*My reaction to the Big Ten announcing they will play football beginning on October 24th*:
Am I allowed to be excited for Big Ten football while also feeling like I am living in some alternate dimension? What world is this where the fate of thousands and thousands of people is decided by 15 clueless assholes who probably eat salad at country clubs and throw footballs like this:
That was the most incompetent, egotistical, self-righteous decision making process I have EVER seen (outside of Washington, DC). And I’m not going to allow this “good news” announcement to revise my perspective of how inappropriately these university presidents handled it.
Let’s take a quick run back through the timeline. I’m going to skip over the part where the sports journalists tried to shame everyone for “risking these kids’ lives” while they conveniently assumed there is ZERO risk to shutting down an NFL factory that generates $1 billion dollars in revenue and also affects entire communities that depend on football in the fall.
We’ll start with Dan Patrick breaking the news:
DP was told an hour ago that the Big 10 and Pac 12 will cancel their football seasons tomorrow... The ACC and the Big 12 are on the fence.. And the SEC is trying to get teams to join them for a season.
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) August 10, 2020
Watch live: https://t.co/sMaeXQkLfl pic.twitter.com/oSUNGMTEqw
Right off the bat your reaction should have been – “What the fuck is going on?”
The players and coaches aka the people taking the largest “risk” are BEGGING to play (again, it seems silly to say the word “risk” as if these people losing a year of their lifelong dream isn’t also a risk). They wanted to play so badly that they started their own campaign asking that their conferences allow them to play.
#WeWantToPlay pic.twitter.com/NgKG9Nab9c
— Justin Fields (@justnfields) August 10, 2020
.@ryandaytime spoke with @claywsyx6 about the possibility of the football season being canceled. He said canceling the season would be a mistake. pic.twitter.com/LOlhlZOt7N
— WSYX ABC 6 (@wsyx6) August 10, 2020
Some of these guys are literally telling you straight from the horses mouth that they ARE SAFER with the football team.
Since day one coming back to campus the Penn State Football staff and medical experts have put our health and safety first, above anything else. The guidelines put into place keep us safe while playing the game we love. We are ready to play and we want to play.
— Pat Freiermuth (@pat_fry5) August 9, 2020
..putting us at an even higher risk to contract the virus and spread it to others. As we’ve seen in the media, people who don’t have a bigger picture to focus on do not follow the proper protocol and removing the season will cause many college football players to do the same.
— Jordan Yates (@jor_yates) August 10, 2020
I want to play... even if we gotta be locked in .. nothing at home for me🤷🏾♂️.
— Lorenzo Lingard JR (@d1champ99) August 9, 2020
But as we all know, we need people wearing suits in positions of power to hold our hand through this little game we call life. Check out our lineup of decision makers:
⬆️ Our fearless leader who also happens to be the epitome of hyprocrisy.
⬆️ This lady looks like she’s pretty plugged in to today’s climate! Is this 2020 or 1920??
⬆️ Don’t forget to count your fingers after shaking this guys hand!
AND OF COURSE WE CAN’T FORGET THIS DICKHEAD:
This idiot just found out he gets to keep his job like two hours ago. Seriously. There was a vote of confidence against him and he passed by like 2% of the vote. And we let THIS GUY sit at the Big Ten meetings and act out his own fantasy version of ’12 Angry Men.’ A self-appointed epidemiologist that probably forgot to wipe his ass this morning because the textbook didn’t mention that part in the ‘how to take a shit’ chapter.
So what happens when you get all of these brilliant leaders on one conference call line?
The Big Ten has postponed its fall football season and will attempt to play in the spring, sources confirmed to Mark Schlabach on Tuesday. https://t.co/qcCfaTMfP3
— ESPN (@espn) August 11, 2020
Source: The Pac-12 has cancelled the fall football season. The league will attempt to play in spring.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) August 11, 2020
NCAA president Mark Emmert stated the NCAA has no authority to tell the SEC, ACC or Big 12 that it can't play college football this fall.
