The voices came in the night.
Mostly silenced by their universities in this huge pandemic, the college-athlete student-athletes entered the conversation last Sunday with a uniform voice echoing through venerable halls and bare green campuses across the country. They “want to play football this season,” a large multi-conference group said in a statement on Twitter, and they want universal standards across the board to protect their health and future during the COVID-19 pandemic. Oh, and one more important thing. “Ultimately,” they said, the college-athlete student-athletes want to “create an association for football players.”
Like an earthquake in the middle of the night, that statement Monday caused the world of collegiate athletics to be under scrutiny. It was historic words from frustrated young people who worked hard this season to play football for their universities during a viral plague, but watching the NCAA’s structural disorganization and fundamental fraud gradually kill all hope of what happens this autumn.
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College football is now on the verge, and it will be a historic week for a sport that is one of the most preserved and influential institutions of cultural power and significance in the country. Here was the players’ midnight statement in full, which – and this just melts my heart – edited in graphic form on deadline by defensive lineman Dallas Hobbs of Washington State:
“We want to play football this season
Establish universal mandated health and safety procedures and protocols to protect fellow athletes from COVID-19 during all NCAA-wide conferences
“Give the players the opportunity to report and respect their decision
“Guarantee in consideration if a player chooses to play this season or not
‘Use our voices to create open communication and trust between players and officials; eventually forming an association for football players
“Representative of the players of all Power 5 conferences”
It was beautiful to see, and a long time came.
Some of the most recognizable and talented players in college football were the first to deliver the message on social media, including Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence, quarterback, Ohio State, Ohio Fields and Alabama running back Najee Harris. Can players actually form a union? It will take an act of Congress, but Congress sees.
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“The way our student athletes have handled these uncertain times is unbelievable and our staff is so proud of them,” Arkansas football coach Sam Pittman wrote on Twitter, “As the head coach of @RazorbackFB #WeWantToPlay”
Players ’statement was the grand finale of a busy weekend for collegiate athletics, and another defining moment for a summer that has many. They are all interconnected by the central ribbon of social inequality that runs through the middle of this country. Ignoring that fact would be to appreciate the significance of this time and place in America.
How can universities support the Black Lives Matter movement, but then possibly ask thousands of Black footballers to risk their health and future during a pandemic so that everyone can earn billions from their unpaid work? The pandemic has exposed the fraudster of so many things. With players now talking about a union, we’ll see how many universities really want to play football this fall.
With enrollments for students now close secured for the semester, something tells me the energy to put football through the pandemic that could disappear at the presidential level.
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On Saturday, the Mid-American Conference became the first collection of FBS schools to postpone their bankruptcy sports to the spring semester, and that decision will now force the other conferences to re-evaluate their seasons. It was reported on Sunday that the Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences will discuss pulling the plug on their seasons beginning this week. Sources close to the SEC told AL.com sports editor John Talty on Sunday night it is still planning to play its new 10-game, conference-only schedule.
At noon on Monday, there were new reports that the SEC could form a ‘super conference’ with ACC teams to play just one season this season. Yep, it sure means more here in the south.
How hard things change. The SEC just released its set of new cross-divisional games on Friday afternoon. Now, after the weekend, it’s fair to ask if they’ll ever be played. If the Big Ten and Pac-12 cancel or postpone their seasons, it will be near impossible for the other conferences to continue.
Players rightly want to have a voice at the table that determines their futures, and not just hide a confidential table for the public display like the one the SEC offered last week. The statement by players casts doubt on their confidence in university leadership, and that is a profound accusation against the system. Had the players held a union together as a union a few months ago, perhaps that would have united their sport better like the NBA and MLS.
However, we can not have that. Empowerment of players would threaten the nature of this collegial model that we are calling shamateurisme.
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Players have had a lot of time the last few months to figure things out, and not playing will divert this energy even more. And, let’s not forget, Congress is watching this all closely now, as the NCAA came to them to help limit the power of the players.
The players just want to play, but the college football system is so unstable and broken that the vibrations of just talking that sound can cause everything to fall apart. Hold on tight, everyone. The ground is shaking during this season.
Joseph Goodman is a columnist for the Alabama Media Group. He’s on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr.
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