kansas45

Actually, as fictitious as it is, there is underlying truth to it. 1. there are people who do not care about other people's health as long as football is played; 2. we only give superficial sympathies for a brief moment but as long as it does not interfere with college football, we are good; 3. we care more about the game of football than those who are actually playing in it; 4. the money to be made by athletics is superior to that of human life whether that is death or disability. 5. we are attempting to put the conventional wisdom of a square peg in the round hole of a pandemic. I think what is really sanctimonious is how so many are attempting to justify and rationalize despite the current situations, of attempting to beg to the football gods to have a season. The use of statistics to justify a great crusade to play football. There is even the use of a OWH story of "hey, they played Notre Dame in 1918 and there was a pandemic that killed billions of people; weren't our grandparents a hardy lot?"

It is a summation, in a fictitious way, of most of the feelings on this board and apparent attitudes. All this thread is really doing is attempting to justify why football should be played instead of addressing the realities. This thread is doing everything humanely possible, without much of a hint of humanism and public health, to rationalize why the season should be played and all the weird theories and wild speculation of playing just to get a game or two or three in just for our selfish purpose of being entertained. We are trying hard to convince ourselves, no matter what, of having a football season. Thus, the fictitious role I put in to gain a sense of "what is" and "what is not" important in this unprecedented situation we are facing.

The first child, who is a fifth grader, who has asthma, who succumbs from this virus will have little effect on whether we play college football as the money to be made from college football will dwarf any child who dies from it; there will be a news story on page 6 but no one will pay much attention as long as football is being played. The lawyers for the family will go about their business of suing the school district all the while we can rejoice that college football is being played; we will say all the right things like "our prayers and thoughts are with you" and other fashionable statements that demonstrate our faux concern because we will be quietly express "sucks to be you" but we will immediately turn our attention to more pressing matters such as if the Huskers will be playing. I just hope that the child that dies is not a relative of a current Husker player; this way we do not have to hear or read about some mushy and sugary human interest story from a player on the team that distracts from how the games will be played. You know, the news stories that has the music in the background and the images of the child in happier times and the football player who has to overcome this human tragedy with the sad music in the background. You know, that crap that tries to show the softer, more gentler side of a game that offers war-like metaphors. Reporter in the background: Sad story indeed. I caught up our Husker player and asked him how he was reacting to the news. Here is my report. Reporter: I am so sorry to hear that your brother who was age 11 who died of covid. How is this impacting you? Player: I am dedicating my season to him. It will be hard to have him not around, in the stands, cheering me on; he was the inspiration of my life. Reporter: How noble. You are an inspiration to all of us. But on to more important matters. How are you preparing to square off against Ohio State? Surely your not going to let some meaningless 11 year old that no one really cares about and have already forgotten about by now impact your ability to play against Ohio State, are you? Where are your priorities? Player: what a mean thing to even suggest. Reporter: it's the truth. Everyone on HuskerBoard could care less about some snot-nosed little twerp who happened to die from covid; he had asthma, he was probably going to die anyway. We all know that football and playing the game is far more important. What say you on the importance of playing during a pandemic? Player: my parents just lost a son and this is all you can say? Reporter: as the reporter for HuskerBoard, we could care less about how your parents feel. What? Aren't they Husker fans? Don't they care about how the athletic department is going to survive without Husker football? Player: so you only care about me playing but not my health and my family? Reporter: Ding ding ding, we have a winner!!! Now you are learning what is important around here.

Hopefully this is not you in watching the View as I would rather go through my choice of Spanish Inquisition torture rituals.

I have to ask these questions AGAIN. 1. if you are the President of the University of Nebraska system, what do you do? 2. WHY are we playing a football season this fall?

The View? Assume that I am using sarcasm.

One student-athlete death. That's all it will take from a mortality standpoint. One student-athlete hospitalized. That's all it will take from a morbidity standpoint.

You forgot to put in hazmat suit. Way better protection that the N95. This is the NCAA's proposed basketball uniforms. Currently being tested now.

My argument exactly. One cannot say "we played Notre Dame in 1918, heck, even went 2-3-1 in the MVIAA; surely we can play now." Imagine the lawyers on the side of the plaintiff in this case and the number of medical expert witnesses that they could have in saying "it was illogical to play given the information we had available." The Ivy League set precedence here.

