Clay Travis: Every now and then there is an opinion that is so dumb it pierces through all of the noise, and actually just crystalizes the absurdity of why this show is so successful. There are so many people making ludicrous arguments every day in the world of college and pro sports that they can’t possibly believe themselves. In an effort to virtue-signal everyone else, occasionally you see an opinion that every single one of you will be like ‘there is no way that the person who is saying this can possibly believe what they are saying’… This happened to me yesterday when I read a column in The New York Times arguing – I swear to God this is what the story argues – that the University of Connecticut is the REAL National Champion this year, not Alabama, or Ohio State, but the University of Connecticut because they were ‘brave’ enough not to play college football this year… ALL of this article was patently absurd. The ‘Corona Bros’ in the media trot out all these virtue-signaling absurdities which are completely unsupported when you unpack what they are saying in this argument. The argument that Connecticut ‘deserves’ a National Championship for not playing is the height of absurdity. That’s like me arguing that I deserve a Pulitzer Prize for the column that I didn’t write, or I deserve a Marconi for the radio show that I didn’t do. American life is predicated on awarding achievement, and achievement requires action… America is about taking risks, embracing opportunity, and finding ways to make things happen, not about curling up in the fetal position and saying ‘this is impossible to do.’ This article wasn’t written in August, it was written in January when all of these college football conferences already proved that it was possible to play a season without significant health issues. There was nobody who was hospitalized in high school, college, or pro in the entire country that we can trace to getting COVID from athletic competition. There isn’t anyone in the world, according to Dr. Allen Sills, who is the NFL’s chief medical expert, that they have been able to trace getting COVID from competition. Every school but three in major college football found a way to play other than Connecticut, Old Dominion, and New Mexico State. We should be ridiculing the three schools that didn’t find a way to play, not ridiculing the 127 that found a way to play safely. The things being argued in this column are not true… I don’t understand this perpetual desire to seek out victims. It’s one of the big flaws of American life today, and it’s represented by this New York Times article saying that UCONN deserves to be named National Champion because they were the ‘bravest’ by choosing to do nothing. Since when has ‘bravery’ been defined exclusively as a failure and a refusal to do something? It’s a really backward way of thinking. It’s not ‘brave’ to fail to take a risk." (Full Video Above)
Listen to Clay Travis rip the New York Times for publishing an article earlier this week that proclaimed UCONN football the real ‘National Champion’ in college football for their ‘bravery’ in canceling their season during the COVID-19 pandemic.
UCONN football was one of only three teams in FBS to outright walk out on the 2020 fall season, alongside Old Dominion, and New Mexico State. The school was no longer affiliated with the American Athletic Conference and thus didn’t have any responsibilities or contractual obligations with any leagues either.
The article praises UCONN and Huskies head coach Randy Edsall for canceling their season, lauding them for their ‘bravery’ in not following the 127 other schools who decided to play.
One such passage includes the author writing ‘If more coaches were willing to take such a stand, maybe we could have avoided the folly of college football during the pandemic. The airplane trips, hotel stays, and games played on campuses that were drenched in virus. Maybe we could have avoided the cancellations and the sickness that spread to players, coaches, and support staff.’
The author mentioned at the end of the column that UCONN football posted a $13 million deficit in 2019, as they've won just six games the last three seasons, which made the decision to cancel the season 'easier', according to the author.
Check out the segment above as Clay blasts the article, saying it’s simply ‘patently absurd’ hyperbole, and not based in any truth whatsoever, saying there was zero evidence of the virus ever being transmitted from on-field competition at any level, and adding that it’s another case of the New York Times trying to ‘virtue-signal’ on a subject matter that’s way outside their wheelhouse.
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