From Kobe to Maradona, a year of staggering losses in sports

4 min readJan 5, 2021

“We’re trying to balance the legitimate interest of parents, guardians and others who want to be spectators, we’re balancing that with public health,” said Greg Wilson, a senior policy advisor for the governor.
Masks are required for all non-participating athletes at an event, essential personnel, administrators and table help. Spectators will also be required to wear masks when not seated and physically distanced at least 12 feet from non-household members.
Other requirements include:
Limiting the size of teams allowed into an event space.
Distancing in all common areas and separate entrances for home and away spectators.
Sanitizing event areas between events and posting protocols on entry doors.
Health districts or schools with more stringent health orders are allowed to enforce those in addition to this protocol.
The plan also comes with consequences for schools that break the rules. Schools found in non-compliance will get a written warning from the State Board of Education on first offense, and will have to forfeit one event, or an entire sports season for repeated violations. The governor’s plan specifies that only a coach, athletic director or administrator for a team competing in an event can file a complaint about non-compliance with the State Board.
Districts that want to allow two spectators per athlete will have to sign an assurance that they agree to these terms. The deadline for those assurance forms is Jan. 15, and Wilson said a number of districts have already turned those in. A district that doesn’t sign the assurance will have to follow a 10-person spectator limit previously in place for sports events under stage two.
Some districts flaunted that 10-spectator limit prior to this change. The new athletic plan warns against that.
“Widespread non-compliance with this plan will lead to this exemption being revoked,” it says.
Debbie Critchfield, president of the State Board, said education groups are currently discussing plans to accommodate spectators at other non-athletic extracurricular events, and middle school sports.
By Jordan Cohn RADIO.COM
13 hours ago
Everyone has had their thoughts on how Doug Pederson’s Philadelphia Eagles handled their Week 17 matchup with the Washington Football Team, and MVP candidate Patrick Mahomes is no exception.
After a mediocre performance from Jalen Hurts, in which he threw an interception but rushed for two touchdowns, the Eagles’ potential quarterback of the future was pulled in favor of backup quarterback Nate Sudfeld, the latter of which entered the game at the 12:35 mark in the fourth quarter. The Eagles were down three points and had already passed up an opportunity to tie the game on the previous drive, instead going for it on fourth and four.
It smelled a little bit fishy, to say the least.
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Pederson responded to the accusations saying that he benched Jalen Hurts and tanked the game for the Eagles, claiming on SportsRadio 94WIP that what went down on Sunday night was part of a play he had all along.
But while the countless Eagles, Giants and Washington Football Team continue to make their cases in the moral, ethical and logistic dilemma that was presented to us as Hurts watched from the sidelines, it might be helpful to have a more neutral and level-headed voice weigh in on the matter. Patrick Mahomes spoke about what went down on “The Drive” in 610 Sports Radio.
“I mean, you never know what’s going on inside the team or the organization, but just watching how he’s played the past few weeks, it did kind of confuse me at the team,” Mahomes said. “But you never know. For me, I would’ve wanted to play and finish out the season no matter what our record was, but whatever the coach thought was best for the team, he did, and you have to back that as a guy on the team.”
And according to Pederson, this was the move that he thought was best despite what the public reaction turned out to be, all things considered:
“We struggled miserably there in the third quarter to score and we had opportunities to score. I’ve got to do what I feel is in the best interest of the Philadelphia Eagles and the team to help us win the football game. Don’t sit here and pin this on Nate Sudfeld or the decision to put him in the football game. Nate’s an NFL quarterback and he’s a good quarterback and he’s done some great things for us. He was our backup in the Super Bowl for goodness sake. Perception, I don’t get into perception a whole lot.”

Written by Solixi