Regarding SVM Sport's Editor Dan Woessner's story on Jan. 9 about the basketball game on Jan. 8 ["Gut check: Rock Falls battles flu bug, defeats Oregon"], he wrote about three young men who had the flu bug; one was sick enough to miss something on Monday. No school, so it could have been practice. 

Apparently, he, the parents, coaches, and school officials haven't heard of the flu epidemic that is going around the nation and the state of Illinois. How many people are in hospitals and have died because of the flu so far this year? 

I'm sure the boys wanted to play; who wouldn't? But how many people were exposed that evening by them playing in the game? They handled the ball, probably used the same towels to wipe sweat off, drank from the bottles, and had physical contact with each other. All those things and more are things the medical people tell us to avoid.