In some ways, we are navigating uncharted waters.
Football, and sports in general, don’t exist in a vacuum. What the late, great writer Blackie Sherrod used to call the world of perspiring arts has always existed mostly for the public’s entertainment, especially on the professional level. And current events have always intruded, as real life is wont to do.
Most of you are too young to remember, but the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963 caused heightened debate about whether NFL games should be canceled or played. If played, in what context? More recently, the 9-11 attacks turned the country’s attention away from anything entertaining.