Three weeks ago, NC State Football was supposed to compete in a postseason game in San Diego known as the Holiday Bowl. However, their opponent UCLA backed out of the contest just 5 hours before the game was supposed to begin due to internal COVID-19 precautions. The NC State Football team traveled thousands of miles, across the country, in hopes of a chance to top off a historic season. This game meant a lot to NC State Football and the fans in Wolfpack Nation.
Sadly, a very similar situation occurred about six months earlier, when the NC State Baseball team made a historic postseason run, only to be forced to forfeit for the very same reason… COVID-19 fears. It would be fair to say that NC State Athletes have been plagued with misfortune, rather than being rewarded for their successful seasons in 2021.
The abrupt cancellation of two major postseason events has left a lot of athletes, fans, and students both discouraged and frustrated. I interviewed current NC State students and this is how they responded:
- “It’s lame, we should have played ecu to make up for it”
- “UCLA should be fined or something to pay for the costs”
- “It’s ‘bs’ cause it’s the whole World Series (baseball) fiasco all over again…last time we were forced to play without players…this time we couldn’t play because the other team didn’t have ‘enough’ players…we got the short end of the stick both times…it should have at least been a forfeit.”
Clearly these NC State students are more frustrated than anything. Keep in mind that if students felt this way, it begs the question how badly the athletes felt. There is no doubt the athletes are much more infuriated than anyone else in Wolfpack Nation.
The question that many of us are asking is not just when COVID is going to end, because it’s end doesn’t seem to be in sight. The real question is how are administrators going to continue handling the pandemic?
So far, the way COVID-19 has been handled has destroyed the achievements of NC State Athletics in 2021, and caused more harm than good. Going forward there is no doubt NC State Student Athletes and Coaches will push for better ways of handling the COVID-19 pandemic. However, right now it has left thousands of people angry and there needs to be change.
