Professional Sports’ Health

COVID-19, protests complicate sports

Leagues use up testing supplies but provide platform for change Nate Albin albinnat000@hsestudents.org

Sports offer an escape from the harsh realities of life for many. I know that sports have been a go-to stress reliever for me in the past. After a tough week of school, it is easy to relax watching a good football game on a Saturday in the fall. But, like almost everything else right now, those feelings of normalcy have left and controversy has spread. There has been a lot of controversy over just playing sports right now. One of the most notable debates in the public has been over whether or not to play college football. Some conferences have canceled, other conferences have said they will not stop for the pandemic and conferences, like the Big Ten, have managed to do both. It is plain to see why some people believe now is not the time for sports. USA Today reported that the NBA, MLB and MLS were using about 19,000 tests per day in July. That was before any NBA or MLS teams traveled to their respective bubbles and began testing more often. It was before MLB teams began travelling from city to city, which also required testing to increase. The NBA is testing so much that scientists were able to conduct enough trials to develop a new salivabased way to test in the bubble. This massive usage of tests is a problem when Business Insider is reporting that there is still a testing shortage because of supply shortages. Shortages of ingredients like reagents are causing some hospitals to be unable to use 20% to 33% of their test kits. With reports saying that this shortage may not end soon, cancelling pro and college sports would be a way to easily free up tens of thousands of tests, especially considering that the NFL, WNBA and colleges all across America are now running tests daily in addition to the leagues mentioned earlier. Colleges also present major issues. Without sports, they are already having a hard enough time keeping outbreaks under control . Many schools are struggling to monitor with Greek life and parties on top of having classes. The majority of schools have encouraged students to stay in their rooms and travel as little as possible. Well, it can seem a little hypocritical to say that and then send 90 football players, as well as coaches and trainers,

across the region to play a 60-minute game. The argument against playing sports in a pandemic is there. Cancelling sports would free up tests, as well as medical personnel, and bring down unnecessary risk brought upon by travel. However, sports can also be the perfect cure for our society during tough times. During World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt made sure baseball was played to provide the nation an escape during a time when so much else was being taken away from citizens. There is precedent for this. Having sports is not just an escape. Sports right now are serving as a platform to keep the fight for social justice going. With each action taken by athletes, the conversation continues. The NBA practically put the sports world on hold to protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. During her US Open championship run, tennis player Naomi Osaka wore masks with the names of Black Americans that were victims of violence. Playing through injury, she said that she was motivated to win the championship because winning it would mean she would get to wear more masks and honor more lives. Protests through sports have been prominent for a long time now. The summer of 2020 has recently been compared to the summer of 1968. That year at the Mexico City Summer Olympics, Black American track athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised a fist with a black glove on to protest racial discrimination in America. This was a global platform while their country’s national anthem was playing. Fifty-two years later, the image of protesting on the podium remains one of the iconic images of the civil rights movement. Clearly, there is a good argument for having sports right now too. I do not even know how to Tommie Smith (center) and feel on the matter. It is a complex issue. Sports John Carlos (right) raised serve as a platform for change, something that is their fists in support of necessary right now, but not having sports could the civil rights movement open up testing for those unable to access it. during the 1968 Mexico Neither side is right; neither side is wrong. Either City Olympics. Protests way, one thing is painfully obvious. It is time to have been an integral part take the pandemic plaguing the United States of sports’ return in 2020. seriously and work to end the systematic injustice Photo used with permission that also plagues our nation. of Flickr.