Any ideas what college sports look like this year?

I don’t see how football pulls off a season. There’s a lot of players. The locker room can’t be avoided. They’re in each other’s faces just in the huddle. Then there’s everything that happens every play at the line and more so on running plays. Then, with college football the players are on campus and in dorms with thousands of other students. 

Well they've all been practicing most of the summer and it hasn't been some mass chaos.  I'm hopeful that this has been put in perspective a bit.

Don't most football teams have their players in team specific dorms or at least floors? I feel like that at least restricts things a little bit.

I feel like it will be a little like what we've seen with MLB. As long as you can keep players in their little team cocoon it will be fine. When you let them out into the world to see other players from other teams is when things will get dicey.

Son says his coaches are telling him to plan on a normal fall. He, on the other hand, has laid out a pretty extensive plan for what he thinks it will look like. We'll see who's right.

College sports this year reminds me of my trip to the Bahamas in 1986.   A friend of mine and I decide after a few cocktails that we want to go paragliding.   So, up we go.  We're a few hundred feet up in the air enjoying the incredible Bahamian scenery.   Eventually we notice there are a bunch of locals that are hurriedly putting together a paragliding landing platform on the ocean below us.   We quickly realize that is our landing platform and this "oh $hit" feeling comes over us.  Our focus turns from enjoying the scenery to how are they going to get us down safely.  The boat circles a bunch more (extra) times waiting for the landing platform to be completed.   We got our moneys worth in air time.   Finally, the locals piece the landing platform together after much trial and error.  The boat starts bringing us down, and we eventually land in the ocean about 50 yards from the platform.   My girlfriend and I have to quickly figure out how to release all of our harnesses (there was no safety demo) and we have to swim for the platform.  This is how I see college sports in 2020-21.   They are going to miss the ocean platform by 50 yards.

As always, JMO.

@baseballhs posted:

Well they've all been practicing most of the summer and it hasn't been some mass chaos.  I'm hopeful that this has been put in perspective a bit.

That has been attainable because after a game or practice, the player goes home to his own environment.  Or if traveling with mom or dad or both. Also mom and dad might get to decide where you go and with whom you go with. 

Now players are off to college where they will be coming into contact with a lot more people than your son did this summer.  The school should have published a report, to be approved by your state as to the plans for players coming to campus. You could do a search online or contact the school. I am not a parent of a student, so I dont know if sending out the plan went to students.  But I did see online a 25 page report to the state as to FAU plan for students/educators to return. 

I am assuming that all students must test on their own before they return to campus. Should be interesting.

MAAC just cancelled football for this fall. Press conference to announce this morning 

@TPM posted:

That has been attainable because after a game or practice, the player goes home to his own environment.  Or if traveling with mom or dad or both. Also mom and dad might get to decide where you go and with whom you go with. 

Now players are off to college where they will be coming into contact with a lot more people than your son did this summer.  The school should have published a report, to be approved by your state as to the plans for players coming to campus. You could do a search online or contact the school. I am not a parent of a student, so I dont know if sending out the plan went to students.  But I did see online a 25 page report to the state as to FAU plan for students/educators to return. 

I am assuming that all students must test on their own before they return to campus. Should be interesting.

No, football players have been on campus since mid June.  They are practicing. They are staying in dorms or apartments.  If you haven’t heard much about it, I’d consider that success.   My son reports Monday. No test until we arrive.

@baseballhs posted:

No, football players have been on campus since mid June.  They are practicing. They are staying in dorms or apartments.  If you haven’t heard much about it, I’d consider that success.   My son reports Monday. No test until we arrive.

Ok, you meant football, sorry.

But the same scenario. It's been a controlled environment and every player had to quarantine before they could get together as a team. Know what happens when everyone returns?

Did you hear about any craziness in football?  Its been going on for 2 months.  Yes, there have been some cases, but they quarantined those that needed to be and moved forward. How is it any more or less controlled now?   They were already on campus and already practicing.  I don't want to start down the gloom and doom road honestly.  I was just curious about any new protocols that athletes would be doing.  My friend said her son gets tested every week for football.  We were told players at our school would just be tested on arrival and then if they had symptoms or were a close contact to someone who tested positive.  If at any point they test positive, they must quarantine for 10 days but will not have to be tested or quarantined for the next 3 months.

I have on daughter who plays Big 10 basketball and her boyfriend plays football at the same school. My other daughter manages WBB in the ACC. At both schools, the kids do not all stay in the same dorms (football or basketball). For summer work outs, they got tested every 5 days and both they and contacts were quarantined if tested positive. Football cohorted work outs in a way that if someone got COVID, you wouldn't lose all your linemen. Basketball did the same (so not all the guards practiced together). I believe the football team had 5 kids test positive, WBB didn't have any. The school was less prepared to support quarantined kids than I would have hoped and the prognosis for fall and winter sports literally changes daily. For example, the ACC has a nearly firmed up (conference only) football schedule but the Big 10 hasn't finalized theirs. For basketball, the ACC is talking about grouping away games (e.g. ND will play Duke, UNC and NC State all in the same 5 day period) but they haven't finalized that yet. The girls basketball team got sent back home (which is normal) and the date for their return to school has changed multiple times. The schools are really scrambling to build the plane while they fly it.

