Let’s get something straight. We are in a once-in-a-century war here. This isn’t some minor inconvenience. Coronavirus has already killed over 160,000 of our fellow-Americans, and that number will soon exceed 200,000 and beyond. It has devastated industries, laid waste to economies, caused undue hardships across the American landscape, from family owned businesses that are forever shuttered to loved ones who had to be buried alone and without ceremony.
Remember, the players aren’t being expelled. The coaches aren’t losing their paychecks. The games aren’t even forever canceled, just postponed. They may even be played in the spring. Eligibility will be retained. The 2% of players who will be drafted to the NFL will still get that chance, albeit maybe a year later.
Meanwhile the other 98% can still get their education, can play next spring or fall, and, most importantly, not risk their health for a game.
Which is what this is all about, isn’t it?
Risking kids’ health?
“These are not professionals. There are amateurs and should participate in a healthy and safe manner."
Re-read that last part. It’s the reason college football must cancel while the NFL can keep trying to wiggle out a season. NFL players are part of a union. They accept paychecks in exchange for acceptable risks to which they collectively agree to.
The last thing these conferences wanted, with COVID-19 looming like the grim reaper, was a showdown with players over who has the right to make them risk their organs. The well-chronicled story of Indiana offensive lineman Brady Feeney, who contracted the virus, reportedly went through hell, and now, according to his mother, is suffering potential heart issues, no doubt weighed heavily in this decision.
“Even if your son’s schools do everything right to protect them, they CAN’T PROTECT THEM!!” Feeney’s mother tweeted out. And she’s one mother among thousands of potential mothers.
The Big Ten doesn’t want to tangle with that army.
Because it is just that: a game. If one player — one player — died from the virus that he contracted through his team, the sport could never forgive itself. And yes, young men between 18 and 22 have died from COVID-19.
We’ve heard the arguments from coaches who claim their players are safer in a football cocoon than elsewhere. But so what? Nick Saban told ESPN:
"Our guys aren't going to catch (the virus) on the football field. They're going to catch it on campus. The argument then should probably be, 'We shouldn't be having school.' That's the argument. Why is it, 'We shouldn't be playing football?' Why has that become the argument?"
This reveals the hubris of powerful college football coaches, who honestly think their team is the raison d’etre for the school’s existence, not the other way around.
First of all, no one knows if players are going to catch the virus playing football, because no one has tried it yet. Tackling, huddling, lining up helmet to helmet for three hours, showering, riding buses and airplanes together, all seem like pretty risky activities in COVID-19 time.
And the argument of maybe “We shouldn’t be having school” is going on every day in this country. But Nick should know that if there’s no school, there’s sure as heck is no way you play football. The whole premise here, even if you scoff at it, is that the players are students first, athletes second. You can’t ask them to risk on a field what they’re not being asked to risk in a classroom. That’s not just morally wrong, it’s got potential lawsuit written all over it.
This was the right call, folks, even if it’s not fun and not popular. Football coaches punt when they have one yard to go; they do it because it’s the safer thing to do. They go for field goals when it’s fourth-and-goal; they do it because it’s the safer thing to do. Surely they can understand then, that on a day when America saw 50,000 new cases, and over 1,300 fresh deaths, college football games being postponed is another victim of the awful time we are living in. But it’s the safer thing to do. Nobody died. That’s the good news. Is it fun? Well. What in the coronavirus world is?
Full column is here
https://www.freep.com/story/sports/columnists/mitch-albom/2020/08/12/big-ten-football-mitch-albom/3350980001/?utm_source=freep-Daily%20Briefing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_briefing&utm_term=hero
