Will There Be a 2020 Football Season?

[kansas45]

What did I tell you all about the media outrage machine getting warmed up? Another exhibit to present.

CNN's Bob Costas: 'Unconscionable' for unpaid college football players to play during pandemic

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/509931-cnns-bob-costas-unconscionable-for-unpaid-college-football-players-to-play

 

[Undone]

CNN's Bob Costas: 'Unconscionable' for unpaid college football players to play during pandemic

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/509931-cnns-bob-costas-unconscionable-for-unpaid-college-football-players-to-play

I knew this angle would start coming up in late July.

And like I had said earlier in the day, it's going to be really interesting to see what public opinion looks like 12 months from now if it turns out COVID is just here to stay indefinitely.

I'm not saying that the time will come exactly a year from now, but if coronavirus does become endemic, we'll all have to figure out whether we go back to normal or not.

Will it also be "unconscionable" if 12 months from now if the disease is following roughly its current trajectory? I'm not insinuating an answer one way or another - but I think that thinking of it in that context is also important.

 

[Nebfanatic]

For me I think about it like this. Alot has to go right for college football to make it through a season, but only a few things have to go wrong and there is alot that can go wrong. Something something Murphy's law. 

 

[Hilltop]

Any credible source for this would be awesome, because from what we're seeing in baseball it is clearly not safe to play. 

Btw, the NBA, NHL, MLS, or any other sport that put literally everyone in a bubble doesn't count. College athletes won't be in a bubble.

I just posted data a couple days ago - I'll let you go hunt it down and draw your own conclusions.

  https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/ece0db09da4d4ca68252c3967aa1e9dd

The bottom line is It is very rare that anyone under 30 even has a severe case of Covid.  To take it a step further, people in excellent shape, like athletes, are at an even lower risk.  The vast majority in this age class don't even get symptoms.

Here is a quote from the Red Sox chief officer today regarding the one baseball player that made headlines, Eduardo Rodriguez- "  ...the complication that he had was very mild in terms of just the severity of it."  

I don't blame the media for running with the story but it sounds like it may not have been worthy of the panic that it created.  

Can you find a single severe case involving a college athlete?  There has sure been a lot of positive cases but I'm not aware of a single severe case.  

 

[Hilltop]

I think you are all missing a key variable in having a football season. It is not just students that will be key; you also have faculty to contend with as well as staff. 

Why can't everyone not playing wear the required PPE to ensure their safety?  

 

[Nebfanatic]

Here is a quote from the Red Sox chief officer today regarding the one baseball player that made headlines, Eduardo Rodriguez- "  ...the complication that he had was very mild in terms of just the severity of it."  

Of course he is going to say that but let's put that in context. 3 weeks after testing positive he couldn't throw more than 20 pitches in a workout. It may be mild myocarditis, but that doesnt mean it isn't serious. 

 

[Undone]

Whether it's realistic & fair or not, if a college athlete gets severely ill with COVID the media outrage will be intense.

It's this push/pull of big time money on the line versus safety & optics. It'll be an intense showdown right up until 9/01 IMO, and I really don't know for sure which one will win out.

But I'd still guess the season gets cancelled.

 

[Hilltop]

Of course he is going to say that but let's put that in context. 3 weeks after testing positive he couldn't throw more than 20 pitches in a workout. It may be mild myocarditis, but that doesnt mean it isn't serious. 

I never said it wasn't serious.  I was just stating that the media suggested it to be worse than what the Sox are now reporting.  I guess we will find out in the next 24 hours.  He had a follow up appointment yesterday.  The results should be available soon according the the Red Sox.

 

[kansas45]

Of course he is going to say that but let's put that in context. 3 weeks after testing positive he couldn't throw more than 20 pitches in a workout. It may be mild myocarditis, but that doesnt mean it isn't serious. 

You are correct. We simply do not know if this is an acute case or will turn into a chronic case. 

Why can't everyone not playing wear the required PPE to ensure their safety?  

We are talking about faculty here. They operate on a totally different mindset. Especially if they are in a union. 

Can you find a single severe case involving a college athlete?  There has sure been a lot of positive cases but I'm not aware of a single severe case

Define what the term "severe" means; once we have established this, then we can begin the discussion. But we move forward  because there has not been a "severe" case? And what do we do if a severe case emerges amongst a college football player? Or is transmitted to a person who is not an athlete? 

And because there has not been a severe case linked to a college student-athlete, does this fall in line with the paradigm of "the college student-athlete's health and safety is of supreme importance"? 

