Benson High Football Forfeits the Season

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Do you know what I'm saying when I say Benson

(00:01):
High School? Yeah, you're familiar with Benson High School. Yep,
I've driven past there a few times. Really sad news yesterday,
final two games of the season canceled by Benson High School,
saying through Omaha Public Schools that the high school's low
participation numbers gave them no choice. Now, this Thursday was

(00:25):
supposed to be Senior Night, and so they are going
to not have Senior Night. And basically the football players
are going to have to show up to like a
basketball game during the fall sports season or the winter
sports season or whatever, show up and get recognized. When
you first hear this, let's before we start talking about
the whys of how this happened. What was your first

(00:45):
thought when you heard that this was happening, right, Like,
pretty prominent high school in Omaha. Not enough players to
play the last two games of their high school season.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
It's sad. You wonder what happened? Was it injury related?
Was you know, low participation?

Speaker 1 (01:01):
Well, it was definitely a low participation to begin with,
But I think they could field a team now maybe
certain injuries. Maybe you know, they don't want to rush
kids back just to be able to have some or
they don't want to have kids playing both ways of
the football. You know, it's hard for us to know
exactly what those conversations are. But this is not actually
the This isn't the first time I've heard of something

(01:24):
like this taking place. I've heard of certain schools reclassifying
and trying to encourage participation, But what is it about
football specifically? And again, Benson hasn't won a game this year.
For my knowledge, it's not going to help get kids
to want to put the uniform on and show up

(01:44):
to the games and want to play, especially in an
era where most of us we want to be associated
with winning, with winners. How do you get kids in
the Benson district to want to play football? Then that
question becomes then after that, how many kids were in
the Benson district but were able and allowed to go

(02:05):
find a different school to play in? Right now? When
I was in Iowa, a school choice bill was instituted
which allowed kids to basically open en role to any
type of school district that they would prefer. And you've
heard of like kids that are good athletes not feeling
comfortable in playing for a team that may not be
very good, so then they go transfer to a school

(02:27):
that has a better coach, or they have a better
chance of winning, or they have a chance of you know,
playing in front of more fans. I guess I don't know.
I feel like none of that would be a problem
necessarily with Benson in terms of people going to the
games but not winning games. Does that have something to
do with it? I think so. If you are one
of the best players in Omaha, like, why wouldn't you

(02:50):
just you know, see what's going on in Millard or
Scott or anything like that, right, like of any sport,
because you can't. How do we fix this? Should we
fix this? Shouldn't that be allowed? Should it be okay
for kids to go where it makes the most sense
for them athletically or say academically in some cases instead
of you know, like what you and I would have

(03:11):
to do is you know, you were in York if
you wanted to play a high school football, Matt, You're
playing in York. Yeah, same thing for me. I was
playing in a Tumblil, Iowa. Right Like, I had to
play for a Tumbel high school if I wanted to
play football. My parents we weren't gonna just like open
roll me to another school so I could just rack
up a bunch of yards, or I wouldn't be open

(03:32):
and rolling to someplace that had a chance to win
a state championship like I would be I had to
play there. But times are changing. I mean you see
the player empowerment era in college football right where guys,
even if they are on good teams, are in good situations,
a lot of them want to go somewhere else and
see what's going on. Like how much of you know,
the current status of society has put us in this

(03:54):
position where we have ourselves a real problem with not
just participation, because you feel bad for the kids that
are still there. I mean they don't they don't have
the ability to play their last like for the seniors,
they don't get to play the last couple of games.
They don't get to put that uniform on, they don't
get to have a senior day. You feel terrible for
the parents their kids are left like they have this

(04:18):
type of experience and this is how their college or
how their high school career at least in football is
going to end, and they're not gonna have a chance
to get that they're gonna have a chance to get
that zero out of the win column. You know you
feel bad about that, you know, I would love people
who are in the know. If you want to be
a part of our conversation here, I'd love to hear

(04:41):
from you. The phone number is four h two five
five eight eleven ten. Four oh two five five eight
eleven ten. And we appreciate everybody for listening to us
and being a part of our show today. I want
to have as many pieces of experience experience with this
as we possibly can, because from where I'm sitting, I

(05:04):
just feel sad. I feel sad for anybody who has
gone to Benson and maybe this would be your high
school and maybe you live in that neighborhood, maybe your family.
Even if you don't have like a high school athlete,
you have maybe like somebody who's in sixth grade who
is looking forward to, you know, being a high school athlete.
How do they get excited to participate in extracurricular activities

(05:24):
at a place like Benson. Justin's on our phone line
of four O two five five eight to eleven ten. Justin,
what's on your mind about this?

Speaker 3 (05:31):
Any Thanks for taking my call? Yeah, you know, with
Ohhall Public Schools, I think one issue that they've created
for themselves is that they're setting a standard. Is what
you're saying is accurate about transfers to different schools so
that they have different programs. But Omahall Public Schools, who
of course is buy in March, the most massive district

(05:55):
in the state by a long shot, they have a
place program for their education that basically, if you want
to follow a certain specific pathway, whether it be astronomy
or be a doctor or you know, whatever that is,
there are certain schools that have these pathways and so

(06:15):
then they have these criteria and they fill up to
a certain extent. So what they're allowing students to do
on the sports side, they're not allowing students to do
on the academic side, because if you can't get into
that pathway, you're stuck in some other pathway, which is
really what their preparation for college they're calling is these days.
So it's kind of kind of a you know, a

(06:37):
situation where they're they're allowing it on one side not
on the other. I mean, I'm not suggesting people should
be forced to stay at their home school. I just
can tell you from the way that they're structured, that
what they're allowing students to do for sports, they're not
allowing for academics.

