I was an athlete for twelve years, and a coach for forty. \u201cPlaying hurt\u201d was the athletic tradition for as long as I was involved. The stories became school legends. There was the wrestler who came off the mat with a finger out of joint, demanding someone \u201cpull it\u201d back into place so he could continue the match. There was the football player who turned up in the wrong team huddle during the game after taking a shot to the head. And then there was the pole vaulter who looked awesome in warmups, but an hour later couldn\u2019t run. His Mom shot his fractured foot full of numbing Lidocaine, and at wore off (no, I didn’t know). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the world of athletics we hold those stories up as examples of dedication and even heroism. We sometimes question the outcome: the wrestler won, but they laughed at the football player, and the pole vaulter didn\u2019t clear his starting height. But we always praised the effort. They \u201cwanted it\u201d more, and were willing to sacrifice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s an American athletic \u201cethos\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Play hurt. Be dedicated. Don\u2019t be a \u201cquitter\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So what happens in the \u201cCOVID age\u201d?\u00a0\u00a0In the \u201cbefore time\u201d if you had a sore throat, or felt lousy, you still went to practice, still played.\u00a0\u00a0That was hammered into you from youth sports:\u00a0\u00a0your team needed you to be there, to make it happen.\u00a0\u00a0But now you can feel perfectly fine, but your seat assignment in history class means that you are \u201cout\u201d for two weeks, on quarantine for COVID.\u00a0\u00a0The unintended result: it pressures everyone to follow a \u201ccode of silence\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In amateur sports and a high school world without real testing, I\u2019m sure it\u2019s happening.\u00a0\u00a0And in an environment where politics determines belief in the reality of COVID, it\u2019s easy for athletes and parents to justify taking the step of trying to ignore the disease.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So it\u2019s more than important that our national leaders present a good example to the public. It\u2019s not just Joe Biden emphasizing wearing a mask. The headline in the right wing social media is \u201cNo one shows up for Biden Rally!!!\u201d But Biden isn\u2019t having rallies. He isn\u2019t putting people together to create \u201csuper-spreader\u201d events. That\u2019s Trump\u2019s strategy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fact, the President has been the \u201cexample\u201d of the old athletic ethos \u201cplaying hurt\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0He was diagnosed with COVID, and then made a \u201cmiraculous\u201d recovery.\u00a0\u00a0Within days, far too few days according to the Centers for Disease Control, he was back out on the campaign trail, maskless, drawing \u201chis people\u201d together in the biggest public events held in some states since March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And now, Marc Short, the Vice President\u2019s Chief of Staff has been diagnosed with COVID. Short was for a long time the most \u201creasonable\u201d member of the Trump team, the one who seemed to speak logically when others like Kelly Ann Conway were talking \u201calternate facts\u201d. Then he moved out of the direct \u201cTrump\u201d lineup, and took the \u201cChief\u201d job with the Vice President, a job requiring frequent close personal contact with Mike Pence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So Short has COVID. Pence, according to the CDC rules on personal contact, should quarantine for fourteen days. But, like that kid on the team in high school, Pence is ignoring that regulation. He\u2019s staying out on the campaign trail, declaring his politicking (not his job as Vice President) an \u201cessential activity\u201d that requires him to risk infecting \u2013 others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former Trump Homeland Security and Terrorism Advisor Tom Bossert describes the national COVID response with, \u201cThis is a team sport\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0If the \u201cteam\u201d all gets on the same simple page: masks, social distancing, reducing contact; we can \u201cwin\u201d by reducing the spread of COVID.\u00a0\u00a0But the Trump campaign is playing only for their own \u201cteam\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0They are playing to win the election, regardless of the consequences to the American public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And more importantly, Trump, and now Vice President Pence, are setting \u201cglaring\u201d examples of what NOT to do in a global pandemic.\u00a0\u00a0When Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Kamala Harris was similarly exposed to COVID \u2013 she came \u201coff\u201d the campaign trail.\u00a0\u00a0 When Joe Biden walks onto the debate stage, he\u2019s wearing a mask.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And finally, when former President Barack Obama \u201crallied\u201d for Biden, it was in a parking lot with spectators separated into their own vehicles.\u00a0\u00a0Instead of cheers, there were the honks of car horns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So what are the President and Vice President saying to that running back who \u201ccan\u2019t smell the coffee\u201d in the morning (a sure sign of COVID infection)?\u00a0\u00a0Get out there and \u201cplay hurt\u201d, don\u2019t tell your parents or coaches what\u2019s going on.\u00a0\u00a0Do it for your \u201cteam\u201d, because it\u2019s more important than slowing the pandemic\u2019s spread.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s not only what our national leaders say:\u00a0\u00a0it\u2019s what they do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"