15-Yard Penalty, Unnecessary Gatherings

If you liked the 2020 NFL season with its drastically reduced attendance, cardboard cutout fans and games being canceled every other week due to coronavirus scares, then you are in luck because the NFL has just announced plans to replicate the disaster of last season.

It is telling that the NFL is deciding to risk it all to make a quick buck and resume normalcy too early and is indicative of the attitude of professional sports as a whole. Just like the NFL walked back its decision to only invite vaccinated healthcare workers to the Super Bowl and instead opted to collect as much cash as they were allowed to by lax Florida COVID-19 regulations, they are now holding the entire city of Cleveland hostage for the 2021 Draft.

In a statement announcing the draft, David Gilbert, the president and CEO of the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, acknowledged the draft will be different than in past years, but remained “thrilled about what the NFL Draft will mean to [the Cleveland] community coming out of this pandemic.” There is one thing he is missing, though. The fact that we’re not out of the pandemic quite yet.

According to the New York Times, April 17 marked the day that coronavirus-related deaths topped three million worldwide. Sticking with sports terms, that is the equivalent of 50 NFL stadiums packed with 60,000 fans each. To be rushing ahead to return to the normalcy where sports leagues typically reign dominant, existing outside the rules of typical everyday Americans, is just a charming reminder that the dollar wins over decency and safety in capitalist America.

The Texas Rangers are one example of an organization doing whatever it possibly can to keep us in a cycle of new coronavirus waves every few months that bring restrictions roaring back like the 2016 Chicago Cubs down 3-1 to the Atlanta Braves in the World Series. The Rangers sold out 38,000 tickets to a full-capacity field on April 5th. For a germaphobe, or really anyone with common sense during a pandemic, the scene was horrifying. Countless people, packed in like sardines, with barely a mask in sight, especially ones being worn properly.

It is easy to point the finger at a single state, one that typically leans conservative and say it is only they who are the ones breaking safety guidelines. But even liberal states like California, with the reopening of Dodgers and Lakers/Clippers games to fans, are failing to stay vigilant and throwing caution to the wind.

Yes, the country needs to return to its pre-pandemic state eventually, but not yet. Right now, there should not be screaming fans, maskless while they take their sip of a $14 beer, in the same zip code as each other. As long as there is the possibility of them spreading the deadly virus to other people in the community, there should not be superfluous gatherings whose only goals are to attain hedonistic gains.

Let us not forget for a moment that those with the ability to go to sporting events where attendance is restricted due to regional coronavirus guidelines – which exist because there is still an active outbreak in that community – are the people with money and privilege. The people who constantly neglect the more impoverished individuals of their cities are the ones perpetrating the spread of the virus.

The people who have lost more than they could ever imagine during the pandemic, especially those who are still struggling to overcome the hardships that came with the pandemic should not be cashing in their stimulus checks to go to a Lakers game either. They should be holding on to the money for an inevitable fourth wave caused by the reckless behavior of sports fans in a time of crisis.

No single group is to blame for the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in America, yet we will all be to blame for not heeding the warnings that we already missed once. Optimism and carelessness got us into this mess and if we repeat our mistakes we will enter an endless loop of coronavirus recidivism.