Speaker 1 (06:55):
That is interesting and it's a conversation I think is
worth having because now, I mean, like, how do you
get the toothpaste back in the tube?

Speaker 4 (07:05):
On?

Speaker 1 (07:05):
This would be my biggest question. You know, I don't
know if there's any going back once you allow us.

Speaker 4 (07:10):
I would agree.

Speaker 3 (07:10):
I was going to say, I don't know that you can,
because you know, what you're talking about specifically is choice right.

Speaker 1 (07:18):
And how do you how do you regulate that? And
then what would be the outcry if you all of
a sudden slammed those doors shut. It's a it's an
interesting conversation to have. Justin appreciate you for calling in
with those insights today. Thanks for listening to us.

Speaker 5 (07:29):
You gotta take care.

Speaker 1 (07:30):
Sam's on our phone line of four oh two, five, five,
eight eleven ten. Hey Sam, what's.

Speaker 6 (07:34):
Going on over there?

Speaker 4 (07:36):
Yep?

Speaker 1 (07:38):
Sam? Fire away, waiting on you.

Speaker 6 (07:40):
Okay, I just I've got a little extensive experience and
just about everything you brought up from three or four
five different points, and I was just going to kind
of categorically go through some of those. Okay, certainly with
the zoning of the schools meaning you can go anywhere
you want to, some of these smaller au coaches or
football or even basketball coaches are coaching and recruiting in

(08:02):
fifth and sixth grades to get the kids to come
to their high school. It's one of the problems, needless
to say, The nil stuff and the transfer portal in
college sports is devastating. Not only the college but certainly
the high school kids see that as well, wanting to
go to a school that might better give them better opportunities,
better coaching, better facilities, that type of thing. And then

(08:24):
of course sometimes the neighborhood gets run down a little
bit and the high school takes a hit, and some
of these high school coaches move on to a bigger
school that has better facilities, better opportunity for them to
excel in their career. So there's just so many things
going on here. Not to mention, the youth programs have
really taken a hit, especially in the inner cities, and
I know the PACE program in Omaha had a lot

(08:46):
to do with feeding kids to some of the high schools.
But there's just so many different ways to look at this. Problem.

Speaker 1 (08:53):
Yeah, but is there a way to fix any of that?
It would be my thing as long as the school
choice thing is a thing, you would think in some way,
high school coaches are going to be looking at, you know,
kids that are in fifth and sixth grade and maybe
middle school and kind of trying to work on the
parents of like, hey, you know what, we can give
this kid an opportunity at this place. I don't know
how you legislate that. And then on top of that,

(09:14):
is it wrong for the kids and the parents to
have the ability to choose to go to a different
school if that's what's important to them. You know. That's
kind of the thing I struggle with is well, you know, yeah,
it's messing with Benson right now, and unfortunately, it's it's
hurting the kids that are still there. At the same time, Like,
should we be telling families that they shouldn't have that

(09:34):
ability to choose the right situation for their kid. I'm
not I'm torn on that. I'm not sure.

Speaker 6 (09:39):
It's a devastating deal for those kids. I can't imagine
the commitment those football players had, knowing that they probably
weren't going to have a great season, and then to
see it come to an end like it did. But
there's different situation as well. I worked a little bit
in Skyletter public schools, and I know their football team
was you know, they struggled at best even to get
the numbers out. But ironic they're wrestling and their soccer

(10:02):
we're you know, top in the state. You know, some
of the better soccer and wrestlers in the state. But
some of the kids, even though they were at the school,
kind of found their niche in another sport. And I'd
be curious to see. I know, Benson basketball is relatively
well known. I know, you know, sometimes this happens and
a lot of the other schools were one of the
sports will drop off, but a couple of other sports
will excel. These high schools that excel at several of

(10:24):
the main sports, they're you know, they're special and they've
got facilities and coaches to prove it. So I think
that also is something you should look at, is the
success of the other sports in the school.

Speaker 1 (10:34):
Yeah, no doubt, I think for the call, Sam, that's
some good stuff. Thanks for being a part of our
show today. Let's go ahead and take a break. When
we come back, we'll take more calls. You got thoughts
on the spensing situation. You know, you feel bad, but
what's the answer to some of this stuff? And you know,
it really stinks to hear that this is happening where

(10:54):
they have to cancel the last couple of football games
and who knows what the future of that program is
and what the morale of the high school itself without
having football games during the week or on Thursday or Friday.
We'll take a call at four, two, five, five, eight
to eleven ten on news Radio eleven ten kfab.

Speaker 7 (11:09):
Emrie Sunger on news Radio eleven ten kfab.

Speaker 1 (11:15):
Appreciate you for being on the show today. What do
you think about this show?

Speaker 8 (11:20):
Well, I went to Benson many years ago. I grew
up in Benson, and I kind of think that now
with what some of the other guys said about like
nil and the transfer portal in college and kids want
to do it's best for them, I agree. I think
if you're a kid and you're playing sports, you should
want to go somewhere. And I think that it all

(11:40):
boils back down to supply and demand. If you don't
have a whole bunch of players and a lot of
competition at a high school. You're going to basically not
attract a coach, You're not going to attract other players.
But I think it has to fall into almost a
marketing role for the school and the neighborhood. Maybe some
of that Benson Entertainment District can it out something to
make a little more hype around the football team, or

(12:03):
some of the money from the neighborhood go back into
the sports facilities, so that way it's more attractive for
some of these players to show up and some of
these coaches to show up and feel the team that
maybe somebody out there who hears this, this might be
the best thing that ever happened then, because some coach
might hear this story, feel bad about it and go,
I'm going to go to Benson and create a team
and a culture that people want to go and.

