The Complications of a Pandemic

 By: Alex Gibson

 Q News

Before the complications created by Covid-19, High Point University's men's club basketball practiced twice a week on Mondays and Wednesdays.  They often had games every other weekend.

In Fall of 2020, the team was unable to physically meet and practice until quite recently.  However, while they couldn't meet and practice at the time, they still stayed in touch.

“With everything that’s going on it kind of stinks we can’t have any practices or really see anyone or play basketball at all in Slane," Senior Joe Shomaker said.  "But you know, we’re still having weekly zooms with Coach.  It's nice to see people a little bit.”

After deliberation among the Department of Club Sports and HPU officials, men's club basketball was able to come back.

“The University alerted all club coaches the Phase 3 had been achieved and that club sports and rosters were to get updated immediately,” Coach Toby Blair said.

Coach Blair instructing players.

What exactly is Phase 3? Phase 3 Guidelines are ground rules club sports athletes and coaches must follow. All participants must self monitor for symptoms of COVID-19 daily. If any signs or symptoms of infection are present, the participant should not attend practice, should notify coaches and staff, and should contact their healthcare provider.  

Participants may use each other’s equipment but equipment should be clean before, during, and after use.  Facemasks and coverings should be worn at all times, except for student athletes while exercising.

Students are trusted and expected to be responsible with their health and the health and safety of others.

Coach Blair talking to the team.

On Wednesday, September 23, the team had their first practice.

While things aren't exactly the same, it's a step in the right direction for the club to fully get back to normal activities.

“I want to get playing like we did last year," Shomaker said.  "We had a pretty good end to the season so I’m just kind of hoping for better things next semester."

Senior Joe Shomaker shooting a free throw.

Not much has changed to the surprise of many players.  Practice is just about the same as it was before.  The only real difference, less familiar faces.

"Some of the guys from last year came back but quite a few didn't,"  Shomaker said.  "It sucks because last year was really fun and we were a close team." 

Last year, the team had roughly twelve players.  Less than half returned.  

The presumed cause of the decline in the population of returning players is the coronavirus and the fear of students acquiring it.  The overwhelming consensus, the risk overweighs the reward.

"I've been on the team since I was a freshman.  I'm a junior now," Junior Mikey Kennedy articulated.  "I love playing basketball but it's just not worth the risk right now." 

Junior Mikey Kennedy making a layup.

Coronavirus Pandemic = Family Time

With nothing but time on their hands, the MacBeath Family find 'Silver Linings' in an unprecedented situation

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Ms. MacBeath talks about her family's experience during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Covid-19 has taken the world by storm and affected millions of people globally.  However, in Wakefield, Massachusetts, a family makes the best out of the worst.  When a stay-at-home order was issued to citizens in Wakefield, Massachusetts, people reacted in different ways.  The MacBeath Family cowboyed up and used this unfortunate situation as a blessing in disguise.  

"We've been able to do things together that wouldn't have been done otherwise." - Ms. MacBeath

A MacBeath child works on homework.

The MacBeath Family has kept themselves busy and entertained by simply enjoying each others company.  Engaging in movie nights, games of cards, legos and enjoying the outdoors when the whether permits it.  It's not all fun and games though; there is still work getting done.  With several students living in the household, the MacBeath children stay focused on schoolwork and remain ambitious in their pursuit of success.  

A MacBeath child draws sign language.

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EOTO: Vertical Integration

Vertical Integration is a strategy whereby a company owns or controls its suppliers, distributors, or retail locations to control its value or supply chain. 
There are four phases of this supply chain: commodities, manufacturing, distribution and retail.  When a company is vertically integrating when it is controlling two or more of these phases.

I knew what the concept of Vertical Integration was prior to doing this assignment but I did not know its official name.  What I learned in completing my research is that essentially, vertical integration is cutting out the middleman, and making business quicker, and more efficient and direct.

There's two different types of vertical integration: forward integration and backward integration.  Forward integration is when a company at the beginning of the supply chain controls stages farther along.  An example of forward integration is when a manufacturer of electronic devices buys a chain of electronic retail stores.  This may occur because a business realizes it can make more money by selling directly to the consumers.

Backward Integration is when a business at the end of the supply chain takes on activities "upstream."  An example of backward integration is when a business, like a Burger King owns a potato company to make sure that it is has a consistent supply of French fries.  Making a business move like this cuts out the middleman and make business quicker and more efficient.

Everything has its positives and negatives, its pros and cons.  In my opinion the most significant benefit of vertical integration is the ability to avoid supply distribution.  With this a vertically integrated business can control its own supply and not have to worry strikes and labor disputes.  To me, this epitomizes the phrase, "if you want something done the right way do it yourself," and that's something I can respect.  In my opinion, the most significant disadvantage of vertical integration is the inability for vertically integrated businesses to quickly respond to market trends.  Trends fluctuate frequently so they inability to quickly respond to "what the people want" can hurt business.