The doomsday scenario is built in the guidelines by which they can point to one and then shut the whole thing down. I doubt the NCAA will cancel the season; but the overwhelming pressure of an outraged media in the event of a tragic situation to a student-athlete will doom the season. I predict it will be one of those sobering moments that will cause the season to end.

And I will put you in the "yes" column.

Interesting article. https://www.si.com/college/2020/07/21/college-football-return-coronavirus-contact-tracing Some pull quotes: At issue is that mandatory 14-day quarantine as part of the contact tracing section of the plan. Some around college football believe the quarantine time to be so long and the definition of a “high-risk” contact to be so cautious that completing a season may be virtually impossible. According to both the Power 5 and NCAA guidelines, those who test positive for COVID-19 must isolate for at least 10 days from their onset of symptoms/positive test and until they’ve gone at least three days without symptoms. However, those found to have contact with the infected must miss even more time—two full weeks—even if they test negative for the virus. The key word there: may. There are liability concerns. College athletes are not paid like their professional counterparts. “This could shut down a team for 14 days and then you need time to re-acclimate,” Drezner says. “If you have a normal college football practice and someone turns out to be positive, you are quarantining a large portion of the team.” Identifying high-risk contacts takes honesty. Did you collide with Infected Player A at practice at all? Were you around Infected Player B for 20 minutes without a mask? It’s a massive undertaking. For some, the worry is that coaches and players alike will impede contact-tracing protocols to protect a star player or players from what would amount to a two-week suspension. “They are influenced by the pressure to win,” Drezner says. “It’s possible people won’t be forthcoming. It would be sad.” Here is another article: https://www.si.com/college/2020/07/16/power-5-conferences-covid-testing-college-football Overall conclusion: No football this fall.

All I try to do is post as relevant information as possible. I know you are not (hopefully) getting on to me or others and I do not want to turn this is a left-right political issue. And you are correct that there is no need to post shots at political leaders but you can, I would hope, inform people of what some of them have stated that makes a point as to answering the question of "will there be a college football season in 2020?" For example, if a governor of a state says: no travel, this should be given as information to help answer the question. But no need to say "governor is out of their mind and an idiot." But that the decision does add to the overall chaos and insanity of the situation. However, while I do not want to get into the elected politics of this virus, there is little doubt that some of that is playing out in this "Theatre of the Absurd" i.e. drama using the abandonment of conventional dramatic form to portray the futility of human struggle in a senseless world. And there is a lot of drama going on right now. And I will revise my "insanity and chaos know no limits" and suggest that "senselessness knows no limits." But I just thought of this: If you do ask the question of "will there be college football in fall 2020?" there are really three responses that do deserve a reason why because this is what will the response will be: 1. No, there will not be a college football season. Response: what? are you out of your mind? 2. Yes, there will be a college football season. Response: what? are you out of your mind? 3. I don't know if there will be a college football season. Response: what? are you out of your mind?

It's getting worse; as I have always stated: insanity knows no limits. While you may argue that this is not insane, the point is that this whole thing is bordering on such. If not insanity, I believe we can agree on "chaos". Thus I will alter my notion of insanity to "chaos knows no limits." https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/29510452/no-fans-fall-college-sports-state-new-york Colleges and universities in New York can play football and other sports this fall, but they will have to do so without fans in the stands because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to an order from Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday. "Fanless, the game can go on, the game can be televised, but no fans," Cuomo said during a conference call with reporters, according to multiple news outlets.The order would affect FBS members Army, Buffalo and Syracuse, as well as a handful of FCS programs if their seasons are played. But couple this with this news: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/new-york-new-jersey-add-10-states-to-mandatory-quarantine-restriction-list As of Tuesday, individuals traveling from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin will be required to self-quarantine for 14 days upon arrival in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey, bringing the total to 31 states. And we knew that there would be no fans in the stands but some schools were bragging, like Texas, of being at 50% capacity at one time. Of course, we know that colleges will be given a "pass" and allowed to travel to these states to play but this also creates a lot of unneeded friction and tension among people and that the argument of the financial "bottom line."; but what is stopping a governor from imposing higher or stricter restrictions as new data comes in?