Speaker 4 (12:23):
Show up to.

Speaker 1 (12:24):
Hey, I'm with you, Josh. I think that's a really
good point. I appreciate you for calling in here today.
Sometimes you need to wake up call you if it's
the cruelest version, which is kind of what we're seeing here.
Doug's on the line. Hey Doug, what do you think
about all this?

Speaker 9 (12:35):
Hey, Matt, the thing with them allowing kids to just
leave kids that are good.

Speaker 10 (12:40):
To leave schools where the program's not.

Speaker 9 (12:43):
As good is ridiculous. Okay, this is how you get things.

Speaker 11 (12:47):
What is school there for?

Speaker 9 (12:49):
Number one, are supposed to be there for. It's not
to be there to develop championship baseball teams or football
teams or anything else. It's there to get in it education.
That is the number one thing.

Speaker 1 (13:02):
Yeah, Doug, I'm generally I'm with you, but unfortunately the
numbers just are are not Like it's it's not that
doesn't matter. I mean, like, as much as we want
to say, well, this is what school is supposed to be, like,
look at college these days, right, like it really is
operating more like a minor league you know, athletic you know,
uh institution than it is at all for for those

(13:25):
football and basketball players, that's what it is. It's not
it's not as much school as it is a minor
league football or basketball team.

Speaker 9 (13:32):
They get to play it and don't then don't do
it in school.

Speaker 1 (13:34):
Okay, Well if that's the case, then you're losing all
the money.

Speaker 12 (13:37):
Man.

Speaker 1 (13:37):
I I hate to say this, but like the reason
a lot of kids want to be at that college
is because of the sport to begin with.

Speaker 9 (13:45):
And we're not talking we're not we're not talking about college.

Speaker 1 (13:48):
I know I talk about it and I'm hearing you.
But at the same time, when you have that culture
at the collegiate level, We've talked about this, the kids
see that. And also you have the rules right now
in a way that you know, kids are able to
kind of make that decision with their families as to
what's the best situation for them. They don't want to
be at a school where they feel like, hey, this

(14:09):
really important extracurricular activity for me, I'm not going to
be able to enjoy it when I'm at school X.
I would rather go to school why. And then they're
able to do that within the rules and the confines
of you know, how Nebraska operates. I don't know how
you go back and say, hey, you can't do that
anymore because Benson needs to have a football team, you know,
like that's just my biggest thing.

Speaker 9 (14:29):
It isn't. That isn't the whole thing. I want you
to think about this long and hard, and I'm gonna
tell you a story.

Speaker 1 (14:37):
I got thirty seconds here, so hurry.

Speaker 9 (14:39):
Upay, there's a baseball team in Millard back when needs
to have the whole district, every state, every team paid
for the state championship. That team had ten kids on it. Yeah,
they won the state championship. Sure because of heart and talent.

Speaker 1 (14:54):
I'm hearing you.

Speaker 9 (14:55):
What if the big schools kids, I hear you.

Speaker 1 (14:58):
I'm with you, and then there wouldn't have been a
baseball team. But that's the thing. Those guys are able
to win. You need more than ten guys to field
a football team. Benson needs to have more than like
twenty guys that they're gonna be able to even healthily
have guys out there. So I hear some of your concerns, Doug,
and I think for the most part, I'm with you.

(15:18):
It's just the world doesn't work that way anymore, and
we need to find alternative solutions to make Benson a
more attractive place for these kids to be and not
the other way around. We'll have more calls. Next News
Radio eleven to ten kfab speaking of bad situation, how
about Benson football? Benson High School football not great. Two
games left in the season, one of them against the
number one ranked team in their class, Millard South. I

(15:42):
couldn't imagine what the final score of that game would
have been. But either way, they're not gonna be playing
that game because Benson says, we have low numbers and
we're calling it a season low participation. So the Benson
Bunnies football season ends, no Senior Night for those kids,
which would have been this Thursday. They'll instead do their
Senior Night activities during the winter season. But I want

(16:04):
thoughts on this because this is uh. I just want
how does it make people feel because of the way
that kids can just kind of move to different schools,
but also what responsibility does Benson itself have to make
it more attractive for not just kids to be there,
but potentially good coaches and good development with the facilities.
I don't know. The phone lines are open. Help us

(16:24):
out here. Four, two, five, five, eight to eleven, ten
calls on the line. Hey Cole, what do you think
about this?

Speaker 4 (16:31):
Hey?

Speaker 13 (16:31):
Thanks for the call. I love the show. I want
to think I do a good job.

Speaker 1 (16:35):
Thanks.

Speaker 13 (16:35):
I just want to say I feel really bad to
these boys. When I was in high school, my senior year,
I got into a little bit of trouble and I
wasn't able to play my last senior football game. And
I still think about that to this day that I
missed that last game, and it hurts, and I just
feel bad for these boys and that it's not fair
and if they need some help. I'm thirty two years old.

(16:57):
I think I've got some good shape, but I just
think it's not fair for these boys.

