Clearly, the SEC is leading the charge for money over safety.

Most of the noise coming down on the side of playing college football is from the SEC, the richest gridiron conference with the steepest and deepest tradition. It sure looks like those schools in the SEC that will be allowed to play will take the field this fall.

Whether presidents on those campuses and governors in those states step in remains to be seen, but the SEC is acting like it cannot collectively live without king football. So what if 90,000 people pack their stadiums and someone gets sick and dies, it was their choice.

Where the rubber meets the road from the pocketbook to courtroom will be this: if one of those kids who suits up in an SEC uniform dies of COVID 19, that wasn’t his choice. Sure, he could have quit the team but how many kids are going to do that? Even the ones who never tested positive might get infected and some could die. That could be a fatal black mark in so-called amateur athletics.

For the record, I certainly hope they find a way to protect players, coaches, officials and all game personnel so the games can go on. If they have to do it without fans, so be it, but the prevailing attitude among most college administrations is if the campuses aren’t safe enough to open up, how can athletes be subject to the threat?

Amateurs being put in such harm’s way could put a pox on college sports that not only might cost universities, conferences and the NCAA more than the $4 billion football makes, and it could send people to jail. If the president of Penn State faced prison time because he covered up for Jerry Sandusky’s pedophilia, that pales next to administrators who OK’d play and then lost an athlete to the virus?

I’m sorry, this is shaping up as the biggest dilemma secondary education in this country has ever faced. Until a vaccine can make everyone immune, colleges had better give students the option of returning to campus or continuing remote education. Athletics is in a different category because money makes it a different ballgame.

Right now, the SEC is acting like they want to play.

 

Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees. You can support local journalism and our mission to serve the community. Contribute today – every single dollar matters.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Related Stories
‹
Chansky’s Notebook: Transfer Troops
How can you tell who is good in ACC basketball this season? The 2025-26 conference opponents were released this week with the league looking less like we ever remember it. I loved the old eight-team ACC when everybody played home-and-home against the others.
Chansky's Notebook: Love Hates Power Grab
Davis Love is the silent type. But when he speaks, people listen. Love is one of the all-time stars of the PGA Tour since his All-American days at UNC. He has earned $45 million in pro tournaments, captained the U.S. Ryder Cup team and will do the same with the next President’s Cup, calling it […]
Chansky's Notebook: To Vax Or Not To Vax
I guess winning is more important than getting vaxxed. Former Wake Forest and ACC baseball star Whit Merrifield has refused to get vaccinated all season while playing for the lowly Kansas City Royals. He apparently wanted to get into the postseason so badly that he reversed his commitment to family and whatever reasons he refused […]
Chansky's Notebook: The Good Get
Pete Nance is the perfect fit for Carolina in so many ways. The grad transfer met the media for the first time Monday and, as Stuart Scott used to say, was as cool as the other side of the pillow. Nance gave the NBA a look-see and got word he wasn’t quite ready, so he […]
Chansky's Notebook: Money Over Morals
What is behind the staying power of Michael Jordan? It has been 19 years since the Carolina legend has played a professional basketball game, flaming out of the NBA in controversy after winning six world championships with the Chicago Bulls. It is not like Jordan has continued to be the best at anything – except, […]
Chansky's Notebook: We're No. 11!
Carolina football finished No. 11 in the recruiting class of 2022. With only 17 players signed, Mack Brown and his staff still finished very close to a top ten dominated by the so-called ‘football schools’ from the Power 5 conferences. UNC followed Texas A&M, Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Texas, Penn State, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Michigan […]
Chansky's Notebook: Rookie Of The Year
Consider Hubert Davis the most successful first-year coach at UNC. The Tar Heels’ next-to-incredible run to the Final Four in Hubert’s first season in charge ranks as the greatest achievement of any Carolina basketball – or perhaps other – rookie coach. As soon as Davis’ Heels finished off Saint Peter’s to complete the 2022 field […]
Chansky’s Notebook: Cardinal Sin
Garrison Brooks said the Tar Heels just don’t have it so far this season. After UNC’s 72-67 loss at Georgia Tech, which all things considered is probably the worst of four defeats to date, Brooks said the team doesn’t have enough “want to” on defense. That is a cardinal sin of Carolina basketball, which […]
Chansky's Notebook: Unmasking New Heels
Hi-ho Silver, Ol’ Roy will be the masked man on the bench. Roy Williams held his first Zoom press conference of the new basketball season, and he was the same old coach Carolina has had for the last 17 years. Except for the following: Roy is still ticked off – he used another word – […]
Chansky's Notebook: Still No MJ
Sorry, great debaters, LeBron was no Michael on Sunday night. After the Lakers crushed the Heat in the first two games of the NBA Finals, I thought it was a sweep. LA had to be that good because Miami was very good in the Eastern finals against Boston, and the Heat had starters Adebayo and […]
›