The date was October, 6, 2017. Why is that significant? I went to work like many Americans that day, more regionally like those who live in the Northern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Napa, CA. Forty-hours later, however, lives would take a few off-ramps.
I went to work as a route sales representative for Alhambra Water in Contra Costa County with the route day going everywhere between Brentwood and Concord. After work, I proceeded to Napoli’s Pizza in Vallejo, CA for a pregame/post work meal. From there, it was off to Corbus Field in Vallejo as a freelance writer to cover the high school football game between the American Canyon Wolves and Vallejo Redhawks for the Napa Valley Register as I keep my passion afloat after leaving the newspaper industry with 18 years of experience as a sports reporter. I have enjoyed the career change but I love writing too much to let it go. On that night, the Wolves looked very solid in their Solano County Athletic Conference opener in beating Vallejo 41-12.
The two Napa Valley matchups I was eagerly anticipating the following week, with no slight at the others, were American Canyon hosting Vanden and Vintage visiting Vacaville. Could American Canyon avenge last season’s 24-21 loss and take a step toward winning sole possession of the SCAC? Could the upstart Vintage Crushers beat traditional Monticello Empire League power Vacaville?
Unfortunately, these questions were never answered. As of this writing, October 6, 2017, was only 11 days ago -- but it feels like 11 years ago.
There were 17 wildfires spread over four counties, burning thousands of structures and changing numerous lives. As of this writing, the death toll had reached 40 and the fire was collectively about 70-80 percent contained.
The Napa Valley Unified School District and most others had hoped to reopen schools Wednesday, more than a week after fires swept through the area and closed all the county's districts.
"We committed to making attendance decisions based on air quality, and the forecast for the week continues to include periods in the red (unhealthy) and purple (very unhealthy) zones," the NVUSD said on its Facebook page around midday. "There is just too much variability in air quality to be confident for an entire school day.
"We are committed to getting students back in school as quickly as possible, but only when the air quality situation is more reliably orange (unhealthy for sensitive groups) or better."
The district said it would communicate separately with staff and faculty about when they would be expected to return to work.
As it pertains to athletics, the entire week of sporting events were cancelled and it’s not a slamdunk anything changes this week despite hope. NVUSD athletic director Jill Stewart said in an e-mail that practices were scheduled to resume Tuesday with both the district and county having a detailed plan pertaining to air quality due to the
fires. Stewart added that as the air quality improves student-athletes will begin
practice and competition outdoors.
As of this writing, rain is in the forecast for Thursday night into Friday morning. If such is the case, that would speed up the containment of the fires and thus improve air quality. The only question is, would teams be given enough practice time to prepare for games? The real answer is no.
As a sports fan/blogger/freelance writer, I have conflicting emotions. I understand the safety aspect. Don’t get anything twisted, I believe safety should come first. As a sports parent myself, I understand that aspect even more. Selfishly, however, I want to see the student-athletes have sports as a healthy outlet.
Come to think of it, wasn’t I at Corbus Field 11 days ago? Or does it seem like 11 years ago?
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