In 2020, playcallers’ signals were more easily overheard than ever, which might have been hilarious had it not been for everything else. With practice time curtailed by pandemic circumstances, player conditioning levels weren’t anywhere near where they ought to be, and entire units fell into and out of rhythm. Again, in another timeline, maybe this is fun to watch. Heading into 2021, we have less of a good idea what to expect on these fields since America’s emergence from World War II, a statement that feels deeply insane but also patently obvious? High-running frustration levels are to be expected under these circumstances, for every team not actively microdosing their own head coach with medical-grade psychotropics – which, to be clear, I am not endorsing in this space, for the ironclad reason that nobody has paid me yet to do so.
But with all that in the rearview, whether it belongs there or not – sing along if you know the words – it’s the players who have the valid complaint here, when attempting to account for What Exactly It Is We’ve Lost.
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I'm a multi-platform journalist and story producer, a Tennessee Volunteer by birth, a West Virginia Mountaineer by blood, an occasional Angelena, a current ATLien, and an Aquarius, if you're interested. Past work samples to the left, where all the words are.