Speaker 1 (17:02):
So what can we do, cole Because you know, like
I said, you know, we live in kind of an
era now where the athletics or the extracurricular activities drive
so many of these conversations. And there are other schools
that have better facilities, and you know, coaches that are
putting programs in better positions, and good players want to

(17:23):
play for those types of coaches and those types of
schools and their facilities. How do we correct that or
is there something Is there anything that we can do
to try to prevent this from happening in the future.

Speaker 13 (17:34):
Well, I went to start the county school, and I'm
not sure if you were able to transfer school back then.
But when I went to school, you played for that school.
If you were close to that school and you're in
that district and that's where you were, that's what you
played for. So I don't think they should be able
to switch. They should be able to go to the
school that they're nearest to and that they live near to,

(17:54):
And that's the way I think it should be. I
don't think people should be able to skip around and
go until college leaves pick and true where they want
to go. I think it's high school football at this
age where they're raised, and they should play there. That's
where I That's how it was for me. But I
don't know.

Speaker 1 (18:11):
Yeah, it's an interesting conversation, to say the least, Cole.
I'm just not sure how we get back to that
and how we explain that, because I'm sure there'll least
some people that say, how are you going to tell
me what is best for my kid? But uh, it
is just creating these kinds of issues. On the other
end of that, I appreciate the call, Cole. Thanks for
listening to us.

Speaker 13 (18:30):
That's a fairy world. These very thankful.

Speaker 1 (18:32):
Hey, no problem. Mitch is on a phone line of
four two, five, five, eight eleven ten. Hey Mitch, what
do you think?

Speaker 14 (18:37):
Well, I guess telling your call bigger it's what's going
on in the area this area Omaha South High School
Way Papinian's South High School the other night and they
get defeated seventy seven to fourteen. But those kids kept

(18:59):
on play and hard. But they're not a football school.
They're more of a soccer school because of the environment
and the people who live around there how they want it.
They want soccer instead of football. But the kids that
were playing played their hearts. I mean they worked even

(19:21):
though they're down so bad, they just came back and
kept working hard. But you know, they got a heck
of a powerlifting team. They work out and their boys
and girls so that they used for soccer and football
was in Omaha South. I grew up here. I'm sixty

(19:45):
six years old, and I know about the Omaha South Packers.
South Omaha Packers. They were a team to be reckoned
with back in the sixties, seventies and eighties. Even some
of the Yeah, yeah, but it's just it's just what
the area change for me Italians and Irish to Hispanics.

Speaker 1 (20:11):
Yeah, So, Mitchell, can I just ask you know, like uh,
what you're saying? You know, like, hey, you know, may
not be a good football team, but they may be
really good in soccer, they may be good in some
other things. Is it fair? Actually, is it fair for
you know, these high schools, right, I'm sure Benson, you
know they're they're going to be better.

Speaker 14 (20:28):
It has a heck of a basketball team, right.

Speaker 1 (20:32):
So so with that being said, Mitch, you know, my
question is should there be some like all these kids are,
you know, specializing especially in the big schools these days.
Should there be some you know, grace that we give
some of the kids that like to play football who
went to Benson and didn't want to be there because
the program wasn't as good because they want to play football,
or should they just stick out?

Speaker 14 (20:54):
They should have to sit out a year?

Speaker 4 (20:55):
Oh?

Speaker 14 (20:56):
Okay, you know, if you don't live in that area,
you trans for they do Millard North or Millard West
or Elkhorn's South or North, you know, to go to
where the big boys are all playing, and then you
should have to sit out a year.

Speaker 1 (21:14):
That's it's an interesting idea there, Match. I appreciate you
for being a part of the show today. Thanks for
listening to us.

Speaker 14 (21:19):
Hey, thanks, I appreciate you. Emery so your show.

Speaker 1 (21:23):
I appreciate that man. Thanks. Alex is on our phone
line of four or two, five, eight eleven ten, Alex,
Welcome to the show. What's on your mind?

Speaker 9 (21:31):
Good Effen.

Speaker 11 (21:32):
I was just wondering. You know, schools are set up
by class, by students' body size. For example, Uno dropped
their football team because they had to compete against Nebraska.

Speaker 4 (21:43):
They wouldn't been.

Speaker 11 (21:44):
Competing against North Dakota State anymore, things of that nature.
So if you've got a school that, like Benson, that's large,
but it can't feel the team, maybe that team could
be reclassified into another district. So set a class either class.

Speaker 1 (22:00):
B, right, Right, So what you're saying is basically, instead
of like putting the school into the class based on enrollment,
we put the teams that we're talking about based on
participation into classes that make more sense for them.

Speaker 11 (22:11):
Right, Because it's about the safety of the athlete. I mean,
when you've got a team that can fill seventy eighty players,
they don't can fill twenty, those kids stand a greater
chance of being hurt. At the same time, what he had,
just what your previous caller said, you can't do. You
can't punish a kid in high school make him some
other year like you can in college, because in college
you didn't just keep going to school forever.

Speaker 1 (22:32):
Yeah, you know, as long as you have eligible.

Speaker 11 (22:34):
Five six of your seniors out there. You can't do
that in high school. But for the for the player
to have a shot at that college scholarship, they need
be able to play. And so maybe like in Benson's case,
he said, and granted when I went to Miller in
high school, South had a great team. They doot, well,
they're not a football scheme. They're not a football team anymore.

(22:55):
So maybe they moved down to where they don't have,
you know, the big rosters to play against, and they
in a class to be well.