I think our school has one dorm allocated for quarantines.  They haven't stated that, but I know ton of kids from one specific dorm got moved to a new location and that was the rumor.  From our call, I got the feeling that they would try to practice baseball in a similar way you mentioned with football.  Not all pitchers are going to work out together, not all catchers, etc.  they would have more like workout pods.  Our coach stressed that they team that made it to Omaha would be the team that stayed the healthiest.  He also said that the large rosters would likely be helpful this year.  If we had an outbreak, we might not be down to our #5 pitcher, but down to our #15.  It will be interesting.

@Iowamom23 posted:

Don't most football teams have their players in team specific dorms or at least floors? I feel like that at least restricts things a little bit.

I feel like it will be a little like what we've seen with MLB. As long as you can keep players in their little team cocoon it will be fine. When you let them out into the world to see other players from other teams is when things will get dicey.

Son says his coaches are telling him to plan on a normal fall. He, on the other hand, has laid out a pretty extensive plan for what he thinks it will look like. We'll see who's right.

Under normal circumstances most colleges have done away with athlete only dorms. But they match athletes with teammates as roommates. Things may be completely different for this year. I would think the athletic department would want to isolate athletes from remaining school population.

We have an athletic dorm.  I don't know that there aren't any other students, but it is predominantly athletes.

@baseballhs posted:

We have an athletic dorm.  I don't know that there aren't any other students, but it is predominantly athletes.

There has to be other students. Athletic only dorms are no longer allowed. 

@adbono posted:

There has to be other students. Athletic only dorms are no longer allowed. 

Although under current conditions they probably should be 

@baseballhs posted:

Did you hear about any craziness in football?  Its been going on for 2 months.  Yes, there have been some cases, but they quarantined those that needed to be and moved forward. How is it any more or less controlled now?   They were already on campus and already practicing.  I don't want to start down the gloom and doom road honestly.  I was just curious about any new protocols that athletes would be doing.  My friend said her son gets tested every week for football.  We were told players at our school would just be tested on arrival and then if they had symptoms or were a close contact to someone who tested positive.  If at any point they test positive, they must quarantine for 10 days but will not have to be tested or quarantined for the next 3 months.

I did hear of one P5 program where a few players went out and brought back COVID.  It really is literally impossible to achieve a plan, in my opinion.  

Students should be coming COVID free. Not arriving with, then have to quarantine at school. JMO

@adbono posted:

There has to be other students. Athletic only dorms are no longer allowed. 

Compliments of the behavior of Nebraska and Oklahoma football players. I remember when athlete only dorms were banned. But a lot of non athletes move out of these dorms after freshman year. Hell, I moved out. Like a frat house was going to be more civil!  Junior year I had an apartment and ate at the frat house. 

@RJM posted:

Compliments of the behavior of Nebraska and Oklahoma football players. I remember when athlete only dorms were banned. But a lot of non athletes move out of these dorms after freshman year. Hell, I moved out. Like a frat house was going to be more civil!  Junior year I had an apartment and ate at the frat house. 

Same for me. I opted not to live (for free) at the athletic dorm and paid for an apt instead. Athletic dorm was like Animal House. No way I could have kept my grades up in a difficult major if living there. 

@adbono posted:

MAAC just cancelled football for this fall. Press conference to announce this morning 

You mean MAC, (Mid-American Conference) right?  Actually all fall sports are cancelled.

@RoadRunner posted:

You mean MAC, (Mid-American Conference) right?  Actually all fall sports are cancelled.

Yes, thank you, that’s what I meant. My phone likes to add unintended letters and words from time to time. 

There is a MAAC D1, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

I always get them mixed up! 

The MAAC also cancelled certain fall sports back in July 😕

The MAC hits close to home for me😔

Mid America .... Kent State, Bowling Green OH

Mid Atlantic .... Rider, Monmouth NJ

Power Five AD’s ... Inevitable 2020 college football season will not be played 

https://www.cbssports.com/coll...be-played-this-fall/

That’s pretty disappointing. I’m not even a huge college football fan anymore, but I feel bad for those kids. If colleges cancel football I can HS football being next. 

@TerribleBPthrower posted:

That’s pretty disappointing. I’m not even a huge college football fan anymore, but I feel bad for those kids. If colleges cancel football I can HS football being next. 

Agreed, that it is disappointing.

I am so disappointed in the MAC(graduated from Toledo).

Unbelievable.  We should have never been playing sports, ever.... way to risky. There is a 1% chance of soooo many things. What were we thinking?

@baseballhs posted:

Unbelievable.  We should have never been playing sports, ever.... way to risky. There is a 1% chance of soooo many things. What were we thinking?

All sports are not the same - and the level of risk varies greatly from sport to sport. Football surely is the highest risk and it involves way too many people - just too many variables to control. Some other sports don’t fall into that category and may be able to proceed at an acceptable level of risk. No need to apply cancel culture to all sports yet. 

