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Newton’s positive test won’t alter fans wanting NFL to play on

Cam Newton tests positive for COVID-19. The NFL plays on. And we love it.

Not the part about Newton. The one about football not allowing another positive test to slow its charge of playing an entire 2020 season.

And we don’t care it’s only about the greed of those wealthiest among us, because it doesn’t alter the most basic (sad?) truth: The NFL has us by the Sunday Ticket package.

We’re all in. Have been forever. It’s the drug of choice for millions. I’ve been addicted since first watching Roger Staubach tell Drew Pearson to go long.

The league knows it. Which is why it’s going to take a heck of a lot more than a quarterback of Newton’s stature testing positive and the Patriots’ game against Kansas City being postponed for there not to be business as usual in the NFL.

Newton won’t be the last to test positive. Hardly. He and those from the Titans who have caused the postponement of Sunday’s game against the Steelers are likely just the tip of the pigskin.

Jordan Ta’amu has also tested positive. He’s a practice squad quarterback for the Chiefs who played the role of Newton in preparation for this week’s game.

Wonder if Ta’amu was in close proximity to star Patrick Mahomes at all in the locker room or on the field? Wonder which defensive players might have come in close contact with him?

People do realize COVID-19 symptoms may appear anywhere from two to 14 days after exposure, right?

There is good news on the Raiders front so far. They lost 36-20 on the road to Newton and New England last week, but a Raiders spokesman said he is unaware of any Las Vegas player testing positive. As of Saturday afternoon, the game against Buffalo on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium had not been postponed.

Fantasy problems

I awoke Saturday to two social media phone alerts. One was from Yahoo, which reminded me to change a Fantasy Football League lineup that included Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry. The other was a tweet reporting that Newton had tested positive.

Full disclosure: I’m not sure which interested me more.

Full disclosure II: Of course I do. Henry won’t play Sunday. So I immediately replaced him — he’s not among the Tennessee players reported to have COVID-19 — with Brian Hill of the Falcons. Tells you why my team is 0-3.

Newton being sidelined, on the other hand, had no Fantasy ramifications for me.

Jeane Dixon, the late self-proclaimed psychic, predicted the world would end sometime in 2020, which given the past 10 months might go off as even-money at local books right now. But even if factual — you should know Dixon also called for Armageddon in 1962 — the NFL wouldn’t blink.

It would go beyond the end of time before entertaining the thought of canceling a season. It would call Peyton Manning off those Nationwide Insurance commercials to play quarterback for some roster-depleted team. It would sign Brad Paisley as a cornerback somewhere.

Look at college football. Coaches on the sidelines not wearing masks. Teams temporarily shutting down operations due to positive tests. Lower conferences meekly following a Power Five lead of returning to play like a toddler does his older brother at the park. It plays on.

Look at the NFL. A team like the Raiders. Jon Gruden, fined for not wearing a mask. The team, fined because Gruden didn’t wear a mask. The team, fined for having an unauthorized person in the locker room.

Then there was the incident at the Darren Waller Foundation event on Monday night. Several Raiders were caught on video not wearing masks at a public event.

The NFL response: Nothing to see here. Play on.

An NFL bubble?

There were reports Saturday that the NFL is open to immediately housing all 32 teams in hotels within their respective cities to lessen the chance of positive tests. It’s not known if the Players’ Association would agree. It won’t matter. The NFL will play on.

And we want it to. Football owns us. Tradition. Rivalries. Tailgating. Fantasy. Gambling. Our very own ancient Roman battles at several different Coliseums each Sunday. The bloodier and more violent the better.

Don’t get all self-righteous and intelligently state college and the NFL have no business playing right now, that more positive tests and scheduling changes are sure to emerge. That total chaos is more inevitable than not.

I don’t have time for common sense.

I own Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce on a second Fantasy League team and because of Newton’s positive test, he won’t be playing on Sunday.

Oh, the sorrow!

Ed Graney is a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing and can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.

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