Speaker 1 (23:02):
I will say this, they kids these days, And I
say that in all due respect now that we've opened
that whole like empowerment era of like, hey, the parents
and the kids, they need to be able to do
what they think is best for them. Conversation, I'm just
not sure we get back to like you just need

(23:24):
to have personal pride. But also there's got to be
something on the school itself to try to get better coaching,
to try to get better facilities, try to understand what
the shortfalls are for that particular program if they want
to be competitive in it. Otherwise it's just going to
keep you know, recycling like this. There are a lot
of programs that are like this, right, and Iowa the
same thing. There are several in the Des Moin area

(23:46):
that are just like this. The suburban schools are really
great at football and pretty much everything. The city schools
are not. They they struggle with numbers, they struggle with
just having kids interested in doing any extracurricular activities. They've
had a hard time getting good coaches or any kind
of facility upgrades. That's a thing that I think is
probably happening in a lot of places around the country,

(24:07):
but it's just unfortunate to see it happen mid season
like this, where kids that we're playing and we're dedicating
themselves to it no longer can have the opportunity to play.
I appreciate the call, Alex, thanks for being a part
of our show, and call again us sometime. We'll get
to more calls on this, because I think it is
important to chat about. You know, this is a local
high school. It's been around for a really long time.

(24:29):
It represents a really important neighborhood in the northern part
of the city. And now the football team. The football
team wasn't good, But that's not the point the football
team not being good. It's about playing the games. It's
about the kids being a part of the team. It's
about doing the best that you can, even if you're losing,
to have that pride for your school, for your neighborhood,
but also for yourself. And now you know, it just

(24:50):
feels like a lot of that stuff's going away, and
there are a lot of different factors to it, and
we're discussing all of it. So stick around here as
we roll along. Call us at four two, five, five
eight a leve Ten, News Radio eleven ten kfab.

Speaker 7 (25:02):
Emrie Songer, share it with someone you on news radio
eleven ten kfab.

Speaker 1 (25:09):
I'm just going to kind of like throw this out here,
not to say that they were ducking people, but at
oh and seven and the closest game they had played
to this point was a thirty to six loss to
Omaha Northwest. Every other game was worse than that, including
most recently sixty three to nothing lost to North Platte

(25:30):
and then at home a fifty four to seven loss
to Brian Lincoln Southeast this week. Then they were playing
the top ranked team in their class at Millard South
to wrap up the season. I'm guessing they were probably
looking at that like Yeah, let's probably tell Millard South
they should probably do their senior night another time too,
because we don't want to. We don't want to. We

(25:51):
got enough of our own problems to deal with. I
don't know what to say about this except this is
just kind of a reality when you have open transfers
and the Benson doesn't have a strong football program. Tom's
on the phone line of four two, five, five, eight
eleven ten. As we talked through some of the stuff
that's related to this, Tom, what do you think about it?

Speaker 4 (26:10):
Is there?

Speaker 1 (26:11):
Yep? Tom, waiting for you. Man, what's up?

Speaker 10 (26:13):
Hey? Are you familiar with I'm just trying to touch
base on some stuff from other people.

Speaker 11 (26:18):
Said when they called him.

Speaker 14 (26:19):
In Iowa, if you transfer schools.

Speaker 15 (26:22):
You've got a ninety day waiting period, Yeah, before before
you can play, and then yeah and then and then
in Iowa they I don't know if it's the same
in Nebraska, but they transfer each year at a different class.
So if you can move back and forth from pass
each year in football, so one year you could be one.

Speaker 1 (26:39):
A right, you're talking about the school itself can be
in a different class a year. To your basis, what
you're saying yeah, and.

Speaker 10 (26:46):
I know, so you just had two callers.

Speaker 15 (26:47):
One caller called in asking about that and another one
I know in Iowa they do it. Do they not
do that in Nebraska?

Speaker 1 (26:53):
Then yeah, that's a good question. I'm not sure about
it to be completely specific for you, you know, listening to
Jim Rose this morning, he made it sound like that
was something that could be improved. Is you know, just
kind of like lining things up for another you know,
couple of years instead of you know, a year to
year basis with the school and the way that we
monitor its enrollment, but also the transfer thing I think

(27:14):
has just become it's a it's out of whack. I mean,
it's overused. But at the same time, again, then you
have to ask yourself, at what point is it okay
for us to tell families what is and isn't the
right move for their kid because we want this kid
to play sports at Benson instead of going to Millard's
South where they might want to be, or you know,
because we want Benson to have good football players, like

(27:37):
is that or if they even cite other things like hey,
my kid was bullied at Omaha Northwest and not to
say that this actually happened. But you know, i'd like,
you know, we want to have the ability to choose
a different place for him to go. I mean, at
what point is it okay, now after we've opened this
can of worms to say, you know what, never mind,
we want Benson to have a good football team, so

(27:57):
we're just going to close all this stuff up. How
do you even go about doing that? You know what
I mean?

Speaker 15 (28:02):
Yeah, I was just I was just making notes that
it is out there.

Speaker 1 (28:05):
Yeah, for sure. Hey, I appreciate it. Thanks for listening
to his tunnel.

Speaker 4 (28:09):
Yes, thank you.

Speaker 1 (28:10):
Todd's on the line of four, two, five, five, eight
to eleventon what say you, Todd?

Speaker 9 (28:15):
Hey, hey Amory.

Speaker 12 (28:17):
Yeah, this kind of has the previous colors that mentioned.
You know, I think this is going to be a
blessing that dies for him.

