Keeping Things up--A Paragraph a Day

We just finished a semester at school.  At my current school, I have more students than I've ever had trying to get "extra credit," trying to do a few worksheets or anything to pull themselves up to a passing grade so that they can play sports.  They're failing my class not because the class is too difficult or because they're not capable of passing it, but because they've made the decision all semester long not to do the work that's been assigned.  And because they're failing my class, they're not eligible to play basketball or run track.  And they want special consideration just because they want to play sports, even though the term "student athlete" always has had the word "student" first.  I don't cave, though, and the students get quite angry at me because somehow, I'm keeping them from playing.  The reality is, though, that their own lack of effort is what's keeping them from playing, and I'm simply the person who's caught in the middle.  They don't know what they're supposed to know, plain and simple.  I'm not willing to change the grade they've earned just to let them play a sport when other students in the class don't get the same consideration.  Hopefully, of course, they'll learn an important lesson about life here.  If not, they'll just continue being angry at me.  Welcome to one aspect of the world of a teacher!