Last month, the Camp Fire in Butte County proved to be an event that brought tragedy to the doorstep of tens of thousands of people.
With similar catastrophic events comes many smaller instances of tragedy that are not life-threatening, but still have significant importance.
Just ask the CCC men’s soccer team.
The Comets were robbed of an opportunity to become Bay Valley Conference champions after their game against Merritt College was canceled twice due to poor air quality caused by the fire. That meant fourth place Napa Valley College was crowned BVC champion.
In moments like this, our instinct as humans leaves us searching for someone to blame.
It is easy to blame the athletic director, college administrators and BVC officials for how this situation was handled.
The reality is, however, that whatever could have been done to allow the game to be played would have come with its own round of criticism.
In all honesty, if someone had suffered from sickness or injury due to the poor air quality, I would have been the first person at the doorstep of the athletic director or other administrators asking why they allowed the game to be played.
It’s my journalistic duty.
That being said, we should all take the time and analyze the roles of everyone involved in making this situation.
For a college that has struggled mightily to maintain a competitive athletic department like Contra Costa College, risks need to be taken.
It is a statement of fact that this college lacks state-of-the-art facilities and suffers from financial disadvantages which puts all the teams here on a rougher road to success.
That being said, more risks must be taken by leadership to allow the teams here to succeed.
In what was probably the only opportunity for CCC this year to bring home a conference championship — the opportunity was blown.
This state of complacency has been a disease for the athletic programs at CCC for years now and possibly cost the best team on campus a chance at a state playoff run.
I could go on another tangent about how the soccer team here is shown no respect by administrators and the Associated Student Union (ASU) but that has become an easy target to mark with my criticism.
I could also criticize the soccer team for not winning more of their BVC games early in conference play.
However, the facts are that the team faced adversity early in conference play, overcame that and received a handful of help from other results within the conference which put them in the place to play for a title.
If more risks had been taken by those in charge, maybe there would have been more incentive to find alternate methods for the game to be played.
When the original game was canceled on a Friday, why was there not a plan to move the game elsewhere?
There was no report stating the air quality was going to improve by the following Monday?
If administrators really had the urge to win the championship, they would have taken the risk of finding a way for the game to be played.
It seems like complacency will always be king at Contra Costa College.