Speaker 3 (28:23):
You know, I kind of liken this to school choice,
you know, if if you know, they.

Speaker 12 (28:28):
Don't have a talented coach out there at best, to
you attracted kids that can produce a football team they
want to play for. And I mean I think they
need this to happen to kind of get them kickstart
in the right direction, because yeah, clearly Benson has not
had that going for him. You know, they have a
lot of really talented players out there, but they all transfer,
so I think ultimately this is going to be.

Speaker 4 (28:48):
A bluck for them.

Speaker 1 (28:49):
Yeah, and that's a good point, Tod, and thanks for
the call man. Thanks for listening to our show today.
I there's always that, right. There have been multiple college
programs that has something like this happen right where they
had to cut a program, and then all of a sudden,
after they cut the program, they realized how many many
people actually supported it and wanted it to do well,
and all of a sudden they were like, hey, maybe
we should bring this back. I think of the uab

(29:11):
Blazers right bingo, now all of aus they're not winning
games right now. But you know, that program was killed
essentially by the University of Alabama and their board of regents,
and then after a year or two, there was enough
support to get it back on its feet and back
up and running. More care sometimes is put into stuff
when you realize that you have a true crisis on
your hands, and sometimes it takes like a complete breakdown

(29:33):
of that for those conversations to start happening. You might
be saying, yeah, you know, we're not very good in football,
but you know, we're good at other stuff. Not a
big deal. Well as far as that's concerned, right, Benson
has a high enrollment, Like, this is a neighborhood in
a populated area in Almaha. It's going to have a
lot of kids there. Why don't these kids want to
play football? And even the ones that are good that

(29:55):
are there, they want to go somewhere else to play football.
So what's that look like? Well, I think part of
it has to do with the fact that you just
need to maybe have a reckoning with yourselves about, Okay, well,
what do we don't what don't we have that some
of these other schools that are good in football have.
The coaching I think is first and foremost. And this
isn't to indict the coaches that are already there, but

(30:16):
there's got to be a different approach to what is
happening at a place like Benson, Like why is it
happening that way? Okay? And then you talk about the facilities,
you talk about maybe the enthusiasm within the school, maybe
the way that football is approached by the school administrators itself.
If you want Benson to come back to the days
of you know, proud football program, even though maybe that

(30:37):
hasn't been like their chief sport that they want to
be good at. You're giving kids an opportunity to be
a part of an extracurricular activity that is incredibly important
to the morale of a school. Whether we want to
say football matters or it doesn't matter. Trust me, Friday
nights during the fall season when I was in high school,
that was a big deal to see the football players
dressed in their jerseys at school before the games. The

(30:58):
marching band, you know, I was in the market coaching band.
You'd go down and practice on the field before school
started and then walk back into the school and be
super excited about getting to perform for the marching band
in the football game. And then the entire town comes
to the football game and they want to watch and
see the team and the kids do well, representing their
city or their school district. That's the stuff that you
just you don't have that, that's just the stuff that

(31:21):
you don't have. Like to me, I so much of
the health of a school, district, and maybe even the
neighborhood itself, I think can actually be attributed to strong
extracurricular activities. And I know that in my own personal
vantage point, maybe you might say, well, sports shouldn't matter
that much. I don't even think it's an opinion. I

(31:43):
think they just do, especially for a lot of these kids.
We'll talk more about this if you like, Please call
us four h two five to five, eight eleven ten.
We'll take more calls coming up next on news Radio
eleven ten.

Speaker 7 (31:53):
Kfab Emery Sunger on news Radio eleven ten, Kfab.

Speaker 1 (32:00):
Just feel terrible for not just the students that are
on the team, but also the kids that really enjoy
that sort of thing in the school and the neighborhood
and the morale that I can build with other activities
as well, just having like a solid football program, which
is something that a lot of our institutions, including in college,
have built themselves around. Phone lines are open four two
five five eight eleven ten. Let's start with Julie. Julie's

(32:22):
on our phone line. Julie, thank you for listening to
our show today. What do you think?

Speaker 16 (32:25):
Well, my husband's been saying this all afternoon, but nobody
wants to be a bunny that doesn't inspire any sort
of fear quaking in their boots with such a with
such a physical sport.

Speaker 1 (32:38):
Yeah, yeah, I kind of jokingly thought this too. I
would hope that that's not has nothing to do with it.
And it's a historic school. They've had the nickname for
a long time. In Iowa, there are some very sketchy
names that are used. There's a team called the Esterville
Lincoln Central Midgets that's a northeast north yeah, northwestern Iowa school.

(33:02):
They call themselves that, and they haven't been canceled yet
for some reason about that. But they seem that they're
small schools so they don't have the problem. Like they
could have thirty football players and play actively at the
class of football that they play in, so it's not
really that big a deal for them. But yeah, I mean, like,
I just would hope that, you know, hey, I don't
like the school mascot, so I'm leaving kind of thing.

(33:24):
I would hope that's very low on some people's list.
But I can understand Bunnies is a very interesting mascot
for a football team. Even though I think that, I mean,
I like the uniqueness of it, I'm sure that there
are some kids that are like, oh, I don't want
to wear the bunny stuff, you know.

Speaker 16 (33:42):
Yeah, my husband is one of those people. We've been
listening all afternoon, as we do, we listen to kfab
all day, and he's just been saying that nobody wants
to be a bunny.