The bigger problem (for other sports that might be able to play - like baseball) is that if there is no football season to generate revenue the athletic budget will take a massive hit, resulting in no funding being there for non-revenue generating spring sports. Kent State football team needs to play Ohio State and Michigan and collect a million $ for each game every fall for the athletic budget. If that doesn’t happen schools are not going to dip into their endowments to fund non-revenue generating sports. That’s not what the endowments are for. They have already been purposed. They aren’t slush funds. 

@baseballhs posted:

Unbelievable.  We should have never been playing sports, ever.... way to risky. There is a 1% chance of soooo many things. What were we thinking?

But I remember so many here crying about their sons not being able to play baseball a few months ago!

Yesterday I read an article about LSU crying the blues about the millions in revenue they will be losing, not being able to fill their football stadium!  EVERYONE will be losing money, so I am wondering what were THEY thinking? 

@TPM posted:

But I remember so many here crying about their sons not being able to play baseball a few months ago!

Yesterday I read an article about LSU crying the blues about the millions in revenue they will be losing, not being able to fill their football stadium!  EVERYONE will be losing money, so I am wondering what were THEY thinking? 

 

Pretty sure that post by baseballhs was chalk full of sarcasm 

100%

@TPM posted:

But I remember so many here crying about their sons not being able to play baseball a few months ago!

Yesterday I read an article about LSU crying the blues about the millions in revenue they will be losing, not being able to fill their football stadium!  EVERYONE will be losing money, so I am wondering what were THEY thinking? 

 

What has impact has summer baseball had on the ability for colleges to play fall football?

@TerribleBPthrower posted:

What has impact has summer baseball had on the ability for colleges to play fall football?

It should be a positive impact. I haven’t heard of anyone dying from playing baseball this summer. 

@TerribleBPthrower posted:

What has impact has summer baseball had on the ability for colleges to play fall football?

Everything is a risk. 

I think that adbono made a great point, non revenue sports depend on football. 

Those football players in programs are taking a risk so that your kids can play this spring.  

@TPM posted:

Everything is a risk. 

I think that adbono made a great point, non revenue sports depend on football. 

Those football players in programs are taking a risk so that your kids can play this spring.  

What does this have to do with summer baseball? Yes, without football other NCAA sports suffer. I just don’t see what summer ball has to do with fall football

CTE is a bigger risk to football players then COVID-19. But no one is pressing pause for that.

@TerribleBPthrower posted:

What does this have to do with summer baseball? Yes, without football other NCAA sports suffer. I just don’t see what summer ball has to do with fall football

Where did I say summer baseball?

@baseballhs posted:

CTE is a bigger risk to football players then COVID-19. But no one is pressing pause for that.

That’s because CTE isn’t being used as a political pawn

Bingo.  The studies only matter when you want them to.

@baseballhs posted:

CTE is a bigger risk to football players then COVID-19. But no one is pressing pause for that.

That's a discussion for another day. How do you know what the actually risk is for football players and their coaches?   I don't think anyone knows.

Personally, I think that most understand the impact that not playing football this fall is, and I am not sure why this is really happening now.  Maybe it will work itself out, but I don't want to see anyone get really sick because the show must go on.  

JMO

I know that for every person under 24 that has died since February, Covid has been the reason 1% of the time.

The risk to a college athlete is minimal. Lots of them will contract the virus and recover just fine. The at risk group has been pretty well defined and it could include older coaches & staff, associated people with underlying conditions, etc. There are so many people (variables) involved in college football that it would be next to impossible to remove them from the risk. University administrators are risk averse and want to avoid the possibility of lawsuits should there be a death related to a program at their school. They will err on the side of caution whether its a logical decision or not. None of like it but the future of college sports (in the near term) is very bleak. 

@baseballhs posted:

CTE is a bigger risk to football players then COVID-19. But no one is pressing pause for that.

A football player doesn’t go back to a dorm, cafeteria or class and give a non football player CTE. 

I’m for people getting back to work and life resuming to as close to normal as possible. But I don’t see how it works for football. There’s too much close contact.

In the past two months I’ve been contacted five times about being in trace lines. It’s from being around small groups of friends whose kids or their friends got COVID just from resuming a normal social life. One kid got it at work. The irony is he works for Abbott Labs. The kids aren’t dying. But a couple got very sick. Football brings a large risk to spread.

Look what hockey and basketball have had to do to avoid COVID. Baseball is having troubles due to players not following the rules. 

@baseballhs posted:

CTE is a bigger risk to football players then COVID-19. But no one is pressing pause for that.

Well, individuals are.  But they would have already opted out of football.

@adbono posted:

University administrators are risk averse and want to avoid the possibility of lawsuits should there be a death related to a program at their school. They will err on the side of caution whether its a logical decision or not. None of like it but the future of college sports (in the near term) is very bleak. 

I think that university administrators are probably just as worried that some non-athlete student dies and the university gets sued.  But in that case, they can say that the student didn't have to come to campus, that there were online options, or the student could take the semester off.  In accounts from places like Colorado State, ADs are particularly worried that players are being pressured to play, when they would rather not, and what if something happens to one player whose family says he felt he had to play.  Scholarships complicate things - they can't necessarily just walk away, no matter what the NCAA says.  So there are many issues involved.

