Pessimism grows in college football over season starting on time (update: it’s crumbling):

[Drew]

This has been interesting- it’s on ESPN2 right now. World Team Tennis is allowing up to 500 fans per match to be in attendance:

 

[Jimdish255]

What is the rationale for participating in sports period? Have you ever played a sport? It's fun, teaches discipline and teamwork, creates lifelong friendships, male bonding, keeps the extra pounds off and at the college level it garners a free college experience/education and for some young people a chance to chase their dream of playing in professional sports. For most who go through this experience it in time becomes "the best years of their lives".

and they want to play this season because it is a year they will never get back and you can't guarantee that the situation will be any better next year. The virus might be here to stay and in time all of us will probably get it and you may have already had it and not have known you have had it.

In time. Time you might use to improve treatments, spend with your kids. Do all those things you can benefit from while you're still alive. That's the whole point. Being inconvenienced is the cost of buying time, saving lives. It's not easy and it's a balance, but for a lot of people entertainment doesn't move the needle as essential enough to risk their health or even the health of others. And football is arguably the most difficult sport to do that safely, especially on the intercollegiate level.

 

[huskymedic]

Formal Announcement:

NJCAA announces updated plan of action

NJCAA announces updated plan of action

njcaa.org

 

[J187Money]

In time. Time you might use to improve treatments, spend with your kids. Do all those things you can benefit from while you're still alive. That's the whole point. Being inconvenienced is the cost of buying time, saving lives. It's not easy and it's a balance, but for a lot of people entertainment doesn't move the needle as essential enough to risk ther health or even the health of others. And football is arguably the most difficult sport to do that safely, especially on the intercollegiate level.

Totally understand this point of view, but the reality is:

There may not be a vaccine for 18 months - if ever.
The mortality rate for everyone under 65 is less than 1% and near zero for people less than 50.

I'm not suggesting that this isn't a big deal - but sports generates a lot of revenue which = jobs. Deciding which jobs are essential and which aren't is difficult. But I assume lots of people that are saying football is dangerous have gone out for ice cream - or dinner - or some other non-essential thing. When you boil down what is essential v. what has been open or closed - there have been a lot of arbitrary decisions that have been made.

It's nice that a lot of people with white collar jobs that can work from home and still pull a paycheck can determine that some other person's job is non-essential. I'm not saying that's specifically you Jimdish - but you know what I mean.

And yes - SOME people are getting more in unemployment than they would have as a worker, but I know lots of people where that isn't the case.

You can't just open up everything without precautions - they are figuring that out down south for sure. But we need to work towards getting things up and running. And if people are willing to play / coach / etc - so be it.

 

[metsfan2323]

Totally understand this point of view, but the reality is:

There may not be a vaccine for 18 months - if ever.
The mortality rate for everyone under 65 is less than 1% and near zero for people less than 50.

I'm not suggesting that this isn't a big deal - but sports generates a lot of revenue which = jobs. Deciding which jobs are essential and which aren't is difficult. But I assume lots of people that are saying football is dangerous have gone out for ice cream - or dinner - or some other non-essential thing. When you boil down what is essential v. what has been open or closed - there have been a lot of arbitrary decisions that have been made.

It's nice that a lot of people with white collar jobs that can work from home and still pull a paycheck can determine that some other person's job is non-essential. I'm not saying that's specifically you Jimdish - but you know what I mean. My 88 year old aunt hasn't left her house since early March she uses delivery services and is doing just fine.

And yes - SOME people are getting more in unemployment than they would have as a worker, but I know lots of people where that isn't the case.

You can't just open up everything without precautions - they are figuring that out down south for sure. But we need to work towards getting things up and running. And if people are willing to play / coach / etc - so be it.

Well said. Anybody who wants to tell these young and physically fit athletes its too dangerous becomes somewhat of a hypocrite every time they go shopping when they can easily have essential items delivered.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Well said. Anybody who wants to tell these kids its too dangerous becomes somewhat of a hypocrite every time they go shopping when they can easily have essential items delivered.

