Does America Need College Football During the COVID-19 Pandemic?
So I woke up on Monday and the first thing I did was hop on Twitter. Usually I get my daily dose of American trash to start my day. I was surprised to see the NCAA trending. As I dug deeper, it looked like people were demanding that college football not be canceled. Meanwhile, the Power 5 conferences are on the verge of canceling the 2020 season.
Interestingly enough, a few things have happened during this time. Groups of students have opted out of the season and demanded representation with certain guaranteed demands. Those demands include:
“To ensure future generations of college athletes will be treated fairly, #WeAreUnited.
Because NCAA sports exploit college athletes physically, economically and academically, and also disproportionately harm Black college athletes, #WeAreUnited.
In rejecting the NCAA’s claim that #BlackLivesMatter while also systematically exploiting Black athletes nationwide, #WeAreUnited.
Because we are being asked to play college sports in a pandemic in a system without enforced health and safety standards, and without transparency about COVID cases on our teams, the risks to ourselves, our families, and our communities, #WeAreUnited.
Because we must have adequate COVID testing to help protect our health, #WeAreUnited.
Because we are prohibited from securing representation while being asked to sign documents that may serve as liability waivers, #WeAreUnited.
Because we should not be stuck with sports-related medical expenses, including COVID-19 related expenses, #WeAreUnited.
Because any player who does not feel comfortable playing this season should be free to opt out without losing their scholarship or any eligibility, #WeAreUnited.
Because immoral rules would punish us for receiving basic necessities or compensation for the use of our names, images and likenesses, while many of us and our families are suffering economically from the COVID-19 fallout, #WeAreUnited.
Because we should be included in equitably sharing the revenue our talents generate, especially in a pandemic, #WeAreUnited.
Because unjust rules prevent the 98% of college football and basketball players who won’t go pro from capitalizing economically on what would otherwise be the most valuable years of our lives, including many Black players from low-income homes, #WeAreUnited.
Because eliminating lavish salaries and facility expenditures to preserve all sports must be prioritized, #WeAreUnited.
Because the NCAA has failed us and we are prepared to ensure that our conference treats us fairly whether or not it continues its NCAA membership, #WeAreUnited.
In forming alliances with college athletes from other conferences to unite with us for change, #WeAreUnited.
#WeAreUnited in our commitment to secure fair treatment for college athletes. Due to COVID-19 and other serious concerns, we will opt-out of Pac-12 fall camp and game participation unless the following demands are guaranteed in writing by our conference to protect and benefit both scholarship athletes and walk-ons.”
Others have demanded that they play the season because they “put so much WORK into this season, [they] want to play.” More importantly, some programs are retweeting these tweets and adding gas to the fire. To take it a step further, coaches are coming out in support of playing this season. I won’t go into the dynamics of players voicing their need to play this season, but I will address the disparities that are intertwined in this cluster of problematic events and actions.
First, Football teams comprise over 50% of Black students, but most of these programs are part of academic institutions whose student population is less than 10% Black. It would be different if this was the pros, but it is not. In fact, this is the antithesis of professional football. To the point that they can’t try to make a living during the pandemic, they would be rendered ineligible to play college football. The hypocrisy of this situation is that we are expected to treat these players as students. When school is supposed to be online for all these students, why are we expecting student athletes to be on campus and play a season? When they go to school, are they still going to have online classes? Or are they expected to go to class while everyone else is taking classes online. It’s not like students are paying a reduced price to take classes this term. They are paying full price despite the situation. This really brings to light the inconsistencies and disparities that exist between populations. Especially because Black populations are disproportionately affected by COVID. In every age range, Black communities who contract COVID are dying at higher rates while white communities are dying at lower rates. Since this whole thing has manifested, there has been a general shift in sentiment for the need to lower the infections once we all realized it was affecting Black communities worse than others. People are getting sick, but Black people are dying more. We see that expressed in very crude ways by people as they downplay the severity of the virus by saying: “the flu is worse.” The responses are baffling, but not surprising when we look at who the people are that are saying these things.
