What a hell of a week for sports. The Pac-12 and Big-10 announced the postponement of their seasons. The Big-12, SEC, and ACC have all decided to play this Fall, amid the Coronavirus pandemic. This sent the “sporting world” into sheer chaos.
Following the cancelation of all major sports back in March, you would have thought the conferences would have prepared on how to deal with bringing back football. Instead, it seems as if all the commissioners from each conference are making it up as they go. Just over two weeks ago the Pac-12 announced a schedule for Fall football to open up on September 26. Now it is postponed to Spring. What the hell happened in two weeks?
One of the reasons for the postponement was the fear of Myocarditis as an effect of getting Coronavirus. Myocarditis is the inflammation of the heart that has appeared in some cases of Coronavirus.
I am not buying this explanation.
Let me explain:
Medical officials have been treating Myocarditis since the 19th century. They have a pretty good grasp on how to treat this infection. Myocarditis is also caused by other viruses including the common cold. Health officials have protocols on how to track Myocarditis and how to treat it. Dr. Aloiya Earl (a sports medicine doctor) has said that they were prepared to deal with this disease.
“We know to look for it, know how to catch it, and we had planned on screening for it prior to an athlete ever stepping foot back on the playing field after testing positive for COVID-19. This is our bread and butter. It’s what we do.” -Dr. Aloiya Earl.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Myocarditis has been cited as a reason for the cancellation of the fall college football season, but <a href="https://twitter.com/aloiya_earl?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@aloiya_earl</a> tells us that the medical community was prepared to handle it. <a href="https://t.co/NLyBhUaTjY">https://t.co/NLyBhUaTjY</a></p>— Eleven Warriors (@11W) <a href="https://twitter.com/11W/status/1293656170918551554?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 12, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I am skeptical because this cancelation happened shortly after the #WeAreUnited hashtag and the open letter from the players had surfaced. As soon as the players started speaking up, the Pac-12 changed their tones about opening for the season. Weird right?
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Power 5 AD just texted: “You and your colleagues are chasing the wrong story. The virus alone is enough to stop the season. But presidents are terrified of players organizing. It’s the paradigm shift to change amateur sports.” (1of2)</p>— Matt Hayes (@MattHayesCFB) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattHayesCFB/status/1292218344943255554?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 8, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
How is the NCAA dealing with this? Not well, they now have to deal with a season with half of the conferences opting out of a Fall season. Jeff Brohm coach from Purdue just proposed a ridiculous schedule to start football in late January and end April then start the 2021 season in October. So their plan is to have players have two seasons in one year instead of one. Sure, keep telling us how much you care about player safety. This is ridiculous, Spring football is not happening.
The chaos that has ensued has exposed the NCAA on how dysfunctional it is. College football is a billion-dollar industry but it doesn’t have a commissioner-how insane is that? President of the NCAA, Mark Emmert, could not quell all the chaos because he doesn’t have the power; the conferences do. There has to be some uniformity in all of this. What we are seeing with this whole ordeal is how the Articles of Confederation were received. This is a state’s versus national issue. The posturing from certain conferences is college football’s version of “Shay’s Rebellion”. It is a shit show, and there is nothing the NCAA can do about it right now.