Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy has offered his thoughts on the whole coronavirus situation, and hoo buddy.
Gundy has taken the “cure can’t be worse than the disease” economic argument, sprinkled in some beliefs about the supposedly stronger immune systems of college football players, and the resulting gumbo has Gundy advocating for a May 1 return for his players.
One of the reasons why? “To run money through the state of Oklahoma.”
The quotes come from a conference call Gundy gave this week, during which he started with a 20-minute monologue regarding his feelings about the coronavirus, which he called “the Chinese virus.”
“In my opinion, we need to bring our players back. They are 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22-years old and they are healthy and they have the ability to fight this virus off. If that is true, then we sequester them, and continue because we need to run money through the state of Oklahoma.”
The “if that is true” is a bit confusing in the above quote, because Gundy himself just said it, and presented it as a statement of fact. He then said “if that is true,” which … well, we have no idea how the immune systems of his players will handle this virus. The disease does seem to be much more deadly for older citizens and those with pre-existing conditions, but young people have also been rocked by coronavirus, and died because of it.
Also, Gundy’s messaging is all over the place. At one moment he says they need to test everyone and then quarantine the players, but a moment later says that they have strong immune systems and the ability to fight the virus off. If they are tested and sequestered, why would strong immune systems be necessary?
It’s as if Gundy understands that it would be nearly impossible to quarantine an entire football team with no outside contact with the world, and thus is falling back on a secondary argument that even if they did get it, they’d be able to fight it off.
Gundy would go on to say that he didn’t think classes should necessarily resume, but that all the players should get tested and that they should be moved into dorms that are athletes only.
Anyway, if Gundy’s allowed to offer his opinion that teenage athletes won’t get seriously ill from a novel virus the world has never seen before, I’m allowed to offer my opinion that he’s full of it, and I hope no one in power at the NCAA listens to him.
