As much as we’ve tried to draw distinct lines for what is right, wrong and best for all in our pandemic, it can’t be done. Total clarity doesn’t exist, including – and especially – with football.
Those who favor caution, insisting it’s too unsafe to play at any level, they’re not wrong to think so. Most of these people are well-meaning, without underlying agendas and motivations or hatred of sports.
Same goes for those who’d say the costs of not playing are too great, enough to justify going ahead with high school, college football seasons outside of an isolated environment. They’re not wrong, either. Most of them aren’t villainous types who seek to put a game over anyone’s life.
Yet we're pressed – often through political polarization of our society – to pick one side or the other. No middle ground. No acknowledgment of a massive gray area that defines this issue more than most.
That gray area has meant that when it has come time for those in power to make decisions, they’ve made conflicting ones – the Big Ten canceling while the SEC wants to play on. So much questioning of motivations. So many varied thoughts about those moves, most of which won’t matter.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, though, his opinion does matter.
And he had to pick a side.
Our governor – like many of his counterparts in our part of the country – is in favor of football being played. Lee made that known during a series of media interviews in the past week, including a phone conversation with yours truly.
Given the opportunity, there was a question I wanted to ask him: How much of his decision was political – reading the room, so to speak, telling people what they want to hear – and how much of it was personally what he thought was best?
“I try not to make decisions based on, sort of, political wins,” Lee replied. “I really do try to make decisions based on what I think is actually in the best interest of the state. ... Reading the room, you're going to get voices from both sides of that, right? 'What a ridiculous idea.' That's one side. And then the other side would say, 'Why in the world would we not play football?' I tend to try to look at all the information and the data.”
You really do want to believe him. The idea of being able to enjoy social activities – in spite of the presence of a deadly virus – is highly compelling and seductive. And yet, there’s still a nagging sense of irresponsibility, fear that it’s just not safe, that you might be putting yourself and your loved ones in potentially grave danger.
Since I can't be certain Lee is right, I can only hope he's not wrong.
Lee's stance, he said, is not politically motivated. But it’s undeniable that the governors of those states hold a lot of sway in football actually happening.
Obviously, Lee is a Republican. Obviously, major conferences largely composed of red states – the SEC, ACC and Big 12 – are the ones still trying to play. Presidents and chancellors of universities ultimately will make the call, and those leaders surely will feel a lot more comfortable opting to play if their governors agree with them, as Lee does.
That's not to say that football is inevitable in the coming months. Lee's response, strong as it was for football, still contained some of that gray area.
He said he didn't want to lead by being "paralyzed out of fear for something that may or may not happen," but he also spoke of caution: "We will watch it. We will watch data. We will watch cases. We will watch what actually unfolds on the ground."
Pay attention to that final comment. It could end up having teeth.
Returning to campuses, attending classes and playing football is OK; it's difficult to conclude that's all OK and not have young students hear that everything else is, too. Things like parties and large gatherings without any regard for social distancing.
We’ve seen some of this already in pictures from college campuses all over the place. Attending Thursday night’s Upperman-Cookeville football game caused concern for me, personally. Social-distancing guidelines at that game became mere suggestions. Masks might have been needed to get in the stadium, but they often disappeared after arrival. Students from both schools packed closely into rows of bleachers at Tennessee Tech – despite ample room to spread out.
RELATED: What the first Friday night of Tennessee high school football during coronavirus pandemic looked like
Few cared, it seemed, and after speaking with those who attended other high school games and seeing coverage and photos from other areas and states, I’m certain those two schools in Putnam County were far from the only ones.
The same passion that existed for high school football to proceed should be applied – now that games are happening – to ensuring students and fans adhere to standards that state and local governments are putting in place for safety.
Failing to do so will put countless people in jeopardy, not just threaten football seasons. And if that comes to pass, it will mean that going ahead with those games did, in fact, turn out to be an unsafe choice.
But it would still be one that meant so much to players and their parents. The other side of this coin: Teams in the Big Ten and Pac-12 having to endure the excruciating experience of their own teams and fan bases having to sit and watch others play. You’d hate to have fear as the reason that had to happen, even if it was sensible.
We need to allow ourselves the ability to backtrack, to admit what was wrong, to stop playing if it gets too bad – or to maybe start playing if the situation improves.
In a pandemic, no one can have it both ways, entirely free of risk, regret or responsibility for either choice.
What's so tough about all this is that nothing is easy.
Reach Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Gentry_Estes.
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August 24, 2020 at 08:58PM
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What's right? Wrong? With football in a pandemic, there's no middle ground | Estes - Tennessean
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