They may as well put me in charge of this foolishness!!! I’ve been saying since March that it would be irresponsible to try to play football this fall. Everybody and their baby’s momma, Uncle LeRoy and cousin Man-Man just kept moving forward like the pandemic was just going to disappear like 45 kept telling people that it would. How did that work out?
Finally on Tuesday the Big Ten and the PAC12 made it official by canceling their 2020 fall sports which included football. Now the Big Ten is lyin’ to folks like some high school kid breaking up with his girlfriend trying to keep her from vandalizing his car.
“We’re going to break up for right now but we’ll probably get back together next spring.” They’re telling boyz that they’re going to play football in the spring of 2021 like that makes sense. So you’re going to play a football season in the spring, turn around and play another one a month or two later? In my Jay-Z voice listening to OJ tell folks he’s not black, “….Okay.”
Well at least they had the guts to cancel the season this fall because it was the right thing to do. Now will somebody please tell me why on earth the Big Ten, PAC12 and a host of other smaller conferences understand that it’s way too risky to play football in a pandemic and these high school programs in Indiana and specifically Marion County think they can?
The Director of the Marion County Health Department, Virginia Cain, a few weeks ago was ready to shut the joint down because it made sense. Marion County is a hot spot for COVID19 and she was ready to pull the plug on it. Then the superintendents got involved and she back tracked.
On the same day the Big Ten said they weren’t going to play this fall. Dr. Cain said that she was “very comfortable giving the green light for (high school) football to start.” Ain’t that a blip!
High school programs don’t have the resources that the Big Ten have to test daily etc. They don’t have a controlled environment to keep the players in nor does the game allow for social distancing at all and you can’t play the game in a mask. The very nature of the game is contact and breathing on one another for four quarters.
However, in the worst county in the state she’s “very comfortable giving the green light for (high school) football to start.” Who’s really making that decision? It’s already bad enough that kids are going to school where the risk of spread goes up because kids won’t follow the rules. In the bigger schools, even with sending half the kids to school on certain days, socially distancing will be problematic. However, going to school is something that our kids have to do and with the proper guidance it “could” work.
Playing football isn’t something that they have to do. There is no way to control the spread of the virus when people are intentionally breathing, blocking and tackling each other. It’s shows a lack of leadership and it’s grossly irresponsible to give the green light.
Please don’t bring up the NBA. They’ve created a sterile environment which is only working because they’ve completely locked it down. Even with that, they’ve had two cats push the boundaries only to be put on 10 day quarantines. By the way, they’ve spent a king’s ransom to create that environment. High school programs don’t have that type of bread to do that.
Look at the problems MLB is having and the NFL will have the same problems because it’s not in a controlled environment and it can’t be, because the sport is too big to manage in a bubble. Every team (NFL) needs its own facility and you would need at least 16 football fields etc. Where are you going to house 1,696 players plus entire coaching staffs, trainers, doctors etc. and all of the equipment it takes to run a football organization?
Now I get why they’re at least going to try it. It’s a professional league and they’re obligated to sponsors, TV contracts, salaries etc. But high school football has none of that to technically worry about. If it’s about keeping our kids safe then keep them safe. Remember, those same kids live with momma, big momma, dads, uncles and aunts that may be at high risk because of pre-existing conditions. It’s foolishness at best to try to play. Stop me when I start lyin’!