Thank you. At first, when I read this and saw "if you want to bury your head in the sand..." I went back and reread what I wrote and said "how did you get that?" But then I saw the up arrow. You are correct about "if there is no virus, then we would be talking about Cam Jurgens and his hopeful improvement in snapping the ball" or "what alternate uniform will they we wearing?", you know, important stuff. But these types of conversations that I listed (Jurgens and uniforms) are only a way to hold out hope and act like "yes, we are having a season no matter what" to give us some since of normalcy but that can be dangerous to a degree. This virus: Very similar to if ET's land on this planet, our question(s) will be "how does the knowledge of extra-terrestrial life impact the college football playoffs?" or "will we charge ET's extra additional fees, since they are without a valid driver's license, to attend Husker games?" or "will we have the ET's use their space ship, but not their stealth technology, in a fly-over of Memorial Stadium during our National Anthem and Tunnel Walk?" or "will any of the ET's walk on to play Husker football and does the two extra arms cause an unfair advantage in the passing game?" You simply cannot escape the issue and all it's moving parts. And here is an article that just came out a few minutes ago from some egghead academics in their ivory tower that could be an opinion from Faculty Athletic Reps or what MAY be on their minds. https://www.chronicle.com/article/canceling-the-college-football-season-isnt-enough I post this because this is one of those variables in this whole aspect of Will There Be a 2020 Football Season? Failure to discuss this issue will only put this topic in another thread as it is THE TOPIC that is having a profound effect on everything. These variables cannot be overlooked and helps to explain the entirety of the situation. If you listen to the Hail Varsity podcast, Chris Schmidt is holding out ALL hope and coming up with every conceivable plan to have football but leaves out so much; thus, you cannot limit a fan board to just those who are "the optimistic" because that can be dangerous to a certain extent. I personally appreciate everyone's view on this.

Oh that's easy to answer: No. But I believe this thread serves the important distinction of attempting to answer the question of "why there will not be a 2020 football season" OR "why there will be a 2020 football season." In order to answer that question, especially one in which there are so many variables, it is important to go back to what we learned in elementary school of the "who, what, when, where, why and how."

The thing that worries me is the unknown long-term effects of getting it and what happens if you are either in the mild, moderate or severe classification. Is this thing like a varicella virus that can lay dormant in the body and then spring up later much like varicella zoster virus that causes shingles? I don't know. These are additional guidelines posted by the NCAA. http://www.ncaa.org/sport-science-institute/core-principles-resocialization-collegiate-sport http://www.ncaa.org/sport-science-institute/covid-19-advisory-panel-exercise-recommendations

I believe he said to wear masks when he mentioned that there was a mine-shaft gap. While the rest of us were... While the NCAA is asking the real pertinent question: And deciding what to do:

Yes, it is hard on the fan no doubt. But since I do not like professional sports much, I am the college atmosphere type. However, here is something may indicate or clue us into what college presidents are thinking. This ties into the NCAA guideline of "campus-wide or community outbreak." https://www.chronicle.com/article/Colleges-Hoped-for-an/249206?cid=wsinglestory_hp_1a Vanderbilt University’s chancellor, Daniel Diermeier, said the university’s local environment would be the first consideration. A stay at-home order would preclude everything else, he told The Chronicle. Other triggers would be if Vanderbilt observed waves of hospitalizations and infections, or strains on testing capacity, quarantine capacity, or care capacity. Other campus leaders interviewed by The Chronicle stressed that local guidance will be a key part of the decision. The University of Maryland’s new president, Darryll J. Pines, tied his administration’s decision matrix directly to Maryland, county, and city guidance and indicators. “When they tell us it’s time to pivot,” he said, “we’re going to listen to them.” “The fraternity outbreak gave us a glimpse of how congregate living could really seed infections,” Christ said. An outbreak that stems from a fraternity party is just the sort of thing that many professors say they worry about when assessing the safety of returning to in-person instruction. Regardless of behavior pledges, which colleges have considered as a way of promoting safety amid the pandemic, some people find it difficult to believe that young college students will party together in masks and maintain six feet of physical distance once the alcohol starts flowing.

