Kids These Days...

[Unkotare]

I'm as guilty as any old codger of saying (and meaning it) "Kids today are so damn soft. If we ever get into another real war, we are in trouble" and such. For the most part it's true. Many kids today are quick to decide they need a water break or to self-diagnose as having a concussion the first time they lightly bump their head on the mat (a mat!). Raise your voice to some of these kids (we're talking at least high school age) and they fall apart. However, just like you remember bad news more than good, there is still hope. One kid on the team just before the pandemic broke his arm during practice as badly as I'd seen in a long time. Imagine a sharp right angle mid-forearm. He didn't make a peep; just sat there quietly waiting for the ambulance. There are three girls on the team so far this year, and they work as hard as anyone. Just today one of my wrestlers was walking to practice and got hit by a car(!). He shook it off, told the driver he was ok, and continued on his way. I didn't find out about it until I noticed him holding his arm strangely in the weight room. Obviously I had him seen by the trainer and sent home. My assistant coach is still in his 20s. He came up through high school on my teams and now he almost has more of my curmudgeonly attitude than I do.

Bottom line: Although there is a dangerous streak of weakness in society, all is not yet lost.

 

[Devils_Advocate]

I'm as guilty as any old codger of saying (and meaning it) "Kids today are so damn soft. If we ever get into another real war, we are in trouble" and such. For the most part it's true. Many kids today are quick to decide they need a water break or to self-diagnose as having a concussion the first time they lightly bump their head on the mat (a mat!). Raise your voice to some of these kids (we're talking at least high school age) and they fall apart. However, just like you remember bad news more than good, there is still hope. One kid on the team just before the pandemic broke his arm during practice as badly as I'd seen in a long time. He didn't make a peep; just sat there quietly waiting for the ambulance. There are three girls on the team so far this year, and they work as hard as anyone. Just today one of my wrestlers was walking to practice and got hit by a car(!). He shook it off, told the driver he was ok, and continued on his way. I didn't find out about it until I noticed him holding his arm strangely in the weight room. Obviously I had him seen by the trainer and sent home. My assistant coach is still in his 20s. He came up through high school on my teams and now he almost has more of my curmudgeonly attitude than I do.

Bottom line: Although there is a dangerous streak of weakness in society, all is not yet lost.

Question:

Have you ever been hit by a car?

The reason why I ask is because I have been hit by a car when I was younger and like that kid I just bounced up.

Sure I was pissed but I bounced back up but let me be clear even kids from our days wouldn’t have done what your kid or myself did because some of us are just built differently.

Look, it might be toughness but some of us are just born with better bone structure and so on but I get your point it is also the mental aspect of it.

We remember Dick Butkus out there drooling and then see today kids and ask ourselves what happened but let me be clear there are plenty of tough kids out there from all races and backgrounds and we just never focus on them any longer.

 

[Darkwind]

I agree we are getting softer and dumber.

But it reminds Me of a story My dad told Me about how he died, and his coach told him to walk it off...



Without a doubt, the current complainers are just soft, but let's be real. It's a complaint made since Oogg decided to live on the ground instead of the tree where it was safe.
s

 

[Unkotare]

Question:

Have you ever been hit by a car?
...

A few times.

 

[Devils_Advocate]

A few times.

I know the few times it happened to me is because I was dumb enough to be standing in front of the individual that should have been ran over instead of me!

Anyhoo, kids are tough but we focus on the weak ones so we can proclaim today kids are weak…

 

[fncceo]

"Ever since this nation became the arsenal of democracy – ever since enactment of Lend-Lease – there has been one persistent theme through all Axis propaganda. This theme has been that Americans are admittedly rich, (and) that Americans have considerable industrial power – but that Americans are soft and decadent, that they cannot and will not unite and work and fight. From Berlin, Rome and Tokyo we have been described as a nation of weaklings – 'playboys' – who would hire British soldiers, or Russian soldiers, or Chinese soldiers to do our fighting for us. Let them repeat that now! Let them tell that to General MacArthur and his men. Let them tell that to the sailors who today are hitting hard in the far waters of the Pacific. Let them tell that to the boys in the Flying Fortresses. Let them tell that to the Marines!"

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1942)

 

[Grumblenuts]

Uh, oh. Somethin' smells..

This country needs highway signs on every interstate to caution the public about an extreme danger that lies ahead – “WARNING: GENIUSES AT WORK!” -- Jim Hightower

 

[Mr. Friscus]

Hard times make strong men
Strong men make easier times
Easier times make soft men
Soft men make hard times.

Repeat