Speaker 1 (33:52):
Yeah, I don't know. Bugs Bunny was pretty cool. I mean,
maybe they just need to change the logo to some
knockoff bugs Bunny. It's an angry looking bunny. I mean,
if you've seen the logo, it's the rain.

Speaker 16 (34:00):
Funny he was, he was one and that's why he
says nobody wants to.

Speaker 1 (34:07):
I got it. Hey, Jillie, thanks for calling in. I
appreciate you being a part of the show. Yeah, yeah,
what do you think, Matt Bunny Noboddy? Is that is
that something that you would think about, like, Hey, this
is like we're going to be the Snails, Like like
you and me go to a high school and we
changed the nickname to the school to Snails.

Speaker 2 (34:26):
It just kind of I feel like it's classic. It's
to me, it's it's it's kind of historic. I feel
like I would be sad if they got rid of it.
Although I understand that, you know the fourteen year old mindset,
you know, you may you may not be inspired by that.
You know, my mascot was the Duke's and it was
a guy in a full you know, suit of armor,
gold armor at that. Like that's pretty cool, you know,

(34:49):
And so there is that there's the cool People are
going for the cool factor these days. Back in the days,
mascots were supposed to be more kind of like fun
and silly in a way. They could change it to
like the rabid Rabbits.

Speaker 1 (35:01):
You know, well the basketball team, if you look up
some of the stuffs they have, they call themselves the
running Rabbits. So that's pretty good. Yeah, I mean, like
it's not that different. It's a literation, though you need
the bees. Dave's on a phone line four O two five, five,
eight to eleven ten. What do you think, Dave?

Speaker 4 (35:18):
Hi, enjoy your show, thanks man. I listened to KFAB
all day and been listening to all this stuff about
Benson High School in nauseating detail from gym rolls this
morning all the way to you right now. And my
question is a point that nobody's ever hit. Who decided
that they're not going to play the last two games?

(35:41):
Was it the players? Was it the coach? Was it
the principal? Good question, Athletic director so who decided that
we're canceling the last two games?

Speaker 1 (35:49):
So, and I'm guessing that more questions. I'm not sure
who specifically brought this up, but according to the letter
that was sent out to the students, in staff and
families of the of the school, they this was I'm
just going to quote what the officials of the school
said in the email. This decision follows a thoughtful discussion

(36:13):
between our coaching staff in school administration. We know this
is disappointing for our student athletes, their families, our competitors,
and our school communities. So it sounds like the coaching
staff in the school.

Speaker 4 (36:25):
Administration was you know, that's a goofy answer. Yeah. They
they're not really saying who decided to quit?

Speaker 2 (36:32):
Right?

Speaker 17 (36:32):
Well?

Speaker 1 (36:33):
Okay, yeah, And they didn't cite specifically why seven games
in like they might have injuries that they don't want
to talk about, because you know, who are we to ask,
like what sixteen and seventeen year olds are injured?

Speaker 3 (36:44):
Right?

Speaker 1 (36:45):
But at the same time, it's like, okay, so you
had enough to play seven games to this point. What
made you not want to play against Number one Millard
South at the end of the season. Kind of thing like,
because that was one of the teams I had to
play and that probably wasn't going to go so well.
But you know, I don't know. I'm I'm with you, Dave.

Speaker 10 (37:02):
I wish the curious.

Speaker 4 (37:04):
Was it the kids that decided that we don't want
to play anymore? Or did the coaching staff come up with,
you know, let's not do this. Well, that's the question
that needs to be answered. Who decided that you're not
going to play the last two games? And I would
bet that's ridiculous and I would lose. I've played on
losing football teams. Yeah, you know you're there to play,
let's go.

Speaker 11 (37:23):
Ye.

Speaker 4 (37:24):
Who made that decision is what we need to know.

Speaker 1 (37:26):
Well, yeah, but like I said, Dave, the only thing
that we're going to hear about this is what they
said in the release, and that's that the coaching staff
and still administration made the decision together. So I don't know.
I don't know whose idea was, But I don't know.

Speaker 4 (37:37):
All right, Yeah, I love your show man. You do
a great job.

Speaker 1 (37:41):
Thanks buddy, thanks for listening to us by appreciate the call. Yeah,
And I mean I understand that if you're a student,
there's not going to be a whole lot of fun
and pride in going out there and losing the way
that they have. You know how many points they've scored, Matt,
You know what, the most points they scored in the
game this season was single digits they make out of
the single digits they have not they've scored. Do the

(38:05):
math here for me, six six, twelve, three, fifteen, seven,
two twenty two points over seven games. That's a little
over three points per game. They've been shut out three
times as well. So it's not great. It's not a
great situation. I don't know what the right answer to
that was, Like, okay, so yeah, let's just keep getting

(38:26):
our brains blasted in with a low turnout school, Like
I don't know, and again, and I had a guy
send me a message I'll get to in a second
here that's really in detail. But who could you even
ask to help turn this around? From a coach's perspective,
I mean, how many teachers are even happy teaching in
school districts like ops? Right, It's hard to find good teachers,

(38:48):
let alone teachers who can also coach your football team,
especially when the football team is in the state that
it's in, right, now it's a difficult thing to ask for.
You need somebody who's really like, really upstanding and want
to take charge, but also really ambitious and want to
take it to the next level. But also, as Jim
Rose mentioned and he shot me an email here, about
fifty three percent of the kids that are at that

(39:10):
school or you know, immigrant families that are fairly new
to the district and they have other sports that they like.
American football is not a high priority sport outside the
United States of America. It just is not. So, you know,
when you have people from other parts of the world
that are making up part of your you know, a
large chunk including potentially half of your student population, that's

(39:31):
not going to lend itself to a big, deep pool
of kids who we're even interested in the sport we're
talking about. To begin with, Marie's on a phone line
of four h two, five, five, eight to eleven ten. Marie,
what do you think about this?

