Boston University Basketball Players Wear Masks In-Game

I feel like living in a pandemic is more about keeping up appearances than actually preventing the spread of disease. Of course I have done everything in my power to ensure I don’t contract or spread the disease, however the dozens of hypocrisies make me feel like my efforts are useless. Shutting down restaurants at 10, outdoor dining in tents is fine but indoor dining is the equivalent of biological warfare, wearing a surgical mask while others wear useless neck gaiters. All of these feel like cheap attempts to tip-toe the line between normalcy and a complete shutdown. To make it all worse, the northeast has been in this glorified lockdown for months while people in other parts of the nation don't even care. While I get why these precautions are in place, you cant help but feel like some of them are beyond idiotic. I thought I had seen it all until Boston University’s season opener basketball game this week.

They decided to have their players wear masks while they are playing the actual sport. Yes, it looks as ridiculous as it sounds. Of course these kids are running for 40 minutes straight, meaning they are gassed and their mask is moving constantly. Almost instantly the red masks turned into red chin bibs on every single player. While I can appreciate the sentiment behind the mask wearing, it honestly just makes them look like fools. Either they will tell the players to no longer wear the masks, let them continue wearing the masks incorrectly, or punish them for masks worn incorrectly. No matter which outcome becomes reality, they look like morons.

I can’t think of a sport where you are closer to someone than basketball. Sure football has harder contact but you have pads and a helmet between you. Also the contact is typically only a few seconds long. In basketball you are constantly bodying guys up. Sweat is mixing and not being within six feet of the player you are defending makes you a shitty defender.

This brings up the hot topic point that has consumed America for months on end. At what point are we actually trying to stop the pandemic, and at what point are we just delaying until a national lockdown/vaccine? Half the nation is tired of the charades and has reopened, the other is enforcing strict rules but they have the moral high ground. No common man is winning in this situation, and the losers are everyone except Amazon, tent rental companies, pizza delivery boys, and Purell. So keep wearing your masks BU, at the end of the day you put those boys on the court to make a profit, and I’m sure the bottom line matters the most.