Football not hard to promote, having a season will be

Now that the Fourth of July holiday has come and gone, it's time to turn our attention toward football.

It's not hard to think about football this time of the year with Athlon Sports, Lindy Sports, Street and Smith and other magazines taking care of that. With the help of my sister and her birthday gifts recently, getting my preview of the upcoming season was set.

It's easy to promote the season, but having one will be the difficult part.

The challenges presented by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic are great and as cases rise, it's tougher to stay safe and take part in the activities we enjoy, including attending sporting events.

It's still too early to tell what college or high school football is going to look like in this area or if there even will be a season. So far, there have been no major problems or a spike in cases with the football teams in The Starkville Daily News coverage area. There have been some isolated cases, but the coaches and players seem to have everything mostly under control.

That doesn't mean things won't change in the coming weeks and months. Hopefully, the circumstances surrounding the virus will trend toward the positive, but there is just no way of knowing.

There are some real concerns in certain parts of the country and in Mississippi. It could hamper the progress of having any sports when the school year is scheduled to begin in a couple of months.

For Mississippi State, there were four initial positive cases when summer voluntary workouts began in June. There was one additional case reported with a newcomer last week.

It's disturbing to hear about any positive cases that pop up, but the Bulldogs seem to be coping with their situation well. None of the MSU players that tested positive showed any symptoms and they have been in quarantine along with anybody that had contact with them.

The problem with poten

tially having football games in the fall may not be with the Bulldogs, but the teams on their schedule. There must be no question that playing a game will be safe and no players involved are infected before competition can take place.

Football is a contact sport and there is no way the players will be able to engage in social distancing while on the field.

There has been some discussion with the Mississippi High School Activities Association to flip the fall and spring sports seasons. That means baseball and other non-contact sports in the spring would be shifted to the fall. That would be a huge move and much preparation would have to take place to pull that off, but it may be a smart one.

Baseball, softball, golf, tennis and track could happen with proper social distancing. After spring sports were cut short earlier this year, this could be a way to get those student-athletes back on the field quickly and help ease the disappointment to some degree.

The MHSAA executive committee will meet again in a couple of weeks to look at that more or maybe just delaying the football season, which executive director Don Hinton said was a definite possibility when I spoke to him last week.

Meetings take place every day, not only in the athletic realm, but for all aspects of life, to make sure steps are taken to be protected from the virus.

The decision may be ultimately made to not have a football season in 2020. That will be a tough pill to swallow if it comes to that, but it will be even more difficult to have the clashes between high school teams on Friday nights and college squads on Saturdays with the virus is as prominent as it seems to be.

For now, we can look to the pages of Athlon Sports and Street and Smith to get excited. By the way, both of those publications have projected MSU to play Iowa State in the Texas Bowl.

Danny P. Smith is the sports editor and columnist for The Starkville Daily News. The opinions in this column are his and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SDN or its staff.