I find it interesting that public officials are weighing in on whether or not football should be played this season especially since people have been silent about the conditions student athletes have been playing in for years. The non guaranteed medical treatment, the lack of career opportunities for student athletes, and very little representation for student athletes well being in. He wrote in a letter to the Big Ten Presidents and Chancellors:
“We should not cancel the college football season. Life is about trade offs. There are no guarantees that college football will be completely safe-absolutely true; it’s always true. But the structure and discipline of football programs is very likely safer than what the lived experiences of 18 to 22 year olds will be if there isn’t a season.
As a former college president, I know many of you actually agree — because I’ve heard multiple presidents say it when the cameras aren’t rolling.
Justin Fields and Trevor Lawrence have made similar points persuasively: Canceling the fall season would mean closing down socially-distanced, structured programs for these athletes. Young men will be pushed away from universities that are uniquely positioned to provide them with testing and health care.
Here’s the reality: Many of you think that football is safer than no football, but you also know that you will be blamed if there is football, whereas you can duck any blame if you cancel football.
This is a moment for leadership. These young men need a season. Please don’t cancel college football.”
The first thing I would say is that March Madness was canceled because of COVID. In fact, everything was canceled because of COVID. Since everything has been canceled, things have only gotten worse. People lost their careers and some have even lost their homes, and we are talking about not canceling football. Questioning whether football is safer or not is not a question. The effects of head trauma on mental and physical health is already proven. I can also attest to it as I played football for 12 years with 6 of those years being in Division 1 College programs. Why is it that we are so eager to get back to the field amongst a pandemic, and why are we willfully ignoring the climate in which we are living in right now. You can’t socially distance in football. To imply that canceling the season will dismantle the structure for athletes disregards the fact that they are further being isolated from the general student body because they are athletes. If they are expected to exist on campus by a different set of rules, then they must have a different classification. It starts from there. There is no vote on behalf of athletes on whether they should play. There are only a bunch of white guys on twitter that are advocating for more Football despite not playing a lick of D1 sports. The reality is that we don’t know what will happen when we are mid season, bodies are banged up, flu season is ramping up, and COVID is still ravaging the US. Each individual aspect is already a red flag, but the intersection of all of them is scary. At the end of the day Black Players are disproportionately affected. A moment of true leadership comes when people take into account medical experts and suggestions that have the best interest of student athletes and not the interests of fans or businesses. We are all hit hard during COVID. It is not the job of athletes to distract us, lift our spirits, and get us out of this time.
Nebraska’s Head Coach Scott Frost shared his thoughts on the matter. He said, “ Our university is committed to playing no matter what… We certainly hope it’s in the Big Ten. If it isn’t, I think we’re prepared to look for other options.” I find this interesting because we are 6 months into the biggest pandemic of any generation alive. It has uprooted life as we know it across any sector. It felt like overnight things changed. Careers were unhinged, money was lost, and plans were uprooted. I say that because I lost projects, I had to cancel trips, and I had to postpone events for business and pleasure. All of us are feeling the effects, and there isn’t much that we can do about it because we are not health experts and professionals. If the medical field is worried, then we should all be too. Playing football isn’t going to change that. What gets under my skin is that when conferences said they were not going to be playing, he suggested that they can find a way to play no matter what. I understand being eager and determined, but to insist that this is the proper direction when something as little as getting a haircut and going to the movies presents risks of death. To say that this reality does not matter is baffling.
There are many signs preparing Trevor Lawernece for his title as the Great White Hope of 2020. He has a backing of the President, players, coaches, ADs, and Politicians. I am interested to see how this plays out, but it is not surprising that this is coming from a school like Clemson who has a confirmed history of racism towards their own players and opponents. Even Dabo Swinney has a problematic history as it pertains to race relations and the well being of student athletes. Trevor’s stock is definitely rising even though he hasn’t played a lick of football this season. I imagine his jersey will be a hot seller and his twitter following will grow because this is how this works.
There have been players circulating tweets with hashtag #WeWantToPlay. It is interesting what players are speaking up in support of this. Some are talking about wellness and equity, while others are talking about these pseudo-GOP talking points. One could imagine how a PAC12 would tweet and how an SEC would tweet. The most vocal ones tend to be from the programs that have the most disparities amongst the success of Black student-athletes on and off the field compared to their white counterparts and abroad. Nevertheless, the message reads:
“We all want to play football this season. Establish universal mandated health and safety procedures and protocols to protect college-athletes against covid-19 among all conferences throughout the NCAA. Give players the opportunity to opt out and respect their decision. Guarantee eligibility whether a player chooses to play the season or not. Use our voices to establish open communication and trust between players and officials; Ultimately create a college football players association. Representative of the players of all Power 5 conferences.”
