Even in a pandemic, sports continue to reflect societal proclivities, the latest example of which hovers between distressing and exasperating.

There have been an alarming number of apocalyptic howls recently from college basketball voices asking to temporarily suspend the season, wait for the vaccine to at least temper the virus and eventually play "May Madness." Too many postponed games and too much uncertainty, they say.

And hasn't that become a typical societal bent: Shut it down in the face of assuming more personal discipline and responsibility. Because that's what this is really about: more personal discipline and responsibility.

As we're learning, personal discipline and responsibility are just too damn inconvenient. Certainly more so than taking to social media or other airwaves to blather and bloviate, hiding behind "safety concerns" to disguise their unwillingness to sacrifice.

I believe sports have never been more important than they are now. They provide a diversion. They provide entertainment in the face of more social isolation. Loosely translated: If you can't go out and see your friends and family, at least you can stay home and watch the game.

That means athletes, coaches and other personnel tethered to all teams — college and pro — bear the responsibility to sacrifice, strictly adhere to COVID protocols and play the games. This has emerged as their role in the pandemic, regardless of their personal opinions on the subject.

No, it's not easy. But then, given what hospital workers and grocery store employees face every day, the idea that coaches and athletes have a higher brand of suffering because of postponed games and more campus isolation is the cleanup hitter among false dilemmas.

Tom Izzo, the coach at Michigan State, told Yahoo Sports recently that his players "are almost in prison. I don't want to make light of it, but it's more difficult than we all think."

Prison.

Perhaps this is the time to remind coach Izzo that Jane Average Hospital Worker isn't on full scholarship because of her talent to bounce a basketball. She must work in public every day to put food on the table, rather than eating the free food while on scholarship because of an ability to bounce a basketball.

Perhaps this is the time to remind coach Izzo that Jane Average Hospital Worker might want to go home at night, feed and kids, put them to bed and then relax by watching a basketball game.

And so maybe it's not too much trouble if the players can, you know, stay isolated on campus with their scholarships and free meals and maybe follow COVID protocols to play basketball for the enjoyment of the masses?

Izzo's groans have plenty of harmony. Rick Pitino, Mike Krzyzewski and Dick Vitale have all joined the chorus. Put it this way: Sanctimony and Krzyzewski have ridden in the same limo for years. I like Vitale better when he's pining for approximately 170 teams to make the NCAA tournament. And Pitino misplaced his moral compass about three scandals ago. So if the perils of a pandemic are too much for them to bear, they are free not to participate.

Seriously: If Iona called it a season, Vitale never announced another game and Duke went on pause, would we all start breathing into brown paper bags or simply watch and listen to other teams and other broadcasters?

And don't tell me sports can't or shouldn't go on. They just require more discipline. Example: Boston College football just completed an 11-game regular season, during which its players were given more than 8,000 COVID tests. There was one positive test in June. There was another over Thanksgiving. That's two among more than 8,000, illustrating that if your program's byproducts are discipline and responsibility, the show can go on.

Is it the fault of the pandemic that so many programs in college and pro sports are going on pause because of positive tests? Answer: au contraire. It suggests a need for greater personal discipline and responsibility, not for sports to stop because it's all just too hard.

As we move forward, sports figures should be on notice. If the urge to opine about the unfairness of it all flies at them ... they should duck. Nobody wants to hear how hard it is to be involved in sports. Not with so many others risking their lives every day.

We need sports right now. And their dramatis personae need to understand their part.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro