OT Chicago MU fans...can you shed any light on this?

[Markedman]

Morgan Park coach Nick Irvin had no knowledge of the boycott: “That is shocking. I don’t really talk to (parents) during the season."
2 retweets 0 likes
Reply Retweet 2
Like
More
Michael O'Brien ‏@michaelsobrien 24m24 minutes ago
Morgan Park coach Nick Irvin not quoted in this release from the parents. Checking in with him now.
2 retweets 1 like
Reply Retweet 2
Like 1
More
Michael O'Brien ‏@michaelsobrien 24m24 minutes ago
Morgan Park basketball parents say the game must be played at Morgan Park, want an answer from CPS by “close of business on Jan. 14.”
5 retweets 1 like
Reply Retweet 5
Like 1
More
Michael O'Brien ‏@michaelsobrien 27m27 minutes ago
Breaking: Morgan Park parents will not allow their sons to play if Simeon game on Saturday is held at Little Village. Boycott is planned.

[CaribouJim]

Morgan Park's gym barely holds 200 (Simeon's over 1,000) so they've played at larger venues, but Morgan Park now wants to play home. When I saw the pic in the article below last week I thought there was a fire or something at their place, but that wasn't the case;

http://suntimeshighschoolsports.com/2016/01/07/obrien-playing-battle-vincennes-rahm-emanuel-center/

http://suntimeshighschoolsports.com/2016/01/13/morgan-park-parents-threaten-boycott-simeon-game/

[TheSultan]

CPS is moving the game because they consider Morgan Park's gym too small given the ticket demand. Little Village is a larger neutral site.

[IWB]

Basically Morgan Park wants to play at home because it is their home game. The City shouldn't move it unless the home team agrees to give up their game. They are basically saying, if you want a larger venue - build us a new gym. If not, then our home court is our home court, we have an advantage to playing there and we want to use it. Can't blame them.

[CaribouJim]

Looks like the boycott is still in play - 13 minutes ago from the Trib:

Morgan Park coach Nick Irvin plans to be at Brooks High School at 1 p.m. Saturday for the No. 1 Mustangs' clash with No. 3 Simeon. It's becoming increasingly likely that Morgan Park's players will not join him. Upset that the home game is not being held in Morgan Park's small gym, the parents of the Mustangs' players said their sons would not play unless the game is moved to Morgan Park.

They set a 5 p.m. Thursday deadline, which passed without any movement from Morgan Park or Chicago Public Schools administration.

Tiffany Burrell, mother of junior forward Romelo Burrell and spokesperson for the parents' group, said nobody from the school or school district contacted her or her fellow parents on Thursday. Burrell said the boycott plan, which would result in a forfeit loss for the Mustangs, remains intact. Morgan Park's gym holds approximately 250 people, and the Mustangs' home games against Simeon have been moved to a different location the past several years. Morgan Park won the teams' first meeting, 70-65 at Simeon on Dec. 11. That game was delayed one day due to an auxiliary basket malfunction.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/highschool/ct-spt-0115-prep-bbk-morgan-park-folo-20160114-story.html

[TheSultan]

CPS is well within their right to move it. They oversee both schools. The parents look worse than anybody here.

[IWB]

Look at it this way...
Villanova has won 36 straight at the Pavillion.

Let's say the Villanova vs Xavier gsme is coming up and at the Pavillion, but not enough seats for the demand. Wells Fargo Arena is booked for the 76ers.

Is it well within the Big East's right to move the game to a neutral arena?

[TheSultan]

Look at it this way...
Villanova has won 36 straight at the Pavillion.

Let's say the Villanova vs Xavier gsme is coming up and at the Pavillion, but not enough seats for the demand. Wells Fargo Arena is booked for the 76ers.

Is it well within the Big East's right to move the game to a neutral arena?


Of course not. But you are completely ignoring the legal structure of the Big East versus the legal structure of CPS.

CPS owns both high schools. CPS dictates where the games can be played. They are trying to maximize revenue and meet fan interest in the process. The parents are being myopic if they go ahead with the boycott. What point exactly would they end up making?

[Goose85]

Sultan, is that the same with Wisconsin public schools? If Tosa East wants to play at Hart Park, can the school district say no you are playing at Tosa West because it is free and we get charged to play at Hart Park?

I'd guess the parents and people at Morgan Park are tired of other public schools they are playing against having better facilities, so they are basically saying if you think the gym is good enough for the school and doesn't need to be improved, then it should be good enough for use in all of our games. Home court means something in high school.

[TheSultan]

Sultan, is that the same with Wisconsin public schools? If Tosa East wants to play at Hart Park, can the school district say no you are playing at Tosa West because it is free and we get charged to play at Hart Park?

I would assume so unless there is a WIAA rule of some sort that prevents it.



I'd guess the parents and people at Morgan Park are tired of other public schools they are playing against having better facilities, so they are basically saying if you think the gym is good enough for the school and doesn't need to be improved, then it should be good enough for use in all of our games. Home court means something in high school.

Right. But this is kind of an odd way to make your point. And you are just hurting the kids and the team in the process. Sometimes life is unfair and you have to deal with it. Play with a chip on your shoulder instead.

EDIT: Maybe I am a little biased since the high school I went to played all its home football games on the campus of another high school.

[CaribouJim]

From Sunday's Sun-Times Editorial page: http://chicago.suntimes.com/opinion/7/71/1255786/editorial-morgan-park-kids-lose-parents-fight-gymnasium

Part of what makes high school great is being a part of clubs and teams. Lessons in the classroom, as well as life lessons, take on new significance when kids put them to use in a debate competition or a basketball game. When well-meaning parents get too involved, those opportunities are tainted and sometimes ruined.

A high school boys basketball game between Morgan Park and Simeon scheduled for Saturday – Jan. 16 – was postponed Friday evening after parents of Morgan Park players said they would not allow their sons to play because the game was going to be played at a neutral site instead of at home in Morgan Park’s tiny gymnasium.

Chicago Public Schools postponed the game “to ensure a venue is selected that meets the needs of students, families and both school communities,” according to a statement.

Parents won the standoff but we wish they had not put their sons in the middle of this fight with CPS.

Morgan Park’s gymnasium holds only 270 people. It cannot accommodate the crowd expected for a game dubbed the Battle of Vincennes between powerhouse teams from the South Side. It is common for the game to be played at a neutral, larger site when it is Morgan Park’s turn to host.

In a letter to a Morgan Park parent that was obtained by the Sun-Times, Ald. Matt O’Shea, 19th, said Morgan Park Principal Carolyn Epps had valid concerns about public safety if the game were held at Morgan Park. Still fresh in the minds of some is the death three years ago of a Morgan Park student who was shot in the parking lot of Chicago State University, the neutral site chosen in 2013.

That letter apparently didn’t satisfy the parents, who also want a new gymnasium.

There is a simple solution for the future. When it is Simeon’s turn to host Morgan Park, that game should also be moved to a neutral site. “If they know ahead of time that they are going to move Morgan Park’s game to a neutral site, then it is probably only fair that our game be at a neutral site too. That just make sense,” Simeon coach Robert Smith told the Sun-Times’ Michael O’Brien.

Another option is for the game to be played at Morgan Park with no fans in attendance, something CPS schools do when they cannot provide adequate security. But that would rob the players and community of the game’s thrilling atmosphere.

Yes, Morgan Park needs a new gymnasium. The school was built 100 years ago and later expanded. We sympathize with students who attend rundown schools. Newer schools across Chicago gleam with state-of-the-art libraries, computer labs and gymnasiums.

But Morgan Park has many pressing needs amid a citywide budget crunch. In the last five years $30 million has been spent on the school’s computer labs, science labs and other major renovations on windows, roofing, heating and cooling, O’Shea said in his letter. Those improvements benefit the entire the student body.

Morgan Park has a lot going for it. The school had 74 percent of its students go on to college last year. That’s way above the norm for Chicago Public Schools. Two years ago it expanded its International Baccalaureate program. That’s not saying all is well there. But we see a school that has its priorities straight.

Some things are more important than a bigger gym.