Photo by: Anthony Garro
Return To Play's First Glimpse Carries Hope
June 23, 2020 | Football, #ForBoston Files
Boston College began the first step of its return-to-play on Monday
My nights have probably been like everyone else's for the past 15 weeks. You know the drill: sit in front of the television and aimlessly scroll through the guide before settling on some old-school show or sports game. I plowed through Netflix for a while thanks to Tiger King before deciding to just go to bed two hours earlier than normal.
It was a doldrums brought on by the COVID-19 health crisis. In Massachusetts, the pandemic's transformation quickly established itself as an early-warning hotspot for the rest of the country. Our stay-at-home order quickly closed our society out of sheer necessity, and March rolled into April and May with a traumatic blow as those of us who live here forced adjustment into a frighteningly new way of life.
Sports, normally the escape, vanished into a void of darkness and absence. The pandemic halted everything during the best of the year, and the world froze with its screeching stoppage before the college basketball and hockey postseasons gained dramatic traction. The postseason races of the NHL and NBA disappeared, and Opening Day, a holiday for seam heads like me, never came for Major League Baseball.
After 15 weeks of darkness, though, glimmers of hope are reappearing. Motor racing and association football are in full swing, and there are visions of restarted basketball and hockey playoff runs. Baseball, for all of its misery this spring and summer, might have a season - or it might not. Nobody really knows.
On the local scene, after 15 weeks of darkness and five short spring practice sessions, Boston College football is back on campus. The Eagles began moving back to Chestnut Hill on Monday to restart their own process under new head coach Jeff Hafley. It ricocheted excitement throughout The Heights, even as discussion still centers around the complexity of how to navigate into a new normal.
"We have a bunch of calendars that we laid out," Hafley said during a virtual press conference in April. "That's all we can do - get plans ready. Then we'll be ready to use whichever plan is decided on. It all varies.Â
"(But) we need to do whatever we can to keep the players safe and healthy," he reiterated. "That's the main objective. We can't put players' health in jeopardy."
Monday's move-in was the first stage of Boston College's process plan to return student-athletes to play for the 2020-2021 calendar. All student-athletes are required to self-quarantine upon their arrival, regardless of origin state, for a maximum of 14 days, per a Massachusetts state recommendation. At or around the eighth day of that quarantine, they will receive a COVID-19 test, subject to medical evidence and advice.
The world on campus is very different. All student-athletes and staff are required to wear face coverings in any common area, and daily screenings and temperature checks will be strictly enforced prior to their entry into facilities. Increased cleaning and sanitizing measures are also under implementation.
It's part of a larger return across the state of Massachusetts. In mid-May, Governor Charlie Baker announced a four-phase process entitled "Reopening Massachusetts," of which the second piece of the second phase, named "Cautious" began this week. If data-drive metrics continue to trend in the right direction, a third phase, named "Vigilant" will begin before advancing to the fourth phase, entitled "New Normal."
Each of these phases are subject to a rollback for specific industries, regions, or the entire Commonwealth if public health data begins trending negatively.
"First and foremost, safety is the most important thing," head strength and conditioning coach Phil Matusz said during his virtual press conference in the spring. "We can get caught up in the rush of getting back to football, but the most important thing is the safety of our student-athletes."
It's part of a complex discussion designed to return Boston College to the gridiron in the safest possible manner. National headlines are rife with stories about positive tests at other institutions, and the COVID-19 pandemic is far from its completion at the national level. Even though Massachusetts currently has the lowest rate of transmission, the goal is to return society as safely as possible to avoid a resurgence of cases.
For its part, Boston College has protocols in place for the quarantine of treatment of a person if a positive COVID-19 test appears.
Still, there's undeniable excitement. Voluntary workouts enable the discussion to finally shift from the hypothetical into the actual. We can all finally talk about players working together and examine how the coaching staff will finish implementing its new scheme and mindset. It reopens the end point of those five spring practices, and it establishes the long-awaited face time the coaching staff so desperately craved. It's the delightful thought of how the Hafley era, paused for a very serious reason, is about to restart its engine.
