Babar In The Room, Redux

That is just Babar droppings...schools with a lot less resources and hurt way worse than these endowment buzzards are playing. Where is the alumni on this matter?

Nice.

Add the Whittier Poets to that unfortunate list.

Unfortunately, my son is at one of the effected schools.

You can also add the entire CCAA (D2) to this list.

@SoCal OG posted:

Unfortunately, my son is at one of the effected schools.

You can also add the entire CCAA (D2) to this list.

Ah, that's true.  Yet D2 PacWest is playing, as is NAIA

I believe the entire CCCAA (Juco) is out - that's a lot of schools.

I am so sorry. Really. This has been a difficult season for some, but they are playing.

Moving forward parents or their players need to be on the phone NOW to find out what are the plans for next fall. I mean, what have they been doing for all these months?

Not allowing seniors living off campus not to play is just ridiculous.

Brutal stuff Smoke.  You got the double whammy....I empathize.

At Middlebury all the 2022's, and most of the 2023's took the semester off. They're training, lifting, taking a class or two online, and skiing / snowboarding.  Having my son around has been terrific.  Once my son and his teammates made their decision they've never once looked back.  So, it's been a different way of handling not playing this spring... Making the best of a negative situation...

The HC put together a '21 roster of roughly 15 players (mostly freshman) who will play 2-3 games per weekend vs non conference teams starting in April.

The NESCAC is probably afraid of travel because Massachusetts (Tufts in Medford) was a Covid hot spot. The numbers are way down. Everything is opening up. A couple of days ago I walked from MGH-Brigham in Longwood to Harvard Ave to Commonwealth Ave, down Newbury Street, Quincy Market and back to North Station. The streets were not crowded. But they were active again. There were people at restaurants. It’s the most normal Boston has appeared in a year. The only dead area was the Boston University campus.

Gov, Amherst and some other Nescac teams are on Middlebury's schedule, too. Wonder if Leonard is gonna add midweek games with the non conference guys.

Tufts is playing Trinity 8 (!) times (home and home and home and home double headers), Bates 4X, Colby 4x.  All 7 inning games. The NESCAC site even has a championship weekend listed.

RJM, with things opening up, does that mean people are going back to their offices, too?

I may have mentioned this before but my HS kid, a '22, has a 7 game season and parents and other fans aren't allowed to go to the games.

Does that qualify as a triple whammy?  Thank God I don't have more kids.

@RJM posted:

The NESCAC is probably afraid of travel because Massachusetts (Tufts in Medford) was a Covid hot spot. The numbers are way down. Everything is opening up. A couple of days ago I walked from MGH-Brigham in Longwood to Harvard Ave to Commonwealth Ave, down Newbury Street, Quincy Market and back to North Station. The streets were not crowded. But they were active again. There were people at restaurants. It’s the most normal Boston has appeared in a year. The only dead area was the Boston University campus.

That's a heck of a walk. How long did that take? My son and I flew into Logan at the end of June last year and made our way to the North Station. It was weird how deserted it was. The only guy on the T was a homeless guy with no legs, no shirt, a loin cloth, and smoking two cigarettes at one time

@smokeminside posted:

Gov, Amherst and some other Nescac teams are on Middlebury's schedule, too. Wonder if Leonard is gonna add midweek games with the non conference guys.

Tufts is playing Trinity 8 (!) times (home and home and home and home double headers), Bates 4X, Colby 4x.  All 7 inning games. The NESCAC site even has a championship weekend listed.

RJM, with things opening up, does that mean people are going back to their offices, too?

I may have mentioned this before but my HS kid, a '22, has a 7 game season and parents and other fans aren't allowed to go to the games.

Does that qualify as a triple whammy?  Thank God I don't have more kids.

Smoke, that's news to me.  They just posted the makeshift roster in the past week... Edit: just saw it for the first time.  Not much of anything was posted a week ago.  Thanks for heads up... I didn't think Midd HC would want to compete against conference colleges because of week roster.

You definitely qualify for tripple whammy!!

I think all the rosters might be weak. Amherst will only be freshmen, juniors who are at school (several aren't), and two seniors. One of the seniors is our best hitter so there's that, at least.

My wife has sworn off watching the live streams, but I don't think I'll be able to. My middle name is Masochist.

