Editorial: Wolf needs to stop playing chicken

And the can gets kicked down the road again.

On Friday, the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association took a tepid fake-out from Gov. Tom Wolf and didn’t try to make a play for the end zone.

On Thursday, Wolf made an unexpected drop-in comment at a news conference, saying sports should be delayed until January because of the coronavirus pandemic. Later in the day, Pennsylvania’s Department of Education and Department of Health jointly concurred, noting the “administration is providing this strong recommendation and not an order or mandate.”

The PIAA responded by delaying fall sports for two weeks, with the executive staff taking more time to meet with the governor, legislators and others.

Let’s put aside for a moment the fact that, although pro teams may play some serious ball in the dead of winter, high school teams don’t usually start taking the field in what is Pennsylvania’s coldest month of the year. Football would be rough, but soccer is definitely not a sport that thrives in snow and ice.

Instead, let’s focus on how this happened — or more specifically, how it keeps happening.

Despite gaining a reputation among detractors as an authoritarian dictator, the governor has set a pattern over recent months of not making hard and fast pronouncements. Rather, he works in the gray areas of half-measures.

He stands at a podium and issues a recommendation. His departments send out releases announcing guidelines. They sound like a hard stand and decisive action, but, in reality, they punt the ball to another team to handle. It has happened with education, with municipalities and with restaurants and entertainment.

And now it is happening with kids and sports.

This shouldn’t be a game, but the governor has made it one. It’s a game of chicken.

Wolf and his administration stand tall for a photo opportunity but swerve when the time comes to make a hard-and-fast choice. The governor isn’t saying your kids can’t play football. The PIAA is doing that. Or the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League. Or your school district.

If your kids are safe, he wants the credit. If you are angry about the lost opportunity or your kid gets sick, blame someone else.

For this to be done right, it should be done with thought and care. It should take into account what can be done at a distance (tennis, anyone?) and what cannot. It should acknowledge the weather and the seasons. It should be done with coordination, not cowardice.

Taking on a tough job requires the same kind of commitment as competitive sports. You need to train for the hard games, and you lay it all on the field to move the ball.

The governor seems to prefer trick plays that rely less on skill than they do on forcing someone else to fumble. That might move the chains, but it seldom wins a season.

Wolf needs to suit up if he wants to get things done.