NFL’s threat of forfeits serving as warning shot to unvaccinated
The NFL schedule descended into farce last season when the Tennessee Titans, idle for 26 days due to a coronavirus outbreak, wound up playing Buffalo on a Tuesday night. A game between Baltimore and Pittsburgh was postponed three times in six days. The “Arizona 49ers” were born after Santa Clara County announced a ban on contact sports and three games were forced out of Levi’s Stadium.
This can’t happen again — or so says the league office in light of Thursday’s directive. It is now possible for games to be forfeited, with both teams losing their game checks, if “an outbreak among unvaccinated players” occurs.
For the most part, this is encouraging news. Across the country, companies and businesses are taking an increasingly hard line on vaccinations. People have the right to refuse, but not without paying some sort of price.
Among the reactions that come to mind:
⏩ Roughly 80% of NFL players have been at least partially
vaccinated, according to a league estimate reported by the Associated Press, but five teams are at less than 70%. This could cause severe tension and resentment in locker rooms across the league, all about a competitive disadvantage and people placing individual philosophy above the team.
⏩ A number of players will be shamed into getting their shots, because those unvaccinated will be subject to daily testing, maskwearing requirements, travel restrictions and a mandatory quarantine after highrisk exposure to COVID19. But some won’t give a damn about any of that. If they’ve rejected the vaccination after all these months, they may stick to uphold their principles.
⏩ If two players appear to be equally talented as they fight for a roster spot, but only one has been vaccinated, would the coach lean toward the safer route?
⏩ Exactly what constitutes an outbreak? The NFL said scheduling decisions will be based largely on “the recommendation of medical experts,” thus allowing for an objective view. But that won’t stop forfeitthreatened teams from claiming they could put together a feasible roster for that game.
⏩ When an outbreak occurs, can you really pinpoint just one player, or a number of them, as being responsible? The source of one’s infection, anywhere in the world, can become a complete mystery.
⏩ With any luck, other pro leagues will follow suit, with a trickledown effect. On the college level, new Pac12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff told ESPN Thursday the conference would consider forfeits if teams can’t play games due to positive tests.
⏩ Let’s hear it once again for the women of the WNBA, where 99% of its players have been fully vaccinated.
It’s hardball time
My unsolicited advice to the Oakland City Council in its ongoing negotiations with the A’s: Don’t back down, not even an inch, to John Fisher and Dave Kaval. Offer no further concessions in the deal. Make the A’s squirm a little, to the point of groveling, because they aren’t going anywhere. Kaval told ESPN “we’re running out of time,” but no — they have all the time in the world. They may never understand that the Coliseum site is by far the most sensible for a new ballpark, all complications considered, but don’t lead the public into thinking the team will relocate to Las Vegas, Portland or any other city. It makes no sense on any level — to them or to Major League Baseball, which will turn the two best possible locations into expansion cities for some $4.5 billion in fees . ... Here’s what’s really depressing: Even if the Howard Terminal project gets the goahead, it could be 2028 or ’29 before it actually opens for business. At the very least, that’s a halfdozen more years of monumentally depressing crowds at the Coliseum. (You know fans have given up on management when Monday night’s announced crowd was a paltry 14,856 for the Angels and Shohei Ohtani, merely the greatest show on earth, and it appeared to be about half that many.) How can Fisher take a hard look at that reality and not just sell the team? ... Dream scenario: He sells it to Black ownership, people who
do have a vision for the Coliseum site and will represent the kind of diversity that defines the city of Oakland. Moving from that Bay Area cultural melting pot to Las Vegas? Good lord, you have to be kidding . ... I’ve found Kaval to be pretty decent company in general, but in trying to describe what he’s become through this saga, let’s hand the floor to Ray Ratto, on defector.com, calling him “mostly a shouty carnival barker trying to lure people inside his company’s tent with rancid popcorn and flat beer.”
As the USA Basketball team struggles to find cohesion, I wonder if head coach Gregg Popovich ever talked to Pete Newell about forging teamwork among a bunch of Olympic AllStars. Newell, who died in 2008, had Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, Terry Dischinger, Jerry Lucas and Walt Bellamy (among other luminaries) on his gold medalwinning 1960 team in Rome, but as practices began, “I had a bunch of guys standing around the court, waiting for a pass,” he told me in 1988. “I got so upset, I told ’em they absolutely could not shoot until they heard me blow the whistle. That means you’ll pass, move, screen, whatever. But you can’t shoot. It was funny at first, like they were learning a new game. And some of ’em were (laughs). But the offense turned out just how I wanted it, because nobody emerged as a dominant player.” ... The global surfing community had grave concerns about Shidashita, the Japanese beachbreak about to host the Olympic event, because of its fickle nature. Good news: The forecast is for 46foot tropical cyclone surf Sunday, the first day of the event, with larger waves on Monday. Could be fun if the winds cooperate.