The two websites I linked in the bottom of my post taught me so much about vertical integration and its importance.  Many different businesses utilize vertical integration as it has many benefits.  If anyone that comes across this post is interested in business or just enjoys learning new things, I recommend they educate themselves by visiting those two websites.

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Diffusion of Innovations

College athletes have been controlled for many years.  Divison 1 college athletes have been exploited by the NCAA for a very long time.  Recently, the NCAA has decided to allow college athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness.  This move is long overdo, but it's better late than never.  The recent move was made because pressure the NCAA was receiving from various parties.  Lakers forward LeBron James and Governor Gavin Newsome have been in support of college athletes receiving pay.  James has not been shy about his opinion.  James tweeted, "Everyone is California- call your politicians and tell them to support SB 206!  This law is a GAME CHANGER.  College athletes can responsibly get paid for what they do and the billions they create."

The Pay to Play Act allows college athletes in the state of California to hire agents and be paid for endorsements.  They will also be allowed to promote products and companies and financially benefit from their college sports activities.  This new law goes into effect in 2023.

The NCAA makes millions, if not millions, then billions of dollars a year on college athletes and the college athletes can nothing.  This is unfair because the student athletes are doing all of the work but the NCAA is the only one benefitting financially.  As an athlete, injury is a very real possibility.  Because of this I feel that athletes should be making money as soon as possible.

I look at a situation like Zion Williamson.  A person of his size and athleticism is unprecedented.  Zion is 6'6'' and to be that heavy and jump as high as he can and move as he can is unnatural and defies physics.  Zion Williamson played basketball at Duke University.  While Williamson is most known for his thunderous dunks, he also is pretty well known for a game in which Duke played UNC Chapel Hill and Williamson busted a hole through his shoe.  He now plays forward for the New Orleans Pelicans but has not played a game yet because of a knee injury caused by the combination of his size, weight and freakish athleticism.  When Williamson made it to the NBA he luckily signed a shoe deal worth about $75 million over 7 years.  However, if Williamson is unable to play in the NBA, he will have missed out a lot of money because of the NCAA's ridiculously controlling rules.

In terms of the Roger's Diffusion of Innovations I'm sure not many people questioned the NCAA, at least at first.  Then, I feel a few people we were refer to as innovators stepped away from the norm and tried to make a change and difference.  This group probably grew into early adopters.  Pushing the narrative, trying to make a difference the early adopters kept growing.  While they may not have been the overwhelming majority, they will be eventually in the diffusion process.  The early majority is slow to adopt.  They tend to be followers seeing the "changing tide" and not wanting to be left out.  The late majority is skeptical and are "late to the party."  The late majority is primarily responding to social pressure they may feel from society.  The fear of missing out or being left out.  The pressure they experience heavily persuades and convinces this group to adopt.  Lastly, there is the laggards.  Laggards ae traditionalists, purists stuck in the past and afraid of change.  And this would be the NCAA, members on the board, etc.  Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations is not specifically about the NCAA and college pay.  It is applicable to many different people in many different situations.

NCAA Rules

Diffusion of Innovations

LeBron Joins the Fight

Digital Footprint

Fourteen year old eight grader Sonia Bokhari made a bold decision and "unplugged" from social media.  While I admire Bokhari's decision to take a break from social media, the reasoning for why she arrived at the decision is unfortunate.  Growing up in her family, no one could have or use social media until they were 13 years of age or older.  So when she turned 13 she got some social media accounts and immediately perused her family member's social media pages.  To her surprise and bewilderment, she realized her family members had been posting about her for her entire life.  She confronted them and expressed her disappointment in her family members because of their disregard for her privacy.  This and the countless presentations at Bokhari's school about digital footprints and online safety caused her to take precautions with her online safety.  That ultimately translated into "unplugging" from social media.

My digital footprint is pretty small I think.  I've googled my name and I haven't found anything about me online.  However, I've googled friends of mine and they've come up.  When I was young and growing up, and teachers and adults always nagged me and my peers about social media and how permanent it is, I took them seriously, and thankfully so.  It is truly scary how permanent things online and on social media are.  

I don't  know how many times celebrities have had to apologize for tweets and posts they made years and sometimes even decades ago.  When I think about apologies for past athletes and celebrities, many different celebrities come to mind, but one that comes to mind quickly is Kevin Hart.  Kevin Hart was set to host the 2019 Oscars when old tweets and jokes he made came out.  When they came out, the Academy demanded Hart apologize or they would remove him as the host but Hart refused to apologize because he had apologized years prior.  Hart eventually stepped down.  He had made jokes and tweets almost a decade ago that were considered to be homophobic.  Hart refused to apologize because he had apologized years prior and didn't see the need to do it again because it seemed redundant.

