Spectator Limit More Theater of the Absurd
As public health guidelines continue to strip Illinoisans of personal freedoms, time is now to again speak up and be heard
We are close to the 365-day mark when this novel coronavirus uprooted our lives.
Over this 12-month period, conflicts have been waged, obstacles overcome. The #ReturnToPlay campaign is days away from crossing another milestone. But it comes with another struggle in its wake.
Wednesday, football returns with officially sanctioned practices. The sport is the most popular in the state of Illinois in terms of participation. Beyond the opportunities it creates for athletes, football brings vitality and stimulates excitement within local communities more than any other sport (in some pockets of Illinois basketball matters most. But statewide, football reigns supreme).
Football games begin March 19. As of this writing, only 50 people are allowed to watch in-person. That leaves 19 days to change this absurd rule.
On the topic of absurdity—football players will be required to wear masks during the six-game spring season. That ruling came down last week from the powers that be with the Illinois Department of Public Health and complied with by the Illinois High School Association. The IDPH continues to distinguish itself not in data-driven decisions but ones baked in fear and cosmetics.
Illinois has eight bedfellows with which to share its imbecilic logic—Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington will also require players wear masks this spring, this according to the National Sporting Goods Association.
That is good news for organizations like the NSGA, as the public health mandate creates a seller’s market for cloth masks that attach to football helmets. But it’s bad for football players, now forced to add another piece of apparatus to an already armor-heavy sport.
Football coaches and players are publicly taking the right approach. Just happy to have a season. We’ll roll with the punches. We’ll play in the parking lot in our pajamas if we have to.
I applaud the resourcefulness and agree with the sentiment.
But it doesn’t change the fact they shouldn’t have to deal with that mitigation. The IDPH again cited no medical basis for the decision about mask-wearing. We’ve had six months of football with no mask-wearing during competition and no reported cases of Covid spread.
There is evidence to suggest it’s dangerous for athletes to mask up during competition. The CDC says it’s ‘not safe if it makes it hard to breathe.’
Basketball players are dealing with the nonsense now. Football (and soccer) is next. Kids will adjust. They always do. Leave it to the adults to litigate these disputes.
But not the spectator limit. It’s time to cue up another round of #HearOurVoiceIllinois.
Remember all of those months when football (and basketball) were dead in the water? Only to be resuscitated?
It wasn’t that long ago. A little over six weeks to be exact. Football and basketball, labeled as too risky to play, were granted a pandemic pardon by Gov. Pritzker on Jan. 22.
(“Of course sports in Phase 4 can play games” Dr. Ezike said that day, her admonishing tone desirous of questioners to believe her sudden reversal, two days after President Biden took over the Office of the Presidency, had nothing to with politics and everything to do with science)
In the few weeks leading up to the change of fortune, athletes, coaches and parents waged an all-out messaging campaign for #ReturnToPlay.
Shortly after the Pritzker’s turnabout, Illinois High School Association Executive Director Craig Anderson said this about return of sports:
Part of me thinks it was those things that created a groundswell of interest, call it pressure or whatever, to get it out there that students need this
Well, students, parents and fans, it’s that time again.
It’s time to fight for what is right.
And what is right is football stadiums all across the state should be filled with fans this spring.
Let’s make this easy. The guidelines are already in place.
In the fall of 2020, when the positivity rate (one metric used by Pritzker/IDPH for determining the severity of the virus) was significantly higher than it is now, there was no spectator limit at events.
Here are the “General Requirements and Considerations” under the category of “Spectators”:
If meet hosts allow spectators, they must maintain 6 feet social distance when possible. Facial coverings are optional only if social distancing can be maintained. In situations where social distancing is difficult to maintain, then facial coverings are required
This guideline was in place for fall outdoor sports such as cross country, golf and tennis. I have yet to see any data that undermines this mitigation strategy. In January, National High School Federation Executive Director Dr. Karissa Niehoff, in an interview with The Kerr Report, said this about spectator data gathered from the fall season:
Our state associations are doing their best to talk to one another. In Illinois, working with Indiana and Wisconsin and see what our neighbors doing. For example, we had one of our state association members reach out to his colleagues and ask a few questions about fall seasons. Again, this is not a research study it’s an informal survey. One of the questions was ‘approximate the percentage of contest cancellations in each activity due to Covid?’ For Illinois in cross country, (the answer) was ‘none that I’m aware of.’ This is kind of what we see in Indiana, the same thing in Kansas, (the answer being) ‘none that I’m aware of.’ It’s tough to see that Covid has been a significant issue. We are not hearing from our states that it has been a significant problem. It is a significant concern? Yes. A problem? We’re not hearing that.
So if there is no reported problems from the fall, why not do the same in the spring? There’s plenty of space inside a football stadium for groups to maintain six feet of social distancing. By now, we all know what’s reasonable and appropriate. If you aren’t comfortable, stay home and watch the game via stream.
This does not have to be difficult. But this is Illinois, so of course it is.
That’s why, less than three weeks before games begin, schools are staring down a 50 spectator limit, a number that for hundreds and hundreds of Chicagoland schools, is less than the size a football varsity roster.
How is that going to work?
There are a number of schools that would prefer to wash their hands of football altogether this year. A poll by the IHSA conducted earlier this winter of area athletic directors found about half of respondents rejecting spring football. I can only surmise they didn’t want to deal with the messiness of it all.
And if the spectator rule doesn’t change, they are going to have a mess on their hands.
Here’s what I think is going on—the IDPH is a busy agency. It’s occupied with the vaccine roll out (rightfully so) and whatever else it is that public health organizations do all day.
It doesn’t really care that football is starting or that games begin in less than three weeks. It’s not on their radar. So it is up to those that do care to make it so.
I would adopt the same approach taken in those weeks in January before Pritzker/Ezike gave back basketball and football.
Speak up. Be heard. Make those in charge aware what is important. In #ReturnToPlay, passivity is the cousin of submission.
Start at the top. Email and call your district superintendent. Same with your local congressman. Don’t forget your principal or athletic director. You should still have their information from the last time.
Ask them if they are advocating for the removal of the 50 spectator limit. If not, why not? Go ahead and include a question about their plan if the limit is expanded.
Because if there’s one thing we’ve learned over these past 12 months it’s this—public health officials in Illinois are in the pocket of Pritzker. Along with his coastal buddies, Andrew Cuomo of New York and Gavin Newsome of California, Pritzker prefers lockdowns over liberty.
This is about more than watching high school football. It’s about personal freedom.
The only way to guarantee those freedoms is to fight for them.
So fight.
Now visiting teams fans are forbidden to see their kids play on the road. We wrote the principal, the president and the athletic director and it fell on deaf ears, saying that not all schools had enough space for home and away spectators, which is a load of crap. These schools are falling in line with the IDPH, the IHSA and the state government, because they are awaiting funding from these outfits. Money talks, bullshit walks!