After 15 weeks, I know the excitement breathed its way into my bones yesterday. Nobody knows how football season will play out this year, and the march towards the first game is going to be full of intense discussion. But there's football talk to be had, and maybe, just maybe, something we can all look forward to.
I wish you all continued safety and good health, and I look forward to that day with you.
Â
Â
It was a doldrums brought on by the COVID-19 health crisis. In Massachusetts, the pandemic's transformation quickly established itself as an early-warning hotspot for the rest of the country. Our stay-at-home order quickly closed our society out of sheer necessity, and March rolled into April and May with a traumatic blow as those of us who live here forced adjustment into a frighteningly new way of life.
Sports, normally the escape, vanished into a void of darkness and absence. The pandemic halted everything during the best of the year, and the world froze with its screeching stoppage before the college basketball and hockey postseasons gained dramatic traction. The postseason races of the NHL and NBA disappeared, and Opening Day, a holiday for seam heads like me, never came for Major League Baseball.
After 15 weeks of darkness, though, glimmers of hope are reappearing. Motor racing and association football are in full swing, and there are visions of restarted basketball and hockey playoff runs. Baseball, for all of its misery this spring and summer, might have a season - or it might not. Nobody really knows.
On the local scene, after 15 weeks of darkness and five short spring practice sessions, Boston College football is back on campus. The Eagles began moving back to Chestnut Hill on Monday to restart their own process under new head coach Jeff Hafley. It ricocheted excitement throughout The Heights, even as discussion still centers around the complexity of how to navigate into a new normal.
"We have a bunch of calendars that we laid out," Hafley said during a virtual press conference in April. "That's all we can do - get plans ready. Then we'll be ready to use whichever plan is decided on. It all varies.Â
"(But) we need to do whatever we can to keep the players safe and healthy," he reiterated. "That's the main objective. We can't put players' health in jeopardy."
Monday's move-in was the first stage of Boston College's process plan to return student-athletes to play for the 2020-2021 calendar. All student-athletes are required to self-quarantine upon their arrival, regardless of origin state, for a maximum of 14 days, per a Massachusetts state recommendation. At or around the eighth day of that quarantine, they will receive a COVID-19 test, subject to medical evidence and advice.
The world on campus is very different. All student-athletes and staff are required to wear face coverings in any common area, and daily screenings and temperature checks will be strictly enforced prior to their entry into facilities. Increased cleaning and sanitizing measures are also under implementation.
It's part of a larger return across the state of Massachusetts. In mid-May, Governor Charlie Baker announced a four-phase process entitled "Reopening Massachusetts," of which the second piece of the second phase, named "Cautious" began this week. If data-drive metrics continue to trend in the right direction, a third phase, named "Vigilant" will begin before advancing to the fourth phase, entitled "New Normal."
Each of these phases are subject to a rollback for specific industries, regions, or the entire Commonwealth if public health data begins trending negatively.
"First and foremost, safety is the most important thing," head strength and conditioning coach Phil Matusz said during his virtual press conference in the spring. "We can get caught up in the rush of getting back to football, but the most important thing is the safety of our student-athletes."
It's part of a complex discussion designed to return Boston College to the gridiron in the safest possible manner. National headlines are rife with stories about positive tests at other institutions, and the COVID-19 pandemic is far from its completion at the national level. Even though Massachusetts currently has the lowest rate of transmission, the goal is to return society as safely as possible to avoid a resurgence of cases.
For its part, Boston College has protocols in place for the quarantine of treatment of a person if a positive COVID-19 test appears.
Still, there's undeniable excitement. Voluntary workouts enable the discussion to finally shift from the hypothetical into the actual. We can all finally talk about players working together and examine how the coaching staff will finish implementing its new scheme and mindset. It reopens the end point of those five spring practices, and it establishes the long-awaited face time the coaching staff so desperately craved. It's the delightful thought of how the Hafley era, paused for a very serious reason, is about to restart its engine.
After 15 weeks, I know the excitement breathed its way into my bones yesterday. Nobody knows how football season will play out this year, and the march towards the first game is going to be full of intense discussion. But there's football talk to be had, and maybe, just maybe, something we can all look forward to.
I wish you all continued safety and good health, and I look forward to that day with you.
Â
Â
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