Paul Finebaum has some thoughts about the return of sports during the coronavirus pandemic. While sports are putting plans in return to reopen competition, Finebaum is warning that acting too quickly could have poor consequences.
Finebaum’s comments came after Oklahoma football coach Lincoln Riley made similar comments about the matter with talks about college football returning and campuses reopening.
“Well, I think he’s right about one thing, if college football comes back — or this goes for any sport — comes back too quickly and is not prepared, it is going to be catastrophic,” Finebaum said, via 247 Sports. “Remember the NCAA Basketball Tournament? On Tuesday we were debating fans, on Wednesday we said, ‘Well, we’ll put more hand sanitizer out.’ By Thursday, there were no sports.
“That’s how convoluted the thinking was back then and I really agree with him. Because people need to be very very careful, this goes for the entire country, if you rush back and you’re not prepared, it sets everyone back weeks if not months.”
We all are waiting for sports to return sooner rather than later, but Finebaum does raise some solid points.
The coronavirus is a real threat, but it seems like the itch to have live entertainment is allowing people to overlook it as long as sports are able to return.
The coronavirus outbreak has led to the cancellation or postponing of many large events including The Masters, NCAA Tournament, Coachella, SXSW, the Winter X Games, Stagecoach, Ultra Music Festival in Miami, and more. The NBA, NHL, and MLS have temporarily suspended their seasons.
The coronavirus mainly comes from animals and a majority of those who were infected early either worked at or frequently visited the Huanan seafood wholesale market in Wuhan, according to The Guardian. The virus is similar to Severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) and Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (Mers).
The Wuhan coronavirus is transmitted from person to person through “droplet transmission.” That means an infected person can pass the virus by sneezing or coughing on another person as well as by direct contact.
While a majority of the cases have been detected in the United States and China — with more than 85,500 deaths in the United States and more than 1 million confirmed cases — it has now reached many countries around the world. It has also been confirmed in Italy, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and many other eastern countries.
