No One Wants Baseball or Football Canceled, But What Are We Supposed to Say?
The 2020 Major League Baseball season appears to be in jeopardy after just one weekend. With 40% of the Miami Marlins testing positive for coronavirus and at least two games being canceled, people are rightly wondering how the NFL is going to pull off a season using the same "push through it" plan that appears to be failing for MLB in less than a week. One person bothered by this pessimism is Good Morning Football's Kyle Brandt.
There’s a segment of the NFL media that seems to be almost rooting for COVID to affect the season. They want it.
— Kyle Brandt (@KyleBrandt) July 27, 2020
They see the Marlins news and say, “Yep! Lots of luck, football!”
These are people who make their livings off football.
I don’t get it.
This is a hypothesis put forward by much more nefarious characters over the last few months. The idea that, for some reason, people who love and work in sports don't want sports because it would own someone in an online argument as we twiddle our thumbs and binge another show that ended 10 years ago.
No one wants the MLB season to be canceled. No one wants the NFL season to be canceled. Especially anyone whose livelihood revolves around sports. We just don't think it will work and MLB is proving that doing it this way is not working. And it's not working because it's not safe and the whole endeavor is not worth it if it can't be done safely. If MLB keeps moving forward in a way that clearly will not work, then someone is going to get really sick. Maybe not a baseball player, but an umpire or team employee or a family member. It's just not worth it.
Brandt's tweet has resulted in some strong feedback.
We can either wave pom-poms and ignore reality or we can deal with the truth and challenge those responsible for the sport to make decisions and take actions that make it more likely that football will be played. It shouldn't be a tough decision. https://t.co/6UewNtcyXZ
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) July 27, 2020
Kyle is a very good on-air personality.
— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) July 27, 2020
This is a terrible take.
Everyone involved in sports and love sports want sports. The idea that people dont is ridiculous. https://t.co/6Xfkbl4xGs
No one will celebrate when MLB's season is canceled. No one will celebrate when college football and the NFL scrap their seasons. It's going to be a complicated feeling for those of us who think you shouldn't do this if you can't do it safely. I mean, what did you think would happen?!
This should be about so much more than sports for everyone. This is a LITERAL PANDEMIC which has claimed the lives of over 145,000 Americans in about five months. Then there are the untold number of people who have gotten sick, are currently sick, and will get sick who will have to deal with whatever lasting effects this thing will have down the road. There is no sign of this slowing down in this country, which seems like the only country in the world that hasn't taken this seriously and thus seem like the only country in the world that does not have this under control.
And thus, we're probably the only country that shouldn't have sports. There are sports happening elsewhere. ESPN broadcasts Korean baseball every single morning and South Korea had their first confirmed case the same day we did. They've been playing for weeks and weeks now without having to cancel a game. It can be done, but it can not be done here. Not now. Not like this.