Speaker 18 (39:41):
Well, all I can say is those who do not
want to be a Bunny, it can change it to
the b r R Benson Raging Rabbits. Now that doesn't
grab them nothing.

Speaker 1 (39:53):
Yeah, and you don't even have to change the logo
I mean, well enough, Yeah, he's looking Yeah, it's all good. Yeah,
I'm with you.

Speaker 18 (40:02):
That's from someone who never graduated from Benson either.

Speaker 17 (40:05):
From there you.

Speaker 18 (40:06):
Go, you have a good one.

Speaker 1 (40:08):
Thanks for care. Yeah already yeah bye bye. Jimmy's on
our phone line of four or two, five, five, eight
eleven ten. Jimmy, what are your thoughts on this?

Speaker 5 (40:16):
Oh hi, Amory, you mentioned well, what are they going
to do about it?

Speaker 4 (40:19):
How do you solve the problem?

Speaker 5 (40:21):
Get a coach that is motivating something to that effect. Well,
they got a coach that motivated them. I'm not saying
they're really good, but he was all gung ho. So
I'm going to do this for Benson. Two or three
years later, guess what, he's the head coach at Central
and probably took multiple players with him. So solve that problem.

Speaker 4 (40:42):
Not you.

Speaker 5 (40:42):
But there's all kinds of issues. Everybody wants to win. Yeah,
but it's it's a societal problem, and they can't keep
turning the blind eye or these schools are not going
to have scorch.

Speaker 1 (40:54):
Yeah. And that's the thing though, you know, Benson I'm
sure is going to be just fine with you know,
some other sports and they'll have the ability to compete
in sports where you only need you know, fifteen kids
instead of you know, forty kids to be competitive at
the class that they're at. At the same time, we
know how much football is the engine that moves things
in the community, especially in the fall at the beginning
of a school year. So I don't know what the

(41:16):
answer is, Jimmy. At the same time, like you said,
having a good coach, but how do you retain a
coach like that with the facilities and the administration and
the community, like the neighborhood that that school is representing.
How do we find a way to keep a coach
interested in being there and building that before they decide

(41:37):
to go somewhere else and potentially take some of those
kids with them. That's a tough ask. And that's a
tough ask not just for Benson and Omaha. That's a
tough ask for the public schools in Des Moines. It's
a tough ask for the public schools I'm sure in
other metropolitan areas around the Midwest and around the nation.
It's just difficult when you're in those urban areas and
you can't draw necessarily on a lot of wealth that
exists in that community. Like some of the suburban schools

(41:59):
can't talking to you people that go to Millard South
and el Corn and all Gretna and some of these
other places that you know have a little bit more
of the change in the back pocket. We'll talk more
about this. Stick around four two five five eight eleven
ten is the number you're listening to news radio eleven
ten KFAB. We're just talking about different things about this.
You can call in it four two five five eight
eleven ten and John's on the line. John, you got

(42:21):
some thoughts on this today?

Speaker 10 (42:22):
Yeah, Emery, I've spent some time coaching high school football,
and I really feel for the kids more than anything.
Thursday night was going to be their senior night, their
last home game as seniors, and I don't know how
many seniors they had, Yeah, but that's a big deal
and for the families and for the kids, and I
don't maybe the kids were involved in this decision, which
would be important that the kids were involved and that

(42:44):
they felt like, hey, you know, let's shut it down
because you know, we're all hurt and there's none of us,
you know, we can't compete or whatever, But just to
shut it down is it's not a good look. But
you know, I wasn't in on the meetings while I'm
not on that team, so I have no idea how
that plays out. But but there are options for teams
like that, because in Class B there's two that I

(43:06):
can think of off the top of my head. Skyler
and Nebraska City both are Class B schools and they
play Class C one football.

Speaker 1 (43:13):
Yeah, I'm with you, John, I'm.

Speaker 10 (43:15):
Yeah, they're ineligible for the playoffs, but it gives those chance.
It gives these kids a chance to compete. Yeah, and
it gives them the opportunity to play.

Speaker 1 (43:22):
I'm with you. Thanks John for the call. It's some
good thoughts. Real quick, let's get to Jessica. Jessica, thanks
for being a part of our show. What do you think?

Speaker 17 (43:30):
Hey, thanks for taking my call. You know, I went
to Benson and when I went there, the football team stuck.
It's only stuck. But I'm kind of starting to wonder
what if it's the players. What if they're not motivated
or they don't have the drive to continue to do it.
You know, kids nowadays would rather be out stealing cars.

Speaker 16 (43:46):
Than practicing football.

Speaker 17 (43:47):
It takes hard work with dedication as a parting wonders,
you know, does this start at the home with being
motivated practice every day, Like it's.

Speaker 16 (43:54):
Like that's a big problem.

Speaker 1 (43:55):
Yeah, no, Jessica, And I think that's a really good
point too, is you know, what's the background of the
kids that are in this And this is one of
the things that I think urban schools have a big
problem with is they don't have necessarily the home resources
to get themselves prepared and ready and disciplined for a
football schedule. It's pretty interesting. Well, ask Jean Callahan about
this coming up as well on news radio eleven ten
KFAB