SHELBY HARRIS HAS NFL IN RIGHT PERSPECTIVE
Here in Broncos Country, is life worth living without NFL games? We’re all going stir-crazy, looking out the window, praying coronavirus doesn’t come knocking for us next. Like you and me, Broncos defensive lineman Shelby Harris is antsy to get back to football.
So long as haste and bad judgment don’t kill his grandma.
I asked Harris if he expected there to be NFL games in September.
“You want to go back out there and work, but you want to be safe,” Harris replied.
What’s the definition of safe in a time of plague?
How soon can we hug Grandma, much less stand alongside 75,000 screaming Broncomaniacs at the stadium?
Nobody, from the best medical minds in America to money-grubbing commissioner Roger Goodell, knows the answer.
With March Madness down the tubes, the Avalanche’s quest for a Stanley Cup in jeopardy and the Masters vacating spring in hopes of teeing it up before the snow flies, sports fans don’t want to think about the possibility that coronavirus could also wipe out pro football in 2020.
Harris harbors optimism football will return. Eventually.
But at what cost?
The NFL season must be listed as questionable at this point, if you listen to the league’s chief medical officer.
“As long as we’re still in a place where when a single individual tests positive for the virus, you have to quarantine every single person who was in contact … in any shape, form or fashion, then I don’t think you can begin to think about reopening a team sport,” Dr. Allen Sills said. “Because we’re going to have positive cases for a very long time.”
Nothing about the blood, sweat and cheers of pro football works with social distancing.
Yes, I selfishly want to see the Broncos open their season shortly after Labor Day. Harris also wants to see his grandma alive and happy on Christmas day. Can you blame him? Even
a knucklehead like me understands what’s more important, in the grand scheme.
“It’s about the masses, not just a single person,” said Harris, a rare athlete capable of keeping his eye on the ball while simultaneously seeing the big picture. “I’m worried about some things, like about people bringing (the virus) to my grandma, bringing it to my mom, bringing it to my family. I just think the important thing right now is just focus on social distancing.”
The idea has been floated the NBA playoffs could be staged, from start to finish, exclusively in Las Vegas, turning Lebron James and Nikola Jokic into bubble boys, sealed off from family and the outside world, all in the name of the almighty dollar.
If that sounds like an impossible dream, it’s because sports are played by athletes with spouses, kids and real-world responsibilities bigger than keeping score.
Let’s raise a toast to Harris for finding reasons for gratitude rather than surrendering to bitterness in these challenging times. It’s not always easy. For anyone.
Instead of rolling in the Monopoly money of free agency, Harris was humbled by the marketplace and returned to the Broncos on a one-year deal at a mere fraction of the riches he sought.
“At the end of the day, I’m just happy to have a job,” said Harris, after “settling” for a $3 million salary, which ain’t anywhere near bad. “There are millions of Americans who have lost their job because of this (virus).”
I am grateful to sports for the decades of unpredictable drama and handsome paychecks provided me. But I’d rather hug my 88-year-old mother, hospitalized in Florida for nearly a month with congestive heart failure, one more time than see the Broncos win the Super Bowl again.
So here’s a humble thank you to Harris for reminding us athletes aren’t the real heroes to cheer at this point, and prayers for the NFL’S quick return would be better directed elsewhere.
“We have to give our thanks out to the nurses and the doctors and the first responders and everyone that has the essential jobs,” Harris said.
Don’t know about you. But while stuck in the house, counting the days until the Broncos take the field is way more therapeutic for me than dancing to Drake.
At the same time, it would be foolhardy to think the NFL schedule is worth more than the paper it’s printed on until this country gets down to the serious business of producing enough COVID-19 tests for every person in America and also ensures no doctor or nurse ever hastoentertheicuwithout a proper surgical mask.
“There are literally people putting their lives and putting their family’s lives on the line so that we can somehow live,” said Harris, saluting heroes on the front lines in this fight against a pandemic. “Out of respect for them, we have to do what’s best for the community and not try to rush anything.” Amen, brother.
The NFL can wait. A hug from Grandma beats playing football.