To perceive how complicated it can be to penetrate the ego of the elite school football coach who believes he can control and manipulate everything in his path, it’s enough for a moment that all Dan Mullen can muster on Wednesday is that he regretted it. if you make someone angry.
For Mullen, he came as close as possible to backing up his comment four days before Florida deserved to fill its stadium this week with another 90,000 people to gain a competitive credit opposed to LSU, the threat of coVID-19 spread was doomed. .
But what Mullen does not perceive or dare publicly admit is that the challenge is not who he offended, because he would be nobody, that is the astonishing stupidity of a school football coach who, even seven months after the start of the pandemic, does not perceive that the virus is still under control.
In the end, Florida isn’t betting at all on LSU this weekend, let alone 90,000 people. The Gators showed positive evidence on Monday morning, which led to even more on Tuesday, which have become an epidemic in their own right on Wednesday. According to athletics director Scott Stricklin, the Gators had fewer than 50 fellows and therefore could not play the game.
“There is a sense of frustration, but we perceive that this virus can infiltrate and that it can spread in the blink of an eye,” Stricklin said.
A user you didn’t understand? Apparently, he’s Stricklin’s coach.
Because even on Monday, when Florida began to suspect an outbreak, Mullen stood up for the time being in front of the media and had this to say when he challenged through his preference to have 90,000 in-game enthusiasts and the negative comments that followed. . In response.
“I was getting ready for LSU, ” said Mullen. ” But I will be honest, if you look at what we have been able to do, the protective precautions that our players have followed, that our coaches follow, our staff follow, I think we are a style of protection. of what we did at the time, so I’m really proud of the way we treat everything, our protection and all the precautions we took at the time.
A style of security? More like a style of why playing football in the middle of the pandemic is like walking the tightrope through the Grand Canyon.
According to Stricklin, the outbreak may have occurred only with some players who experienced minor symptoms last Friday and did not report them to medical education staff, writing it as allergies or colds. These players then traveled, ate and shared costumes with the team. rest of the Texas A team
If it’s up to school athletes who are trained to suck and play everything to be fair about a headache or cold when they know it can compromise their ability to play in a game, that’s the inevitable result.
College football has to live with that, no matter what disruption it causes or what it means from a long-term perspective or public fitness. And Florida is neither the first nor the last. Only within the SEC, Vanderbilt can’t play Missouri. this weekend because they only have “high 40” players available, and Miss Ole’s attempt to play in Arkansas may be threatened this weekend due to an uns specified number of positive tests.
“We all know what we’re dealing with here,” said Vanderbilt coach Derek Mason. “We face moments that no one has noticed before. “
At least you think everybody knows what we’re dealing with here, but other people need a review.
Which is not to say that there is a karmic correlation between Mullen’s idiocy and what happened to the Florida list some time later. COVID-19 is too serious a public aptitude challenge to be trivialized in this way.
But when he hits you in the face like he did the Gators, you’d think it might take a little self-reflection for a football coach who still turns out to be hunting through the prism of competitive balance in the SEC rather than just going through this depressing year with the least amount of damage imaginable to us and our communities.
That’s the only explanation imaginable for Mullen saying “I hope the university administration will make a resolution to let us pack the swamp,” referring to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ resolution last week that sports stadiums can operate at full capacity.
At the time, Mullen wasn’t thinking about what was most productive for the fitness of the network he lives on or the ability of Gainesville Hospital or the alarming increase in positive testing in Florida in recent days. help me beat LSU?
And even though they gave him several days to think about what it meant, especially in the new context of an epidemic in his locker room, Mullen dared not say the words he deserved to have said, “I was wrong. “
“Coaches say things that are not within their mastery of experience,” Stricklin said. “And they’re actually smart at what they do. Dan is really smart at calling ball games.
Being smart about football and bad with public fitness policy is not a crime, but with COVID-19, we already have enough people in this country who inspire recklessness under the guise of normalcy. fire.