One of the things that I was told when I was in school was this: what we teach you today is what we know today; and what we teach you today, 50% of it will be demonstrated to either be wrong, not quite correct, or our understanding of it will change to reflect new findings that adds to it or takes things away from it. The problem is that we do not know what that 50% is. As far as this thread is concerned: 1. I have learned a lot from it and enjoy the many perspectives whether I agree or not as we are Americans who love to argue; 2. the things that are discussed from a clinical-scientific aspect is pertinent to the enterprise of football being played as we are talking about student-athlete performance or the ability to perform; I tend to shy away from the political discussion and finger pointing because the blame game is always the easy play. But conspiracy theories involving football are always good. 3. this topic, since it is THE topic that is affecting the ability of football to be played, needs to be discussed; 4. the elimination of this topic or closing of this thread will not make the football season suddenly be played on time; 5. this is a fluid situation and there does need to be one single thread to discuss this matter whether it gets to be a 1000 pages because other topics can be dedicated to a single topic such as "who is the greatest water-boy in Husker history who had a medulla oblongata?" One comment was: [There's another argument that says this thread is going to act as a de facto Tangent thread, and if this one is closed all this stuff spreads to another thread.] Much like the virus, keep it contained but I doubt we can mitigate the virus of arguing nor will we flatten the curve on arguing about this. Just think, you will be able to tell tall tales of how you survived without college football someday. Grandson: Grandpa, what did you do during the Great Pandemic of 2020? You: I was on the front lines combating that disease with all the firepower I could muster; a lot of lives depended on me. Grandson: did you see a lot of action? You: of course grandson; it was tough, a lot of big decisions had to be made by me that affected a lot of people's lives. Grandson: did you survive without football? You: let me tell you, it comes down to your inner strength, discipline and above all hope that you will succeed. Grandma in the background: do not listen to him; all he did was sit in front of a computer arguing about it all day with his buddies on HuskerBoard.com; when football was cancelled he cried like a baby for a month and all he did was watch old Husker videos of the 1990's arguing about how covid ruined his life. He was pathetic. Front lines, oh yeah. I still have the psychiatric bills to prove he was a mess. I am just thankful that I live in a country that we can argue and discuss without fear although the cancel culture is going on strong and is playing some part in this whole thing as well. Reason? The college presidents do not want to be the next #getridofhim on social media for a student-athletes health going wrong. So there is a socio-cultural aspect that is being built into this whole calculus.

The NCAA is made up of mainly this group: the college presidents. http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/media-center/ncaa-101/what-ncaa It is the presidents, not the coaches or the athletic directors because these people can be removed by the college president at any time. Thus, they are going to come up with stuff that protects their institutions and the last thing they want are lawsuits or their reputations damaged. So, there is not just one man behind the curtain but instead there are "men behind the curtain" and they are the college presidents. The NCAA has their medical professionals from all over the place. But one thing is for sure, people in these positions are "risk adverse". But not all NCAA schools have the luxury of having medical schools tied to them. Not all schools have experts in epidemiology or public health. Another poster noted this: [Our grandparents in 1940s America lived on emergency rations and the produce they could grow in their "Victory Garden" for four years. They met that challenge with pride and dignity and a forbearance that we should all hope to emulate.] Many universities and colleges did not have college football because of the war. At the same time, a number of universities suspended their football programs. Eight members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) -- Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt -- did not field teams in 1943. In addition, six Pacific Coast Conference teams (Stanford, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington State, Idaho, and Montana) did not play, nor did Boston College, the Citadel, Duquesne, Fordham, Harvard, Michigan State, Syracuse, and William & Mary. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1943_college_football_season#:~:text=At the same time%2C a,not field teams in 1943. Someone here noted this: [I saw friends in Korea posting pictures of the beach and dining in restaurants. I was jealous that we can't do the same here because we won't follow what has worked in controlling the virus around the world. Likely cost us college football, volleyball, and maybe more if don't get our act together..] How would you have reacted if Congress and the Senate, then approved by President Trump mandated or made into law the mandatory shutting down of all states or a law that mandated wearing a mask back in March or April or even February? But think of the size of Korea vs the whole of the USA. The United States is about 99 times bigger than South Korea.We are 50 states with federal and state and local laws. And we have a Constitutional system which are governed by "negative rights" which strongly suggests what the govt cannot do to you. Of course South Korea was able to contain and mitigate the virus. Look at the size comparison.

