Ah yes, time for your weekly PIAA statement, delivered to us every Friday afternoon.

It took a while, but the folks at the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association have finally told Governor Tom Wolf to shove off in a 25-5 vote that will see sports begin on Monday.

Here’s their statement:

The reason for all of this is because Governor Wolf came out a few weeks ago and said that Pennsylvania did not recommend fall sports this year. That caught the PIAA off guard, who had already set an early August date for football heat acclimatization. In the following weeks, they met with the Commonwealth, discussed internally, and ended up going with a similar version of the original plan anyway.

Again, it’s not about whether this is the right move or the wrong move. Local schools may very well give sports a try and then have to postpone or cancel because of COVID positives. The issue was that the Governor set forth a recommendation but stopped short of actually MANDATING anything, which left student-athletes, coaches, and parents just sitting there in abeyance for a couple of weeks.