What do you propose we do if there is ONE severe case? This is where your definition of what constitutes severe is going to be important.

 

[Hilltop]

We simply do not know if this is an acute case or will turn into a chronic case. 

We are talking about faculty here. They operate on a totally different mindset. Especially if they are in a union. 

Define what the term "severe" means; once we have established this, then we can begin the discussion. But we move forward  because there has not been a "severe" case? And what do we do if a severe case emerges amongst a college football player? Or is transmitted to a person who is not an athlete? 

And because there has not been a severe case linked to a college student-athlete, does this fall in line with the paradigm of "the college student-athlete's health and safety is of supreme importance"? 

What do you propose we do if there is ONE severe case? This is where your definition of what constitutes severe is going to be important.

We simply so not know when/if we will get any bad disease.  We can't stop society because something bad might happen.    

Faculty are very capable of wearing PPE.  Our elementary and high school faculty will be wearing PPE in 2 weeks when schools reopen.

According to the WHO - Covid-19 is classified as severe when the infected person requires hospitalization and oxygen support.

If there is no confirmed cases of severe infections in college athletes.  How is this a compromise of student athletes safety?

If the situation changes, I propose we re-evaluate.      

 

[kansas45]

We simply so not know when/if we will get any bad disease.  We can't stop society because something bad might happen.    

Faculty are very capable of wearing PPE.  Our elementary and high school faculty will be wearing PPE in 2 weeks when schools reopen.

According to the WHO - Covid-19 is classified as severe when the infected person requires hospitalization and oxygen support.

If there is no confirmed cases of severe infections in college athletes.  How is this a compromise of student athletes safety?

If the situation changes, I propose we re-evaluate.  

I agree we cannot simply stop society; but I have asked this question before with no answer from you or anyone: what do you say to the parent of a student-athlete if something occurs that was easily preventable by not playing? What does that phone conversation sound like?

Yes, faculty are capable of wearing PPE; however, in higher education these people are a totally different bread of animal.

Ok, so severe is only hospitalized and needing oxygen supplementation. So, a person who gets the virus but they develop myocarditis is not considered severe and that prevents them from playing. Or the student-athlete that contracts the virus and they happen to have sickle cell anemia and that prevents them from playing. So, hypercoagulability is not a concern? 

If there are no confirmed cases of severe infections, why in the world did all those schools and conferences cancel their season? Why in the world did OhioSt and Rutgers and other schools put a halt to workouts? 

If the situation changes, you would re-evaluate. Ok, and what would this re-evaluation process look like? Cancel the season? Oh heaven's no, you would not do that to stop society over one little measly death or student-athlete on a ventilator. Postpone the games? Carry on as normal?

 

[hunter49]

I agree we cannot simply stop society; but I have asked this question before with no answer from you or anyone: what do you say to the parent of a student-athlete if something occurs that was easily preventable by not playing? What does that phone conversation sound like?

Yes, faculty are capable of wearing PPE; however, in higher education these people are a totally different bread of animal.

Ok, so severe is only hospitalized and needing oxygen supplementation. So, a person who gets the virus but they develop myocarditis is not considered severe and that prevents them from playing. Or the student-athlete that contracts the virus and they happen to have sickle cell anemia and that prevents them from playing. So, hypercoagulability is not a concern? 

If there are no confirmed cases of severe infections, why in the world did all those schools and conferences cancel their season? Why in the world did OhioSt and Rutgers and other schools put a halt to workouts? 

If the situation changes, you would re-evaluate. Ok, and what would this re-evaluation process look like? Cancel the season? Oh heaven's no, you would not do that to stop society over one little measly death or student-athlete on a ventilator. Postpone the games? Carry on as normal?

I agree we cannot simply stop society; but I have asked this question before with no answer from you or anyone: what do you say to the parent of a student-athlete if something occurs that was easily preventable by not playing? What does that phone conversation sound like?

Yes, faculty are capable of wearing PPE; however, in higher education these people are a totally different bread of animal.

Ok, so severe is only hospitalized and needing oxygen supplementation. So, a person who gets the virus but they develop myocarditis is not considered severe and that prevents them from playing. Or the student-athlete that contracts the virus and they happen to have sickle cell anemia and that prevents them from playing. So, hypercoagulability is not a concern? 

If there are no confirmed cases of severe infections, why in the world did all those schools and conferences cancel their season? Why in the world did OhioSt and Rutgers and other schools put a halt to workouts? 

