1. Warning:
I'm in a mood. It's a good mood, generally, as I've had a nice weekend, but it's a mood nonetheless.
Rizzo the dog's stomach alarm woke me up around 5:20 a.m. Saturday and I couldn't go back to sleep. I walked the dogs, did a Peloton ride, taped a Beer Garden and then hung out at the pool with my family Saturday. I smoked some chicken wings, poured a couple of bourbons and crashed early.
I woke up around 7:30 a.m. today with a plate full of stuff to do and in a keep-it-real mood. I'm a sportswriter and sports podcaster operating on his fourth month without sports, and to be honest, I've never been busier. I envy all you cats getting home projects done or honing your golf games, but I haven't had that sort of time. I've worked consistently hard for three-plus months, attempting to fill a void that simply can't be filled.
I'm not complaining, either. Anyone in journalism -- especially sports journalism -- who still has a job at this point should be eternally grateful and working his/her ass off to remain employed. That's just keeping it real. In some ways, I'm my own boss, but I've got superiors, and I've done all I can do during this time to stay under their radars. It's something I was taught by my parents and a motto I've always stuck to, even if it was subconscious: Never do anything that reduces your value at your place of work. Once you do it, the damage is difficult to reverse.
I'll toot my own horn here. I've never been a stick-to-sports robot. I've always leaned toward the bigger picture. That background, both as a newspaper reporter/columnist and as a talk radio host, has helped me during this pandemic, for even though there are no games being played in the sports world, I'd argue there has never been this much going on in sports at once.
The people who coach and play and administrate sports are part of the same culture you and I are. The things that impact us impact them. Just because they run fast or jump high or draw up really cool inbounds plays or have worked their way to the top of an athletic department doesn't make them all that different from you and me.
There's never been more proof of that than in the past few weeks. Things are chaotic in our society, and that rings true for sports as well. So let's get to it.
2. College football programs have reconvened on campuses across the country over the past couple of weeks. Southeastern Conference programs began allowing voluntary workouts on June 8.
Ole Miss has had a few positive COVID-19 cases since its return to campus. So have most SEC programs. Forgive me for putting the following in all caps, but it really, really, really needs to be emphasized:
THAT WAS TO BE EXPECTED.
Many in my field are gnashing their teeth at the idea that a college football player has tested positive for the coronavirus. I simply don't understand it. Some who administrate intercollegiate athletics have their panties in a wad these days, working themselves into a fervor about the risks of games this fall, stressed out to the nth degree about the possibility of a player dying of the virus on their watch.
The University of Houston had six symptomatic players test positive late last week and shut down its voluntary workouts. The Cougars did the reporting all wrong. Instead of testing upon arrival, something Ole Miss and most sane programs did, Houston didn't test. So instead of isolating positive cases -- SOMETHING ALL SCHOOLS SHOULD HAVE EXPECTED -- at the onset of arriving on campus, they let them spread the virus.
That was idiotic. Still, it's June, and in a couple of weeks, Houston can resume workouts.
Here are a few realities all of these programs must accept, embrace and deal with:
1. There are going to be positives, likely all season.
2. The goal of this season is to finish the season and get the TV money; winning is a bonus. (As an aside, there are some meathead sportswriters who are going to really struggle with this).
3. Young people in their late teens and early 20s are not dying from COVID-19. I don't know the stats on this, but I'd be willing to bet a football player is more likely to die from a spinal cord injury than from the virus.
4. These administrators -- and they're out there -- who are terrified of a football season amid a pandemic simply have to understand this: If there's no season, the ensuing department cuts are going to be catastrophically deep. Every men's program not called football or basketball (and at a few schools, baseball) is going to get terminated. Women's sports will be cut to the bare minimum, keeping the school's athletics program Title IX compliant but nothing above that. Travel will be slashed. So will amenities. Expensive coaches will be fired and replaced by cheaper ones. If there's no football, there's only pain. Simple as that. All the altruism in the world won't change that.
3. Parrish Alford, who covers Ole Miss for the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, reported Sunday that the Rebels' football program had suffered a COVID-19 breakout during the past week.
From the Journal:
Now as many 12 players have the virus in what could trace back to a social gathering.
