[Goose]

Michigan is playing Minn.  ABC.  A player is out.  Announcer says team  doesn’t release the reason “but we do believe it’s Covid related”. Awful.  A violation of the young man’s  privacy.  No reason to make that statement.

If he said that "we believe it is a sprained knee", would that be awful?   I don't really see what is sensitive about catching or having COVID-19.

I don't think it is awful from a COVID-19 vs a sprained knee point of view. I also don't think either impacts the player's privacy much, IMHO. However, what DOES bother me a lot is an announcer saying "We think ..." without qualifying the reasons we should believe what they are saying. Is it just idle speculation, something the ball boy told a beer vendor, or is it based on anything more reliable? Announcers think a lot of things that are just plain incorrect. Happens all the time. If it is about the game in progress, that is kind of their job, so we can accept a certain degree of "error". Player health doesn't come under that umbrella. The fact is the player is unavailable. Why the player is unavailable isn't part of the announcers job unless he really knows. What he "believes" doesn't matter and shouldn't be stated.

[Goose]

Michigan is playing Minn.  ABC.  A player is out.  Announcer says team  doesn’t release the reason “but we do believe it’s Covid related”. Awful.  A violation of the young man’s  privacy.  No reason to make that statement.

If he said that "we believe it is a sprained knee", would that be awful?   I don't really see what is sensitive about catching or having COVID-19.

I don't think it is awful from a COVID-19 vs a sprained knee point of view. I also don't think either impacts the player's privacy much, IMHO. However, what DOES bother me a lot is an announcer saying "We think ..." without qualifying the reasons we should believe what they are saying. Is it just idle speculation, something the ball boy told a beer vendor, or is it based on anything more reliable? Announcers think a lot of things that are just plain incorrect. Happens all the time. If it is about the game in progress, that is kind of their job, so we can accept a certain degree of "error". Player health doesn't come under that umbrella. The fact is the player is unavailable. Why the player is unavailable isn't part of the announcers job unless he really knows. What he "believes" doesn't matter and shouldn't be stated.