I’m ready for them to pass no fault legislation.  Living has risks.  Everyday. Getting sick is not new. People dying from virus is not new.  Our reaction is completely new.  But everything is crazy town right now so who is surprised 

No one is being pressured to play. They can opt out and still get their scholarship. 

@RoadRunner posted:

No one is being pressured to play. They can opt out and still get their scholarship. 

True, but all it takes is for one kid to say he “felt” pressured to play and nothing else matters after that. 

How many times have we heard on here that a player has signed an NLI, but then is pressured to "voluntarily" withdraw?  What the NCAA says, re scholarships, and what coaches do are not at all the same. 

Everyone’s concerned about the liability of moving forward with college sports. Is there any chance of liability (ie claims of ruined careers etc) for not moving forward?  I am no lawyer. But it seems more will be lost not playing than playing. 

@anotherparent posted:

How many times have we heard on here that a player has signed an NLI, but then is pressured to "voluntarily" withdraw?  What the NCAA says, re scholarships, and what coaches do are not at all the same. 

It’s not about backdoor deals. We received a written notice from the school about opting out. So did every other student athlete. 

Some people on this site have said that if an NLI is signed, the player should keep the scholarship, stay at the school, and it might work out.  Others have said that at that point it's goodbye baseball.  But, there is no potentially serious disease involved in those cases.  There are enough stories of abusive football coaches doing all kinds of things, that I wouldn't doubt that there are some who are letting it be known that if their players opt out this year, they can kiss playing time/football future goodbye.  As we on here know, when people have worked their whole lives to get to a certain point, that's not something you want to hear, especially when there is a potentially serious disease involved.

@anotherparent posted:

Some people on this site have said that if an NLI is signed, the player should keep the scholarship, stay at the school, and it might work out.  Others have said that at that point it's goodbye baseball.  But, there is no potentially serious disease involved in those cases.  There are enough stories of abusive football coaches doing all kinds of things, that I wouldn't doubt that there are some who are letting it be known that if their players opt out this year, they can kiss playing time/football future goodbye.  As we on here know, when people have worked their whole lives to get to a certain point, that's not something you want to hear, especially when there is a potentially serious disease involved.

Big difference between forcing someone to play vs not allowing to play. And then threatening if you don’t play now, you’ll never play again?  If coach wants ya to play that bad, ya got skills. If ya got skills, you’ll play next season. Coaches aren’t risking their livelihoods for non-skilled players.  Think of all the college football players breaking the law, etc. Coaches move heaven  and earth to keep football skill on the field.  Also, what happens in baseball, doesn’t translate to football.  Football is a different animal.

I’m not buying it!

I wonder if the $$ lost to start the season then prematurely halt it due to an outbreak was factored into their decision to cancel fall.

@2022NYC posted:

I wonder if the $$ lost to start the season then prematurely halt it due to an outbreak was factored into their decision to cancel fall.

Could be. I’d rather them not try to start the season if they aren’t willing to accept occasional outbreaks. Outbreaks will happen. They’ll happen football or no football,  but the schools need to determine their tolerance for for it. 

@RoadRunner posted:

Everyone’s concerned about the liability of moving forward with college sports. Is there any chance of liability (ie claims of ruined careers etc) for not moving forward?  I am no lawyer. But it seems more will be lost not playing than playing. 

There's nothing preventing a player from leaving college at 21 and signing. Why not sue MLB for reducing the draft from 40 rounds?

@2022NYC posted:

I wonder if the $$ lost to start the season then prematurely halt it due to an outbreak was factored into their decision to cancel fall.

The object for every college and university is/was always to get students back on campus so that parents would not turn to less expensive online JUCO classes.

@RoadRunner posted:

Everyone’s concerned about the liability of moving forward with college sports. Is there any chance of liability (ie claims of ruined careers etc) for not moving forward?  I am no lawyer. But it seems more will be lost not playing than playing. 

I always thought that going to college was about getting a degree. I don't remember anyone saying if you don't become a professional athlete your career is ruined.

That would never hold up in court. 

One more point...athletic budgets are already cut (some by as much as 30%) because there was no NCAA basketball tournament. So that puts even more financial pressure on football. 

@TPM posted:

I always thought that going to college was about getting a degree. I don't remember anyone saying if you don't become a professional athlete your career is ruined.

That would never hold up in court. 

 

If you don’t get to play your career is ruined...

@RJM posted:

There's nothing preventing a player from leaving college at 21 and signing. Why not sue MLB for reducing the draft from 40 rounds?

I would say not playing prevents players from signing, except for maybe the very top rounds of each professional sport. Not being permitted to compete in college also ruins your college career, correct?

But they set the precedence of getting a year back in the spring.  If football doesn't play, neither do almost all other sports and then you have to give them a year again or I would think the lawsuits would start flooding in.  Can the schools continue to provide scholarships to all athletes in all sports if there is no football?  What are the repercussions if they have a large number of students drop out if they can't go to class or participate in extra-curricular activities.  If you can't play football then the logic has to go that you can't do a lot of things on campus involving students.  The merry go round will start quickly. 

