But it's all about their health and the lasting effects of Covid, isn't it?
It goes beyond that.
For G.R., it is also about the POSSIBILITY (and the MAGA crowd can debate the percentage of that possibility) that the ability to convert your preparation into a job in 8 months could be permanently impaired. And let's skip the whole "but he can get insurance" nonsense.
I am not arguing for or against Greg's decision. I am saying it is a decision that I can respect.
Let me just give you an example.
UM has a Chemistry Department. You can major in Chemistry. You could have a full-tuition scholarship to Miami as a Chemistry major.
Now, there are risks. You could conceivably spill chemicals that burn your fingers off. We can debate that likelihood, but let's not pretend it's not a possibility. ****, when I took Chemistry at UM (when I was an Engineering major before I switched to the B-School), there were a lot of precautions and protocols just for my Intro to Chem class (well, the lab portion, as the class was in a big lecture hall).
Let's move ahead. If I was in my final year of Chemistry, and I had a six-figure job offer lined up after graduation, and it was very likely that my abilities would allow me to file patents after graduation (since any work you produce while a student belongs to the university)...and then one of my professors approaches me about a very risky experiment that he wants to do, one in which I would be in danger of burning off my fingers and losing the entire career for which I had prepared (regardless of whether an insurance company would pay me money for losing my 10 fingers)...
Again, it's an imperfect comparison. But it's at least one where we could see some parallels.
YOU mentioned "seniors on the practice squad" opting out. I merely answered "No". Meaning, no, those players do not have the same "NFL career" risk that Greg does. I am not judging that or trying to draw a bright line between "right" and "wrong". I am simply acknowledging that those "seniors on the practice squad" have a DIFFERENT financial risk, even if they have the same health risk.
That is all. No need to make my original "No" answer any bigger or smaller than it was intended to be.
You and I both know, there are many people (not everyone, but many people) who are letting their political feelings bleed into this. A month ago, everyone on the board LOVED Greg. Now there are a bunch of people (and you can be honest, it is disproportionately political, even if there are some liberals who are also mad that Greg opted out) who are trying to create monolithic "one answer only" responses to a complex decision.
"I hope Greg is going to stay inside for the next 8 months and not see anyone and not touch anything."
"I hope Greg drops to the 7th round to punish him for being so selfish."
"Greg stabbed his teammates in the back, he is a horrible human being, he is a coward, he is self-centered, he is not loyal, I hope UM pulls his scholarship, sends him a bill for his books, disassociates him from UM, pulls his UM alum status, and gets a court injunction preventing him from ever wearing orange and/or green again."
But there's a recap of a very vocal portion of the responses thus far.
You and I may not always agree on everything. I get it. But you can go back to January, I have been asking for better, wider-spread, and faster Covid-19 testing. I realize that I "vote Democrat" more often than not, but I've been calling for better leadership from the outset, so that we would never reach this point. But it didn't happen, and now a lot of people are having to make a lot of complex and painful decisions.
8 months into this disaster, I'm not going to judge Greg harshly. I was so excited to see him play this year. But it's not happening, and I can certainly understand why his decision is different from those of "seniors on the practice squad".
That's all.