About five weeks after voting 11-3 to postpone the 2020 football season, the Big Ten Conference today announced it would indeed have a season -- albeit an abbreviated one. The conference plans to begin an eight-game schedule on the weekend of Oct. 23-25, with the conference championship taking place on Saturday, Dec. 19. The four College Football Playoff picks will be decided on Dec. 20.
The conference's 14 universities voted unanimously to resume competition, citing improved daily testing capabilities and greater confidence in the latest medical information. Fans will not be permitted to attend the games. A "Return to Competition" task force presented Big Ten presidents and chancellors with information on daily antigen testing, enhanced cardiac screening and a data-driven approach to make decisions about practices and competition.
Back on Aug. 11, when the conference voted not to move forward with the season, there was talk about either cancelling it outright or playing it in the spring. Many fans harshly criticized the conference for not being transparent with its decision -- for voting in a clandestine manner.
Several universities, players from all of the teams, and many players' parents pushed back hard. Even President Trump got in on the action, personally calling coaches, athletic directors and others to lobby for a season. Now, as you would expect, he's taking all the credit for the decision to play.
Conference Commissioner Kevin Warren has been in office less than a year but has already built up a reputation as a social justice warrior. He's made no secret of the fact he's a staunch Democrat. It's no surprise he was behind the effort to prevent football from taking place. What is surprising is that Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who a few weeks ago said she was glad there would be no Big Ten or high school football (she has since reversed her decision on the latter), now says she supports the Big Ten's decision to play. Suddenly, that seemingly always vague "SCIENCE!" has become more clear, Madame Governor says.
Look, there's no question these football teams and coaching staffs are going to have to keep a tight rein on things. The players cannot be going out to bars and parties, swigging off of beer bongs, making out with strangers and passing bottles of Wild Turkey around. If they do, they may ultimately wipe out many of their most talented players from the starting lineup, and at worst case their squad to have to forfeit the rest of its games.
But on the same token, the paranoia and hysteria about COVID-19, particularly among young people, is ridiculous. Number One, younger people are less likely to contract the virus, and Number Two, their chances of recovering if they do get infected are in the neighborhood of 99.7 percent. Frankly, they have a much greater chance of sustaining a serious concussion or knee injury than dying from COVID-19.
I kind of had the feeling all along that the universities would find a way to play at least a trimmed down football season. Too many millions of dollars are at stake, and as we all know, the Benjamins are pretty much the be all and end all of academia, despite whatever high-minded, pompous bullshit they may profess.
To be fair, Trump put down a marker on making it happen. If it didn't, the press would have had a field day. The Biden campaign was even blaming him for the canceled season.
It's only proper for him to take a victory lap.
Posted by: K.N. Mcbride | September 17, 2020 at 05:16 PM