Keep your mask on
Coaches among those not setting a good example
First, a disclaimer: My column today is non-political even though it is about masks and the coronavirus, which was a topic in Tuesday’s Trump-Biden debate. Just wanted to get that out of the way.
But masks are also making big headlines in college football and the NFL.
Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden, San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton, Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll and Denver Broncos head coach Vic Fangio are set to receive $100,000 fines for not wearing their masks on the sidelines. Each team has also been fined $250,000.
The cases of Gruden and Payton are rather remarkable in that both have already contracted COVID-19. Repeat infections are rare, but one would think anyone who had the virus would be the first to want to set a good example.
Las Vegas Raiders owner
Mark Davis said the team is looking into why several players were not wearing masks while attending a charity event held Monday by teammate Darren Waller that broke Nevada rules for the coronavirus pandemic and might have violated NFL regulations.
Players were seen on video without masks at the indoor event while talking and mingling with guests, who also weren’t wearing masks. Among the players in attendance were quarterbacks Derek Carr and Nathan Peterman, tight ends Jason Witten, Foster Moreau and Derek Carrier, receivers Zay Jones and Hunter Renfrow, and cornerback Nevin Lawson, as well as tight end Waller. In one photo, an unmasked Carr posed with another maskless guest who had won his jersey in an auction.
Meanwhile, Mississippi State head coach Mike Leach is having a hard time remembering to
wear his face mask. While Leach’s team was pulling off a shocking upset over defending national champion LSU last Saturday, he could often be seen on the sideline without a face covering, though he had one ready to use wrapped around his neck. The Southeastern Conference requires coaches to wear face coverings to try and prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
“I tried to remember the best I could, then I found myself talking all the time,” Leach told reporters. “I was in a constant state of talking. So between me taking it down to talk, me lifting it up and it falling down on its own and me remembering to put it back up, there were a number of challenges there.”
When further questioned, Leach inserted foot in mouth, saying, “I try to do my best with it.
But once you’re six feet apart, I can’t help but wonder if some of this isn’t an homage to politicians.”
That didn’t fly very well with some commentators.
Mike Decourcy of the Sporting News wrote, “Mike Leach does not get it. He is paid millions, literally as part of the higher education system in the state of Mississippi, and yet he chooses to remain uninformed… We’ve all seen enough TV news reports from masked reporters at this point to recognize that it’s possible to speak with a covering over one’s nose and mouth… Leach finds it inconvenient to speak through a face covering? That’s odd, because so many football coaches love to lecture about the value of overcoming adversity.”
Decourcy noted that the most important time to wear a mask is when you are speaking because that is when you are most likely to expel droplets.
Allen Sills, the NFL’s top medical officer, told
the NFL Network that masks are a way to keep coaches on the sideline from spreading the virus should they be infected and not realize it.
“As we’ve said all along, the tests are not what keep us safe,” Sills said. “The tests are simply a report card or a measuring stick to show how we’re doing with all our other risk mitigation efforts. And we know that one of the biggest exposure times is if someone is yelling or speaking really loudly, that’s when you can really project a lot of aerosolized droplets into the air.”
As John Sigler of USA Today wrote, “As anyone who has worn a face mask in public during the COVID-19 pandemic knows, it’s hard to talk behind that thing. But it’s no excuse to not wear one, especially in the workplace.”
But Sigler made another good point, saying “… while it is important for the NFL to emphasize everyone follow the rules during a public health
crisis, it feels disingenuous to bring the hammer down on coaches working games when the Dallas Cowboys just crammed more than 21,000 fans into AT&T Stadium, many of whom were neither wearing masks nor social distancing. It feels like a situation where the NFL wants to have it both ways.”
True, because although the NFL is requiring all fans to wear masks, how is that being enforced?
As Kevin Seifert wrote for ESPN, “And while teams can ensure that fans enter their assigned gate and are wearing masks at that point, they will have less control over enforcement of masking and physical distancing throughout a three-hour game.”
The bottom line is, as Dr. Anthony Fauci put it, “What we need to do is get the message across that we are all in this together.”
Wear your mask.