Today is the Bengals annual Weenie Roast and Mock Turtle Soupfest. It is the envy of the league and the highlight of the local social calendar. Featured speaker Mike Brown will dazzle attendees with glittering oratory, coach Zac Taylor will offer tips on roasting marshmallows and every guest will receive a lovely parting gift: A Joe Burrow-signed can of grillin’ beans.
All in all, a good time will be had by all.
On a less serious note, talk very well could be dominated by testing and masks and protocols. The NFL is making it very clear its players will be divided into two very distinct tribes, lepers and non-lepers, er, the non-vaccinated and the vaccinated.
If you’re shot, life will be almost the way it was before March 2020. No daily testing, no masks at the facility, no social distancing, no restrictions on the road. Have a seat in the team cafeteria, have lunch, hang out, work out, etc.
If you’re a leper, get tested every day, wear a mask inside the facility, no eating with your non-leper teammates, no leaving the team hotel on the road, to eat at a restaurant, no interaction with anyone outside the team traveling party. No steam, no sauna, no working out if the weight room is crowded with non-lepers.
The league has even said that if a game has to be canceled due to a virus outbreak, and can’t be rescheduled, the team responsible will be hit with a forfeit L. And – get this – neither team will get paid.
In other words, the league ain’t screwin’ around here.
As of last week, about 80 percent of players have been at least partly vaccinated. If you’re vaccinated, you’re tested only once every 14 days.