As of Sunday morning, players' parents had not been notified by school officials of the positive test results. The school has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Safe return protocols put in place before the June 8 start of voluntary strength and conditioning workouts call for infected players to be placed in quarantine at one of a number of university-owned properties that have been set aside for this purpose.
Ole Miss athletics director Keith Carter said Sunday in a text message that Ole Miss had "one more positive test within athletics and nine others that have to be quarantined due to close contact with that person."
I can't verify what Alford reported. I'm not saying he's wrong, but I don't have that information.
Here's what I can tell you, in the keep-it-real portion of today's column:
There were two parties I know of last week. The Sigma Chi fraternity held a rush party. That probably wasn't advisable, but kids will be kids. Multiple fraternity members, according to sources (two of those sources are my kids, but I have others), tested positive for COVID-19, prompting other party attendees to get tested. I won't repeat rumored numbers, but it's safe to say the virus spread throughout the function.
A day or two later, a bunch of Oxford High School kids had a party at someone's house. Again, probably not advisable, but I can't judge. We let our daughter go. There was some indirect cross-pollination at that party. To my knowledge, none of those kids have tested positive, but not everyone has gotten their results.
I talked to a medical friend this week who said he/she wished there would be more parties for kids that age. The medical friend implied that we are all probably going to be exposed to this thing at some point, so building herd immunity within young people would be an ideal strategy if we weren't so worried about political correctness and appearances.
Most young people who get this either have very minor symptoms or none at all. They're not getting really sick, my medical friend said, and to this point, they're damn sure not dying.
That won't stop some in the media from dramatizing. That's just what they do, and that action gets lots of praise from their media buddies. Schools would just be wise to ignore all of that and press on with the plans they had in place. It's June. Some could argue now is the time to have some cases and test protocols.
Figure it out now so that September isn't full of surprises. This won't be popular, but that's reality this season. This is a season about playing out the string, getting the TV money and surviving. Anything else is gravy.
4. It's almost like I was setting up Thought Nos. 4 and 5 with Thoughts No. 2 and 3.
Journalism = Anyone can do this.
College administrators are going to have to read stories like the one cited in the tweet above, take value from them and continue to press forward.
From Forbes:
Throughout the country college athletes hopped on airplanes to return, while Americans were being discouraged from high-risk air travel, or drove across state lines using gas station rest rooms not likely to be bastions of sanitization. Who gave coaches permission to expose college athletes to these risks when the best public health experts in the world have implored us to heed their warnings to not do this? College presidents? Boards of Trustees? The silence is deafening. Has higher education lost its mind?
Each day the media reports on athletic directors’ plans to cope with COVID. They boast about required testing, quarantines upon arrival, and regular retesting. Power lifting racks in the weight room will be spaced 10 feet apart, we are told. Yet there are no reports of rules requiring face masks or limiting grunts and forceful exhales during maximum lifts. Some volleyball teams have said they will rotate 6 game balls instead of three, maybe giving them more time to rub them down with hand sanitizer? But no mention is made of concerns for opposing blockers face-to-face at the net or smothering an attacking hitter. How do you practice social distancing when soccer players set up their wall to defend a penalty kick or gang up in front of the net to field a corner kick or players position themselves nose-to-nose across the football line of scrimmage? And what happens if, 48 hours prior to the game, any member of the team tests positive?
Even more disconcerting are athletic directors’ plans to have crowds in football stadia. Nebraska’s Moos is not worried about someone limiting attendance to 40,000, contending that if 40,000 are allowed and 40,000 attend, Nebraska will preserve its home game sell-out streak. Whatever happened to six-foot social distancing? He’s also not worried about fans getting the virus: “They’re adults. If they are worried about the prospect of getting this virus, that can be a personal decision.” Jeez, that’s caring about your neighbors! Ohio State AD Gene Smith is ready with social distancing models for 20,000 to 50,000 fans. What? Fifty thousand fans in a 100,000-seat stadium is social distancing? Oregon State will mandate social distancing in restrooms. Perhaps the lines going in can loop around the concourses. Will the local hotels and bars be open and ready as the population of smaller college towns double on a football Saturday. Are these administrators really assuring us that they have it all figured out and they can stop this virus? And we thought it required a vaccine?
