After the January 28 Blue Out Varsity boys basketball game was canceled due to snow, Parker and Latin agreed that the Varsity boys would meet again on the court on Wednesday, February 16. 

Rather than hold the game at DePaul’s McGrath-Phillips arena as originally planned, the game occurred at Latin. A day prior to the rescheduled Blue Out game, Athletics Director Bobby Starks sent an email detailing that “tickets will be limited to families of the Boys’ Basketball team and select Upper School students and staff only.” Interested students and staff were asked to fill out an interest form by Tuesday at 5 p.m., and those selected were contacted the following morning. Starks continued his email, providing brief details on the ticket selection process for the remainder of the Parker community. 

The decision to limit attendance to only those with tickets, and create a lottery-like system for awarding tickets, stood out to many as drastically different from other Parker/Latin basketball games. “This is really strange, I always looked forward to the Parker vs. Latin games, and hearing the entire Parker community cannot attend is something I never thought I would hear,” Parker basketball fanatic Emma Newman said. Starks did not keep a list of students who were provided tickets, which allowed students to trade or give their tickets to a friend. 

A follow up email from the Head of the Upper School, Chris Arnold, informed the community that those attending must wear a KN95 mask, provided upon ticket pick-up. Arnold’s email also prohibited the use of whiteboards, a tool used by both Parker and Latin students to quickly make responsive signs at the December White Out game.

While the mask mandate is not a new policy, requiring a specific type of mask was new to many students. “I didn’t know they could require us to wear a specific type of mask,” junior and game attendee Kai Contractor said. “I didn’t see any of the Latin fans wearing KN-95’s. I think their KN-95 mandate was a tactic to keep the Parker fans quiet, because personally I could barely breathe, much less yell.” 

Parker went on to lose to Latin 54-61. Team Captains Payton Pitts and Jackson Antonow led the Colonels, with a combined 36 points. 

Exactly a week later, Parker’s Varsity boys played Latin once more during the postseason, facing off at DePaul College Prep for the Regional Semi-Final game on February 23, over the school’s February break. Despite a 27 point performance by team captain Payton Pitts, the Colonels lost to the Romans by 19 points. The Colonels were missing 6th man guard Lucas Daskal who was unable to play due to previous travel plans.