Professional sports is not an inapt apology.  The point that I think  upanddown2 is making is that standards shouldn't generally be lowered to be more accommodating to those who wouldn't otherwise "make the cut".

I'm not against some reasonable accommodation, but it sounds like there are many (no not all) students who are not being adequately prepared for the difficulties that life will present.  For example, my employer may allow for a missed deadline if my parent dies, but they will not be forgiving if I'm just not feeling up to getting it done because I have a lot on my plate.