@RoadRunner posted:

I would say not playing prevents players from signing, except for maybe the very top rounds of each professional sport. Not being permitted to compete in college also ruins your college career, correct?

The dialogue in this thread reminds me of one of the great lines in the movie Moneyball, that seems appropriate now ; “We’re all told at some point in time that we can no longer play the children’s game, we just don’t know when that’s gonna be.” The harsh reality (due to Covid, NCAA ruling, & cancellations) is that time is gonna be very soon for many players. Is it fair? No. Is life fair? No. My observation is that the kids often move on easier than the parents do. 

@adbono posted:

The dialogue in this thread reminds me of one of the great lines in the movie Moneyball, that seems appropriate now ; “We’re all told at some point in time that we can no longer play the children’s game, we just don’t know when that’s gonna be.” The harsh reality (due to Covid, NCAA ruling, & cancellations) is that time is gonna be very soon for many players. Is it fair? No. Is life fair? No. My observation is that the kids often move on easier than the parents do. 

Yep for sure. 

@RoadRunner posted:

I would say not playing prevents players from signing, except for maybe the very top rounds of each professional sport. Not being permitted to compete in college also ruins your college career, correct?

Unless a kid is a top prospect why is he at college? My son’s college career ended in a doctor’s office late January of senior year. The doctor told him he needed a second surgery more than a senior season. It was disappointing for both of us he didn’t go out with “This is my last game. This is my last at bat.” I did. My daughter (softball) did.

That spring he helped out at practice. He helped out at home games. Once he got past not playing he found being a semi normal college student a refreshing change.

He missed freshman year with an injury. He put in five years and got two degrees. He had no desire to apply for a medical redshirt to play a fourth season.

The dominoes start to fall ...

Big 10 set to cancel football season

https://www.aseaofblue.com/202...coronavirus-covid-19

Commissions of the Power 5 met today.  I’m starting to think it is really a matter of “when not if” football is shut down this fall.  It sounds like the Big 10 and Pac 12 are both close to calling it.  

https://www.espn.com/college-f...ing-no-fall-football

@Around_The_Horn posted:

Commissions of the Power 5 met today.  I’m starting to think it is really a matter of “when not if” football is shut down this fall.  It sounds like the Big 10 and Pac 12 are both close to calling it.  

https://www.espn.com/college-f...ing-no-fall-football

I would love to see the SEC,  ACC and Big 12 stick with plans and play.   They would own the fall (and make up the whole top 25!).   Anyone see Trevor Lawrence tweets today.   I am now a big fan.  

*and B12.

Zero chance anyone will stick with plans. Whatever the plan has been, it’s led us here. And too many loud voices feel that here is unacceptable. We have a choice.  Come up with an all new/significantly different plan or change what acceptable results look like. 

@Gunner Mack Jr. posted:

I would love to see the SEC,  ACC and Big 12 stick with plans and play.   They would own the fall (and make up the whole top 25!).   Anyone see Trevor Lawrence tweets today.   I am now a big fan.  

*and B12.

So you have me doing a bunch of ‘what if’s’ in my head.  I think that if two power 5 conferences shut down (or one for that matter) I think that the most likely outcome is that they all shut down.

But it becomes much more interesting in the long run if your thought happens.  If 2 or 3 power 5 conferences shut down but the others try to play, I think college football as we know it will be shattered.  It is already not an equal playing field but if half play and half don’t just think of how future recruiting would go.  If you play and everything goes well then you will win on the recruiting front like never before, only the teams in the playing conferences will get the blue chip players anymore.  The exact opposite would probably happen if things go badly.  Imagine being a PAC 12 California school in recruiting,  “ yes come play for us, we care about you and your future and well being, unlike those other schools, plus you can profit off your endorsements with us.”

If they don’t do it together, it will be the most seismic change in college football since the forward pass.

The easy thing to do is kick the can to the spring and hope the risks that stopped you from playing in the fall are gone.  Will they be?  The only thing that will make a difference is a vaccine and a widely available vaccine.  If that is where we are then we all better hope on of the 4-5 lead candidates get green-lighted in October / November and big money flows in to mass produce quickly.   What will change in the next 5-6 months that will make the P5 want to play in the spring?  The only other thing I can think of is that the election will be over at that point and quite possibly that will cool down the Covid rhetoric.  Possibly herd immunity if T cell immunity is at 40-50% and 20% of population gets the virus and B Cell antibodies that come with that?  that gets us to 60-70% and the virus will have issues finding hosts. Otherwise, spring will be the same as fall....

@Gunner Mack Jr. posted:

The easy thing to do is kick the can to the spring and hope the risks that stopped you from playing in the fall are gone.  Will they be?  The only thing that will make a difference is a vaccine and a widely available vaccine.  If that is where we are then we all better hope on of the 4-5 lead candidates get green-lighted in October / November and big money flows in to mass produce quickly.   What will change in the next 5-6 months that will make the P5 want to play in the spring?  The only other thing I can think of is that the election will be over at that point and quite possibly that will cool down the Covid rhetoric.  Possibly herd immunity if T cell immunity is at 40-50% and 20% of population gets the virus and B Cell antibodies that come with that?  that gets us to 60-70% and the virus will have issues finding hosts. Otherwise, spring will be the same as fall....

