@MarkKnudson41
Strike One: Regardless of who’s to blame and what fingers should be pointed where, the National Football League did the Denver Broncos dirty. Rendering every quarterback – all four of them – on the Denver roster ineligible on Saturday, and then moving forward as scheduled with a game on Sunday pretty much guaranteed a loss to the New Orleans Saints.
Yes, Drew Lock, Brett Rypien and Blake Bortles did not strictly adhere to COVID-19 protocols when they interacted late this week with Jeff Driskel, the lone member of the quartet to actually test positive for the virus. The Broncos self-reported the violation…and then got punished for it.
But does the punishment fit the crime? And are the Broncos being treated like everyone else?
No and no.
Denver’s not the first team to be impacted by positive coronavirus tests in this bizarro 2020 season. They aren’t the first to have an important player (or players) at important position not be available for a big game. But they are the first to ever be put in the position of having to ask the league if they could activate an assistant coach to put under center.
The league ruling came after the last practice of the week, and for some reason this game, unlike a series of others, could not be moved. Remember, 16 games have already been postponed by COVID this season.
In other last minute virus-impacted situations – including the Broncos September trip to New England – the league made scheduling accommodations that allowed guys like Cam Newton to play. The Broncos lost their bye week so that the Pats could put a representative squad, including Newton, on the field the following Sunday.
When the Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger was placed on the COVID reserved list on a Tuesday two weeks ago – he had the same kind of “high-risk” close contact with a player who tested positive that the three Bronco QB’s did – the league allowed him to play just four days later.
And just this week, the league moved the Pittsburgh v Baltimore game from Thanksgiving night to Sunday to Tuesday as the Raven’s struggled with a virus outbreak that’s already reached 20 positive cases.
If the New Orleans game had been pushed back, Lock and company could have played.
So all things considered, what kind of message…or messageS…is the league sending to the Broncos?
Two actually. One is subtle, and the other…not so much.
The official (not subtle) message is clear: The league is not messing around when it comes to 100% compliance with ALL virus protocols. It’s not good enough to be 95% compliant. It’s the NFL’s way or no-way if you want to participate.
The second message is more subtle, but it actually stings a lot more.
The NFL is letting the Broncos know two things: One, they don’t consider this a marquee franchise any longer, like it was under the leadership of the late Pat Bowlen. If they did, they’d have made a scheduling adjustment to give the Broncos a chance to compete on a level playing field.
Two, all the foot dragging regarding the ownership saga needs to come to an end. Recently, the league announced that they can now fine a team up to $10 million per year if that organization does not comply with the league rule on having a single owner with financial equity in the team running things.
The Broncos have been in violation of this league mandate since Bowlen passed away in June of 2019. Bowlen hadn’t actually been running things at Dove Valley since July of 2014.
However, with the court case that will determine which version of the Pat Bowlen Trust is valid being delayed due to COVID-19, the group of Trustees operating the team – in violation of the mandate – is caught between a rock and a hard place. They can’t sell the franchise yet (due to the status of the court case) but the league doesn’t want them operating the team any longer, either.
Broncos coach Vic Fangio toed the company line after the Saints loss, placing blame on his QB’s for not following protocols. He said he’d leave other discussions “…up to Joe (Ellis) and John (Elway) at the league level.” Don’t expect the league to do much if any listening.
Strike Two: The year 2020 has been brutal for everyone. It’s been even worse than that for the Colorado State Rams Athletic Department.
The football program is stuck in the doldrums on the field and has had serious issues off it. The Men’s Basketball program, while showing signs of improvement, is mired in the middle of the Mountain West pack. The best athletic program at CSU, the Women’s Volleyball team, has been shut down completely by COVID.
Other than an upset win over Wyoming in one of only three football games to actually get played so far this fall, there’s been very little to cheer about if you wear green and gold.
However, the real problems run deeper than any scoreboard. There was a media report this summer (followed by a costly investigation) into charges that coaches and staff used abusive and even racist language and behavior toward student athletes in the football program, along with charges that coronavirus protocols were not being followed. The football program was suspended for a time.
