Link to the tweet

The context for those who don’t care about sports:

The NFL’s Covid policy has been absolute ass and not nearly enforced equally or fairly throughout the year. A Baltimore Ravens coach ignored Covid protocol and his Covid symptoms and practiced with the team. As a result, a catastrophic number of Ravens players have caught Covid, including almost the entire offense and their star players. The game was postponed after the initial Covid diagnoses (including a type 1 diabetic player who has a much higher chance of experiencing acute symptoms) from Thanksgiving, to be played Tuesday, December 1st. In the subsequent days since Thanksgiving, an even larger amount of players have now been diagnosed or deemed ineligible to play due to close contact with players/coaches who have tested positive.

In the beginning of the year the NFL released a statement saying there could be fines, suspensions, loss of draft picks, or even forfeits as the result of failure to comply with Covid protocol. As of now, the league has again postponed, and the game is to be played on Wednesday, December 2nd. Some players are outraged at being forced to take the field when practice facilities have been shut down for over a week, just to go intermingle with each other and a previously unexposed group of players from the other team. There have been rumors of a wildcat strike for player health and safety, and as of now it appears that enough players are in on this idea that the Ravens would not be able to field a full team.

  • opposide [none/use name]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Sadly the majority of players have a very short career and as a result want to secure as much money as possible during what little time they can earn it. I agree they’re overpayed, but the way the majority of the union votes makes sense (sadly) if you put yourself in their shoes

    • T_Doug [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      There's 2500 members of the NFLPA, most of them are retired, or practice squad players who never sniff the big bucks. It's why the NFL is able to so effectively divide and conquer the union by offering slight increases to pensions and minimum salaries to secure the votes of the rank-and-file members. NFL stars absolutely hate the CBA, and they should given that it is the most management sided deal in pro sports. But a large part of the problem is that the NFLPA is still very scared by the memory of the 1987 Strike, where despite overwhelming participation by players, 80% of fans still tuned in to watch the games, and the NFLPA was forced to return to play with basically nothing to show for it.