We need a crystal ball!

I wanted to take a brief moment to give a small-town, northern shout out to Coach Nick Saban for leading the charge for Alabama's 6th NCAA Men's Football Championship recently, and Saban's 7th overall as head coach after previously winning one with LSU. As a coach, I admire his ability to hitch a team of wild stallions to the same cart, year after year, but I completely respect the message he delivered in the post-game interview where he deflected personal accolades with humility. His message couldn't have been more applicable to today's issues, and paraphrasing, his message was that he simply wanted to enjoy himself and winning is a by-product of that desire. Listen, I won't fudge my words, Saban LOVES winning, and that makes the tireless efforts he extends enjoyable, but he gets paid buckets of money for his success.

In the aftermath of the championship game, there were boatloads of opinions surrounding the game about all manner of topics, from "experts" to armchair quarterbacks alike. 

What was missing from that seemingly never-ending list was a question about what the long-term effects of Covid-19 exposure and the future of what I would guess amounts to thousands of athletes who represented their university or college during this pandemic. I will admit that this particular vein was posed by a friend and former Central colleague, Ed Leach, when it was discussed that some university football programs had actually encouraged their players to get infected in the preseason so that the rest of the season would not be infected. 

Unbelievable!

Even though this novel coronavirus is relatively new to the virology scene, scientists have been quick to amass a list of potentially harmful long-term effects ... see the graphic at the right. Naysayers of the danger surrounding Covid-19 infection will trumpet that a high percentage of infections manifest in a relatively minor experience, and we shouldn't be as worried about the pandemic as science is warning us to be. Any one who has paid attention to the wide swath of media coverage surrounding the pandemic understands that the term "Long Hauler" and its application to Covid-19. It's the unknown nature of these lingering Covid-19 effects that pushes me to avoid it at all costs. 

Reporter Peter Myerberg, USA Today, reported on Sept 3rd, 2020, that Penn State's director of athletic medicine, Wayne Sebastianelli, is quoted, "Cases of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, appear to be prevalent among Big Ten athletes ... impacting roughly one-third of all athletes who have tested positive for the coronavirus." ARTICLE From where I stand, that's a lot of athletes being significantly affected! Myerberg continues later in his article with more from Sebastianelli, "We don’t know how long that’s going to last. What we have seen is when people have been studied with cardiac MRI scans — symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID infections — is a level of inflammation in cardiac muscle that just is alarming.”
Important Note: Sebastianelli's numbers were adjusted later ARTICLE from 30% to 15%, fuelling the arguments about ever changing discoveries about the virus, but the alarm bells should still be ringing.

On Dec 9th, 2020, the American Lung Association published an article documenting the plight of 17-year-old Carson, a high school baseball player, and his Covid-19 journey. ARTICLE According to the post, "Carson was officially diagnosed with viral myocarditis on November 16, over four months after “recovering” from COVID-19. There is no treatment aside from time and rest. The cardiologist helped him find his max heart rate and advised him not to go over 60% of that max rate for the next three months. He explained that pushing an inflamed heart could result in dangerous arrhythmias and would delay healing." Obviously, this young man's long term health is far more important than a college baseball career, but that's an awfully large monkey wrench that just got thrown into the gears, with life-changing potential effects! 

In his report on the effects of Covid-19 on athlete's bodies, Sports Illustrated's Brian Burnsed wrote in April 2020, "Beyond potential cardiovascular issues, athletes’ muscles and ligaments will need adequate time to recalibrate to their sports’ demands." ARTICLE Burnsed's warning surrounds the potentially damning effects of either a layoff of training thanks to lockdown measures, or a diminishing effect of sub-maximal training on musculature and supporting tissue, both leading to safety concerns if, and when, athletes return to competition. There's a podcast of an interview Burnsed participated in the SI post if you wish to check it out ... I listened to "The long road to full speed" and "A 2nd chance for NCAA athletes".

What all of this amounts to is a Pacific Ocean sized body of unchartered water, with all the requisite dangers that scenario might present. On my weekly Zoom call with fellow BCC retirees, we discussed this idea for a short time. There was agreement that this very issue is a smouldering volcano whose eruption could spell significant uproar in terms of an athlete vs university lawsuit or a class action suit vs the NCAA itself. Interestingly, the question was posed, "Are fans to blame for this?" because their demand for spectacles in this stay-at-home pandemic has increased significantly. Our small panel was unanimous in splitting the answer into 3 threads;
Under 18 years - Absolutely no sports, no way, no how!
Between 18-24 years - A personal choice since the athletes are now legally seen as adults.
24+ years - Likely only professionals still playing. Their resources to maintain a safe bubble is huge!

As it would be in better times, there will always be athletes (and their families) whose focus on attaining professional status in their chosen activity overrides their sense of caution, the lure of a "Pay Day" worth the significant risks. Covid-19 makes decisions surrounding these situations much more murky and dangerous, since the "long haul" effects have the potential to significantly alter a person's life, arguably even destroy it. My reservations are seeded in the notion that once a certain level is attained, like NCAA scholarship athletes or CHL hockey players for example, the locus of the decisions shifts to external from the family unit, and the almighty dollar weighs heavily in process.

For what it's worth, I am very much of the opinion that until science is able to (a) confirm the breadth and length of these "long haul" effects and (b) provide justification for why only some are inflicted with them, the risk is far too high to be balanced against the short-term benefits of sports participation. From what I can see, sitting in my trusty recliner safe inside my little Canadian castle, Canadians have finally accepted that all group activities for young people (elementary, secondary and post-secondary) should be ceased, leaving only the professional and semi-professional ranks to decide their own fates, and they can only make this decision thanks to the massive TV contracts already in place.

In the end, the overwhelming majority of us are not encumbered with these issues. 

However, we collectively have a responsibility to do our part in the battle against this virus. To all that are not doing their very best to help with the spread, if you aren't worried for yourself, what about your children? 

It's pretty simple folks.
Wear a mask when there's potential for infection,
Watch how close you are to others, especially in colder weather,
Wash your hands properly and often.

Oh, and stay home.