The last year in which USC and Notre Dame did not play: 1945. The last year in which the Tournament of Roses Parade was not held: 1945. You can readily guess why those who classic American events — staples of our culture — were not held 75 years ago: World War II.
The coronavirus pandemic — in its durability, scope, and reach — is continuously hammering home the point that it is uprooting the world on the scale of a cataclysmic war.
The specific manifestations of severe disruption are different, but the general reality of severe disruption is the same.
It was announced on Wednesday, as reported by the Los Angeles Times, that the 2021 Tournament of Roses Parade has been canceled.
One could reasonably ask, “Why make this decision so early? Don’t we have some time to wait?”
The answer is that the various facets of a parade are complicated and need to all flow together.
As noted in the Times’ report, there is little certainty that high school bands would be willing or able to travel across the country in the middle of flu season to participate. That’s one point. Another point is that the construction of floats and assembly of flowers and other materials is well behind schedule. Another obvious point is that there wouldn’t be a crowd on hand to watch, given the need to socially distance. All the things which are part of a parade — the bands, the floats, the flowers, the crowds — just aren’t in place, and given that a vaccine for COVID-19 is almost certain to not be ready by early January, it isn’t too early to make this decision.
It is the wise choice… if there was ever any choice at all.
We will have more on this story at Trojans Wire, because there is an obvious question raised by the Tournament of Roses Parade cancellation. It relates to college football’s postseason plans this coming winter.