The Coronavirus pandemic has forced us all to consider what life will be like over the next few months as we adapt to a new normal. The NCAA is no exception to this forward thinking.
The president of the NCAA, Mark Emmert, expressed in a press conference that:
“If a school is still closed down, it’s pretty hard to say, ‘Yeah, but we’re gonna bring athletes back even though we don’t think it’s safe for the rest of the student body’. The big variable is: are schools gonna be able to open?”
Big Joe took issue with Mr. Emmert’s thought process on Friday’s Fan Morning Show with Jeff & Big Joe:
“Don’t agree with that at all,” Big Joe said. “Not even one percent do I agree with that…Schools are open now. Schools were open.”
Jeff Rickard pointed out that while schools are technically still open, students aren’t physically together in a campus setting.
“You still got your degree. You still graduated. You still got your education. School was still open. Teachers gave grades. People graduated…Don’t say, ‘School was never open’. School was open. School will be open. You just may not have to do it with the kids on campus in the dormitories.”
Big Joe continued:
“Now, kids in dormitories are a hell of a lot different than sports teams who practice. This is the same reason why this is actually a smart thing for [leagues] like the NBA to open their facilities, so the guys that are out there and aren’t using the proper guidelines and things like that are now in a safe environment…it is safer if you can get them all under one roof and then be able to sanitize that place, keep an eye on them, and do it that way. You’re talking about 100 kids. You’re not talking about thousands and tens of thousands like you are on a campus where you don’t know where they’ve been.”
How would game days work in the grand scheme of things?
Big Joe says you can open schools, continue with virtual classes, and, “Every other weekend or whatever, you can have a football game and bring people to campus if they want to show up and buy a ticket, if that’s what your city or your state says is okay.”
“I’m on Mark [Emmert’s] side on most stuff, but that makes zero sense…Let’s not be naïve about this. College sports [are] about making money. It absolutely is about making money for the reasons we just said. Does education matter? Absolutely, it matters. But these kids can go to school and these kids can go ahead and practice and do it in a safer environment than what they’re doing at home right now.”
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