For most of Buckeye Nation Kevin Warren will be forever hated for cancelling football this fall and very, very likely a National Championship. As for Gene Smith, I am sure he has tumbled down the list in terms of popularity with the fans for having bowed to Warren.
But what about the new President at Ohio State and board of trustees, especially now that the new information is out regarding the heart condition Myocarditis. The new information is from a Genetic Heart Disease Doctor who leads the Windland Smith Rice Sudden Death Genomics Lab which studies, among other things, sudden death in young athletes. He explained to the Big 12′s leaders that a new myocarditis study in the Journal of American Medical Association that sparked panic across college sports didn’t have the “bandwidth” to be transferable in a useful way. The study, conducted in Germany and composed of middle-aged adults, found that 78 percent of the 100 participants had some cardiac abnormality. Ackerman said it’d be a “scientific foul” to infer that those findings are relevant for 18 to 24-year old athletes.
That is a powerful statement from a Doctor who studies death in young athletes. Also kudos to the Big12 Leadership for having the intelligence to invite an expert on the subject of Myocarditis to join them on a conference call in order that they could make the proper decision on whether to proceed with fall football or cancel. Well we certainly know what that decision is from the Big12; play ball. There was a second article where this Cardiologist is quoted on the subject and the bold headline to the article is, “Cardiologist explains why myocarditis shouldn’t be a primary reason to cancel football.” (both articles can be found at www.al.com)
While the Myocarditis issue seems to be the one Warren and the other decision makers frequently mention, oh and I do hope the powers to be at Ohio State have the read the report given to the Big12) there is the occasional mention of COVID-19. As has been said a number of times, do those people (going forward I will refer to Warren and any of those who were part of the decision to not play football as those people and not use a less friendly term) really think that these young college students will stay in their dorms, rooms, apartments, homes or wherever and practice a safe environment: certainly not, nor would any of us if we were college students.
The COVID-19 safe practices requirements put in place by the athletic department is much safer and the athletes are closely monitored by the coaching staff not only health wise but that there are no infractions of the COVID-19 policies. And I think almost all of us could agree that the athletes would adhere to the policies and protocol for fear of missing games, or the entire season, and became ill or had found to have been exposed to COVID-19. Especially those on full rides or hoping to go into professional sports.
So Madame President and Trustees, make the right decision and play ball. It is better to start the season and if some situation arises that it needs stopped or cancelled, then do do. Better than having cancelled the entire season only to see that other conferences who did play, did so with no issues or complications, and we of Buckeye Nation suffering further misery saying, “if only we had went ahead and played.”
ap
Closed by Mod - This is the third forum post about the same article and topic in the past few days.
https://www.elevenwarriors.com/forum/ohio-state-football/2020/08/115936/...
https://www.elevenwarriors.com/forum/college-sports/2020/08/115911/the-d...
