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In 2010, like so many people at that time, I was a blogger with a group of guys. We loved Penn State football and what it represented, but we had a different perspective on Joe Paterno. We thought he needed to go for the betterment of the program.
Our concerns were football related (tactics, recruiting, etc) bit also thought the overarching narrative/cult of JoePa was a bit extreme. We got a bit of a following for being unique in the PSU world and expressed what was on some peoples minds. but we genuinely loved JoePa.
I remember the morning the Sandusky revelations came out, reading every word my first reaction was to find a way to defend Joe Paterno and his actions. It was natural & instinctive. Even being a contrarian I still wanted to believe that my social construct around JoePa was valid.
In the initial hours before Sandusky became a national story it was bouncing around the Big Ten blogospheres. I remember few hours in a simple comment from an Iowa blogger I highly respected who simply said, “Yeah, JoePa’s gotta go.”
That one phrase completely changed my perspective and put me, strangely, at piece with the fact that there are bigger things than sports narratives and themes. That there are real people with real lives and real pain that should be considered first.
At *peace but whatever... The point is I get real joy from sports, I like to express that joy through observations and lame jokes from time to time. Some people like it, some don’t. That’s fine—great, even.
I mention all of this because my love of Penn State football is still strong but has definitely waned since 2010. This was also the year I started following Sporting KC—and in many ways this team has filled that waning gap.
The themes, the narratives, the culture, the success, the community and the drive of Sporting KC have been something I’ve completely bought into. Even when I was 600 miles away in Cincinnati.
Still: it’s a game, a game filled with real people, real lives, and real concerns. I can’t let my pursuit of joy obscure pain for those that play for me, be it direct or indirect.
All of this that someone has tested positive for COVID-19 on Sporting KC. It’s nothing less than devastating given the precautions I know they e taken. But what really concerns me is the general expectation/focus is that SKC will play in less than 48 hours. This is just wrong.
We can not let the lives of players in Sporting KC, Minnesota United, ABC, or the Wide World of a Sports Complex, or the lives of those peoples’ families, be threatened by our pursuit of joy. It’s just wrong—and the sooner we come to grips with that the better we will be.
Maybe in a few days this can all be resolved, maybe there are protocols to ensure that these threats can be eliminated or brought to a near-zero level so games can be played later, but playing a game in <48 hours right now is *crazy*.
Sporting KC must not play on Sunday.
Sporting KC must not play on Sunday.
My joy isn’t worth it, because I want health and safety of people *I care about* to come first.
Yeah, the Sporting KC game has got to go.
Yeah, the Sporting KC game has got to go.
