There wasn't much Vic Fangio could say. The Denver Broncos coach had just watched his team lose an NFL game with all of its quarterbacks sidelined by COVID-19 protocols. A practice-squad receiver forced to play behind center had finished with one pass completion and two interceptions.
"Extreme circumstances that have never been seen before," Fangio said.
The novel coronavirus outbreak has turned this football season into an oddity of historic proportions, each week bringing something unexpected if not unprecedented, whether it's a pro game switched to a weekday afternoon or outbreaks forcing a major college conference to shutter more than half its Saturday schedule.
There is, however, one group of people who aren't surprised. Epidemiologists and public health officials saw trouble coming when football, unlike basketball or hockey, chose not to sequester teams in a central location.
"You don't have a true bubble — they're not even trying," said Anne Rimoin, an epidemiology professor at UCLA. "The safety of the sport is totally dependent on community transmission."
This vulnerability is now growing with each day as the U.S. sets new records for cases, hospitalizations and deaths. While league and conference officials scramble to get through the season, the prognosis for a bleak December has health officials pondering weighty questions.
At its lowest common denominator, life during a pandemic is a series of risk-reward choices. Every trip to the supermarket, each casual chat with a neighbor in the front yard, involves the weighing of potential consequences. It is no different in football, with big money and athletes' health at stake.
Wherever they are going, you're sure to find something for the traveler in your life this holiday season with the TUMI Wanderlust Wish List.
At the University of Washington, one of the national leaders in studying the pandemic, assistant epidemiology professor Jen Balkus, is a sports fan who appreciates that weekend games can offer distraction and a few hours of normality.
"But I go back and forth on this," Balkus said. "In a moment when so many are choosing to or being forced to make massive sacrifices, when there are people who can't stay at home and have to go to work, sports feel like a luxury."
