Did Big 10 presidents and commissioner Kevin Warren make the right call yesterday? How do we know?
Fan frustration and confusion because the Big 10 and Pac-12 canceled college football is being driven by inconsistent protocols designed to help preserve health and life that are applied unevenly.
There are questions and anecdotal reports from friends, co-workers, and on social media that make it virtually impossible for reasonably intelligent people to know exactly what the hell is going on. Here are 12 of those questions and anecdotes:
- If it isn’t safe to play in the Big 10 and Pac-12, why are high schools playing?
- How about the SEC, Big 12, and ACC? They seem determined to play. What do the Big 10 and Pac-12 know that they do not? Or, what do the SEC, Big 12, and ACC know that the Big 10 and Pac-12 don’t?
- The NFL is rolling forward toward a reasonable facsimile of a regular season. Are players and coaches unsafe?
- High school students are being sent home for two week quarantines by school health officials simply because they visited the nurse – regardless of the reason.
- High school athletes are being quarantined for two weeks because the co-worker of a parent tested positive.
- Positive tests are being assessed and reported for people who made an appointment to be tested, but didn’t show up.
- The University of Nebraska says its health officials believe football players have a better chance to avoid COVID-19 by playing this fall rather than sitting, so its chancellor, president, and coach are threatening to defy the Big 10 by playing a rogue schedule.
- The vast majority of COVID-19 patients under 65 without underlying conditions quickly recover fully and most are asymptomatic.
- America’s response to COVID-19 has been politicized to the point no one trusts anything coming out of the mouths of any elected official.
- National media sources are weaponizing COVID-19 coverage to increase ratings, clicks, and circulation. As a result, trust in media continues to erode.
- COVID-19 related death counts are increased by including car and motorcycle accident victims who test positive postmortem.
- Because most people are wearing masks, washing hands, and practicing social distancing, hospitals are not overwhelmed and ICUs are able to treat patients with a variety of other ailments. Improved treatments are also shortening stays and lessening the burdens on our health care system.
Confusion reigns because of those 12 bullet points – and more. People don’t know what to do or believe to keep themselves safe and employed, so we wear masks and avoid anything that could get our employer sued or exposed in the media as irresponsible. That’s how you get fired in 2020.
To say these are uncertain times is a massive understatement, and many people are scared out of their minds by the unknown. The Big 10 and Pac-12 responded to fear of legal action from parents of players by canceling football. The ACC, Big 12, and SEC has not yet responded to that fear.
These are chaotic times. Life is different because of COVID-19, and our society is impatient in a wide variety of directions as a result. Cancellations suck, and so do business closings. Riots, looting, and murders are uniquely idiotic expressions of rage.
As I asked the Big 10 to take a deep breath before acting yesterday, I would hope all of us might be a little more tolerant of one another as we process this unprecedented tumult – even when much of it is of our own making.
If we can’t create a fact-based COVID-19 culture, maybe we can help each other simmer down a little bit to make the rest of 2020 more pleasant. Just smile under your mask and understand most people are not nearly as smart and sane as you believe yourself to be.
[If you want some real unpleasantness to look forward to, just wait for the deployment of a vaccine or vaccines. Everyone is going to want to jump to the front of the line. Should be a total mess!]