I've already written more blog posts than I would like about idiot athletes who refuse to get the COVID vaccine and their ridiculous "reasons" why. But here I go again with another one! This time it's about Kyrie Irving, who's clearly putting that one year of a Duke education to good use! And for what exactly?
My favorite part of the whole saga is how the Nets went out of their way to get their practice facility declared an office building just so he'd be allowed to enter...only for them to reverse course days later! I wouldn't be surprised if that was because they got a little nudge either from the NBA or from the other Nets players, who would understandably wonder why someone who isn't allowed to play in games would be allowed to practice as if everything was normal. Or both.
The Nets' responses to questions about Irving's vaccination status have been particularly amusing, too. They were effectively saying "No comment" while implying everything they needed to. As they correctly pointed out, they're not legally allowed to publicly disclose his vaccination status. But, as GM Sean Marks also said, "Well, if he was vaccinated, we wouldn't be having this discussion. I think that's probably pretty clear."
Marks said that he and owner Joe Tsai were the ones who ultimately made the decision to bench Irving, but again, what else could they do? The New York City vaccine mandate isn't going away anytime soon, so he wasn't gonna be allowed to play in all 41 home games or both road games against the Knicks regardless. So that's at least 43 of 82 games he would've had to miss no matter what. And that doesn't include road games in any other cities that have their own vaccine mandates.
That means he'll play, at most, 39 games this season. He isn't hurt, but he's still guaranteed to miss more than half their games. Voluntarily. So, frankly, what would've been the point of him practicing when he'd be in and out of the lineup based on where the next game is? How can you form any sort of cohesion that way?
Some might argue that there's still value in him playing as many games as he can, whatever that number may be. I'm not sure I necessarily agree with that. Because it's not like he's battling back from an injury and coming back at the end of the season to play X number of games down the stretch. This would be a situation where he's allowed to play three games because they played the Texas teams on the road, then they came home and he had to miss four, then they went to Florida and he was able to play in those two games, then sat out two more because they were back at home.
Are they a better team with him? Of course! But him being away from the team entirely probably is better for all involved. Because this way the team can move on without the constant disruptions to the lineup based on his eligibility to play on a given night. I'm sure it wouldn't exactly be the most comfortable situation in the locker room, either.
They flirted with the idea of letting him be a part-time player and explored the possibility of having him come off the bench in the road games he is eligible for before ultimately deciding to just keep him home entirely until he complies with the vaccine mandate, which doesn't seem likely anytime soon! Marks addressed that part of the situation, too. He said, "Kyrie has made a personal choice, and we respect his individual right to choose. Currently the choice restricts his ability to be a full-time member of the team, and we will not permit any member of our team to participate with part-time availability."
You've gotta give the NBA credit, too. They can't require players to get vaccinated, but they can withhold their pay if they miss games because they aren't. Which is exactly what they're doing here. Irving won't be paid for any games he misses, a number that, as things currently stand, is already at 43...and likely to go up! He'll lose $380,000 per game. That's at least $16.3 million total. If he doesn't play at all this season, it could mean his entire $35 million salary (although the Nets have indicated they'll still pay him for road games he misses since he's technically allowed to play in those).
He finally broke his silence and indicated he doesn't care about the money. He also confirmed that he is indeed not vaccinated (which everyone figured out for themselves already), calling it a "personal choice" and citing a bunch of ridiculous "reasons" for his decision..."reasons" which were immediately called out by the Timberwolves' Karl-Anthony Towns, whose mother died of COVID.
Whether he cares about the money or not is irrelevant. That doesn't make his decision any less selfish. Irving has made this all about him. Not just his stance on the vaccine, but his availability. And his availability affects every other member of the team. A very good team that realistically thinks it can win a championship, but must do so without its starting point guard. Who isn't injured. He's completely healthy, in fact. But he can't play nonetheless. Because of a choice he made. So, yeah, it's a selfish move.
Irving also encouraged people to "do their own research" before making their own decision about whether to get vaccinated or not. And, I'm sorry, but that whole "do your own research" thing just shows how dumb some celebrities actually are! They probably think they're helping, but they're actually making things worse. They're trying to defend their own decision, but look incredibly stupid while doing so. What "research" are people possibly going to do on their own that has better information than what the doctors and scientists who specialize in this sort of thing (you know, actual experts, not Nicki Minaj's cousin's friend) are saying?
And while I'm at it, also stop saying that you "aren't anti-vaccine or pro-vaccine" in these statements. Because that sounds just as dumb! Voluntarily not getting vaccinated is obviously a choice! Thus, whether you intend to or not, you're coming down on one side of that debate. It's pretty clear that if you were actually pro-vaccine, you'd have already gotten a shot and wouldn't be trying to explain why you haven't. (OK, tangent over.)
What Kyrie and everyone else who complains about vaccine mandates seem not to understand, either, is that they're completely missing the point. If you don't want to get vaccinated, that's your choice. Local governments and private businesses also made their own decision in the interest of public health. And they have every right to require vaccinations. You made your choice. They made theirs. Just because you don't like theirs, that doesn't make it "unfair" or "illegal."
It's also worth noting that Kyrie the only player who this impacts. New York and San Francisco are the only cities with vaccine mandates, but every other player on the Knicks and Nets is vaccinated. So is everybody on the Warriors. (Andrew Wiggins wasn't, but he's since gotten the shot.) In fact, the NBA reported a few weeks ago that the vaccination rate among players is at 95 percent league-wide. Meanwhile, in the NHL, a league that shares a season and arenas with the NBA, there are only four players in the entire league who aren't vaccinated!
We'd all love to get back to a world where COVID doesn't dominate our lives. In that world, no one would care whether Kyrie Irving's vaccinated or not. Because it wouldn't matter. But in the world we currently live in, it very much does. So the Nets did what they had to do. They made it clear he either has to get vaccinated or stay home. That decision should be pretty simple, yet for some reason, it's not!
No comments:
Post a Comment