Yeah but when you do online delivered items you are endangering those who have to pick the items for you and deliver the items to you. There are no freebies here. It's close to a zero sum game where your move to de-risk yourself puts someone else in a higher risk category.

I don't know if football will be played this fall or not. I do know out of all the sports out there, a football game is safest for the fans. Once a week. Large, outdoor seating. Multiple entrances in to and out of the stadiums. Easy to control total number of fans.

On the flip side, football is probably one the most high risk sports for transmission between players.

 

[Palatine]

The biggest obstacle for football is the number of obese and morbidly obese linemen on each squad. Soccer didn't seem to have many problems but there are not many 300 pound soccer players.

 

[huskymedic]

>>"It is clear that current circumstances related to COVID-19 must improve and we will continue to closely monitor developments around the virus on a daily basis," Sankey said. "In the coming weeks we will continue to meet regularly with campus leaders via videoconferences and gather relevant information while guided by medical advisors. We believe that late July will provide the best clarity for making the important decisions ahead of us."<<

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[metsfan2323]

Just drove down the Post road here in Milford and Orange, most if not all restaurants are now open for indoor dining and organized beer league softball has officially started complete with post game beer drinking in the parking lot. No masks being worn.

 

[metsfan2323]

If it's not about the illness impact on young people but about health care system overload, then I think we are good to go here in CT, at least for now.

 

[Jimdish255]

Well said. Anybody who wants to tell these young and physically fit athletes its too dangerous becomes somewhat of a hypocrite every time they go shopping when they can easily have essential items delivered.

It's most certainly not my decision to make a risk determination for athletes and their families. And no I don't feel like a hypocrite in my moderately civilized supermarket with my gloves, N95 and wipes. Not in the least. Not at work either. And yet I feel strongly about getting this under control and don't want to see coaches, teachers, doctors and nurses being put at risk for TV contracts. Whether I think they can do it safely is actually irrelevant because the affected people and the University leadership will ultimately decide what a worst case scenario would look like and go from there. Don't want to undersell their ability to come up with a strategy but they're dealing with a lot of moving parts. Lots of variables.

And this is funny from Sankey:

Sankey, when asked by @finebaum what he needs to see in public health trends before making a decision: "We need to see the ability for our hospitals and our health care systems to manage COVID-19."

Actually it's about OUR ability to manage our own behavior and employers commitment to worker safety. Hospital capacity is a symptom of that direct link.

 

[Bongo Fury]

Saw UMass football players walking on campus Saturday. They were compliant in wearing masks even outside at least where public could see them. Some folks are trying I believe.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[HuskyAlum012]

Just drove down the Post road here in Milford and Orange, most if not all restaurants are now open for indoor dining and organized beer league softball has officially started complete with post game beer drinking in the parking lot. No masks being worn.

Have been living in Milford the past 3 months and essentially everywhere I have gone during the past month or so, have seen about 99% of people wearing masks when socially distance is not possible (stores and such) so not really sure what point you are trying to make.

 

[metsfan2323]

Have been living in Milford the past 3 months and essentially everywhere I have gone during the past month or so, have seen about 99% of people wearing masks when socially distance is not possible (stores and such) so not really sure what point you are trying to make.

You can't eat with a mask on (indoor dining).

and the point about softball players is amateurs in CT are already playing sports so lets not hold the UCONN AD up to standard that is serving as a limbo stick for the rest of us.

 

[freescooter]

It's most certainly not my decision to make a risk determination for athletes and their families. And no I don't feel like a hypocrite in my moderately civilized supermarket with my gloves, N95 and wipes. Not in the least. Not at work either. And yet I feel strongly about getting this under control and don't want to see coaches, teachers, doctors and nurses being put at risk for TV contracts. Whether I think they can do it safely is actually irrelevant because the affected people and the University leadership will ultimately decide what a worst case scenario would look like and go from there. Don't want to undersell their ability to come up with a strategy but they're dealing with a lot of moving parts. Lots of variables.

