OPINION: There’s risk in not playing, too
September 12.
Back a few months ago, that was the date most of you reading this thought you’d be watching Mississippi State football travel to North Carolina State for one of the early tests of the Mike Leach era. The second Saturday in September had (and has) a different meaning for me. It’s my wife’s due date to deliver our third child (and first girl), Chloe Kate.
Yep, I’m about to be a girl dad. Chloe will join the madness along with her big brothers, Cal and Cade. Like the two boys already have, not long after Chloe gets here, she’ll soon learn her daddy’s life revolves around three things – the Good Lord, his family and the Mississippi State sports calendar. At least I hope she gets to see that.
Because the fact is, as I write this, there’s now serious doubt as to whether there will be a 2020 football season at all. Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger and Pat Forde PUBLISHED THIS PIECE on Saturday, outlining how fall sports are on the brink of being called off.
Some might celebrate that call. Some might say playing sports this fall isn’t worth the risk. You won’t find me among those folks. Because not playing is a risk too. And it’s a risk I don’t think necessarily gets enough pub these days.
I’ll use myself as the guinea pig. Lets say the Southeastern Conference football season is called off this week. If they can’t play football this fall, they darn sure won’t be starting basketball in November. That means, at the absolute earliest, it’d be January 2021 before SEC sports returned. Well I’m paid to cover SEC sports. There hasn’t been a game featuring any SEC team since March. By January, 10 months would have passed. And there’s no guarantee sports would start back then anyway.
The result? This here writer, with his wife and three kids and a mortgage to pay and diapers and groceries to buy, might no longer have a job. Don’t tell me that not playing this fall eliminates risk. Get that out of here.
That’s just my selfish example. What about the restaurant owner in Starkville that has been able to thrive in the past because for seven weekends each fall, this town is packed? Or better yet, just in case you think that restaurant owner has plenty of money and will be fine, what about that waitress that works at that restaurant? She needs her job to support her kids, but now has to be laid off because for months now, business has been down and with no football, it’s not coming back soon.
What about Starkville-area hotels or clothing stores or coffee shops? How exactly are these places supposed to keep their doors open when the foundation for many of these places are the people that love Mississippi State and come to Starkville in droves in the fall? (None of this is even to mention the internal problem of not playing and the total financial chaos that causes within athletic departments and schools. That's another column altogether.)
These aren't problems unique to Starkville. It applies to Oxford. It applies to Athens. It apples everywhere, but especially to the smaller towns in the SEC. If there is no football this fall, local economies will take an incredible hit. The families of those that find themselves out of work suffer. Again, don’t tell me that eliminating sports eliminates risk.
Now don’t think I don’t know playing in the midst of a pandemic is a risk as well. I know multiple folks that have had COVID-19. I know multiple folks that have died with it. I fully acknowledge there are dangers with letting the show go on.
What if a player or coach or anyone involved catches the coronavirus and ends up severely sick or worse? What if there’s an outbreak on a team somewhere and the virus spreads like wildfire inside the locker room and possibly then to the loved ones of those coaches and players?
Individuals’ health is absolutely at risk. This column is in no way meant to discount that, and it's not to even suggest that it's on athletic departments to ignore that risk and play on for the sake of their communities. Instead, it’s simply to remind those who might’ve forgotten or have chosen to dismiss it, there’s a bunch of risk the other way too.
I’m fortunate. If there are no sports this fall, I’ve got things to fall back on. Should I need it, I’ve got family that could help out at a moment’s notice. The Coleman clan is a blessed bunch. Cal, Cade, Chloe Kate and their mama and daddy will somehow, someway have a roof over their heads and food on the table.
But if there are no sports this fall, I’m willing to bet there’s going to be more than one family wondering how to make ends meet. They’ll wonder how to make the next payment or afford the next meal.
Oh yes, there’s risk in playing. Of that, there can be no doubt. But don’t you think for one second that not playing isn’t risky. And if you think it isn’t, I’ll let you be the one to tell that to the mama or daddy that lost their job and has no clue what to do next.
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