Maskless Covidiots Will Cost Us Football This Fall

Late last week the Big Ten, ACC and Pac 12 all decided to ditch their non conference schedules and commit, or at least try to commit, to a conference only schedule for the upcoming 2020 season. The SEC hasn't done this yet, nor the Big 12, but it is just a matter of time I feel.

The SEC commissioner, the University of Ohio State's AD and Michigan's AD have all said they are "very concerned" about the upcoming season as well. Me, I have kind of given in to the fact that the season is going to be cancelled. I feel that it is inevitable. The Ivy League has already said they won't even look into fall sports until January 1st. The NJCAA, junior college for those of you that may not know, is most likely going to switch to a spring season. And while I find it commendable that the power five conferences want to play this fall, I just don't see it happening.

It took me a while to get to this point, but it just feels like it is leaning so much that way. We have done a horrible job as a country in containing this virus. We have proven how selfish, arrogant and self righteous we can be. We thought we were above this. Some thought it would go away in a few weeks, I know I did in early March. Some figured we would be good after shutting things down for three months. But all the progress we made in three months was shattered because people wanted to go out and party over Memorial Day weekend. There were no masks, no social distancing and nobody following what we were supposed to do, and pretty much all did, for three months. We threw all that out the window the moment things reopened. People started to flood restaurants, bars, beaches, clubs, any place that was open. We felt cooped up, not me personally, but others, and people just figured the pandemic was over. It wasn't and still isn't. Not even close. And I know I was right here last week saying that I hoped my kids would be in classrooms in the fall, but now that seems as likely to me as a college football season happening.

People refuse to follow the easiest of rules, wearing a cloth mask in public and social distancing, and we are now paying for it dearly. Numbers are approaching, if not passing in some states, where they were when this first started. I know much more testing is being done, but the numbers are terrifying. In Missouri alone we went from about 200 cases a day to nearly 500. That's wild. And it is because people couldn't contain themselves and just had to go out. And that is fine, if they were following proper protocols. They weren't, and now we will all suffer. Schools won't be normal at all in the fall. I have heard that here in Saint Louis it will be a hybrid thing, two days on, three online, or you can do all online, but that won't last long if people continue to live, and disregard the rules like they have since shelter at home was lifted. I wouldn't be surprised if by early September my kids are strictly online learning.

Which leads me to college football. If my kids can't go to a regular, smallish elementary school, how is big time college football going to be played? You can say, no fans. Okay, but what about the players? You can say, test them every other day. Sure, but what about immunocompromised people or the elderly? Shouldn't they have priority over college athletes? The NBA, MLB and NHL right now are getting tests done regularly, and they know within a day if they are positive or not. But my friends and family that have been tested, they have to wait upwards of a week before they know. How is that fair? And with football, these kids are constantly colliding with one another, spreading sweat, spit, all kinds of bodily fluids everywhere. It would be the easiest way to get it. And I have seen some people talk about making full shields for helmets, or having kids wear some kind of face covering, but they all balk at that idea. Why? I have seen players wear every type of extra padding and gadget on their body. Why would they be against the one thing that could actually give them a chance to play this fall? I'll never know.

I have also seen people say they can push to the spring, but that leaves me with two questions. What star college player, who isn't getting paid a dime, would play in the spring, a few months before the draft and risk getting injured?  Also, who knows what this pandemic will look like in the spring. It could be worse, the same or better, we have no idea. All I know, or at least feel right now is, this season is going to get cancelled, billions, with a B, will be lost and a good amount of seniors will never get to play their last season of football because we are a selfish country. Where cases are record highs right now, places like Alabama, Texas, California, South and North Carolina, Louisiana, Ohio, these states live for college football, but since they couldn't, or simply wouldn't follow rules, they are going to miss out on another year of college football. The OSU's, LSU's, Alabama, Texas, USC, they won't get watched because a good majority of people didn't take this pandemic seriously enough, and refuse to wear a mask, even though they think they have to go out now.

I'm so, so bummed about this because I love college football. I live for it. I love nothing more than wasting an entire Saturday afternoon in the fall watching college football, especially my Michigan Wolverines, who only have had four positive cases I might add. It's the best. But, at this point in time I have zero faith that any type of college football season is going to happen in 2020. I hope the parties and the beaches and the restaurants were worth it because we are going to have to start all over again, and that likely means online, at home school for those of us with young kids, and no fall sports. That is a real bummer. It makes me very upset. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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