The sports seasons and schedules in America have been through the spin cycle and come out wrinkled. 

It’s an eye opener as to how fast things can change. As we all look back on our social media timelines and go back to the waning hours of 2019, we see posts saying goodbye to 2019.

Some were wishing it good riddance. Some were as children on Christmas morning looking forward to unwrapping 2020 with great angst and anticipation. Many posts were revealed for their big plans and life changing endeavors going into a year where the economic prognosticators were smoking cigars and drinking Champagne.

Resolutions began to bombard timeline walls and spilled over into the new year with great hopes of personal change, betterment of self and changing the world. Or, at least little corners of it with each word written and each meme posted.

Everyone was looking forward to the new decade, the new deal, the pomp and circumstance of the roaring ‘20s and overall, a brand-new start.

We woke up on that first Wednesday in January with a pocket full of miracles, a duffle packed with hope and sports enthusiasts were pumping up deflated football dreams. Upstart Tennessee would knock off Brady and the Patriots and then go on to upend the top ranked team in the AFC in Baltimore. KC would then murder Cinderella and go on to face the West Coast juggernaut 49ers.  

Super Bowl LIV was played a month later and the city in the center of the United States took center stage and dominated the most highly watched sporting event of the year. New commercials had people laughing out loud or crying openly. Who knew there would be such anticipation and promise? Who knew that we could be enjoying such prosperity and joy in the United States?

Who knew that March 11 would be ever remembered alongside 9/11 as 3/11.

And among other things, sports as we know it went into quarantine.

Here we are in September. Six months after the initial panic. The NBA is finishing their season amid great protest and scrutiny. The shortened baseball season is heading for an unusual World Series. And the NFL is going to take the field without scrimmage games.

Oh, the big cardboard heads will still be seen in all the stadiums, but without human beings holding or waving or wearing them.

And the sports world has come forth… changed. The NBA players are screaming about white privilege and Black Lives Matter – supporting a group of murdering thugs. The two-headed monster of Lawlessness and COVID are still slithering free in the county. 

The NFL just announced that helmets will feature names of “victims of systematic racism and police brutality.” Tom Brady became a pirate and players are still kneeling on the American flag while becoming overnight millionaires. 

Did you ever feel as though you just got through the rapids and didn’t anticipate the huge waterfall ahead?

One thing that is still pure and simple and innocent in the sports world is junior high and high school sports. In Wyoming, schools are playing a full schedule in spite of having to play the COVID mask game at the same time. Other high school athletes in other states are looking in on our arena and longing for what we have.

There has never been a better time to boycott the professional sporting world who has adopted the agenda for the madness in the world. Its players are spokespersons for all things political, racial, economical and immoral. The things they don’t realize is that they are not the heroes they once were and with each passing day their worth diminishes.

Are you ready for some real heroes in America? 

Are you ready for some high school football? And volleyball, and golf and cross-country? Sports without political, racial, economical or immoral propaganda. Athletes that are not human billboards for the world’s madness. All-American competition without an agenda. 

We in Wyoming are family that comes together to cheer on the next generation that will hopefully have the courage to set goals, maintain their aspirations, make their resolutions and never lose heart when the ball drops, bringing in the next year.

COVID tried to separate us, masking our smiles and our emotions. Fear tried to shut us up and wanted us to cower in dark hovels amid hoarded rolls of toilet paper. It’s September in Platte County. And look. The kids have given us a reason to gather and to cheer. And it feels good.