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) August 14, 2020
SEC Update with @PeterBurnsESPN ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/mbAcGhY7u9
The Week 1 @American_FB schedule is set. #AmericanPow6r pic.twitter.com/IcS23Fix61
— The American (@American_Conf) August 26, 2020
How on god’s green earth could it be safe to play football at some locations and not at others? Is there some data I haven’t seen that suggests the virus is having trouble crossing imaginary state lines? Oh wait – state lines have nothing to do with it. “Pitt and Temple you guys are in, but Penn State you are out.” Huh? “The two largest cities in PA have it under control but redneck Centre County has a real problem on their hands!”
So it’s not about geography. It’s about conference divisions. The virus is blowing right through those dashed municipality lines on google maps. It’s not slowing down until it reaches that American Athletic Conference boundary. Now THAT is one hell of an imaginary line. Everyone knows the AAC is all about its defense.
So Big 10 is out. Pac-12 is out. Some of the smaller schools are out. Some of the smaller schools are in. And SEC, ACC, and Big 12 are in. Let the shitstorm ensue!
"Our University is committed to playing no matter what, no matter what that looks like and how that looks. We want to play no matter who it is or where it is."#Huskers HC Scott Frost on opponents for 2020. pic.twitter.com/kTPN9znv0v
— Husker Sports (@HuskerSports) August 10, 2020
That’s a lot of backlash!! But who could’ve seen that coming? Idk maybe just anyone who thought the following things seemed a little bit ridiculous:
- Cancelling the season like 4 days after spending the time to come up with a revised conference-only schedule
- Claiming to plan a Spring football season despite everyone agreeing how dangerous that is and every player hinting they wouldn’t play in it
- Providing zero justification for cancelling the season except for generic statements saying your medical advisory people told you to (which is odd because you haven’t shared any of that data they gave you – seems like the rest of the world might want to see it!)
- Providing zero information to coaches or players on anticipated timelines, transfer eligibility, roster limits, scholarships, etc.
- Allowing teams to continue to practice together with a mysteriously established 12 hour time limit (everyone knows COVID is afraid of the practice field for the first 12 hours a week)
- Having a Big Ten Commissioner whose son is playing football this season in the SEC
- Failing to provide any rationale on how universities will withstand $100 million dollar losses without cutting the other sports programs
- Having 20,000+ kids on campus attending lectures and frat parties BUT somehow assuming 100 of them are in grave danger for playing football with other
"The vote by the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors was overwhelmingly in support of postponing fall sports and will not be revisited."
— Front Office Sports (@frntofficesport) August 20, 2020
Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren notes that the decision to postpone fall sports won't be revisited in a letter published today. pic.twitter.com/DgFEfFcIe3
There you go Kevin Warren! Double down on em. The decision WILL NOT be revisited. EVER. IT’S FINAL.
That PR statement should put an end to all this madness. “I know I’m like 2 weeks late on this assignment but here’s 5000 words where I tell you that we had to cancel it because we don’t have enough information about the virus. Oh, and cases are on the rise for some reason as the students are coming back to school.”
In an unbelievable turn of events…the complaints didn’t stop:
So what do you do when you have F’d up so bad that the backlash will never stop and other teams are resuming college football on a completely normal basis?
Well my friends, it’s time to stick our thumbs up our asses and mull over the possibility that we may have jumped the gun on cancelling this season. Virtue signaling gone wrong, who woulda thunk it? Let’s leak some stories out there and keep trying to gauge exactly when these selfish Big Ten kids have the audacity to want to play…
Had a very productive conversation with Kevin Warren, Commissioner of the Big Ten Conference, about immediately starting up Big Ten football. Would be good (great!) for everyone - Players, Fans, Country. On the one yard line!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 1, 2020
DP Gives an update on his Big Ten report: "Why October 10th? That's the latest they can play and still be in the Playoffs." pic.twitter.com/ULl5vXqYIE
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) September 2, 2020
Big Ten Football is looking really good, but may lose Michigan, Illinois, and Maryland because of those Governors’ ridiculous lack of interest or political support. They will play without them?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 6, 2020
Take your time guys! You’ve got all the time in the world. Flu season is just around the corner!
