This week’s most important sport note comes from SDSU President Barry Dunn, who suggests it may be hard for colleges to offer the usual variety of spectator sports amidst coronavirus:
President Dunn says you might be able to run cross country or play golf in a pandemic, but it’s going to be difficult with football and other close contact sports [Todd Epp, “Will There Be College Football This Fall?” KELO Radio, 2020.07.16].
The point of college sport—alas—is to create big public spectacles that inspire donations. Perhaps coronavirus is an opportunity for spectators to spectate something else, to watch via aerial drone cameras as men and women charge bravely up rugged, weaving mountain paths or race their bicycles out on the open, windy prairie. Perhaps the pandemic is an opportunity for e-sports to take off, as we can all play and watch from the comfort and safety of our isolated couches. Perhaps the pandemic is an opportunity for colleges to redirect their physical education efforts from creating an elite cadre of super-athletes to coaching all students in safe, fun physical activities that will keep them fit amidst their studies and pandemic restrictions.
Best of all, perhaps the inability to safely conduct close-contact, big-crowd spectator sports gives colleges a chance to turn to athletes and donors alike and say, “Hey, the real, lasting value we add is in the classroom. Athletes, just go to class. Take an extra history class. Take an extra electronics lab. Donors, support our students and our professors. Invest in the learning that will turn into skills that will build your business and your community.”
And then hit the links, or go for a nice run in the country.
While I agree with the premise of looking for positive outlets in this time of cancelled sports, golf and running are great options… if you are affluent and/or white. Both activities have barriers to entry for POC and the socio-economically challenged.
Golfing is expensive and intimidating for the uninitiated. I’m a middle-aged white male, and I still feel sheepish going golfing. I didn’t grow up doing it, so I don’t have a nice set of clubs (garage sale), don’t know the appropriate attire/golf etiquette (of which there is much), and I’ve got a wicked and inconsistent slice that can be a source of embarrassment.
That said, I can see what a fun pastime golfing can be. I just don’t have the time/money/drive to fix my game, and learn the etiquette. Multiply my discomfort in the sport by a large factor for a POC.
With jogging, … RWB (Running While Black) can get you killed in some places.
Going to school along denial; a”tsunami of denial”.
It’s a fact that sheep can have and were awarded PhDs. Rarely has ‘piled higher and deeper’ more accurately described the fools proposing in-class attendance this fall.
“Next month, as currently envisioned, 2,800+ cruise ships retrofitted with white boards and a younger cohort will set sail in the midst of a raging pandemic. The density and socialization on these cruise ships could render college towns across America the next virus hot spots.”
Toddlers, like high school and college students lack discipline to social distance.
https://www.profgalloway.com/uss-university?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NMNM20200717
White House blocks CDC from testifying about opening schools.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/17/politics/white-house-cdc-house-testimony-schools/index.html
I doubt that cross country running would be a good sport for COVID-19 safety. Runners breathe hard and run in the previous competitor’s vapor trail. Unless it’s quite windy, I’d rule against it.
Individual sports like golf and tennis are possibilities. However, without the football cash cow, colleges are cutting many sports. More big college ADs are hinting that football is not going to happen at all in 2020.
High schools can get along without it more easily, but there will be pain there too. Fees will go up which means low income children will be excluded.
There is an enormous amateur sports business in the USA. There are AAU age group summer teams for just about every sport. The more elite levels of those teams travel all across the country. Parents run up big costs.
Then there are tens of thousands of professional coaches who teach one specific skill of the game. They coach setting a volleyball, throwing a baseball, bunting a softball, shooting a free throw, heading a soccer ball, and so on, endlessly.
In addition, there are recruiters hired by team coaches to find the player needed to turn that team into a powerhouse. They cover every inch of the country and Canada and the Caribbean. Families or mothers and children move for the summer to let their child play for the right coach and team.
That’s just the pre college economic juggernaut. COVID-19 is going to dump the entire American Big Business of Sport on its head and the effect will be big.
I’m in a FB softball group and the parents are losing their minds because the kids can’t play and the parents can’t travel. The level of outrage is shocking really.
The feces is hitting the sporting oscillator.
A Colorado educator doesn’t care much for Kruel Kristi or Liar-in-Chief.
“Irish Elementary Principal Lindsey Walton posted a comment last week in reference to a news story with the headline ‘South Dakota governor flew with Trump on Air Force One after being exposed to coronavirus: report.”
“Walton’s comment, which has since been removed, came from her personal Facebook account and read: ‘Good. Maybe they’ll both die.’ ”
🤔 🤔 🤔 Understandable sentiment, but not good for employment. The story is here, no paywall.
is.gd/GD1ynP
Debbo, cross-country running is the best possible sport for pandemic times… when you do it by yourself, alone against the elements, out in the country….
Agree, Cory. But CC competition is another matter.