Agree with NCAA kicking the can, they've done that the whole time.  But play out the scenarios.  Who plays in the Spring?  Not the guys that think they'll get drafted in Spring 2021, many are already opting out.  Not the guys that think they will get drafted in 2022, or the guys that think that they might get drafted in 2022 (everyone else eligible in 2022). 

No way they are putting on pads in January '21, playing through May '21, and turning around and starting all over in July '21. 

"No thank you Mr. Coach and AD, I think I'll be opting out this Spring season, cause y'all at the NCAA set that precedent.  Oh by the way, you set some interesting precedents with Spring athletes too.  I expect to get my do-over year.  But don't worry, you can waive fall roster limits if you want. And by the way, you got this one-time transfer thing that you tabled 'til January, I expect you'll be passing that right?  I'm just saying... AD Stricklin down there in Gainesville says he can hook me up with some really sweet endorsement gigs.  If you don't pass it, I'm not sure the 9th court of appeals will look kindly on that, seeing as how they already called y'all a cartel violating the Sherman Act, and oppressing my right to earn a living. Interesting, how in the middle of a pandemic and nationwide racial protests, you P5 commissioners thought to write a letter to Congress asking them to prevent my right to make money off my own name, image, and likeness before things 'got out of hand'.  When that didn't work, y'all had Mark Emmert and the NCAA petition the supreme court for an emergency hearing to stop me from making money on myself.  Yeah, I'm opting out of Spring, but I expect to get paid next Fall, wherever I choose to play."

The NCAA, the conferences have so screwed up.  My grandfather told me, "If you ever wonder why something in the world doesn't seem right, follow the money.  But if you ever really want to change something about the world that seems wrong, make it financially profitable to do so, then get the hell out of the way."

If the NCAA passes NLI nationwide for September 1, 2020 ( morally and ethically the right thing and probably the only legal thing) and asks players and coaches to sign a liability waiver for Covid or any related illnesses and this thing would go off without a problem.

Explain to me again how football is different than baseball when it comes to spreading germs. 
https://youtu.be/l2NhptOahQg

And I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say they all survive this, just they have all the other bench clearing fights in the past.

Big 10 officially not playing football in the fall.

@PTWood posted:

Big 10 officially not playing football in the fall.

Ouch. I feel bad for the players. I hope they remain on campus and are able to work out. 

@PTWood posted:

Big 10 officially not playing football in the fall.

Where are you seeing it say that it is official?  Is it probably inevitable, yes.  But nothing has been announced officially at this point.  Still only rumors and unnamed sources.

But like I said, probably just a matter of time.

Directly from a player. :-( So you are correct, it's not official because it hasn't been published and it could possibly change between now and an announcement tomorrow.. Here is Dan Patrick corroborating:

https://twitter.com/dpshow/sta...810469779136512?s=20

I've seen it reported in several places that they voted to not play.

Pedaldad, I agree with you about the risk to college students being minimal (but not zero), and I am dismayed that colleges are shutting down.  However, I am also disgusted that some (many?) young people are so absolutely flippant about the whole thing, and that authorities are not taking a harder line to enforce what governments have ordered.  My 82-year-old mother-in-law is literally losing her marbles in isolation at home.  She is at risk, and she can't go anywhere because of the prevalance of the virus, in large part because of young people.

What colleges are doing has nothing to do with national politics.  People who say that are making excuses for what they know are failures.  It's not about political party; some governors, of both parties, have done better than others, both in terms of controlling cases, and in terms of conveying that they are concerned about all of their population.  For colleges, it's about money, and liability, and worrying about the rest of the community, full of people who are at risk.  Do you honestly think that these schools/athletic departments would be cancelling fall sports if someone hadn't presented very compelling arguments for doing so?  They need that money.  They are used to disregarding athletes' health.  They are not particularly liberal politically (at least, not the coaches, ADs, and boards of trustees).  So, some other argument has over-ridden all those things.

Guy on Dan Patrick said it's liability plain and simple. Lawyers are circling like sharks waiting to sue a school or conference. If they don't fix it there will be no basketball or baseball either. 

Legislation needs to be passed ASAP or all the fear mongers will collapse everything we have.  This is insane,

@anotherparent posted:

Pedaldad, I agree with you about the risk to college students being minimal (but not zero), and I am dismayed that colleges are shutting down.  However, I am also disgusted that some (many?) young people are so absolutely flippant about the whole thing, and that authorities are not taking a harder line to enforce what governments have ordered.  My 82-year-old mother-in-law is literally losing her marbles in isolation at home.  She is at risk, and she can't go anywhere because of the prevalance of the virus, in large part because of young people.

