Does football get started on time?

posted by Heretic

Probably soccer, too. I mean, it was the first pro sport to come back and hold games at the pro level and the athletes tend to be pretty spread out and it's outdoors. Just seems weird to draw a line that says volleyball is cool and soccer isn't.

Who was it that posted they read the virus in the states is more contagious than the US? That might be an explanation for the few positives in European soccer.

I originally said we will have football, but watching the MLB struggling after one week makes me want to hedge my prediction....

Organizations will soon realize the jury pool has seen way to much mass media and decide the courts will not be favorable for participation in team sports, not worth the risk

posted by like_that

Who was it that posted they read the virus in the states is more contagious than the US?

Might have been me.  I haven't seen that, specifically, but it explains a lot of things going on here with schools, kids, outbreaks, etc...Compare Sweden to Florida or Texas - can't be the same, equally infectious strain can it?

The study I saw was from Chicago that identified 3 major strains in the city: Wuhan (1% of samples), a moderate strain (8%) and the predominant one in the US (62%).  That predominant one was 10X as contagious as Wuhan.  All they said was the moderate strain was moderately contagious relative to the other two.  But a blurb I saw in April was the Euopean strain was 4X as contagious as Wuhan.  In terms of mortality/severity, there was no difference in strains.

The Wuhan virus clearly could be contained and defeated.  What we have can't.  10X as contagious as Wuhan basically means if you look at someone with the virus, you get it.

Seeing a lot of negative talk about college football on Twitter today. Pat Forde making it seem like postponement of the season will come this week. 

posted by friendfromlowry

Seeing a lot of negative talk about college football on Twitter today. Pat Forde making it seem like postponement of the season will come this week. 

Thing is, if you're going to have kids on campus then you might as well play football.  Because playing or not playing isn't going to substantially impact their risk in the greater student community.

Players are supposed to be tested regularly.  So if one tests positive, you can get them treatment/monitoring sooner and you quarantine to protect their teammates.  They're are actually less safe/protected without the regular testing provided by football.

posted by Heretic

Probably soccer, too. I mean, it was the first pro sport to come back and hold games at the pro level and the athletes tend to be pretty spread out and it's outdoors. Just seems weird to draw a line that says volleyball is cool and soccer isn't.

But their hips touch sometimes

posted by gut

Thing is, if you're going to have kids on campus then you might as well play football.  Because playing or not playing isn't going to substantially impact their risk in the greater student community.

Players are supposed to be tested regularly.  So if one tests positive, you can get them treatment/monitoring sooner and you quarantine to protect their teammates.  They're are actually less safe/protected without the regular testing provided by football.

Trevor Lawrence made a similar point

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/29629669/power-5-talking-no-fall-football

Kiss it goodbye, boys. 

posted by friendfromlowry

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/29629669/power-5-talking-no-fall-football

Kiss it goodbye, boys. 

Maybe I'm just in denial, but I still think the power 5 conferences play.

posted by SportsAndLady

Maybe I'm just in denial, but I still think the power 5 conferences play.

Well, about half the power 5 schools are the only programs that [allegedly] make a profit.

I think when you get practices up and running, and protocols fully implemented, that you have to at least see how it all works before canceling.  In a typical game, I think there's only about 10 minutes of live contact each on offense and defense.  If players wore full face shields, I think the risk of spread on the field during games would be very minimal (which wouldn't force players to wear masks that might restrict their breathing).  Frequent testing can limit the spread during practice.

Been talking to people about what a giant clusterfuck it is if a season is canceled.  Most of us agreed we'd probably just take a "gap year", especially if classes are virtual.  Has to be crushing for seniors that there might be no campus life in their final year.  10X for athletes who didn't realize last season was the last time they'd play competitively.

posted by Ironman92

Trevor Lawrence made a similar point

While I think the risk to college players is absolutely negligible, if I was Trevor Lawrence why bother?  He could sit out the year and still probably be a top-3 pick, if not #1. 

I respect he's a competitor.  But he would have been in the draft last year if not for the age requirement.   You have a tailor-made excuse to take that rare injury, or rare fall-off in performance, off the table. 

I'm not sure how NFL teams may have viewed that, but you could have just said one or both of your parents are at risk and you didn't want to potentially spread it to them.

I guess the message from colleges is "let's not even try".  That's the spirit!

Trying to understand what the presidents are doing here, and only one thing makes sense to me:

They’re trying to negotiate more money from the tv networks and advertisers

Think about it, if they were going to cancel the season, theyd do it already. They’re threatening to cancel the season rn, so that the networks will up their ante back to the universities/conferences. 

Look how much viewership is up in baseball, and NBA should be crazy high too (though I haven’t seen the Nba numbers yet). 

The universities know they’ll take a beating by not being able to sell tickets, so they’re gonna negotiate more money from other avenues. And by threatening to shut it all down, it gives them leverage. 

This is gonna be a fucking disaster. 

Looks like the B1G is cancelling fall sports. Wow

In my opinion, they would have never completed the season with the current standards they are practicing (i.e. positive cases cause suspension of practices for the enitre team).  So this was inevitable.  

posted by SportsAndLady

Trying to understand what the presidents are doing here, and only one thing makes sense to me:

They’re trying to negotiate more money from the tv networks and advertisers

Think about it, if they were going to cancel the season, theyd do it already. They’re threatening to cancel the season rn, so that the networks will up their ante back to the universities/conferences. 

Look how much viewership is up in baseball, and NBA should be crazy high too (though I haven’t seen the Nba numbers yet). 

The universities know they’ll take a beating by not being able to sell tickets, so they’re gonna negotiate more money from other avenues. And by threatening to shut it all down, it gives them leverage. 

I kinda see that. Also, liability. The universities do not want to be on the hook in the rare case that a player gets COVID and ends up dead. The Indiana Offensive Lineman that went into the hospital may have sent up a red flag. 

It also seems like the conferences do not want to look they are trudging out amateur athletes  in an unsafe environment, while pros are at least paid and compensated for their efforts. It looks like they are just covering their asses and playing the better safe than sorry card. 

That all said, I go back to the Nats closer Doolitte's quote on sports in the pandemic. "Sports are like a reward of a functional society."

Folks, we are not there yet unless sports are in a bubble. We haven't earned it yet. 

Harbaugh is a douche, but kudos to him. 

posted by iclfan2

Harbaugh is a douche, but kudos to him. 

Yeah, Ryan Day and several Ohio State players have said similar things the last few days. The large programs that have the resources are not the issue, it is the smaller ones in the P5. Like are we sure that Rutgers has all the testing resources and everyone is following the rules? Or, some small school with limited resources in a conference? Unless the conferences, instead of the schools, are going to pay for the these measures, I'm not sure you can safely say everyone is playing by the rules. That unknown and all the other factors may be why conferences are talking about punting on this season. 

I also think the players voicing their views about this and wanting to band together in a loose union is also freaking a lot of the Presidents and ADs out.