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Summer holidays in America have an arc: Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, marking the unofficial beginning, the height of summer and the coming of September, which means back to school and, for millions, back to football.
This year, though, the arc doesn’t mean what most people would like it to mean: steady, predictable progress. On Memorial Day, we thought we would know more about the fate of college football for 2020 and, since some 2020 possibilities could have far-reaching effects, 2021 and beyond.
Things seemed to be going well enough at the end of May. The sanctions brought on by the coronavirus pandemic whether harsh (businesses forced to close) or petty (people refusing to wear a simple mask) were largely discarded or ignored. The NCAA and Southeastern Conference were setting practice dates. Those provided confidence. There is nothing Americans like more than a roadmap, preferably with meaningful landmarks to measure progress.
Along the way, though, something happened: the virus kept right on doing what a virus does, spreading when the opportunity arose. There is a tendency to anthropomorphize that microscopic organism, as if it had a plan, or emotions, and that it would eventually sense it wasn’t welcome and just leave people alone and go back to bothering the fruit bats. It doesn’t work that way.
So here we are in early July and it can be argued that instead of knowing more about where college football is headed, we know less.
Before looking at the coming NCAA dates, there is a small but significant piece of the puzzle due to be announced this Wednesday. That’s when the Ivy League presidents announce their decision regarding fall sports.
The easiest thing to do is to sit back and say “aw, who cares, Princeton and Brown ain’t going to the playoff.” But do you know who does care?
College presidents and chancellors care. Those men and women understand the financial ramifications involved.
However, they also have academic institutions under their watch. The last thing that a president or chancellor is in a position to do is throw the actual mission of the school out of their thought process and what they do not want to hear is that they chose to act differently than the “real colleges,” the Harvards and Yales.
Even within the SEC, Alabama and Auburn might look at that decision one way but Vanderbilt might see it far differently. So what happens with the Ivy League might affect what happens at Northwestern, Duke, Stanford, Wake Forest and Vanderbilt and that’s just the private schools in the Power Five conferences.
The other one, just as food for thought, is USC.A point to ponder on Independence Day is just how independent one state in the Union actually is from another. There is no federal College Football Czar with the power to say “Everyone Do This!” There isn’t even a Roger Goodell. There is an NCAA but it is a bureaucracy that oversees some aspects of the game but has no ultimate power over the game itself, especially in football.
Just for Alabama’s tentative season opener, that means decision-making will depend not just on Alabama. Besides, the state government has essentially said it cannot or, more precisely, could but refuses to do anything besides blame the citizenry for not “acting right.” But Texas is tightening up, and California may be in no rush to send a football team to a large gathering in Texas and bring them back.
Everyone wants to agree. But will they, can they, with Labor Day approaching and Decision Day approaching even faster?