What colleges are doing has nothing to do with national politics.  People who say that are making excuses for what they know are failures.  It's not about political party; some governors, of both parties, have done better than others, both in terms of controlling cases, and in terms of conveying that they are concerned about all of their population.  For colleges, it's about money, and liability, and worrying about the rest of the community, full of people who are at risk.  Do you honestly think that these schools/athletic departments would be cancelling fall sports if someone hadn't presented very compelling arguments for doing so?  They need that money.  They are used to disregarding athletes' health.  They are not particularly liberal politically (at least, not the coaches, ADs, and boards of trustees).  So, some other argument has over-ridden all those things.

Coaches and Athletic Directors aren’t making decisions on whether or not to play sports. Those decisions are made by University presidents & administrators- who are both overwhelmingly liberal and risk averse. 

IMO it is the players who decided that they don't want to sacrifice their health so that schools can fill the classrooms.  You can't force anyone to do what they don't want to do.

It's not working in baseball either, 17 cardinals players and staff tested positive. All it takes is ONE to infect an entire clubhouse.  

We are where we are because our national testing strategy and covid policies SUCK!

JMO

@TPM posted:

IMO it is the players who decided that they don't want to sacrifice their health so that schools can fill the classrooms.  You can't force anyone to do what they don't want to do.

It's not working in baseball either, 17 cardinals players and staff tested positive. All it takes is ONE to infect an entire clubhouse.  

We are where we are because our national testing strategy and covid policies SUCK!

JMO

How many of those 17 got sick?

@TPM posted:

IMO it is the players who decided that they don't want to sacrifice their health so that schools can fill the classrooms.  You can't force anyone to do what they don't want to do.

It's not working in baseball either, 17 cardinals players and staff tested positive. All it takes is ONE to infect an entire clubhouse.  

We are where we are because our national testing strategy and covid policies SUCK!

JMO

Maybe we can hope that Cuomo will be put in charge of handling the 'pandemic' if the administration changes hands in November?

@22and25 posted:

How many of those 17 got sick?

2 had to go to hospital.

What does how many sick matter anyway.  You test positive you are in quarantine. 

@DesertDuck posted:

Maybe we can hope that Cuomo will be put in charge of handling the 'pandemic' if the administration changes hands in November?

Thanks, I just spit out my first sip of my post-lunch coffee all over my iPad. 

@TPM posted:

2 had to go to hospital.

What does how many sick matter anyway.  You test positive you are in quarantine. 

You don't think it matters if people who are testing positive actually show symptoms at some point?  Why are we testing asymptomatic people at all?  Do we think we can stop Covid from spreading one baseball club at a time?  It's dumb.  Let those who understand and accept the risk participate.  If they get sick pull them from competition and isolate them and treat them. Constantly testing to find and quarantine asymptomatic people does what exactly?  It's not going to stop the virus from spreading.

@22and25 posted:

How many of those 17 got sick?

Did you know Perfect Game held almost 2,000 WWBA games in GA last month and there weren’t any reports of death or even serious illness related to the tournament games? That was more games than MLB will play this year. And they did it with little to no safety measures. PBR was also holding large events just down the street and also had no reports of serious illness or death. 

@TPM posted:

IMO it is the players who decided that they don't want to sacrifice their health so that schools can fill the classrooms.  You can't force anyone to do what they don't want to do.

It's not working in baseball either, 17 cardinals players and staff tested positive. All it takes is ONE to infect an entire clubhouse.  

We are where we are because our national testing strategy and covid policies SUCK!

JMO

What do you mean its the players who decided that they don't want to sacrifice their health so that the schools can fill the classrooms?  I see student athletes demanding to play and I only know a few students who don't feel comfortable going back to campuses.   And yes the youth discount the risks but every parent who is paying to send kids back is also making the same risk calculation. 

Heard Desantis this morning on outkick radio.  That guy is awesome.  Florida is fortunate to have such a great Governor.  Also if anyone is tired of ESPN Radio try outkick.com and outkick radio.  It at least provides a different point of view on things.  ESPN is tough to watch or listen too in my opinion.

@TerribleBPthrower posted:

Did you know Perfect Game held almost 2,000 WWBA games in GA last month and there weren’t any reports of death or even serious illness related to the tournament games? That was more games than MLB will play this year. And they did it with little to no safety measures. PBR was also holding large events just down the street and also had no reports of serious illness or death. 

It’s not just about death. It’s about widespread passing of COVID. After playing none of those players returned to a 10,000 to 40,000 student campus with dorms, classrooms, cafeterias and a social life.

MLB is having trouble keeping older, supposedly more mature players and COVID under control. I can’t see how college campuses with thousands of students would be a better environment. 

I’m all for frying to get kids back on campus and in the classroom. But I don’t believe colleges are ready for sports.

@TPM posted:

IMO it is the players who decided that they don't want to sacrifice their health so that schools can fill the classrooms.  You can't force anyone to do what they don't want to do.

It's not working in baseball either, 17 cardinals players and staff tested positive. All it takes is ONE to infect an entire clubhouse.  

We are where we are because our national testing strategy and covid policies SUCK!

JMO

Can you try to keep your personal politics out of the conversation so the thread doesn’t go to hell.