More than a few folks are wondering what the athletic department is going to do with these players for the next six months. When no students return to campus following Thanksgiving, will athletes remain and be further exposed to the normal flu season? Do we really think coaches are going to control the social activities of 18- to 22-year-old students in a college town? Will the other students on campus be tested as frequently or do the athletes get special protection because they are the athletic department’s meal ticket? Why this “Hail Mary”?
Scary, isn't it? In fairness, it can be intimidating staring down the social justice warriors at publications like Forbes. The author of the piece, Donna Lopiano, goes on to complete her op-ed with a series of questions:
Could it possibly be that all of the above reveals the ultimate contradiction of college sports? Could the “tail be wagging the dog”? Does the financial exigency of athletics trump athlete health? Do college presidents believe their jobs are at stake if they reject the wishes of their football and basketball coaches? Are they convinced that alumni will stop giving if the university doesn’t have football? Do higher education leaders believe that students will not attend their colleges and deliver tuition dollars if they don’t have football for entertainment? When did athletic entertainment become the overarching purpose of higher education?
Lopiano worked at Texas before her current gig at Southern Connecticut State, so the hypocrisy cuts deep here. She knows college sports have been big business long before COVID-19. She knows college athletics programs have long pushed the envelopes of student-athlete health and have long acquiesced to the wishes of successful football and basketball coaches. She knows from her time in Austin alumni giving is tied to athletics success. In other words, she asked a bunch of sarcastic, rhetorical questions.
She's criticizing a monster she helped create, and that's fine. It's well within her rights. She'll gets lots of applause and kudos from the enlightened elites, but that enlightenment won't pay the bills. Administrators would be wise to ignore her and press on.
The monster either has to be fed or put on one hell of a diet. Either option has pain attached to it.
5. Lopiano asked in Forbes if "higher education leaders believe that students will not attend their colleges and deliver tuition dollars if they don’t have football for entertainment?"
Oh, the gaslighting!
Donna, I'm sure you're lovely, but when you hop off that self-righteous throne of yours, let's talk. Here's some reality, D: What we've done to young people over the past three-plus months is borderline criminal. We've taken young people away from their social groups, away from their teams, clubs and organizations. We've robbed them of their routines.
And Donna, let's be real here: We've done it mostly for political gain. The coronavirus was here in January and February. Nobody is disputing that. In those months, kids were stacked in dorms like Stockard and Martin and Crosby on the Ole Miss campus. Dorms like those exist all over the country. My daughter, Campbell, lived in one at Arkansas.
Reid Hall is kind of gross. I think it was built in 1494 or something. God only knows what molds are in those walls. It's kind of dark, kind of damp and, despite the efforts of the UA janitorial and maintenance people, kind of nasty.
Campbell cried when she had to leave it. She made a lifetime of memories in her seven months in Reid. She made friends that she will probably still have when she's old.
I didn't know it in March when I moved her out, but I know it now: We took the last two months of college and high school and middle school and elementary school away from kids over a virus that didn't impact that age group.
I get the reaction. We were worried about flattening the curve, about not overloading hospital systems. It was a novel coronavirus, and we were scared of the unknown. In hindsight, we overreacted. The shutdown wasn't necessary. All of those kids like my daughter who lived in dorms like Reid, buildings that were essentially Petri dishes, didn't get sick.
So, let's chill with the hyperbolic rhetoric, shall we? Little boys have missed out on little league baseball. Little girls have missed out on softball and dance recitals. Kids were taken out of schools. For many, that meant they went hungry. We destroyed our economy. We devastated our collective mental health.
So, given all that, I'm going to guess it's going to be OK to play football and let college students attend football games. As for adults, they'll have decisions to make. Life's that way, you know? Choices have consequences. If you go to a college football game, you assume a level of risk.
Shutting down college football, on the other hand, is going to kill jobs. It's also going to result in kids all over the country losing scholarships that pay for their educations -- educations that, in many cases, they wouldn't be able to afford. In an ideal world, I suppose, it wouldn't be that way. However, I don't live in the ideal world. I live in the real one.
