Three Thoughts is a new feature GoldandBlack.com will run every Monday morning in-season.
ON FOOTBALL SEASON AND WHATNOT
Few weeks back, as worries over this Delta variant and lower-than-hoped vaccination rates were percolating, I casually asked a higher-up over at Purdue what would have to happen for the athletic department to have to go back on its plans for Ross-Ade Stadium to be full capacity come this fall.
The reply boiled down, essentially, to, "No going back now," though the reality did exist that if things reached a certain level of concern and local health departments stepped in, or new university or governmental policies were imposed, some adjustments would most likely have to be on the table.
Today, Purdue's mask mandate — no one seems to want to use that word anymore, mandate — takes hold once again, for vaxxed and unvaxxed alike when indoors. Athletic departments and part of their universities, and so university policy is generally everyone policy.
This is a development no one wanted to face, but that "indoors" distinction is an important one in the context of football. As for basketball, well, the good news is that's a long way off.
