Circling around social media recently, #LetusPlay is a call to action referencing the halt on high school sports in Oregon and pleading governor Kate Brown to allow sports seasons to happen. While athletes from every sport have been posting the hashtag, the most vocal athletes have been football players. Football is the only sport in Oregon that has not been given a high school season yet, and Governor Brown has said that it is out of the question. And if you look at the actual data, it supports this same idea. The NFL and college football seasons have had huge surges of COVID cases, and coaches and players alike have been breaking many protocols that were put in place to keep them safe, just to put their team ahead. The same would happen at the Oregon high school level.

Already, we have seen these football players not taking the most preventative safety measures. I cannot tell you how many photos I see on Twitter of players going to large football practices and invitationals, wearing either no mask or their mask under their nose. One of the letters I saw stated that they would take all the safety measures necessary in order to have a season, but how is Governor Brown supposed to believe that if they aren’t even doing it now?

It just feels like the same constant concern that we see for football is being shown, but that no other sports are relevant. Football has always taken priority, at Lake Oswego High School and other neighboring schools, but it’s not just them who have their season canceled or adjusted. Because football has been held at the top of the sports pedestal for so long, they feel as though they deserve a season more than other sports. Other athletes are looking for scholarships too, and their players are actually following the correct protocol. I feel for all the football players longing for a season, but it isn’t right for them to force the Governor to give them a season by arguing they’re the most discriminated against. It has to happen when it is safe, not just when the football organization wants to force her hand.