6. College athletes, especially college football players, have never had more leverage than they do today.
If they play their cards right, they're going to get name, image and likeness rights very soon. If they play their cards right, they're going to get the right to transfer without penalty once in their college careers. Hell, they might get to unionize and negotiate for their rights in a collective bargaining setting.
Many student-athletes are on closed campuses right now, training for a season amidst a pandemic and not taking classes in the process. Administrators won't like this, and I'll likely get scolded for this, but right now, college football players have their hands around the neck of the golden goose. They could kill the goose if they'd like or -- and this would be the smarter move -- they can arrange to get a share in the golden eggs (Hey, Steve, congrats on the new book!) that goose lays.
According to the Associated Press, athletes at the University of Texas called on the school Friday to rename several campus buildings, change the traditional school song and donate a percentage of athletic department revenue to organizations supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.
The letter said it was sent on behalf of the Longhorn “student athlete body.” It said the football team will participate in all required team activities ahead of the upcoming season, but players would not aid in recruiting future players or participate in alumni events.
The players said they want the school to address their concerns with campus action or a plan by the start of fall semester on Aug. 26. It wasn’t immediately clear if the group has a leader or spokesman.
“I am always willing to have meaningful conversations regarding any concerns our student-athletes have,” athletic director Chris Del Conte said. “We will do the same in this situation and look forward to having those discussions.”
The letter said the players want the school to rename several campus buildings named after state and school officials with ties to Texas era of Jim Crow laws and segregation.
The players also want Texas, which has one of the wealthiest athletic departments in the country, to contribute 0.5% of annual revenue, slightly more than $1 million on based on most recent figures, to black organizations and the Black Lives Matter movement.
My take: It's your leverage. Do with it as you will. Just know this: There comes a point where a school might have to push back. It's called overreach, and it's a real thing. Eventually, donors push back or move on. Eventually, ticket holders decide it's no longer worth the hassle. Eventually, the money dries up. That's the delicate line student-athletes will have to navigate moving forward on campuses all over the country.
7. With respect to Jim Bowden, a former GM and a very good broadcaster on MLB Network Radio, I don't believe him.
Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred, I suspect, will announce this week that, due to the stalemate in labor negotiations between the MLBPA and the owners, he is implementing a schedule of 50-60 games with players making their full prorated salary for those games.
The MLBPA will report to a second spring training, but it will be angry, both at owners and at factions within its union. It will subsequently file a grievance against the owners, demanding to see the owners' books.
I don't know what a 2021 season will look like, but I'm willing to bet I know what December 2021 will bring. The labor agreement will expire, and the subsequent lockout will be one of the most acrimonious in labor history.
The owners and the players share no common trust. The players aren't willing to compromise off the fully-prorated salary they feel they agreed to in March and the owners care far more about winning the negotiation than they do about the fans who love the game.
So there will be a season, likely starting in mid-July and going through Sept. 27, followed by the playoffs and the World Series. The owners are worried about a second wave of COVID-19 and the networks have no real interest in November/December baseball.
MLB had an opportunity this summer. It is gone. It could have made new, younger fans, filling a sports-less vacuum in the process. Instead, it likely lost some of the fans it had. Owners are going to lose money. Players are going to lose money. More than half a season will be lost, and that might just be the beginning.
It took remarkable stubbornness and stupidity to get to this point, but here we are. I love Major League Baseball. I've basically marked time in my life through its rhythms. But I'm 50.
The younger generation never experienced life with MLB as the king of pro sports. The NFL owns that crown now. The NBA is wildly popular among young people. And it's MLS that is returning to competitive play first, and young kids view soccer in a far more "normal" way than my generation does.
MLB can kid itself all it would like, but it's done real damage to its brand over the past few weeks. Repairing it is going to be a challenge, but the two sides are too focused on their mutual hate to see that.
Few will pay attention to a 50-game season. Even fewer will view it as legitimate. Once the NFL begins play in September, even fewer will truly follow along.
If the two sides were a married couple in counseling, the counselor would tell them to file for divorce. Divorce, however, isn't an option here. Instead, it's a fight, possibly one to the death.
8. The NBA is planning to resume its regular season on July 30, with 22 teams converging in Orlando to play in a bubble-like setting.