I understand the desire to achieve your dreams. I was there at one point, but we have to understand that this is not an end to your career, it is just a setback or a pause. In fact, this is a great opportunity to rest up, get your body back together, and actually focus on being a student for once. Let’s pick this apart though. Establishing protocols to protect against COVID? Can that really be done? They can’t protect former presidential candidates at rallies, what makes anyone think they can protect players from COVID. What rings in my ear is a story of Brady Feeney. To make it a long story short, Brady tested negative at the beginning of workouts, but he and other players tested positive within three weeks. The University followed all the protocols that these players and coaches are referring to and retested the whole team. Yet, Brady was hit hard with the virus. Despite being in good health, he ended up in the ER with respiratory issues. This has had lasting effects as he is dealing with heart issues according to his mother now. This is just one example of how unprepared football is to protect players. People can’t be protected from a virus that has no vaccine and preys on group gatherings.
This story really reminds me of when I had mono a month before training camp. I was essentially quarantined for 3 weeks, but had to report to camp. For those that have had mono, it sucks. Some people die, but most survive. I was one of them. I lost 20lbs. Most of that was muscle as I was working hard towards my senior season at Oregon State. I was starting at nickel and dime, and was in my last year of grad school. I was on the watch list for academic and athletic awards, and was really focused on this season. Then I got sick. When training camp came, I had to report to camp and go to practice, meetings, etc. They closely monitored me, but it was all to get me back on the field as soon as possible. When things started to look promising, they got me back on the field because I was a starter and there wasn’t as much confidence in my backup. I was really eager to get back to the field because we always opened the season with a 1AA team, and those were often games to get the confidence up. Unfortunately, I came back too early, a day or so after my first practice, I woke up completely drained. I felt like death. Even though they were monitoring me, they can’t control the rate at which I recovered. That moment I realized I needed to slow down and take my time recovering. I was in the ice bath neck high multiple times a day, I was drinking tons of water, getting as much sleep as you can during camp, and eating a well balanced diet. That doesn’t matter when you are navigating a virus. As a result of returning too early, I messed up my recovery timeline. That meant I was underweight going into my first game, and I couldn’t lift or really workout until mid season. By that time, I was starting to get banged up because of the season. I can attest to the physical tool football has. I played 6 seasons and recovered from 2 season ending injuries that required hip reconstructive surgery twice, a wheelchair for a month, and extensive rehab. The actions we make can have lasting health effects. Especially with football.
It is not about whether you want to play or not. This is about proper representation. Much like players can’t control their schedules they can’t control the outcome of this. There is very little a player can control to be honest. They can’t control their class schedules, they can’t control their diets, they can’t control their working conditions, they can’t control their breaks from school, they can’t control their workouts, they can’t even control whether they can play or not. Most are kind of just there trying to stay out of trouble. What people often don’t talk about is how football ends for 99% of guys. Very rarely do we get the retirement celebration we see on TV. “After 12 years of playing football, I have decided to hang up my cleats,” was not something I said. I thought about it, but I never said it. The end of my football career came when nothing happened. Literally nothing. I trained and did proday. I didn’t get drafted. I went to a few workouts, but didn’t make a roster. I just never got that call. After struggling to land a spot for months after the draft, I sat down in my room and thought about what options I had. My body was banged up from injuries, I was on the verge of getting my Master’s degree, and looking at the reality of long term health, I had to ask myself whether I wanted to put myself through more of this to struggle to achieve a pipe dream. Did I want to continue this vicious cycle that further perpetuates an ever growing stereotype of using my body for opportunities and being defined by the hypermasculine culture that survives off of taking underprivileged young, Black men out of the ghettos giving them an “education”, structure, discipline, and father figures to battle on the gridiron and make our families and communities proud. This played out narrative has so many racial undertones because when it ends, all that stuff is gone in the blink of an eye. If you don’t have a backup plan, you are stuck trying to pick up the pieces by yourself.
