Chuck,
Your posts in this thread are among the most selfish statements I have ever read. You are not the victim of COVID-19. You are not the victim of the cancellation of college and professional sports as a result of national and global response to COVID-19. You lament partisan, perpetually offended culture of society today and you continue to be the most partisan and most offended person on any number of topics you bring to this board. The world does not revolve around you and your fellow citizens are not required to react to issues they face in a manner that pleases you...
People have died from this virus (5,080 is not a number I sneeze at when the alternative is my personal entertainment) and more certainly will - many will become infected and many are at risk. The number of future deaths/at risk patiencts would have undoubtedly risen exponentially had common sense steps not (finally) been taken to slow the spread of this virus across the country. All you've expressed in your posts is that it might not effect you personally and as a result you don't care. Why don't you just throw out a number as to how many lives are worth your ability to watch/attend sporting events in your golden years? How many lives have to be prevented by shutting down large events around the country to make it worthwhile for all of us to have inconvenienced you so greatly?
These are largely preventable deaths - if the right steps are taken - so if you're going to casual toss around numbers in the 5,000s as an inconvenience than you should probably take a long look in the mirror. Its not up to everyone else to accept the same level of risk that you are willing to accept. And it is not your right to put them at risk because you are not concerned. Unlike the people making this decision, you have zero responsibility at stake. Its easy for you condescend to all of us - as well as the people who actually have to combat this virus and make difficult decisions they don't want to make - from your couch. And that is certainly the only way you can make yourself the center of a global situation...
Setting the more important health risks aside, lets touch on the issue of cancelled collegiate activities so important to this board. As you know I work in college athletics - what I have worked so hard for is now out the window. My student-athletes have lost seasons of competition. I have seen colleagues and their student-athletes lose their seasons on the eve of potential championship competition. As hard as it is for all of them, I have yet to see any handle this situation without maturity, class and empathy for those who are dealing with much worse...
In your first post, not only do you fail to recognize the sacrifice made by the athletes actually competing in the sports you demand you are allowed to watch as one of your 'liberties'. In your subsequent post you denigrate their sacrifice, express disdain for them and mock their ability to accept these decisions with grace as 'soft' behavior. You could learn a lot from them in how they've handled one of the most difficult situations of their young lives...
Your attempts to misdirect the conversation into risks of everyday life are laughable. Analogies to the flu or automotive deaths are entirely transparent. Yes, people die from both and do so every day. Using that as a rationalization to argue against making common sense efforts to minimize risk and prevent preventable deaths in other ways is disgusting, especially when considering how much effort has been put into lowering death tolls related to the flu and to driving, giving us the numbers we have now. Your making straw-men arguments are designed to win a debate, politically instigate and convince yourself its okay to be so careless, nothing more...
If you don't want people to play the victim, than stop playing the victim. No one is forcing you to drive an automated car and no one is attacking your rights and liberties by putting sports on hold.
If you don't like people playing the partisan sheep, than stop being so **** partisan. Perhaps drastic decisions could have been avoided if the COVID-19 virus was respected a serious concern from the start and we weren't subjected to partisan rants about how it was entirely a hoax, that things were fine and that it was all a deep-state creation to kill the market and bruise the president's ego. If we had handled it like adults, maybe you'd still be able to watch 20 year old kids work their asses off so that they could adequately skate around for your god-given, inalienable right to be entertained...
We've gotten to a point where these decisions have had to be made. One Utah Jazz player infected with COVID-19 means the entire league is infected if they keep playing (and who knows how many staff, fans, etc). The same is true for any collegiate athlete/sport, which means the likely and substantial spread through the rest of the citizenry as a result and eventually to people with significant risk. And I know you'd never request that after fulfilling their duty of entertaining you they be quarantined/isolated from the rest of the population, putting their lives on hold - you know, civil liberties and all...
These decisions are the only ones that could be made, for your benefit even if you deny it. In many ways the government exists to protect people like you from themselves (as well as everyone you might take down with you while you exercise your 'freedoms') - but assuming you know more than those schooled, trained and paid to do so, tell me, what is the worst thing that happens if you're right? You're inconvenienced for a couple of weeks/months? Now think about what is the worst thing that could happen if you're wrong...
You revel in this 'panic' because it gives you another opportunity to come to these boards and tell us how smart, tough minded and righteous you are. If you didn't, you'd stop watching the news that is gearing all its platforms towards telling you people are panicking. It is not panic to make decisions in the best interest of other people. It is not panic to take steps to prevent the preventable.
Five thousand deaths (and who knows how many more) might be a measly and easily dismissable number for you, but its easy for me to recognize my current good fortune in this situation. Despite the end of my season, and the pain of my student-athletes, I have no serious connection to the virus at this time (family, athletes, friends). Out of empathy, it is my experience, that the vast majority of those actually sacrificing their athletic seasons (after months and years of hard work) are disappointed, but willing to do whatever is deemed necessary to minimize the risk towards those seriously affected moving forward. And no one gives a rat's *** about your ability to watch on TV or eat popcorn in the stands, or your personal opinion on the viability of them sacrificing their season...
