Covid-19 Has Driven One of My Favorite Sports Columnists Bonkers
Like many in the media, the Indianapolis Star's Gregg Doyel loses all perspective on one issue: unvaccinated athletes.
There is a sickness in sports media, and Gregg Doyel of the Indianapolis Star epitomizes it.
Doyel normally is a terrific columnist. I first started reading him seven years ago when he became the Star’s lead sports columnist, chronicling the Colts’ highs and lows, which generally track my erratic autumn mood swings.
To his credit, Doyel hasn’t confined himself to columns about Indianapolis’ professional teams, Indiana’s college programs and motorsports news out of the Brickyard. He has been the consummate local columnist, immersing himself in Indiana sports, especially the mythological hold that high school basketball has on Hoosiers. Over the years, that has included the fascinating backstory of a tiny bandbox of a gym where the midcourt stripe divides Indiana and Ohio; the story of a homeless high school center; and his chronicling of a wonderful tradition in which students from Union County run 13 miles, often dribbling basketballs, to watch the annual Thanksgiving-eve game against rival Connersville. I always have the sense that Doyel simply loves to tell good stories.
Doyel epitomizes the modern sports columnist. His writing is deeply self-indulgent, and I don’t mean that as an insult. Lord knows, I’m one of the last people who could criticize a writer for being self-indulgent. I simply mean that Doyel often is as important a figure in his columns as his subjects. He takes you along on his journey, he emotes, he bares his soul, he pours out his passions. It’s generally compelling stuff. The only reason I subscribe to the Star is to read his column.
Doyel also, to his credit, rarely engages in hagiography, which is the factory setting for many sports columnists. He’s an equal-opportunity critic, fearlessly ripping players and management.
If you’re the target of Doyel’s wrath, it’s usually well deserved. But like many in American media, Doyel has totally lost his mind on one subject: COVID-19 vaccinations. Over the past five months, Doyel has returned repeatedly to his frustration over the Colts’ “low vaccination rate.” Bear in mind, when he wrote that four months ago, more than 80 percent of Colts players had been vaccinated – higher than their age group nationally and still higher than the national vaccination rate.
That strikes me as a strong showing by the players given that we can state with specificity the danger coronavirus presents to them. It’s zero, zilch, nada. NFL players are physical freaks. Provided they have no serious comorbidities such as cancer, COVID is a nonevent for them. A Google search turned up a few NFL players describing flu-like symptoms, while others said they were asymptomatic.
But never mind that, Doyel has been using his column to pistol-whip unvaxxed Colts, especially quarterback Carson Wentz. Doyel has been on a jihad against Wentz since training camp in August, when he begged for the Colts to cut Wentz, even volunteering to pack the player’s belongings and drive him to the airport.
This has been simmering all season, despite growing evidence that the vaccines are failing (boosters for everyone!). These days when we hear the term “breakthrough,” nobody thinks about a running back shedding tacklers on the way to the end zone.
Data on Omicron is sparse, but data released from Denmark last week showed that 89.7 percent of people infected by that variant had been double- or tripled-jabbed. Accurate U.S. data on breakthrough infections is scarce – imagine that – but Alex Berenson notes new Canadian data that more than 70 percent of Ontarians hospitalized with COVID are vaccinated. The NFL has a 94.6 percent vaccination rate, yet 521 players – roughly a quarter of all players – were placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list in December. This isn’t unusual. The NHL recently has been dealing with a massive COVID outbreak despite having one unvaxxed player. (I know what you’re thinking: Why is Tyler Bertuzzi doing this to the NHL?)
Anecdotally, every day brings news of prominent celebrities and political figures contracting breakthrough infections. Berenson, among others, had it right months ago: We don’t have a vaccine that provides any form of lasting protection for ourselves or those around us; we have a therapeutic that’s helpful for the elderly and infirm. That’s fine, but let’s not oversell it.
But never mind facts; when it comes to Wentz, Doyel is all about feelings. The QB’s decision not to get vaxxed – not to conform – just gets under Doyel’s skin.
“Carson Wentz won’t take the vaccination,” Doyel wrote after Wentz tested positive. “Not for himself. Not for his family. Not for his community. Not for his football team.”
When I read that, I was reminded of something The Wall Street Journal’s Holman Jenkins recently wrote: “Journalists and motorcycle gang members are perhaps unique in interpreting their own slavish conformity as rugged individualism.”
Doyel might like to portray himself as a strong, independent voice – and to his credit, he usually is – but when it comes to COVID, he’s hawking jabs harder than the sleaziest Pfizer salesman. He’s no better than the “PTI” guys belittling Novak Djokovic or the widespread venting about Kyrie Irving.
So back to Wentz. The situation boiled over after the quarterback tested positive Dec. 28. Doyel was in the process of writing three columns over the space of six days howling about how the quarterback had put the Colts season in jeopardy. Never mind all of those vaccinated players around the league also missing time. They’re immune from Doyel’s criticism, but not the virus.
Wentz isolated and prepped for the Jan. 2 game against the Las Vegas Raiders via Zoom meetings and was cleared to play under the NFL’s revised protocols. It’s not even clear whether Wentz was sick or asymptomatic. Funny how Doyel and other sportswriters usually skip over that part. If Wentz was sick, he weathered it quickly and now has natural immunity.
In the Raiders game, Wentz did what Wentz does: He dinked and dunked and made a terrible decision that turned into a fluke touchdown. In the third quarter, Wentz missed a wide-open T.Y. Hilton on what could have been a game-deciding touchdown. When I saw that, I thought: Typical Carson Wentz, missing a wide-open receiver. But nope, I was wrong. Doyel knows the real reason for the errant throw. It’s because Wentz, that selfish, unvaxxed bastard, missed practice time last week.
“You think maybe Wentz would’ve connected with T.Y. on that easy pass if they'd had any time this week on the practice field?” Doyel wondered.
I’m guessing no.
Earlier in the same column, Doyel had to admit the truth: Wentz misses a lot of passes. “Wentz has been mediocre at best over the last seven games, throwing for 1,180 yards (169 yards per game) and eight touchdowns (with three interceptions) in that span,” Doyel wrote. “One reason for Jonathan Taylor’s unusual MVP candidacy as a running back is that people are aware the Colts are winning in spite of their quarterback.”
Two weeks earlier, the Colts managed to win a game in which Wentz completed only 5 of 12 passes for 57 yards. We’re not talking about the true heir to Peyton Manning. At best, Wentz is a placeholder until Colts GM Chris Ballard can draft or acquire a franchise quarterback.
For me, as a Colts fan, I couldn’t care less whether Wentz or any other player has received three jabs or no jabs. I don’t care how many jabs have been administered to the guy in front of me at the grocery store or on the elliptical next to me at the gym. The Ro isn’t checking anyone’s vaccination status.
And frankly, it’s laughable that Wentz and others across all professions have to engage in pointless masking theater. Even Tony Fauci, in a rare moment of honesty prior to the pandemic, scoffed at masking. Yet every week we see Wentz participate in the mask-erade – wearing his face diaper on the sidelines, then taking it off on the field, when he’s calling plays in the huddle. Because, as we all know, the Ro wouldn’t dare step between the lines.
I do care about the fact that Wentz appears to be a mediocre quarterback, not one to whom Ballard can entrust the franchise. If Doyel wants to focus on Wentz’s middling on-field performance, I’m in. If he wants to speculate on what the Colts could do to upgrade the position, I’d love to read his thoughts. But if he wants to whine about the fact that Carson and other players won’t take a vaccine for a virus that presents no danger to them, count this reader out.