Although I don't necessarily defend Hart I think it's interesting that when people, particularly celebrities, are doing well and are at their best, it seems that people, primarily internet trolls, try to take them down.  Digging up tweets from almost a decade ago seems pretty targeted especially when someone is doing very well in life financially.  However, that's just the reality of the digital footprint.  It's a dangerous thing and that's why I'm careful and why everyone should be careful with what they tweet, post, etc.


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It's a Mad World

As technology has advanced, the disconnect between people has increased.  The content in this video shows exactly what society looks like today.  Everyone seems to be self-absorbed and mesmerized by technology.  All the people depicted in the video have their heads buried in their phones.  They all have tunnel vision and are seemingly brainwashed.

This video starts off with the main subject standing in the middle of a swarm of people as they walk past him while looking down, their eyes glued to their phones.  The main subject is considerably shorter than all the other people and looks like a child.  

In addition, there are scenes in the video that shows the egocentricity of people once they become too invested in technology.  I think the more invested people become in regard to social media and technology, the less human they are; in other words, I think those particular people begin to lose emotion.  

In one of the scenes, a person is getting beat by what looks like police officers while bystanders watch and record emotionless with their main goal being to capture the content.  This seems to be the norm in today's society, watching, recording, and documenting events for views or likes, etc.  The next scene is a group of people eating a meal together but all four people are o their phones.  What's the point of eating with other people if there is no intent of socializing?  When people eat with others, the idea is to socialize with the other people at the table (unless of course your mouth is full of food).  In today's society people struggle to communicate because of the general obsession with technology.

In the following scene, a woman poses in front of a burning picture while taking selfies.  That particular scene reinforces my idea of an egotistical, self-absorbed, and shallow society that exists today.  Those particular scenes stuck out to me the most; however, throughout the video there are scenes, images, and references to society's obsession with technology.

It is saddening to see where society is now, and how technology and social media dictate everything.  People in today's society are willing to do just about anything for publicity, likes, retweets, etc.  People tend to be shallow and self-absorbed and the only things they deem valuable must have something or everything to do with technology.  Technology and social media has brainwashed society and hopefully one day people will wake up and realize how much of a problem technology has become when used excessively.

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The Significance of the Telephone

The telephone was an extremely innovative invention that impacted the world greatly.  The telephone's main purpose was to make communication quicker and more efficient.  With the creation of the telephone, long distance communication became much easier. 

Officially, the telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell.  However, others had the idea and were also in the works of creating the telephone.  Essentially, it was a race to see who would get credit for the invention.  An Italian innovator named Antonio Meucci, is credited with inventing the first basic phone in the year 1849.  A Frenchman named Charles Bourseul, is known for conceiving a phone in the year 1854.  Despite all of this, Alexander Graham Bell is the one who won the first U.S patent for the telephone in 1876.

After the telephone was invented, it continued to advance at a healthy rate.  In 1878, the first telephone line was developed.  Then, about three years later, around 49,000 telephones were put in use.  In 1880, Bell formed the American Bell Telephone Company.  Then, in 1885, American Telegraph and Telephone Company (AT&T) was formed.  AT&T annihilated all other telephone communications for the next century.  Bell System employees intentionally belittled the reputation of the U.S. telephone system to drive down the stock prices of all other phone companies and to make it easier for Bell to acquire smaller competitors.  This may seem unethical but it was indisputably a smart business move.

The invention of the telephone also provided privacy.  Instead of people sending letters to one another, and risking the interception of their mail, they could instead make a simple phone call.  Unfortunately, wealthy people tended to be the only people with telephones in their home so most people had to journey to a location with a public telephone like a general store.

The use of telephones continued to expand.  By 1948, the 30 millionth phone was connected in the United States, and by the 1960s, there were more than 80 million phone hookups in the U.S. and 160 million in the world.  By 1980, there were more than 175 million telephone subscriber lines in the U.S.  In 1993, the first digital cellular network went online in Orlando, Florida and by 1995 there were 25 million cellular phone subscribers, and that number exploded at the with digital cellular phone service expected to replace land-line phones for most U.S. customers by as early as 2010.

Today, just about everyone has a phone, well a cell phone that is.  The original telephone is now more antiquated and the cellular phone is much more relevant.  It's rare to see a person without a phone.  The advancement of the telephone has made them multipurposed.  The invention of telephone changed the way of the world.  It seems the purpose of every invention is to make something either faster, more efficient, more accessible or all of the above.... and the telephone did just that.

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