Big Ten Football Update: "They simply don't have enough teams to play. I was told The Michigan teams not going to play, Illinois teams Illinois/Northwestern not going to play, Maryland's not going to play and Rutgers probably won't play." pic.twitter.com/DP0QKIUYT8
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) September 8, 2020
No seriously, take your time. Cases are spiking on campuses. Take your time. Donald Trump is scoring brownie points off your incompetency. Take your time.
DP on B1G: "The Presidents and Chancellors will vote today. Mich. probably not going to play, Mich. St. not going to play, Maryland's probably [won't] play. But you're going to get Nebraska, Iowa, Purdue, Indiana, Ohio St. Wisconsin wants to play but may not be able to." pic.twitter.com/6QiusRB5t1
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) September 14, 2020
Ohio State DB Shaun Wade opts out this season & declares for 2021 NFL Draft “given the circumstances & uncertainty surrounding the 2020 season”
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) September 14, 2020
There goes another opt out! I wonder if he got tired of waiting for you guys to stop fucking around in your meetings while Mark Schissel lectured the room on how he is a world renowned expert in this field. “Let me just weigh in with my two cents for another 45 minutes…..”
I spoke with Shaun Wade about his decision to declare for the draft this week with a potential Big Ten vote coming up, his father leading protests and why he decided this was the time to declare. https://t.co/qsjoKJeu8n pic.twitter.com/G8LCsUNChQ
— Tom VanHaaren (@TomVH) September 14, 2020
So after the most excruciating month-long game of “we can’t let them know we were wrong,” these idiots finally corrected it.
"The Big Ten is back!"
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) September 16, 2020
It's official, and things officially kick off Oct. 23-24. pic.twitter.com/vXt8JtOp6H
I didn’t even plan to write very much about this when I opened up my computer. But this process has been genuinely infuriating to anyone that’s been following along. The reason I wanted to write something on it is to simply encourage you to never EVER forget what these idiots did. There has to be accountability for this sort of shit. If I ever see Penn State’s president in person I’m going to ask him how he sleeps at night having never apologized for the disaster that was the temporary cancellation of Big Ten football.
I don’t care if a month goes by and every player is deathly sick and it turns out these guys were “right” all along. They tried to steal the opportunity to find out who was right by making a rash decision. And instead of giving the people who are most affected by it the right to choose, they decided for them. And to top it off, they tried to bluff the other conferences into cancelling with that bullshit “we’re smarter than you” attitude. And the other guys simply said “I don’t give a shit what the Big Ten is doing. We are going to figure out how to do this safely.”
So please don’t ever forgive these bastards. And don’t ever forget that if it wasn’t for all of the bitching and moaning we all did – this never would have got fixed. All the credit in the world goes to us. Despite what the NW president will claim…
Northwestern president Morton Schapiro: "It wasn't about political pressure. It wasn't about money. It wasn't about lawsuits. It wasn't about doing what everybody else was doing. It was the unanimous opinion of our medical experts."
— Nicole Auerbach 😷 (@NicoleAuerbach) September 16, 2020
"It wasn't about money."
— Sports Law Lust🎙 (@SportsLawLust) September 17, 2020
- Northwestern president Morton Schapiro, earlier today. https://t.co/tAs45whZj3
PS – Brace yourself for the next few days
I’m assuming at some point the Big Ten will move it’s kickoff date back into the fall. And somehow I am already annoyed in advance with all of the clowns that are going to argue about whether Trump had anything to do with it. Man your battle stations, political experts!
— Brian Deegan (@snigg_mct) September 1, 2020
Great News: BIG TEN FOOTBALL IS BACK. All teams to participate. Thank you to the players, coaches, parents, and all school representatives. Have a FANTASTIC SEASON! It is my great honor to have helped!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 16, 2020