Booger McFarland said it best: https://twitter.com/GetUpESPN/status/1292824809198497792?s=20
How can it be safe to send guys to the field when you can’t have fans in the stands and you can’t have students sitting in class. The people who have to take all the risk are not the ones making the decisions. Because they are amateurs the NCAA made it impossible for them to make their own decisions. It doesn’t matter what they want because whether they have eligibility or the opportunity to play is not up to them. They are amateurs therefore someone else must make that decision for them. If it were the pros, they can seek guidance, make decisions, and be compensated for it, but this is not. Hashtags mean nothing when you can’t make decisions for yourself. The bigger question is why are we talking about being an athlete when they can’t be students. According to the NCAA, they are students first and foremost. Just because we are in a pandemic, doesn’t mean morals go away. Suggesting anything else only means that the fans in the stands, coaching staff, stadium workers, and anyone else that are affected economically have more weight than the well being of players. The only way this conversation makes sense is if it makes cents (no pun intended).
There is always this recurring sentiment that players are getting the state of the art medical treatment. Mind you, none of this is mental health services despite all of the head trauma they have. That they are getting a free education. I have osteoarthritis in my hips and I am under 30. That if they don’t like it, they can do something else. For all those that are upset, about not being able to go to work or go to hair salons and bars, the same could be said for that as well, but hypocrisy is rampant amongst people that have little to no empathy for others. Especially others with dark skin. They say they are spoiled and ungrateful, but you expect them to risk their lives so you can watch your favorite team on TV and ignore everything that is happening in the world. They even want them to keep politics out of the sport, but politicians are going out of their way to influence decisions and public opinion. Where is the true representation for the players? We are in a global health pandemic where most of these schools are in states where thousands of people are dying from the virus. This is not a time for public opinion. These are not employees. They are not at the liberty to make their own decisions because they are not able to make informed decisions that align with the free market as student-athletes. If they do try to get representation, they are rendering themselves ineligible.
Think about the logistics of playing football. As if guys didn’t have trouble balancing life and football. What is implied by playing football under these circumstances is that the season is going to be one long training camp. Every program will be working under the guise of COVID preparedness to restrict the daily living of every player in the program. If any of the players have families, they will have to consider socially distancing from family and friends after every away game week. More importantly, guys will have to choose being with the team over being with their kids in fear of transmitting the disease. Guys will have curfew and must ensure that they remain healthy while they are in season, which they cannot control. Meetings will be longer, practice will be longer, and the nuances in regulations that are set will be exploited by coaches and staff to “better prepare” guys to win games. How will walk ons fair with this? What if players live at home with older family members. What if family members get sick? Will players have to choose between their team and sport or their family. That is something I would imagine people would attribute to necessary sacrifices. They might say, “well if you don’t like it, don’t play.” Yet, those are the same people saying, “America needs Football.” It is interesting how when people lost their jobs and states were restricting certain businesses from operating that people would protest outside and risk jail time by going against orders, but they could have just done something different. The reality is that they didn’t, and their desires spread to public offices and news outlets. It’s not about doing something different. It is about putting people over money and property. It is about making things safe for all parties involved and not some parties.
So what makes me an authority to speak on this? Well, I was one of the top players coming out of California in 2008. I got scholarships to tons of schools, and ended up in Hawaii. I played there for 3.5 years as a corner and had 2 season ending injuries. I ended up getting hip reconstructive surgery on both hips. Prior to my second surgery, I got my release from the team because the environment was not constructive for me there, and they were going to medically disqualify me because of my injuries. I transferred to Oregon State after getting my degree and getting into grad school there. As a contingency, I had to walk on to the team and show that I was healthy enough to play. That panned out because I ended up starting the first game against Wisconsin where we upset them and had a phenomenal year. While in grad school, I began to explore social issues and really reflect on my playing experience. I was studying Sports Psychology, Exercise Sports Science, and Fine Arts in an Interdisciplinary Program, and I was really intrigued by the motivations we have for success. For me, it was to prove my worth on the field despite coaching denying me those opportunities. For others, it is taking care of their families and creating legacies. With everything that I knew and saw, I came to the conclusion that the structure of the NCAA and college sports really encouraged guys to succeed on the field, but failed to provide the same support off the field. I made a graphic novel called No Love for Gladiators that explored these topics and wrote my Master’s Thesis on these disparities. Afterwards I worked on a documentary about the business of college sports, Business of Amateurs, and how it affects the mental and physical well being of athletes trying to achieve their dreams. This made it to the John Oliver Show, it made it to film festivals, to movie theatres, and to Hulu and Amazon Prime. I was fortunate to host student athletes at schools to watch it and also speak about it at college classes. I was working with Players Associations to advocate for athletes, and I tried to put together groups, but things kind of fell apart once peoples jobs were being threatened and at the risk of losing their eligibility for wanting to speak up about conditions. I had to take a step back like many of the guys that were in the fight. It just started to be too much to deal with while I was still trying to figure out my next path which ended up being medical school.
