On the TunneySide of Sports April 6, 2020 #790 Up next… Holding onto Faith – not Fear!
After further review… Sports have often served a purpose during such times, as they can be a healing or unifying element. This current COVID-19 has brought to my mind somewhat like- situations that have been in my history. My start with the National Football League began 60 years ago, let me relate two situations of which I have been a part.
At approximately 12:30 PM CDT on Friday, November 22, 1962, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated as his motorcade turned onto Main Street in Dallas, Texas. The shock of an assassination of an American president in my life was overwhelming. There had been presidential assassinations in U.S. history, but this event was beyond belief. I was in my job as a vice-principal at Lincoln High School in Los Angeles. School was dismissed.
Moreover, I was in my third year as an NFL game official and scheduled to depart LAX the next day for my weekly game assignment, which was the Dallas Cowboys at Cleveland Browns. The NFL under the leadership of Commissioner Pete Rozelle had the difficult task of determining whether to play that game or not – as well as the rest of the NFL schedule. After much prayerful consideration – in a very short period of time – it was decided to play the full NFL schedule.
The pregame ceremonies in Cleveland Municipal Stadium were solemn and peaceful with a most fitting tribute to President Kennedy, except for the chorus of boos during the introduction of the Cowboys, since most of the uniformed Browns fans seemed to blame the city of Dallas for this untoward event. To play that game turned out to be the right decision.
The second tragedy occurred on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, when a series of attacks by the Islamic terrorist group Al-Qaeda against the U.S. destroyed the Twin Towers in Lower Manhattan New York City. While NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue had more time to decide whether to play the next Sundays games than did Rozelle (1962), the decision was nonetheless not an easy one. New York Jets Head Coach Herm Edwards led the charge to not play the games saying we (the Jets organization) were needed in the city to help with that tragedy. Those Sundays games and Monday (September 16 and 17) were postponed and played on January 6 and 7, 2002. This, too, was the right decision.
While there are no NFL games in April, the NFL is deciding, at this writing, if it should (and how and where) to conduct its 2020 NFL draft scheduled for April 23-25. With the shelter-in-place edit enforced, the draft must be held without a crowd – whether inside or out. We think it should go ahead with the draft. Our country needs some positive outlook.
Will you log-in your opinion about whether the NFL draft should be held as scheduled?
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