Don’t they understand? (part 2)

Tonight’s post is an update on the previous post concerning the dangerous floor situation at the Peoria Civic Center during the Class A State Basketball Tournament on Friday night—3/9/07. Friday the 16th I was at my local bank. I was talking to the teller about the tournament and we were talking about the slippery condition of the floor. Another bank employee heard part of the conversation and asked if we were talking about the floor at the (Peoria) Civic Center.
I said that we were. The employee’s response was that “the floor is like that regularly when the temperature is 45 degrees and above.” (My paraphrased quote of the response. I wasn’t taking notes.)
If that is correct, then obviously the management of the Peoria Civic Center knows or should know that the floor condition presents a threat to the wellbeing of the basketball players including minors. It also means that they obviously have NOT done enough to alleviate the problem. The question must be asked. Have they decided that money is more important than the physical wellbeing of the players?
Friday and Saturday (the 16th and the 17th of March), the Class AA tournament was played on the same floor. I did not read most of the sports articles published in the Peoria Journal Star about the games nor did I watch the games. However, I did read this short article published on page D8 on 3/18/07 in the Journal Star. Quoting the article in its entirety:
“Unlike last weekend’s Class A sessions, players weren’t slipping and sliding around the Carver Arena court this weekend. (Notice that the reporter makes no mention of the players also crashing to the floor because of the slipping and sliding.—my addition)
Civic Center officials turned on the Carver air conditioning in time for Bradley University’s National Invitation Tournament game last week. It’s remained on for the big-school state-finals games.”
The problem with the implied conclusion of the article is that the air conditioning being turned on didn’t seem to solve the problem. The Bradley players were still slipping during the NIT game because I saw one doing just that as the announcer declared “Another slip!” Also, if that is all it takes, why didn’t they do the same before the Class A tournament? The weather reports were for higher than normal temperatures. Furthermore, according to the bank employee the temperature has to be at 45 degrees or above. The high temperature for both Friday and Saturday according to the newspaper was 40 degrees. Consequently, a problem was not going to develop during the Class AA tournament according to the bank employee. Is this reporter again trying to downplay the problem?
If the problem occurs because of the court being over ice when the temperature reaches 45 degrees or more, the solution seems rather obvious. Use the Peoria Civic Center either for hockey or for basketball—not for both during the same time period when the possibility is present to physically harm basketball players because of the slippery condition.
Again, the question must be asked. Has money trumped the wellbeing and safety of minors?
“Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” James 4: 17 (NIV)