Football Season Signals COVID Jailbreak
– By Ed Kociela –
Autumn has always been my favorite time of year.
The air gets crisp, the landscape just explodes with color, and our bodies are happy to go back to a natural time, which seems to suit me best.
It also means the return of football.
I don’t follow football, with the exception of the Las Vegas Raiders and the University of Notre Dame, that closely anymore. There are too many teams at the pro level and the college level has become a boondoggle of controversy and chicanery.
But, it certainly is a welcomed relief to see them tee it up again in the NFL as the temperatures start to wane and we can stop worrying about humidity levels and dangerous dew points.
It has been nice to welcome football back, though, and see real people in the stands instead of the cardboard cutouts we saw last year when players performed in empty stadiums and the cheering was canned.
Still, I worry, of course, that Saturdays and Sundays at the stadium could really screw us up in our attempt to defeat COVID-19. I know most places are taking precautions, but to be honest, I fail to see how effective those measures actually are. We will, I am sure, find out soon enough.
But right now, football seems to be the stimulus to the COVID-19 jailbreak we have all anticipated. They are tailgating in the parking lots again, gathering by the tens of thousands, cheering on each other, high-fiving each other, and acting as if there never was any such thing as COVID.
I have been to enough big sporting events and rock concerts and festivals over the years and really am more comfortable watching from my living room couch instead of fighting the crowds. I’d sell my Super Bowl tickets if somebody gave me any and I cannot think of any rock act that I would fork over my Social Security check to go see. I much prefer hanging where the local bands offer up the tunes and play their hearts out knowing full well that Madison Square Garden is not in their future, but good times and spreading joy certainly are. I’d rather go watch a good bar band than spend a small fortune to see the only two remaining founders of The Rolling Stones pad trust funds for their grandchildren.
Truthfully?
I’d probably feel the same way even if we had not experienced the COVID thing. This just ices the cake.
But, those little spider sensors are going off again as we hear more and more about the need for booster shots for our vaccinations. Of course, they are starting off targeting those of us “of a certain age” or infirmary as those who should line up first and, I will do so when the shots are available. I would put good money on the bet that we’ll all need at least one booster along the way and if so, I’m in. The fact, however, that the vaccinations might need a booster drives home just how serious this COVID thing really is and how hard it is hanging on. Hopefully, this news will help convince the anti-vaxxers to buck up and do the right thing.
We still have the rebels without a clue, ranging from the hard-right anti-government, anti-everything anti-vaxxers to some incredibly misinformed celebrity types slobbering bout not getting their shots or complaining afterward. Guitar player Eric Clapton, for example, is touring the United States right now and has promised he will not play any gigs where attendees must prove vaccination or are instructed to wear masks. Of course, Eric has done an awful lot of drugs over the years and muddled his brain with an ocean of alcohol, so maybe that’s why he isn’t thinking too clearly. Couple that with the racist rants he has spewed over the years and, well, you can understand why his guitar must be weeping and even his once ardent followers are asking him to just shut up and play.
The thing is, we figured we’d have a handle on all of this COVID business by now, but the fact that we don’t, that we still have people dying in alarming numbers, that we must still wear masks, that at least some of us will need booster shots means we are still not out of the woods, that COVID remains a priority.
I don’t like the idea of wearing a mask any more than you do. It is inhibiting, it depersonalizes us, hides our pleasant exchanges, makes it tougher to breathe, and is a supreme drag and I really don’t like being told what to do. But, we do it if we care about ourselves and care about protecting others from a disease that just could kill them.
I don’t like the idea of having needles jabbed into my arm, but I did it and will do it again if and when I get my booster shot because it is the right thing to do.
I’m not quite sure when we will all feel 100 percent comfortable again. The past couple of years has taken a lot out of us all and it could very well take some time for us to push COVID from our minds. I also don’t know how long it will take us to get over constantly scrubbing with hand sanitizers and the incessant washing we have been doing. I do know my hands will welcome that.
As an inveterate worrier, I truly hope that we are doing the right thing by allowing sold out crowds for sports events and concerts and that it doesn’t bite us in the backside because it would really be nice to eventually get back to normal and watch news reports that never mention COVID. Maybe then we could also put an end to the bickering between the pro-vax and no-vax factions.
Meanwhile, besides the Raiders and Notre Dame, I’m cheering for the COVID jailbreak to be successful.
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Attacking Clapton? Attacking Football? 1st off, please research what happened to Eric after he got his 2nd Astrozenica shot, let alone the 1st. Next – you are worried about fans attending outdoor football games as mega spreading events. Please research the recent Lalapalooza concert in Chicago. Per CNBC not a major spreader event / 300 cases cited after fact not a substantial amount based on attendence vs population norms.. People way more packed in at that concert than any football game by the way. But let’s go further – what about mental health and the need for human interaction? What about the fact we will likely be living with Covid as with the flu for years to come? What about the current global scientific consensus, that despite vaccinations, boosters, masks, social distancing, etc we are all going to get infected anyway? The paradigm has shifted in the last 6 months. You are still in MSNBC land listening to emotional diatribe. The bottomline at this point, as we are peaking again, is to keep people out of the ICUs – and eventually this new variant will run its course. We now know immunity from infection is as good as vaccination, and vaccination as well keeps people out of the ICUs. So time to shift our perspective – or end up like Australia, and setting up concentration camps. (not referencing WW2 Nazi deathcamps by the way, rather Covid intern camps).