All 22 teams will play eight regular-season games before 16 teams begin the playoffs in August. Only at the start of the second round will families be allowed into the bubble, and then, they'll be subject to the same rules.
Splash Mountain is off-limits. So is Pirates of the Caribbean.
And suddenly, even after agreeing to the terms, some NBA players are wondering if resuming the season is such a good idea. According to The Athletic, there is now a group of players looking to take a stand by not playing in the league’s intended resumption and their primary reason for doing so would be in support of the nationwide movement fighting for social justice reform.
Sources tell The Athletic that a group consisting of 80-plus players — including NBPA vice president Kyrie Irving, NBPA president Chris Paul, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Donovan Mitchell and Avery Bradley — discussed finding unity and a way to attack a cause amid the nationwide unrest stemming from racial injustice, systematic racism and police brutality as well as what the world continues to face during the coronavirus pandemic.
Bradley, the Lakers guard, was the second person to speak on the call after Irving and was vocal throughout, urging players to take a stand and utilize this moment to “play chess, not checkers,” those sources said.
“I don’t support going into Orlando,” Irving told the players, according to The Athletic. “I’m not with the systematic racism and the bullshit. … Something smells a little fishy. Whether we want to admit it or not, we are targeted as black men every day we wake up.”
More from The Athletic:
Thunder guard Chris Paul and Nets guard Garrett Temple, who are with Irving on the NBPA leadership board, provided insights on Friday’s call.Several points were made on the call, according to sources:
• Portland forward Carmelo Anthony stressed unity, having a sole message and allowing the young players in the NBA a voice. At one point, Anthony suggested having all 80 players on the call donating $25,000 to a cause that they wanted.
• Portland guard C.J. McCollum stated that players must be prepared for the financial dip if they choose not to play, and owners completely ripping apart the collective bargaining agreement.
• The NBPA’s leadership stated it is believed no fans will be permitted into games for the entire 2020-21 season.
• Lakers center Dwight Howard stressed to players that playing in Orlando will become a distraction from the issues the country is facing, and that they need to unify and use this moment to create a change.
• Utah guard Donovan Mitchell expressed concerns about playing due to “being behind the 8-ball” having not played five-on-five and being thrust into a competitive environment and eight-game regular season. “We’re taking a big (injury) risk,” Mitchell said. Mitchell is up for a maximum contract extension this summer.
In theory, the NBA's plan is a good one. It's safe, and there are 900 million reasons to follow it precisely. However, these are human beings, not basketball robots, and in reality, the bubble will get popped. The final teams will be in the bubble as late as Oct. 13. Do we really expect players to avoid their families -- or the temptations outside the bubble -- for that long?
However, the players are dancing with the proverbial devil when they talk about not reporting to Orlando. If they don't play, the owners can and almost certainly would blow up the collective bargaining agreement. And given the thought process, right or wrong, that fans might not be in the stands next season either, why would the owners negotiate a new CBA in that environment?
Players only last in the league for so long. There is a limited earnings window. Not reporting to Orlando would not only close part of that window but it could also slam it shut.
Further, fans want sports, and the NBA has all but promised its return. If it reneges now, even in the name of social justice, it will lose some of the momentum it has garnered in recent years.
9. It's time to eat. Here's our resident Parisian chef, Burton Webb, with Taste of the Place -- Grilled Marinated Flank Steak for Pops (Father’s Day Special)
When I started my culinary adventure, it was through the help of a friend who got me a job at a restaurant called 208 in Oxford. It changed my world and is the reason that I currently reside in Paris. This restaurant was energetic, to say the least, and the food...the best in town. I know some will argue this point yet, this is my story. We had an off the menu item called the “busser’s special." The dish consisted of this flank steak and mashed potatoes -- very simple and just dynamite good. Of course, reserve some of the marinating liquid to then pour over your steak after you slice it. Lastly, to Huy Trann, who started my culinary career, thank you.
Tidbit #1: Flank steak is a rather inexpensive cut of meat because it has a lot of “bad fat” throughout it. To compensate for this, you always need to marinate the steak number one to begin the process of breaking down these fats. Second, whenever you cook a flank steak, it needs to be on very high heat and all you are doing is searing both sides. Then you will let it rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing it.
