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You have to be a special kind of person to coach football for a living, and based on what I’ve seen over the years, a lot of the tightly-wound bundles of testosterone who patrol the sidelines on Saturdays and Sundays during the cooler months on the calendar are genuinely convinced that they’ve been able to do what the most famous philosophers to come before them could not by determining the sport they coach is the true meaning of life.
Every coach is obviously different, but over the years, they’ve collectively contributed to a culture where toughness is a quality paramount to all others and players are taught you can overcome basically anything if you have enough mental fortitude (or, in traditional football parlance, “by not being such a damn pussy”).
However, as we’ve seen on far too many occasions, playing through the pain is a decidedly poor strategy when it comes to not dying of heatstroke during a two-a-day or killing yourself after developing CTE due to a countless number of concussions. Thankfully, more people in power are starting to see the light, but as we’ve learned in recent weeks, there are still some notable names that cannot process there are some things bigger than football.
We’ve still got a fair amount of time to go until the college football season is slated to get underway, but in light of the pandemic that’s brought the sports world (and most of the rest of the world) to a halt, it’s currently unclear if the first games will be played as scheduled.
It’s obviously going to suck if things are ultimately delayed but essentially any health expert you ask would say it’s best to err on the side of caution. However, that hasn’t stopped Dabo Sweeny from pulling the “This is America” card when he recently suggested football should be a priority shortly before Mike Gundy made his take look somewhat reasonable when he asserted his players are too young to be impacted by coronavirus and that they need to play ASAP so they can make money for the state of Oklahoma.
Woof.
Thankfully, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly has stepped up to serve as the voice of reason and frame the current situation in a way that will hopefully help those guys understand what we’re dealing with, as CBS Sports reports he recently revealed he was taking a more cautious approach, saying:
“We have not won yet. We’re just getting to halftime. We have a second half to play here.
Really good job in the first couple of quarters, but we’re just getting into the locker room. Let’s look toward having a better second half. If we have a better second half, we’re going to win this game.”
Preach, Brian. Preach.