THREAD: Clearly athletes (pro and college) and not essential workers and first responders. No athlete should be tested without symptoms if it takes away from a single ER nurse. Beyond that, let's not pretend these athletes aren't "essential" in other ways.

First and foremost, a resumption of sports would be huge for our national psyche. It will give us some semblance of normalcy. Even though we can't go to the games, their return to our TV screens would be a major boost to national morale. Which we need!

Second, it would be an important boost to our economy. Note that I am not suggesting we compromise ANYONE's health and safety. The games should only happen with proper protocols in place. But money is still important, and the games will generate some.

I hope we can give some more latitude to the leaders in college sports as well. They are afraid to say anything because they don't want to be painted incorrectly as valuing money over player safety. It's not a binary choice. They/we want both. Safety first!

Let's also not force them to pretend that athletes are like other students, or that football and basketball are like other sports. Nobody's health should be compromised, but by enforcing an artificial standard we rob them of the chance to explore all options.

I'm not saying it's easy. Frankly I'm skeptical it can be done. But if testing/tracing/treatment protocols are in place, then colleges should have fb games without fans and without \\ other students on campus. Not to mention you can't play a fb game on Zoom.

I'd like to use whatever little platform I have to help give our sports leaders the room to have these conversations without being castigated for valuing money over human life, or forcing them to pretend sports isn't vital to our culture and economy.

And I don't want colleges to be boxed in and have to say that unless other students are on campus, the games can't/shouldn't happen. I don't believe that, and neither do they. I want them to be able to say what they believe and discuss how it might work. -30-