Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, a former ohio State and NFL open receiver, issued a passionate critique of the close Big Ten Conference resolution to host football games this fall on Monday.
During a 15-minute interview with USA TODAY Sports, Ohio Republican Gonzalez used the words “huge error,” “catastrophic,” and “disaster” to describe the existing movement, and said he had disclosed his emotions “with those who would make those decisions or influence them,” he refused to provide details.
A member of Congress during his first term, González has not hesitated to part with his football delight or to be a prominent player on sports-related issues. He is looking to submit an invoice related to the school’s use of his name, symbol and likeness and selected through President Donald Trump in April to be part of the Congress organization Opening Up America Again.
He called the Big Ten resolution “a massive mistake for children.”
“I’ve learned more in this school football environment than in any classroom or any other environment I’ve ever been in,” Gonzalez said, “and I know I’m not in it. So seizing this opportunity from these young people, many of whom come from some of the most difficult environments this country has to offer, I think it’s catastrophic for them.
“The risk is obviously there. But I think that if you’re in an environment where coaches want to coach, players want to play and parents of players want their kids to play that, at the very least, you need to create the option.”
Gonzalez said that no athlete has been forced to play and that any retired athlete has been granted an additional season of eligibility.
But he mentioned the degree of additional threat that football players would have accepted as they moved forward, and whether they would have reduced health care surveillance if games were not played.
“The threat of betting against me and contracting the virus seems to be nothing but the threat of being on campus and contracting the virus,” Gonzalez said. “The world we live in is not a world in which football is played with a COVID threat and football is not played without COVID threats.”
If the season is cancelled, he added: “Will players be tested with both the cancelled games as they would if the games were played and? Probably not.
“And so the chances of contracting the virus (in inflamed players) are greatly minimized, whereas if you are tested every single day, every and every day, whatever the protocol, you will get (inflamed players) Array You can quarantine them. You can offer them the remedy they want … You can run tests each and every day if you want. all the MRIs you want to check for the health of the center.
Gonzalez predicted that if schools held games in the spring, “all their seniors and seniors” wouldn’t play.
‘It’s hard for me to believe that a player who’s a more sensible player would say, ‘Okay, I’ll play this spring football season that ends in June or whatever, and then I’ll get ready for my first NFL education camps to start in July,’ Gonzalez said, ‘There’s just no way. Talk about unhealthy. »