And this is funny from Sankey:

Sankey, when asked by @finebaum what he needs to see in public health trends before making a decision: "We need to see the ability for our hospitals and our health care systems to manage COVID-19."

Actually it's about OUR ability to manage our own behavior and employers commitment to worker safety. Hospital capacity is a symptom of that direct link.

Even SEC people are getting it. It isn’t mostly about players, although it is likely some will get seriously ill from this. Maybe even a death or two. But hey it is only around 1%. But they will interact with professors (well maybe not in the SEC or at UNC), supermarket workers, people working in cafeterias, assistant coaches, cleaning people, parents, grandparents. And the health system is becoming overwhelmed. So as the governor of Mississippi said yesterday, if you don’t want to be able to go to the hospital with a heart attack or after a car wreck, then don’t take this seriously. There are ways to get this under control. We actually did it in Connecticut and in New York and Massachusetts, the northeast generally pretty well. Pretty hard shutdowns and slow reopening with pauses when appropriate. Other states and at the federal level it Was taken less seriously. I think if every state was at the Connecticut/New York/Massachusetts level we could certainly play football and probably even have at least some fans. But that isn’t what is happening. 18 states are currently considered to have uncontrolled spread Including every state south of Virginia and west to Texas. Infections are rising, lo and behold deaths are too. Florida, Texas and Arizona have authorized “emergency triage protocols” for some areas which means doctors can decide who gets treatment based on other factors such as potential longevity, family situation etc. (remember Palin’s death panels? They are potentially here, just not in the form she claimed). To date there are no reports of them being used but those are available if hospitals get too overwhelmed. What should happen is a 30 day hard lockdown certainly across the south with a controlled gradual reopening. Indeed it should have happened in March/April. Get conditions under control. Then start the football and other fall sports if possible around the last week of September. play 8-10 games within a fairly tight region And screw conferences for this year. Basically the baseball model.

 

[freescooter]

You can't eat with a mask on (indoor dining).

and the point about softball players is amateurs in CT are already playing sports so lets not hold the UCONN AD up to standard that is serving as a limbo stick for the rest of us.

LOL, yeah it should be guided by a bunch of overweight weekend warriors in Milford. I play in a golf league. The course just sent out a notice that they will be cracking down on all post round “ tailgating” in the parking lot. Another course I play at did the same last week. My guess is Milford will take steps to limit post game activities if they haven’t already. Most local softball Leagues in my area are not playing this season. So maybe that is the standard.

 

[kemba]

You can't eat with a mask on (indoor dining).

and the point about softball players is amateurs in CT are already playing sports so lets not hold the UCONN AD up to standard that is serving as a limbo stick for the rest of us.

Its not really relevant because
-The situation in CT is currently much better than most of the country. This isn't really about the UConn AD its about all of college football unless we want to just play CCSU every week
-Comparing college football with huge rosters, daily practices, lifting sessions, meetings, travel, etc. to beer league softball isn't smart

 

[metsfan2323]

LOL, yeah it should be guided by a bunch of overweight weekend warriors in Milford. I play in a golf league. The course just sent out a notice that they will be cracking down on all post round “ tailgating” in the parking lot. Another course I play at did the same last week. My guess is Milford will take steps to limit post game activities if they haven’t already. Most local softball Leagues in my area are not playing this season. So maybe that is the standard.

LOL you play in a freaking golf league, thanks for proving my point. Spare me the "but we wear a mask BS". Their not full-proof and i'm sure they come off quite often in the summer heat. Let us know when the crackdown on your post golf tailgating starts happening.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[phillionaire]

LOL you play in a freaking golf league, thanks for proving my point. Spare me the "but we wear a mask BS". Their not full-proof and i'm sure they come off quite often in the summer heat. Let us know when the crackdown on your post golf tailgating starts happening.

You're comparing grown adults that are playing rec golf at their local course to STUDENT-athletes risking either catching, getting damaged by, or transmitting a virus all to play a game for your entertainment.