@smokeminside posted:

Does that qualify as a triple whammy?  Thank God I don't have more kids.

You got the triple whammy.  At least your youngest is not a senior.  I kind of feel that this year's juniors came out the best, if there is such a thing:  they already had more than a year in college/HS, and they will have a semi-normal senior year (we hope).

I'm following HSBBWebbers' college teams, and teams of my son's friends, and our high school team.  Literally everyone else is playing baseball.  And, my youngest has just made the HS varsity golf team, so now I'm a golf mom - is there a High School Golf forum???

@smokeminside posted:

Does that qualify as a triple whammy?  Thank God I don't have more kids.

Single whammy sucks plenty bad enough -- I can't imagine the triple.

@TerribleBPthrower posted:

That's a heck of a walk. How long did that take? My son and I flew into Logan at the end of June last year and made our way to the North Station. It was weird how deserted it was. The only guy on the T was a homeless guy with no legs, no shirt, a loin cloth, and smoking two cigarettes at one time

I didn’t keep track. I walked further. I took the commuter rail to North Station and walked to MGH-Brigham in Longwood before the described walk. I had my second shot yesterday. I met my uncle at Zaftigs on Harvard Ave for an early dinner. Since there were breaks I wasn’t thinking about time.

I’m in reasonable shape from busting it on six and ten mile bike trips. This was about a ten mile walk. My hips were stiff yesterday. But once on my bike I was fine. Now that the weather is better it’s time to expand the bike trips to 15-18 with a 40+ once a week.

North Station is for North Shore commuter rail and Amtrak from Maine. In the winter this year there were only street people in there. One tried to jump me in the men’s room. He wanted my backpack. I made the mistake of having a bottle of Scotch sticking out I had received for my birthday.

I didn’t enjoy getting hit. But he didn’t enjoy how many times I hit him back and eventually ran off. I applied Butch Cassidy’s “rules for a knife fight” .... there aren’t any rules. I was kicking too. I had a Glock in my backpack. But guns are for life threatening situations.

Ok, if I ever need a bodyguard when I'm in Boston, I know where to look.

@TerribleBPthrower posted:

The only guy on the T was a homeless guy with no legs, no shirt, a loin cloth, and smoking two cigarettes at one time

Now, there's an image.

Pretty tough to get a carry permit in Massachusetts.  Good for you.

@smokeminside posted:

Now, there's an image.

Imagine being stuck on a train with him for 5-10 minutes. Nobody else in that part of the train. Very weird experience.

@9and7dad posted:

Pretty tough to get a carry permit in Massachusetts.  Good for you.

I was advised when I purchased a gun it’s not much harder to get a conceal/carry permit than just a gun permit. It’s a lot harder to get a conceal/carry permit after the fact. I originally got it in PA after someone threatened my life and was spotted parked outside my kid’s school. It was the ex boyfriend of a woman I was dating. He flipped out when finding out she was moving in. White trash? No. Wall Street investment banker.

@TerribleBPthrower posted:

Imagine being stuck on a train with him for 5-10 minutes. Nobody else in that part of the train. Very weird experience.

I take Amtrak between Boston and Portland ME a lot. Over the past year there have been times when past UNH I’ve been the only one in the car. One time after UNH I was the only passenger on the train.

RJM, with things opening up, does that mean people are going back to their offices, too?

The rules changed on Monday. I had to go in for a Covid shot.** It’s also been in the 60’s. It was a good day to walk around. The last time I was walking around in the city was the end of January. There just hasn’t been much reason to go into the city.

** I’ve had no reaction to two Pfizer shots. My GF had no reaction to the J&J shot. My daughter had really bad reactions to her two Moderna shots. She was so sick she missed a day of work after the shot. She dragged herself to work the rest of the week. She’s 32. As a prosecutor she’s considered an officer of the court and a first responder. A nurse told me the shots can be tough on younger people.

@RJM posted:

A nurse told me the shots can be tough on younger people.

My son's team was "encouraged" to take the shot.  He had a 103 fever for 3 days and extreme nausea.  Said if he had known how bad he would feel, he wouldn't have done it.  Oh, and he played the day after he got it...not that well.

@baseballhs posted:

My son's team was "encouraged" to take the shot.  He had a 103 fever for 3 days and extreme nausea.  Said if he had known how bad he would feel, he wouldn't have done it.  Oh, and he played the day after he got it...not that well.

