6 Things in Sports That COVID Revealed We Don’t Need

COVID-19 has revealed much about sports over the past year. Specifically, what’s not needed.

The pandemic has revealed much about our lives in general too, from the likely permanent shift to remote work and the childcare crisis in this country. In every aspect of our life, COVID-19 put a magnifying glass to our faults and exposed them.

In sports, that was most clearly seen with college football, which plowed through with a dreadful season during the fall, marked by cancellations, controversies, and terrible ratings. Other sports have fared better, though none have escaped the pandemic unharmed.

As we hopefully look to the future after President Biden’s announcement that there should be enough vaccine supply for every American adult in two months’ time, we can also start to see the post-pandemic future for sports. By looking back to look forward, we realize there are some things that we really don’t need moving forward. Here are a few:

Bowl Games

In terms of embarrassments in sports during COVID, I don’t think anything tops college football’s bowl season. Multiple games were canceled during the season due to COVID restrictions. Many, many teams opted out of playing games as their regular seasons ended. Imbalances between conferences meant that a 2–8 Mississippi State team initially made a bowl game while a 9–2 Army team did not.

Things did not get better as bowl season started, as several games were called off due to COVID cases and/or contract tracing. The games themselves were completely unremarkable. The playoff featured three sleep-inducing blowouts. It was a fitting end to the worst college football season of my lifetime, and I hope it never loses its crown.

For my entire life before 2020, I staunchly defended bowl games. I’m here to say I was wrong. I’ve always viewed a true college football playoff in the form of a 16-team tournament as a far-off utopia. Instead, it’s now what needs to happen. The bowl system is officially meaningless and now hurting the sport. It’s time to do better.

The National Anthem

Outside of baseball games, I’ve never really understood why we played the National Anthem before sporting events. Baseball…