Mr. Optimistic Isn't Giving Up, but I Recognize How Dark the Sky is Getting
STILLWATER -- Sunday (Aug. 9) is a day off from practice for Oklahoma State. There are still meetings, special teams, offense and defense followed by a big lunch. I believe the bulk of the Cowboys players want to play football this fall. They don't want to risk their lives to do it, but based on the way team doctor Dr. Val Gene Iven, director of athletic training John Stemm, head football trainer Scott Parker, nutrionist Charles Hewitt, the entire medical staff as well as Rob Glass and the athletic performance staff have set out the protocols for COVID-19 prevention and the safety barrier for players that aren't ready to practice at full speed the Oklahoma State players seem to have confidence. Not a single player has opted out for this season. Some can't practice yet, but badly want to.
Apprehension is in the air, but so is optimism in Stillwater. Meanwhile, around the nation it is in short supply. Optimism turned to outright finality for the football season Saturday morning in middle America. I wasn't kidding when I wrote that the practice in Stillwater had a hiccup as word spread around that the Mid-American Conference had announced they were cancelling fall sports including football, becoming the first FBS league to do so.
I spent a couple of years in my youth living in Columbus, Ohio Ohio State University overshadowed the smaller schools, but I made it to Athens, Ohio and Ohio University and to Toledo and Akron. I've covered games at Northern Illinois and Central Michigan. I know the players, staff, and fans at thos schools love their football just like we do in the Big 12.
"I'm crushed by this decision. I am so disappointed," MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher said to the media on Saturday in announcing the shut down of the MAC and their now familiar "Maction" football played midweek during the season. It's just crushing that we can't facilitate the opportunities this fall because of circumstances around us. I'm heartbroken on that."
However, Steinbrecher followed that with confidence that what he and his 12 school presidents unanimously decided was the right thing to do. "The flip side is I take comfort, and I would say our presidents take comfort, and I assume all others that we're making decisions for the right reasons."
By the end of the day on Saturday the Big Ten had decided to stay in a perpetual acclimatization period with their football practices. The Big Ten schools will continue to practice in helmets only until further notice. Gradually, the lights are being turned off for football at a number of FCS programs with the NCAA playoffs for Division I FCS now cancelled. The top league in FCS, the Missouri Valley Conference, home of perennial champion North Dakota State said they will not have conference games, but their members can play non conference games like Missouri State playing at Oklahoma.
That game now will not be played on Aug. 29. That was made obvious by a move on Saturday night where Oklahoma shut down their fall camp. The Sooners skipped several days of practice this week for reasons unknown, but late Saturday night sent out a message on Twitter they were shutting preseason practice down.
Further explanation of the action was that with their opening game being delayed that head coach Lincoln Riley felt he should give his team some time off since they started practice before most of the teams in the country.
Quite frankly, none of this is good. Neither is what I see on television. I'm not talking about necessarily the COVID-19 statistics, which seem to get worse every newscast, or the constant bickering between politicians. I'm really sick of all that and the fact that Americans really seem to have forgotten any sense of teamwork and that starts with the elected officials in Washington, all of them.
What bothers me the most was I watched a story on Channel 9 out of Oklahoma City Saturday night about the tax free weekend for clothes and school supplies and it was obviously filmed at a mall. I saw nobody wearing masks. I have been around people this week and I've noticed older people like me and my wife being cautious and wearing masks, trying to socially distance, and taking the advice of medical officials seriously. A great percentage of people, particularly young people don't.
As sad as this makes me, America has lost it's discipline and in some cases it's direction. One result of that is starting to look like no college football.
Oklahoma State freshmen newcomers like receiver Brennan Presley (80) and cornerback Korie Black (4) are the promise of the future. Players that can't wait to play college football, but they may have to wait.
Bruce Waterfield - Oklahoma State University Athletics
I will remain optimistic, I try to always be. I want college football because I love it. I want it because it is part of what I do, being a sideline announcer on broadcasts. I love the action, the players, the coaches, and what the game represents. Okay, I don't want players at risk, coaches, and I don't want to be at risk. If they play I will be there taking all precautions that I can. I bet you'd do the same. You'd be in the stands wearing a mask, sitting six feet away from those that aren't in your family. We may not get the chance.
It reminds me on one of my favorite songs, that I hoped it's lyrics would never become reality. Don McLean sang of the day the music died in American Pie. I never liked that verse about the football team trying to take the field but the marching band refused to yield.
This verse though is starting to hit home.
With every paper I'd deliver
Bad news on the doorstep
I couldn't take one more step
I can't remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride
But something touched me deep inside
The day the music died
I hate to say it, but replace fall sports and football for the word music. They won't die forever, but they may die for this fall.
Oklahoma State is still practicing, day off Sunday, but full pads scheduled for the first time on Monday. There is a ray of hope, but all across the country that ray is weakening, looking like it could die.
