post asking if VT should cancel Spring FB game ...

[Wes Fisher]

Tech spring athletes prepare for weekend
While the Hokies' squads are dealing with the shock of Monday's shootings, they have opted to resume play.
By Mark Berman

BLACKSBURG -- The three Virginia Tech teams that will play home games this weekend have personal connections to Monday's massacre.

Three of the softball players live with a former teammate who had a bullet whiz by her ear Monday after she saw the gunman.

Baseball pitcher Greg Fryman choked up Thursday when talking about the Monday morning class at Norris Hall that he would have attended had it not been canceled the night before.

Fellow pitcher Randy Buffington is a close friend of someone who was shot twice but survived.

Catcher Anthony Sosnoskie was near Norris Hall and heard gunshots.

Two women's lacrosse players were supposed to be in Norris Hall that morning.

All three teams will be in action this weekend, hoping to give their campus something to cheer about.

"We're not playing for us," outfielder Nate Parks, a Glenvar graduate, said at baseball practice Thursday. "We're playing for Blacksburg, for Virginia Tech, for Hokies everywhere.

"There's still a lot of people in Blacksburg that need this. ... We need this, too -- get back to something that feels normal." ...

The rest of this article can be found at http://www.roanoke.com/sports/college/wb/wb/xp-113941

The article above appeared in the Roanoke Times on Friday, April 20th. We recently had a post here discussing wether or not VT should cancel their Spring FB game scheduled for Sat. 04-21, just 5 days after the tragedy that struck the VT Campus. Many thought it was too soon, while a minority (including myself) thought that the game should go on. To me, it was not about disrespect & needing time to heal, but that playing was actually PART of the healing process & it was never too soon to begin.

This post is not an attempt to say "See, I told you so". After all, the Spring FB game was Cancelled & those who said it would be were correct, but the issue of wether or not it SHOULD have been cancelled is still a matter of debate. I contend that it was cancelled as a matter of public perception & not at all about what was the right thing to do & the article above is really an affirmation of that. The most publicized game for that weekend was cancelled & if it wasn't, I'm sure the public outcry from around the nation would've been great & yet, the less newsworthy sports that were scheduled for that very same weekend were put to a vote by the students & players & in every instance, the games went on. I'm curious how there can be a difference between sports?

Before this event, if I had been on the other end of the country & had been asked if games should be cancelled, I would have gone ballistic at the notion that they would even consider playing less than 1 week after the tragedy ... BUT being here in Blacksburg, I myself learned something about sports in today's society that I didn't know before this event that struck so literally close to home for me. What I learned is that there is no time where playing sports is wrong. There is no time that is too soon & it is never disrespectful to play. Playing sports is NOT disrespectful & quite frankly, in light of what happened above, I really don't think it's even a matter of debate. After all, if the players & students most closely asociated with a tragedy of this magnitutude can vote & opt to play, than who are we to say that it's wrong? There is no debate ... sports are more than just games ... sports have the power to take us to a place above the real world ... sports have the power to actually heal those effected by tragedy & there should never be a timetable for when it's appropriate to heal.

Just something I've been thinking about & decided to share.

Thanks,
WF

[uva3021]

went to high school with nate parks aka "Nate the Great"