My son in law (36), a volunteer EMT had no reaction to his Pfizer shots.

They got J&J. Several had fevers, nausea, soreness.

I felt like crap for about 24 hours after Moderna #2 but thanks to Advil and napping it wasn't too bad.

I had no reaction to my first Pfizer but second I was achy for a few days. Many folks I know had tough time on their second shot.

My daughter had covid in April. She was told by doctor to get the vaccine. She had moderna yesterday, sicker than with covid.

So very sorry @smokeminside and all who have lost multiple seasons. Truly brutal.

If BC, UMass, UMass-Lowell, Merrimack, Holy Cross and Northeastern can travel and play baseball there’s no reason why Ivies and NESCACs in the area can’t be playing.

Smoke,

When I saw Babar in the thread title this image and movie scene from Fletch shot into my brain...sorry, I can't control it.   But given the circumstances and college baseball outcome for some, I'm not that far off from relating what happens in the movie.   

I hope it gets better for you soon.

@RJM posted:

If BC, UMass, UMass-Lowell, Merrimack, Holy Cross and Northeastern can travel and play baseball there’s no reason why Ivies and NESCACs in the area can’t be playing.

It's called poor planning. As soon as everything shut down coaches took to zoom with NCAA D1 baseball, their conferences, to talk and plan about fall 2020 and 2021. It was a LOT of work, and most everyone has made it work, along with other sports.

Or they just didnt give a crap.

Sad.

Of course everyone from the top down knew that baseball was safe to play.  What happened at those schools was not due to poor planning, or to a lack of desire to play.  It was because the schools were not letting all students on campus (and have mostly residential campuses), and most important, that they were restricting travel for academics (no academic visitors to campus) and non-athletic extra-curriculars, and didn't think they should make an exception for athletics.  Not to mention Los Angeles county wouldn't allow schools to open (although I have wondered how USC and UCLA are doing it).

It really does suck that if students chose to live off campus, they aren't allowed to play, but those who chose to live on campus can.  Having said that, at least they did have a choice.

Many schools did not have on campus classes, but athletes on and off campus took online classes and attended practice. Come spring many from different schools were given choices. Most were online, as this kept the athletes together.

It took TONS of planning which involved state, county, city as well as medical staff for advisement. I understand the issue in CA and LA but we had some serious covid here in FL and it worked. I strongly believe others could have as well, but obviously not. It also takes a lot of money. Testing alone 3 times a week for a full staff is very expensive. I am sure that a lot of factors went into decisions. The living off campus sounds like a good excuse NOT to plan ahead. So is travel. We as well as others, played one program that traveled, by bus for weeks to play top RPI teams and now 3 or 4 in RPI. What a great plan!

@TPM posted:

It also takes a lot of money.

In addition to city, county and state specific issues, the above statement is probably the biggest factor.  

@smokeminside, you might find this article about mourning small losses during the pandemic to be of interest.

A Pomona athlete is one of the people featured.

@JCG posted:

@smokeminside, you might find this article about mourning small losses during the pandemic to be of interest.

A Pomona athlete is one of the people featured.

Forgot the link. Rookie mistake.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/0...pandemic-losses.html

I understand that the testing is expensive.  I don't understand why many of the wealthiest schools in the country aren't willing to make the effort that is being made by hundreds, if not thousands, of schools less well off.

Thanks for the link, JCG.

@SoCal OG posted:

In addition to city, county and state specific issues, the above statement is probably the biggest factor.  

I remember reading last fall the cost was $100 per student, but I am assuming most schools have found a less expensive option.

Remember many  have  medical schools. Could cut down on costs.

Especially after Cornell, Indiana, etc. showed in the fall that it could be done.  There's no excuse for the spring.  The California schools claimed they tried, but LA wouldn't let them.  The schools that closed recruit a more national student population than many others, and didn't want students travelling all over the country.  But Cornell's most persuasive argument was that they calculated that students were at more risk staying in their home communities with no testing, than coming and living off-campus with frequent testing.

I feel for ya Smoke. Taking a gap year from Caltech this year was the best decision he/we have made and it makes more sense all the time financially, academically and athletically. He'll be back in the Fall and have 4 years eligibility left in case he wants to play in Grad school.