Occasionally, circumstances assemble is such a way so as to pull the curtain back so that we can see behind the façade created by the image-masters. Such is the case now because of the cancelation of the Michigan/Ohio State football game this weekend. If I were some kind of Buckeye fanboy, I might take some time here to paint a completely fabricated theory that the folks in Michigan know for sure that they are going to take a beating if they play the game and that they can prevent Ohio State from being eligible to participate in the Big-10 Championship Game by canceling – – and so they did that out of spite.
I am not a Buckeye fanboy – – nor some sort of Wolverine adorer – – and I reject any and all concocted tales that go along those lines. The game needs to be canceled because of coronavirus infections among the Michigan players and coaching staff. That’s it; that’s why the game will not happen this weekend.
So, how does this allow us to see behind the façade of the image-masters? Well, turn back the clock a few months and check out a rough timeline here:
- Late Spring: Schools cancel fall sports due to the pandemic. The decision generates lots of controversy – – and the certainty of huge revenue losses for the schools.
- Summer: Schools decide they can bring back fall sports – particularly football – with testing/tracing protocols in place. Most folks recognized that this decision would generate some of the lost revenue AND that it would provide a way for the coronavirus to spread in and among teams and staff.
- September: Big-10 announces its plans for the season. The conference adopted a rule for 2020 that a team had to play 6 of its 8 scheduled games to be eligible for the Championship Game on December 19.
Here we are in early December and Ohio State will finish its season with a 5-0 record because 3 of its games have been sacrificed to the coronavirus according to those health and safety protocols that the Big-10 mavens put in place exclusively for noble reasons. According to the rules that the Big-10 put in place by itself and for itself, the Big-10 Championship Game should be Indiana versus Northwestern. However, there is an emergency meeting of the conference mavens later today to “review the bidding”.
There is an uncertainty out there that might have been imagined back in September but was probably shelved if indeed it ever came up. The CFP Selection Committee will meet right after all the teams conclude their seasons on December 19 and here are the “big unknowns”:
- Will the Selection Committee hold it against Ohio State if three team does not even qualify for its own Conference Championship Game?
- Would the Selection Committee even give the winner of the Indiana/Northwestern game a second thought as a CFP participant?
- Might the Big-10 be shut out of the CFP – and the revenue that flows therefrom – entirely?
The façade was that the conference had strict protocols in place to protect health and safety and that the groundswell of desire from players and coaches to have a truncated season should not be ignored. Sure, there were revenue considerations – – but with strict rules and unflinching enforcement of those strict rules, the season could go on safely.
- And later today, we will find out if any of that was even part of the decision-making process or if it was all about $$$.
For the record, I believe Ohio State is the best team in the Big-10. As one who would prefer to see the 4 best teams in the country take part in the CFP, I would like to see Ohio State in that playoff. AND I will enjoy the explanation(s) offered by the Big-10 mavens when they “make adjustments” later today after the image-masters have come up with simple and straightforward explanations for those adjustments. Somehow, they will not involve “revenues” and will be all about health, safety, fair play and … You know, like truth, justice and the American way.
I am not trying to pick on the Big-10 as if it were different from other parts of the collegiate athletics world; it is not. College sports are about the money they can generate; they are secondarily about competition, and dedication and all that stuff. The folks who run college basketball are in the early stages of a concocted season that was thrown together with the goal of providing athletic outlets for players while also providing for their health and safety. There are 6 scheduled games cancelled/postponed for today; there were 7 games canceled yesterday.
Jeff Capel is the head basketball coach at Pitt; Capel is as competitive and intense as any of his coaching colleagues and he is also an intelligent and insightful person who is able to keep multiple thoughts in his mind at the same time and to think beyond the immediate moment. Craig Meyer had an excellent piece in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette earlier this week about Capel and some of the bigger questions related to college basketball that are out there. Here is a link to that article; I commend it to your reading. Here is a part of the article that shows what Capel is concerned about:
“The numbers were what they were back in March. I look at it every day, man. It seems like every day it’s getting worse. I don’t know why you cancel it in March, but you say it’s OK to do it right now. But what do I know?”
Let me help, Coach. It does not seem like every day “it’s getting worse”; it is indeed getting worse every day if what you mean by “it” is the number of new COVID-19 cases encountered in the US. There is no ambiguity about that. Another thing that is “getting worse” is the red ink one encounters on the books of college athletic departments. It may not be “right” to “do it right now” from an epidemiological viewpoint but it sure makes sense from a red ink standpoint.
Jeff Capel is trying to figure out what to do with his team over the Christmas Holiday when the NCAA mandates no contact between coaches and players for 3 full days. Does he send them home to see their families and friends and risk exposure to the virus there? Does he keep them on campus with no supervision and limited ways to pass time there? The article linked above will give you an appreciation of what one coach is pondering with regard to his team that has nothing to do with Xs and Os.
Finally, Dwight Perry had this item in the Seattle Times last week related to the coronavirus and its impact on another sport:
“Baltimore players and/or staff members set an ignominious NFL record by testing positive for the coronavirus for 10 straight days.
“Quoth the Ravens … nah, too easy.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………