Thursday, September 17, 2020

Big 10 picks TV $$ over student & staff well-being

Instant Update at 2:15 p.m. Wisconsin reports record-breaking daily total of 2,034 new COVID-19 cases. 

Party on, Madison.

By signing on to a football season, UW-Madison officials are putting Trump-pleasing and their share of Big 10 really big TV contract revenues ahead of student and staff wellness during a pandemic...

when the state is among those with notably-accelerating caseloads...and Dane County has a demonstrably spiking caseload.

I agree with this analysis:

The Big Ten might save its football season, but the myth of college sports has been shattered

Here is how important college football is in this country: By Tuesday afternoon, the University of Wisconsin had 2,160 students who had tested positive for the novel coronavirus, and all classes were being held virtually. On Wednesday, Barry Alvarez, the school’s athletic director, said: “Our athletes will be able to start practice immediately....”

The coronavirus pandemic has completely laid bare the contemptible nature of college athletics. The Big Ten’s decision to reverse course and try to stage a football season made it as crisp and clear as a Saturday afternoon in the fall: Athletic departments do not exist to afford opportunities to compete for thousands of “student-athletes.” Rather, they exist to stage college football seasons. The other stuff is just pretty banners and shiny trophies.

And does anyone think that the UW, City of Madison and Dane County have or should spend the necessary dollars to monitor, tamp down or bust the inevitable COVID-19 delighting parties that are sure to take place on football Saturdays?

Not to mention the inevitable personal health and system care consequences and costs which will inevitably follow?




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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 17, 2020 at 3:43 PM

    I don't know how these GOP legislators and their supreme court supporters sleep at night. Even if they don't feel they are responsible for the fast spread of COVID, they must be receiving all kinds of hate mail. Vos' twitter feed is (justifiably) full of angry responses to even the most innocuous posts. I am sure they all have home security systems but it still begs the question of what it must feel like to have so many people angry at you.

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