Cobb Football Doubleheader Schedule Called 'Negligent'

The following letter to the editor was submitted by Alan Landers, an East Cobb parent who attended the televised Friday high school football doubleheader at McEachern that involved Walton and Lassiter high schools. 

As East Cobb Patch noted Saturday, both games ran very long, including a delay when the lights went out, and the last game ended around 1:30 a.m. Saturday.


By Alan Landers

My child has attended the East West Classic event two years in a row now. I am writing to let you know this well intended event is simply too much to expect from any high school age child, let alone the adults that are subjected to it.

My specific and only complaint about this event is the duration. It begins at 6 PM, and continues into the early morning hours of the following day. This year's event concluded some time after 1:30 AM Saturday August 31st. The transportation after this has the children arrive home sometime around 3 AM.

I attended the event as well, and witnessed players removed from the game because of cramps, band members laying down their instruments and falling asleep in the stands, and fans abandoning the event long before its conclusion at 1:30 AM.

Every child in attendance began their day in time to be at school by 7:30 AM. Is a competitive event that places a team onto a field a full 16 hours after they awaken for their day a good idea? The school staff and bus drivers also are running on mental and physical fumes as they thunder county school buses down the road in the early AM hours of the following day.  

This schedule the East West Classic imposes on those who attend is negligent. Every historical case of accidents on or off the field (injuries to players or school bus accidents), are created by the prefect storm of fatigue, lack of sleep or rest. In short, the schedule created by this event is likely to leave a tragic accident for a player or attendee in its wake.

As for me, I am out. I will no longer subject myself to the incompetent decision makers surrounding this event. Any responsible parent would boycott this event on behalf of their own child and community.