I can speak to that personally. There were coaches that saw my interest in school as a distraction from football. If you get a bad grade, they will ostracize you in meetings for not being focused, but God forbid you have to leave early for class, or go to meetings or practice late for class, or schedule a class during a mandatory football thing. That is a perfect way to not play football in college. Yes, you will get awarded if you get good grades. I made PAC 12 All Academic First Team as a grad student, and missed Academic All American by 1 semester. I also made the Dean’s list numerous times at both schools I played at. I also was questioned on many occasions whether I wanted to play football or just go to school despite me never missing a football thing. At times it was very toxic. I will say some programs are far worse than others. Hawaii was much worse than Oregon State. In fact, Oregon State was probably the most supportive program I have been a part of, but there were some things that were just aspects of football culture. There are always those coaches and staff that see Black players in particular as sheep rather than people. Maybe it is money or power. I don’t know, but I bore the brunt of it for most of my playing career, and it wasn’t until I finally found myself and why I was doing all of this that it finally worked out. The worst thing you can do as a player is get bad grades, get sick/injured, and make mistakes on the field. I did all of those at some point, and that is when they try to get rid of you. They play mind games. They don’t invite you to camp in August until the last minute, they switch your position the day before practice, they demote you for no reason, the list can go on and on. And things go unchecked because there is no representation for athletes and not accountability for staff and coaches. There is accountability for students though. Anytime there is a NCAA violation for accepting money or doing something stupid, their face is plastered all over the internet and TV. For me, I almost lost my eligibility because I got into art during my playing career. I had a viral YouTube video that got my channel partnered, I hosted a charity art gallery where I sold my art to raise money for a children’s shelter in Corvallis, and I ran a kickstarter for my first graphic novel. If I would have capitalized on my off the field success, I would have lost my eligibility. Not because I was doing anything shady, but because money was involved. At the art show, I literally could not greet people at the door when they came to the show because I could not be within viewing distance of any financial transactions. The fear mongering happening off the field makes you pessimistic about your non football related abilities because they twist every success as a byproduct of being an athlete. When the meeting doors close in football facilities it’s even more detrimental to guys. The point is that they will try to break you for standing out and thinking beyond the box they put you in. I had coaches that I will never forget to this day that tried to break me and in some ways succeeded. I lost relationships with my teammates because of it, I was on antidepressants, I had to see a therapist, and the stress triggered other mental health issues that I had to manage. When I finally got a hold of my situation, I found a hobby. Mind you this is after I quit the team at Hawaii, had hip surgery, and was recovering as I went to school. I finally had the peace of mind and an opportunity to get out of that football player box, and explore life as a young person trying to figure out my life. There are so many parallels with my situation and this situation with COVID and the season being cancelled. This is an opportunity for guys to actually be students. This is something that they can use to grow personally, creatively, etc. It is an opportunity for them to reassess their priorities, and get a jumpstart on other aspects in life. One thing I did appreciate was that I had the opportunity to improve on myself. I literally went from a wheelchair in November 2011 getting medically disqualified to starting in the PAC 12 on ESPN in August 2012. I was also working as a cartoonist for the newspaper, and I really improved my study skills. I feel like that time really helped me get beyond the idea that I had to attain mastery in school, football, and adulthood all at once. I put football on hold to focus on myself, and I did that. Because I did that, I was able to achieve everything I set out to do initially, and that was being successful.
