Facts are facts: Without a coronavirus U-turn, there will be no football this fall
Random notes:
Time to face the facts here, folks. If we don’t all start wearing masks and following guidelines and do what we can to get this coronavirus pandemic turned around, and soon, there won’t be college football in the fall. The window is closing.
Greg Sankey sounded the alarm Monday night. To me, his words meant something. Up until now, the SEC commissioner had been cautiously optimistic about fall football. Any skepticism he held on the subject he kept close to his vest. Then the economy re-opened and the case numbers soared. The Big Ten canceled non-conference games. The Pac-12 followed suit. Sankey took notice. And spoke out.
“We have to see a change in the public health trends,” he said, “to have an opportunity to compete in the fall.”
Right now, it doesn’t look good. Florida has gone nuts. Alabama issued a mask order Wednesday. Georgia has hot spots. Parts of Texas are on fire. The skeptics can defy all logic and science and claim this pandemic is a hoax, but the conference commissioners don’t believe that. And they’re the ones making the decisions. Sankey says the SEC decision on football will be made in late July.
▪ So are we going to see the football season shifted to spring? I still think a push-back to October is more likely, but spring football is not out of the question. There are problems with the spring model, but athletic departments forfeiting the lush revenue stream that comes with football is a bigger problem. The powers-that-be will try everything to play some sort of season. But it has to be done safely. And we may have to wait until spring for that.
▪ Interviewed on Sirius XM’s “Mad Dog Radio Show” on Wednesday, Sankey was asked if a full SEC schedule is still on the table. “It is for us,” he said.
▪ Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley has been one of the more cautious and reasoned football coaches when it comes to the pandemic and he said this week that he still believes we will have a season. That gives me hope.
▪ Until then, as UK basketball coach John Calipari said Tuesday on a video conference call with the media: “Wear a mask. Trust the science.”
▪ Speaking of Calipari, kudos to him and the other coaches who have come together to start the McLendon Minority Leadership Initiative. They have a plan — and a good one — that will afford minority candidates access and opportunity to athletic leadership roles. We could always use more minority head coaches, but we could really use more minority athletic directors. That’s where the decisions are made.
▪ Glad to hear our old friend and current Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin says he is feeling fine now after testing positive for COVID-19. Stricklin described his symptoms as mild, but no fun.
▪ Retired Florida AD Jeremy Foley told the Orlando Sentinel, “Colleges have cash reserves for a rainy day, but this is a hurricane.”
▪ Houston Texans wide receiver Kenny Stills was one of the 87 people arrested and charged with a felony while protesting outside the home of Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron.
▪ On the NTRA teleconference Wednesday, trainer Bob Baffert said that his filly Gamine, who won the Acorn Stakes by 18 3/4 lengths, is still pointed toward the Kentucky Oaks. Doesn’t sound like she’ll face the boys in the Kentucky Derby.
▪ By the way, the teleconference was held before Baffert was suspended 15 days by Arkansas racing officials after two of his horses tested positive for the numbing agent lidocaine on Arkansas Derby day at Oaklawn Park. Charlatan and Gamine were the two horses. Both were stripped of their wins that day.
▪ Jockeys we know have tested positive for COVID-19: Martin Garcia, Luis Saez, Victor Espinoza, Flavien Prat and Florent Geroux. Those are some pretty big names.
▪ The Bengals and A.J. Green did not come to an agreement on a contract extension before the franchise tag deadline Wednesday. If there is an NFL season, it could be the last for the great wide receiver in Cincinnati.
▪ New Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz when asked about the possibility of playing in front of sparse crowds this fall: “Brother, I’ve coached in the Sun Belt.”
▪ Drinkwitz on a possible SEC-only schedule: “Would Lou Saban or Nick Saban be the head coach at Alabama?”