@Gunner Mack Jr. posted:

What do you mean its the players who decided that they don't want to sacrifice their health so that the schools can fill the classrooms?  I see student athletes demanding to play and I only know a few students who don't feel comfortable going back to campuses.   And yes the youth discount the risks but every parent who is paying to send kids back is also making the same risk calculation. 

Heard Desantis this morning on outkick radio.  That guy is awesome.  Florida is fortunate to have such a great Governor.  Also if anyone is tired of ESPN Radio try outkick.com and outkick radio.  It at least provides a different point of view on things.  ESPN is tough to watch or listen too in my opinion.

Agree with you on Outkick (and the 'embrace the suck culture' that espn promotes)!

But...at the same time, Whitlock doesn't sunshine pump the narrative that many people live for. So, an open mind is kind of necessary to follow him.

@RJM posted:

It’s not just about death. It’s about widespread passing of COVID. After playing none of those players returned to a 10,000 to 40,000 student campus with dorms, classrooms, cafeterias and a social life.

MLB is having trouble keeping older, supposedly more mature players and COVID under control. I can’t see how college campuses with thousands of students would be a better environment. 

I’m all for frying to get kids back on campus and in the classroom. But I don’t believe colleges are ready for sports.

I agree about college sports. I was just referring to MLB baseball. As far as college sports goes, unless the universities are willing to accept outbreaks as part of playing a season then they shouldn’t even start the season. 

I am going to throw something out there and see if anyone will step up.  Lots of people are proudly raising the "we'll return to school and sports when it's safe for the kids" flag.  Okay, I'll bite.  I'll assume you truly mean that.  But I want the number.  What infection rate will be safe enough for the return?  What death rate or death total will qualify as safe for the kids to return?  And no, "I don't know, but less than what we have now" is not an answer.

Here's the thing, people.  We have acceptable death numbers for EVERYTHING bad in our country that is preventable.  Everything but Covid.  Take alcohol. 100% frivolous and unnecessary.  We lose approx 88,000 lives each year due to alcohol and we are all okay with it; meaning we're not making changes to save those 88,000 lives.  Maybe YOU would give up alcohol to save them, but WE as a county won't. It's a pipe dream.  But we should all be able to agree that it would take a LOT more than 88,000 alcohol-related deaths for us as a country to demand prohibition.  Would a million annual deaths from alcohol do it?  I doubt it.  We REALLY love our sauce.  How about traffic deaths?  We've got a number for that one as well.  I could go on and on, but we always find a tolerance for bad stuff that we technically COULD remedy.  What we do is find a threshold for our tolerance and then make peace with the balance between the bad stuff and all the things that we feel make our lives better/worth living.

So back to my question.  What is the acceptable number of Covid deaths?  If we can get that number published for all to see, we might have a chance at rallying around it.  We were once told that all we needed to do was flatten the curve.  So we hunkered down, bit the bullet and took some steps to flatten it.  But the goalposts were immediately moved and continue to be.  We as a country can be reasonable.  We can sacrifice.  We can pause our quality of life.  What we don't do well, is get strung along.  For everyone to have any chance of truly rallying together, we need a number.  And we need one for the scenario where we find a good vaccine and one for if we do not.  If we can remove the politics, we can start to have the really difficult conversations about our tolerance for this thing.

@adbono posted:

Coaches and Athletic Directors aren’t making decisions on whether or not to play sports. Those decisions are made by University presidents & administrators- who are both overwhelmingly liberal and risk averse. 

they are pussies - I pray some of these schools go bankrupt before the end of spring. 

@TerribleBPthrower posted:

Did you know Perfect Game held almost 2,000 WWBA games in GA last month and there weren’t any reports of death or even serious illness related to the tournament games? That was more games than MLB will play this year. And they did it with little to no safety measures. PBR was also holding large events just down the street and also had no reports of serious illness or death. 

PBR, PG, and some of the summer collegiate leagues that ran this summer were basically "don't ask-don't tell", show up and play games.  Who would be reporting virus cases?  Most teams at tournaments have (a) no team group travel, (b) no indoor locker rooms, and (c) no team indoor weight rooms and cages.  My son played summer college ball all summer in a league where players just showed up to games, he said some players were out for a couple of weeks at a time, he figured they might have been positive or quarantined, but no-one ever said.  No masks were worn.  Note that this has nothing to do with anything a player might be doing socially - presumably some of them were doing that in the summer, too.  We had my son tested afterward, he was negative.  I think it shows that the virus doesn't transmit well outdoors, and that probably no-one got seriously ill; I wish that some health organization had actually studied it.  With college, it's not all outdoors, there are locker rooms, weight rooms, meeting rooms, indoor cages, not to mention housing, dining, and social life.

@adbono posted:

Coaches and Athletic Directors aren’t making decisions on whether or not to play sports. Those decisions are made by University presidents & administrators- who are both overwhelmingly liberal and risk averse. 

Faculty tend to be liberal, Boards of Trustees tend to be conservative.  Presidents have to walk a line between the two, and generally are distrusted by both sides.  But when it comes to big-time sports, the (liberal) faculty have no influence whatsoever.  If the Trustees are convinced that there should be no sports, that's what the presidents are going to do.