Since our Columbia home is on the edge of campus, we can hear football practice from our backyard. This afternoon, I heard coaches yelling, whistles blowing and fake crowd noise wafting toward our house. By the way, the temperature was 92 degrees F and the humidity was stifling.
Heat is the number one weather-related killer in the U.S. and is often due to strenuous activity on hot summer days, children being left in locked cars or, in the case of the elderly and poor, to lack of air conditioning. One thus wonders why a college football team, possessing an indoor practice facility, needs to be outdoors on such an afternoon.
I suppose it fits with the macho image of football, giving up one's body for the glory of the school. Though I suspect some precautions were taken, why not practice in the early am or evening?; perhaps even under the lights if necessary? After all, toughness does not protect one from nature's wrath and at least a few heat-related, football practice deaths are reported in this country each year.