That was followed by a series of accusations that the administration has turned a blind eye to charges of sexual abuse from female student-athletes. That saga is on-going.
The one constant in all this is embattled Athletic Director Joe Parker.
If you’ve met Parker, you know he’s a very nice man and a fine ambassador for the University. It’s really tough not to like him.
However, a guy can be likeable and good at parts of the job, and still not be the right person to stay in that job moving forward. That’s where Parker fits right now.
Whether or not all the accusations and issues are true is not the point here. It’s probably some of both – but it’s hard to believe that everything that’s been put out there for public consumption is all false. The real point here is that stuff just keeps coming up, and none of it’s good.
I hate to write this, but Joe Parker is going to have to be replaced before CSU can move forward. He has, as they say, “lost the room.”
And given CSU’s dismal record of hiring minorities in the Athletic Department (former CSU President Albert Yates was very involved in athletics, but was not part of the department) and as head coaches (there has been ONE minority CSU head coach – Ritchie McKay – the Men’s basketball coach for two seasons, 1998-‘99 and ’99-’00) in school history, the person that replaces Parker should be a minority. That could help heal some wounds.
Perhaps CSU could convince someone like well-respected University of Colorado Associate AD/Football Admin Lance Carl to move from Boulder to the Fort, or perhaps a detailed national search is needed. Either way, CSU President Joyce McConnell needs to “read the room” here and bring in someone who can restore faith in the leadership of the department – from the outside AND from the inside.
Strike Three: Before there was Sarah Fuller, there was Katie Hnida. In between the two, there could have been Sade Akindele.
Fuller made history this past weekend when she participated as a place kicker for Vanderbilt University in a game against Missouri. She became the first female to ever compete in a Power Five conference football game. The Vandy football team was down several specialists due to COVID-19, and they turned to Fuller, a standout goalkeeper on the SEC Champion Commodores Women’s soccer team, for help.
She kicked off to start the second half – that was the only opportunity she got, since Vandy was blanked 41-0. She may get more chances moving forward.
Local fans remember that Hnida, a product of Chatfield High School, was the first female to play in any NCAA Division I football game when she kicked two extra points for New Mexico in 2003. Unlike Fuller, Hnida never played college soccer, instead actively seeking to be a full-time part of the Colorado Buffaloes football program under Rick Neuheisel and later Gary Barnett. Her time in Boulder did not end well and she transferred to New Mexico.
Akindele never sought that kind of opportunity, but if she had, she absolutely could have made history herself.
After a standout high school basketball and soccer career at Legacy High in Broomfield, Akindele choose to play soccer at Regis University. She was hoping to follow the footsteps of her brother Tesho, who starred at Colorado School of Mines before moving on to the MLS. Tesho, now with Orlando City, is a seven year MLS vet now.
Sade was a four-year letter winner and All-RMAC selection at Regis before earning her MBA and becoming a Communications Specialist.
I have always wondered…if she’d wanted to, Sade could have kicked a football in college. I saw it myself. She had a big time leg.
It was halftime of a football game between Legacy and Mountain Range High Schools in 2011 that I saw something that made me shake my head in disbelief. Sade and a few friends went out on the field and teed up the football at the 40 yard line. After taking a normal drop back, Sade stepped up and booted a 50-yard field goal that had plenty to spare. The crowd went nuts. It was no fluke.
Could she have done it under game conditions with defenders charging at her? I saw her play basketball too. She didn’t shy away from competition.
One of the big time complaints we hear from males when they see a female place kicker is that, “there are probably 50 guys in the stands who could kick as well or better.” (Fuller has been getting a ton of negativity like that after her debut.) And while that may have been true for Hnida, who’s range wasn’t much past the extra point line, it’s obviously not the case with Fuller, who’s ability on the soccer field earned her this opportunity. A few years ago, had Sade Akindele chosen a different path, it would not have been the case with her, either.