And you mean what by this?

The problem with this mask wearing for six weeks thing is that it is nothing more than the next big thing to promote. First, we were to shutdown everything in an attempt to flatten the curve and stay home but no need to wear a mask in order to mitigate the spread. Although I am wearing a mask out in public, I do find this "finished in six weeks" to be nothing more than wishful thinking. Because you know what the answer will be when there is an uptick in cases: "well, not everyone followed the guidelines; see, not our fault; your fault." This is a way by which to have a convenient escape route when their measures ultimately fail to diminish the virus that they claim all the time "we are learning so much more than what we previously knew." Because in six weeks the flu/influenza season will be very close by. And does anyone really think that c19 is going to miraculously go away? And really, when is this second wave supposed to come about? And really, like this mask wearing business for six weeks is going to save college football?

Exactly!!! If you read the NCAA guidelines I posted http://www.ncaa.org/sport-science-institute/resocialization-collegiate-sport-developing-standards-practice-and-competition Campuswide or local community test rates that are considered unsafe by local public health officials. This right here gives the college presidents that "out" that they need from a legal standpoint. AND what college president wants to have to answer questions of being an epicenter of a Covid crisis? And how are they going to rationalize player safety when it is not safe for the rest of the student body to on campus? Oh sure, they can say "we stand to lose millions if we don't play" but don't you stand to lose millions without student on campus anyway? But students do not bring in TV revenue that we need. Ok, then your student-athletes are essentially employees then right? This notion of a whole amateur model is going to fall apart very fast if they do not cancel the season and do not allow the entire student body on campus. AND, in my opinion, the college presidents should cancel the season based on this because they stand to lose more money long term than short term if they lose this amateur athletic model. I will bet you anything that some of these folks are calculating this right now. U of Southern Cal has already signaled its intent to cancel the season. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-07-02/usc-will-move-most-undergraduate-classes-online-cancels-reopening While this article says "10 to 20% of classes will be face-to-face or on campus such as labs", do not be surprised if this changes. What is to stop a professor who teaches a lab or one of these face-to-face courses from refusing to do such OR the student who needs the course to graduate on time cannot or does not want to come on campus to take this course? As well, a lawsuit or series of lawsuits, if a student gets C19 is just as good as someone who is a student-athlete. Remember, ALL colleges have re-opening plans but the keyword is "tentative" meaning that it can change in a moment's notice. A mask is just a small part of this whole calculus as well as as hand washing. A lawyer could go through a litany of things such as "did you do ample cleaning measures of the classroom or lab before and after the class? And was the entire building properly sanitized? Did you offer the student adequate testing for C19? And were all your employees in the building C19 free even though they were tested upon arrival to campus? Oh, you had your teachers tested before they arrived on campus but did not require them to be tested routinely? Were your professors checked, prior to coming into the building to teach, temperature checked? Oh, you only had them do a symptom log daily? Oh, your student-athletes were tested routinely but not available to the rest of the campus community? Would this have changed if my client was a student-athlete? This whole thing is going to get a lot worse before it gets better. So do not think that "wearing a mask and testing will solve this problem." Oh sure, wear a mask on the sideline, the kids want to play. I think it is more about the fans wanting to play than actually considering the overall situation. And this is what gets me. We were told as a nation to shut down and watched others lose their jobs and get furloughed or work from home and college football went on like they were too big to fail. Sorry folks. Everyone is stammering for equity. We are all in this now. But I ask these questions. 1, if your son was playing college football, what would you do? 2. if you son or daughter is planning on going to college or getting ready for college, what would you do? 3. what are you, individually, willing to give up or sacrifice just to see or hear (I listen to games on the radio) the Huskers play? This whole thing about delayed schedules and spring football is nothing more than...

It gets even crazier. I thought when I posted 7. First P5 conference to call the whole thing off because student-athletes will protest: PAC-12, I heard a whisper on the news of some "protest of demands" but could not find the original source that I stumbled upon but now, I found this one. https://www.forbes.com/sites/karenweaver/2020/07/19/can-2020-get-any-crazier-now-theres-word-of-a-college-football-boycott/#62561aeb21bf “better” Covid-19 testing and protocols. 50/50 revenue sharing; 6 years of health insurance upon graduation;