Tidbit #2: I like to marinate the steak anywhere from 3-8 hours before grilling it. So make the marinade, put the steak in the container, and set in your refrigerator in the morning time. You will then be able to pull it from the fridge and grill when dad makes it over.
Tidbit #3: Dry cooking. What is this? Well, it is when you have a hot sauté pan and you put an ingredient in it without any oil, butter, or fat. It is just the pan and the ingredient. This will allow for the blackening of that said ingredient.
Tidbit #4 (Last one): When you slice the steak, you slice away from the grain. This is for any meat. You will see lines on the top and bottom of your steak going in one direction. Always slice whatever meat you have across these lines, never with the lines.
Things you will need:
3-4 People plus Pops
A nice IPA beer
3-8.5 Hours to goodness
Equipment needed:
1 Work surface with a chef’s knife
Measuring cups of 1 cup, 1 tbsp, and 1 tsp
1 Fork
1 Casserole dish for mixing and marinating the meat
1 Small sauté pan
1 Pair of tongs
1 Grill
1 Stovetop
1 Side Plate
1 Small cup for the reserve liquid
1 Refrigerator
Ingredients needed:
1 2-pound portion of flank steak
3 Whole garlic cloves smashed
1 Cup of pineapple juice
1 Cup of soy sauce
1 Tsp of Sriracha
1 Tbsp of honey
5 Stalks of green onions
Salt to sprinkle after cooking
Directions:
Step 1: Set your sauté pan on your cooking eye and set the heat to medium-high. Let it heat up for 4 minutes before adding your green onions.
Step 1.1: On your work surface, smash your garlic cloves and add them to your casserole dish along with the pineapple juice, soy sauce, sriracha, and honey. Whisk with your fork.
Step 2: Place your green onions in your “dry” sauté pan and cook until black on both sides - about 4 minutes for each side. Flip them using your tongs and place them on your work surface when done.
Step 3: Let your onions cool for 3 minutes and then crumble them into your casserole dish using your hands. Next, add your flank steak. Now pop in the fridge for your either 3 or 8.5 hours.
Step 4(Grilling): Light your grill and let it heat up for at least 10 minutes. After this time, find the hottest part of your grill. This is where you need to cook your steak.
Step 4.1: Pull your steak from the fridge and place directly on your grill. Let it sear on one side for 2 minutes. Flip the steak and continue on the other side for another 2 minutes. Then immediately pull it from the grill and place it on your side plate. Let it cool for 8-10 minutes.
Step 5 (Last step): Put the steak on your work surface and slice the steak against the grain. Serve right then and there for you and your pops. This is a very easy slam dunk of a dish to be happy about. You can’t always be around your loved ones yet, when you can, make the most of it. From the Mississippian in Paris, bon appétit!
10. We'll have coverage of something this week at RebelGrove.com. I'm honestly not sure what it will be, but I'll do my best to keep content coming. Until then, here are some links of interest to me -- and hopefully, to you -- for your reading pleasure:
College football, coronavirus and the question of testing - Sports Illustrated
What happens if NBA players test positive in Orlando? (1:57)
The NBA Might Lock Reporters Inside Its Disney World ‘Bubble’ for 3.5 Months
Rosenthal: The union achieved renewed solidarity, but what’s next? – The Athletic
Baseball’s e-bargaining fueling standoff between MLB and players: Sherman
MLB’s latest proposal to players comes with sharply worded letter marking ill will – The Athletic
Player and MLB pitching coach tested positive for coronavirus
Rosenthal: How some execs spurred MLB’s Black Lives Matter statement on draft night – The Athletic
‘We don’t want to be predictable’: How the Thunder became movie makers – The Athletic
Should Nike, Duke, Coach K and Zion Williamson be worried about latest legal filings?
Opinion | ‘This You?’ Is Twitter’s New Meme. Here’s What It’s All About. - The New York Times
His name is Tiger King, and he’s the best baseball movie Netflix never made – The Athletic
New York's Kettlebell Shortage Makes Home Workouts a Challenge - The New York Times
Inside the Revolts Erupting in America’s Big Newsrooms - The New York Times
