The reckless selfishness of Mike Gundy represents the worst our country has to offer right now in our fight against the coronavirus.
Gundy is the always-controversial Oklahoma State football coach who said on Tuesday that he wants players back on campus by May 1, and that his team can just “fight this virus off” because his players are healthy. Meanwhile, nearly 2,000 people died from COVID-19 in the U.S. between Tuesday and Wednesday, marking the country’s highest death toll yet.
Not Gundy’s concern. He just cares about football, and that his team is probably getting too fat right now sitting at home. They’re not going to die or even get sick, says Gundy, because they’re in good shape and young.
“If that is true, then we sequester them, and continue because we need to run money through the state of Oklahoma,” Gundy said.
How does this fool still have a job after saying something like that?
GOODMAN: Leadership of Nick Saban important in crisis
These are difficult times for football coaches, but valuing money over human life should be grounds for termination for anyone managing people, and especially for someone charged with the health and safety of students in college. Gundy just wants answers, though. From his privileged perch, it’s all about him and his little football fiefdom. He is gross and disgusting.
“The NCAA, the presidents of the universities, the Power Five conference commissioners, the athletic directors need to be meeting right now, and we need to start coming up with answers,” Gundy said.
Guys like Gundy are good at what they do because they micromanage every detail of their programs, but right now a lot of them are powerless to control something they don’t really understand. In reality, all of those people Gundy named off can’t do anything until governments say it’s OK to go back to school. Online classes are an option for continuing education this summer, and that’s great, but it’s hard envisioning football players returning to campus before an all-clear for everyone.
There is some new hope, though.
On Tuesday, national coronavirus task force member Dr. Anthony Fauci said he thinks by the fall “we will have this under control enough that it certainly will not be the way it is now, where people are shutting schools.”
Finally, a glimmer of some positive news.
Don’t go celebrating just yet. How we get there is important to understand. The coronavirus isn’t going to just magically disappear. Dr. Fauci’s path to school in the fall is mass testing on a national level.
Like Alabama coach Nick Saban said in his first PSA, we need to listen to the experts. This isn’t time for blind optimism, political nonsense or bozo cowboys like Gundy. Dr. Fauci said returning to school is going to depend on the country’s ability to identify the virus, and then use contact tracing for people who test positive.
GOODMAN: Service to others the most important thing
Mass testing and contact tracing are how China and South Korea got a handle on COVID-19, and that’s how the U.S. is going to do it, too. Even then, football season is probably going to be affected in some way. How do I know this? Because a large portion of COVID-19 carriers are asymptomatic, and that fact represents the biggest problem to resuming team sports.
The Chinese government still hasn’t allowed team sports to resume because of asymptomatic carriers, and they postponed the CBA way back in January. Until people in the U.S. can go to places like CVS and get a test, then how are we supposed to fill campuses with students? The idea of football stadiums being full by this fall, like Clemson coach Dabo Swinney recently predicted, seems far fetched without mass testing.
Mack Brown at North Carolina said he doesn’t think there should be a football season without fans, but just getting the players back on campus in time is going to take work. And here’s what coaches know that most fans don’t quite appreciate. It’s dangerous to play football games with players who are out of shape and don’t know what they’re doing. That’s when kids really get hurt.
From that perspective, I understand Gundy’s wish to get players back on campus by May. Structured workouts in the winter, spring and summer prevent injuries in the fall.
The importance of systematic organization shouldn’t be lost on the coaches even if they don’t quite understand this pandemic. With that in mind, perhaps they should be asking how long it’s going to take for everyone in their states to have access to tests, and then maybe how they can help make that happen.
GOODMAN: Graduating under quarantine, class of 2020 sees things differently
Gundy mentioned the economics of college football, and that raises a good point about his future. How are universities supposed to pay these coaches their enormous contracts if there’s no money coming in?
For good or ill, a lot of universities and college towns rely heavily on the money generated by college football. Nowhere is this more obvious than in Alabama. College football is big business here, and also a cornerstone of our state’s culture. How do we save it?
In her address to the state about Alabama’s shelter-in-place order, Gov. Kay Ivey appealed to citizens to stay home if they wanted to save the college football season. It’s going to take more than staying home, however, to bring football back. Like Dr. Fauci said, it’s going to take mass testing for COVID-19.
Hopefully it’s not too late, but schools and states are going to lose billions this fall if they don’t start soon. The money shouldn’t matter right now, but for people who think like Gundy that’s the only language they understand.
Joseph Goodman is a columnist for the Alabama Media Group. He’s on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr.
MORE FROM JOSEPH GOODMAN: In time of crisis, Alabamians flock to liquor stores
"football" - Google News
April 09, 2020 at 03:43AM
https://ift.tt/2xYScJG
Amid Gundy noise, Fauci delivers hope for football - AL.com
"football" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2ST7s35
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Amid Gundy noise, Fauci delivers hope for football - AL.com"
Posting Komentar