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Alabama OL calls out large crowd, lack of masks in Tuscaloosa
By Andrew Olson
Published:
While athletes at Alabama and other SEC schools have been working out on campus since June, many college towns were quieter in between the spring and fall semesters with students home for the summer. Now that classes are starting up again soon, campuses and the surrounding areas are more active.
One Alabama player isn’t happy with the way people are behaving in Tuscaloosa. On Sunday, senior offensive lineman Chris Owens shared a photo from The Strip in Tuscaloosa. Owens expressed frustration seeing a packed crowd with low mask usage.
“How about we social distance and have more than a literal handful of people wear a mask? Is that too much to ask Tuscaloosa?” Owens wrote in the tweet accompanying the below photo.
Owens’ post got the attention of active tweeter Kristen Saban Setas. Nick Saban’s daughter quoted Owens’ tweet and wrote, “Do better, y’all. This is so disappointing. What a joke.”
As many Alabama students are aware, Sunday is UA’s sorority bid day. Hannah Saad, photo editor of The Crimson White, shared photos of crowds at Tuscaloosa establishments that opened early for bid day.
Some bars in Tuscaloosa, including Innisfree and Gallettes, opened early to celebrate Bid Day. Here’s the lines outside the bars around 1:30 pic.twitter.com/m6ydsMYPJQ
— Hannah Saad (@hannah_saad21) August 16, 2020
Owens isn’t the only college football player to call out others for not wearing a mask in public. On Saturday, Auburn wide receiver Anthony Schwartz noted the lack of masks being worn on AU campus.
[H/T AL.com]Update: Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne shared a similar reaction on social media.
Who wants college sports this fall?? 🏈⚽️🏐🏃🏼♀️🏃🏿
Obviously not these people!! 🤦🏼♂️
We’ve got to do better than this for each other and our campus community. Please wear your masks!😷 pic.twitter.com/OAFocYZwin
— Greg Byrne (@Greg_Byrne) August 16, 2020
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.