College football’s priorities are clear, and it’s depressing

Sorting out the college football season — or as we like to call it: Not Now, You Idiots — as it falls apart on so many levels:

Just as a refresher, the Big Ten voted Wednesday to join the SEC, Big 12 and ACC in playing the season, with an Oct. 23 or 24 start, eight games in eight weeks and a conference title game Dec. 19 — conveniently, the day before the College Football Playoff committee makes its selections. It seems the wellintended Pac12 can’t help but join in now, with a vote expected before long . ... Let there be no doubt about the Big Ten’s change of heart. It was driven by the intense pressure applied by fans, students, coaches, lawsuits, media (in far too many cases), television interests and President

Trump, looking to boost his campaign in a number of Big Ten states where he’s trailing in the polls . ... Safety? You must be joking. There have been important breakthroughs in testing, to the point where players, coaches and staff can be tested and get results within 15 minutes. That goes a long way toward assuring people it’s a field full of healthy players in any given game. But instantresult testing is not foolproof, nor does a gameday test necessarily clear someone of infection. It doesn’t address the fact that a coach may have a great many players in quarantine . ... Most importantly, all these conferences are acting as if the coronavirus is in some sort of decline — when the

exact opposite is true. The rate of oncampus infections is so alarming throughout the Big Ten, there’s no space for a full report here, but the news of severe outbreaks has become commonplace. The New York Times noted that at Iowa, less than a month into the fall semester, more than 1,800 students have tested positive, with 221 cases in the athletic department alone. Several major colleges have had to shut down practices, with games canceled or postponed every week. At Wisconsin, where some 2,000 students have tested positive, students have placed makeshift gravestones on campus. And there was this wildly uninspiring quote from LSU coach Ed Orgeron: “Most of our players have caught it. I think that hopefully they won’t catch it again.”

Here on the West Coast, we really have no idea how states in the Midwest and South treat college football. “Ask yourself a simple question. If they played the Big Game at 3 a.m., what would be the attendance?” broadcaster Ted Robinson wrote in a recent email exchange. “Family and friends. If Auburn and Alabama kicked off in the middle of the night, there would be thousands in the parking lots who couldn’t get tickets.” Think about this, as well: In those footballcrazed parts of the country, people are watching local high school games and sensing the NFL is on the right track. Why

wouldn’t they want the college game? ... A fight broke out in the stands during the BrownsBengals game Thursday night, suggesting how easily protocols can break down. The big colleges desperately want to invite people into their stadiums, and they surely will at various stages. With a fair amount of fans looking to get inebriated for the occasion, watch for astoundingly blatant violations on social distancing and the wearing of masks . ... It’s pure fallacy to assume that because a school has turned strictly to online education, the campus is empty. In many cases, students are appearing in significant numbers. It’s where they have a job, where they can share time with friends, where they want to live. They don’t want to be home. And so the social scene unfolds, never to be separate from the athletes, and let the bad decisions begin . ... At least a few folks associated with the Big Ten have a conscience. Linda Vail, the health officer in Ingham County, Mich., which includes Michigan State, told the New York Times “the problem is the tailgating off campus, the large parties and all of that sort of stuff, and that is deeply, deeply concerning ... if these (infectionrate) metrics persist, I’m going to have to make a statement that I cannot support Michigan State football in East Lansing.”

When it comes to testing in this country, the prevailing climate finds people with their lives in shambles and unable to get tested unless they show symptoms. Are they really that thrilled with college athletes getting tested daily, with a 15minute turnaround, because they make money for the university? If you’re a student who doesn’t play sports, are you really comfortable with a classmate getting special treatment? ... Oh, it’s a money grab, all right. According to the Sports Business Journal, the Big Ten’s sixyear broadcast deal with ESPN and Fox is worth $2.64 billion. That’s a whole lot of money flowing into the athletic departments — for everybody but the players . ... Respected USA Today columnists weigh in: Wednesday was “the darkest day in Big Ten sports history,” wrote Northwestern grad Christine Brennan. “The day the vaunted conference caved. It choked. It got scared. It became the SEC.” And from Dan Wolken: “It’s clear now that the only bar for playing college football this fall was that as long as nobody dies from COVID19, fine.”

The Pac12 is suddenly in the awkward position of looking foolish if it doesn’t play this fall — the most likely starting date would be Oct. 31 or Nov. 7 — and that’s a shame. Some important things were said a month ago, notably Oregon president Michael Schill explaining the decision to postpone was unanimous “because we all recognized this was the morally correct thing to do.” Commissioner Larry Scott said, “We simply couldn’t play football and look parents in the eye and say, ‘We’ve got your kids’ best interests in mind.’ ” Seems it’s too late for all that compassion now . ... As for this columnist, the appeal of college football will never vanish. I love the sport too much to stage some sort of personal boycott, and I’ll be taping three or four interesting matchups each week, just like always. All the returning sports are imperfect, in their way, and I won’t “harden my heart” (as Dusty Baker likes to warn against) toward any of them, no matter how misguided the leadership. The real test these days is the preservation of faith.