If the situation changes, you would re-evaluate. Ok, and what would this re-evaluation process look like? Cancel the season? Oh heaven's no, you would not do that to stop society over one little measly death or student-athlete on a ventilator. Postpone the games? Carry on as normal?

I'm curious on others thoughts on this board....if Covid-19 was killing kids at the rate of older citizens - would you then be mad that Trump calls this the Chinese Virus? I truly believe we would already be in a World War with them if that was the case and way more people would be on board. 

No, I am not saying he is right for saying this at this time or we should be at war - I just feel since it isn't kids then people kind of let a lot of things slide. 

it doesn't matter what you call it, it came from China, they hatched it. yes, if many children were dying from it across the world there would be a war over it for sure.

 

[hunter49]

interesting, Moos has not come out against a full stadium of 90K people?

that's crazy, only a handful of infected people would cause a huge spike.

 

[WyoHusker56]

I knew this angle would start coming up in late July.

And like I had said earlier in the day, it's going to be really interesting to see what public opinion looks like 12 months from now if it turns out COVID is just here to stay indefinitely.

I'm not saying that the time will come exactly a year from now, but if coronavirus does become endemic, we'll all have to figure out whether we go back to normal or not.

Will it also be "unconscionable" if 12 months from now if the disease is following roughly its current trajectory? I'm not insinuating an answer one way or another - but I think that thinking of it in that context is also important.

I will say their is a difference between what it does now and if it becomes endemic which most experts seem to think it will. Even if exposure doesn't stop you from getting it again it'll likely make it even less severe or deadly. As well, people will have some level of immunity so it won't spread nearly as bad.

The main reason the flu or other colds aren't as sever or deadly and spread slower is because the vast majority of the population has some level of immunity or past infection. Even though you get the flu and colds more than once they are less deadly and severe because your body has experienced them before unlike covid. For example, my daughter ended up in the hospital for RSV which is the number one cause of hospitalizations for kids under 1 and for adults RSV is a small cold because they had it as a kid. You can get it again, but it doesn't affect you as much.

So, if 12 months from now it's endemic, it'll be less unconscionable because there will likely be better treatments, a possible vaccination, more broad immunity/past exposure and it'll hopefully be even less deadly.

 

[Branno]

I just posted data a couple days ago - I'll let you go hunt it down and draw your own conclusions.

  https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/ece0db09da4d4ca68252c3967aa1e9dd 

I think someone needs a JUMP to conclusions mat. This link has 0 value when discussing how safe it is to play a contact sport at the collegiate, or any, level. It also, hilariously, refutes the idea that Nebraska is "safe" as it clearly shows infections are on the rise over the past month.

The bottom line is It is very rare that anyone under 30 even has a severe case of Covid.  To take it a step further, people in excellent shape, like athletes, are at an even lower risk.  The vast majority in this age class don't even get symptoms.

That's, just like, your opinion man.

Here is a quote from the Red Sox chief officer today regarding the one baseball player that made headlines, Eduardo Rodriguez- "  ...the complication that he had was very mild in terms of just the severity of it."  

Rob Manfred just threatened to shutdown the baseball season as early as next Monday because of the threat of COVID-19 and the difficulty to control players without a bubble. https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2020/07/31/manfred-warns-hell-shut-the-baseball-season-down-if-players-arent-more-careful/

I don't blame the media for running with the story but it sounds like it may not have been worthy of the panic that it created. 

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

Can you find a single severe case involving a college athlete?  There has sure been a lot of positive cases but I'm not aware of a single severe case.  

If we have a football season this fall I'm pretty sure I'll be able to provide plenty of examples. Once, you know, the athletes themselves announce how they are affected (pesky HIPAA and their rules against sharing patient information) or someone inevitably dies.

What do we currently know about sports in the COVID-19 pandemic?

1. Putting an entire league (NHL, MLS, etc) in a bubble works pretty damn well

2. Placing restrictions on players without removing them from society at large (hello MLB) doesn't work.

The CDC has provided guidance on sports, that full-contact sports like Football are high risk (feel free to google this, I provided the link forever ago). The NCAA says football is high risk.

Additionally, all of the evidence shows it's not a good idea to play team sports, even low contact sports like baseball, if you can't remove the players, coaches, etc from their communities. As this is something you just can't do in college, all the available information tells us it's the opposite of safe. 

So, I'm sorry man but I'm not going to take your faulty conclusions over facts (covid spreading like wildfire in MLB) and guidance from experts.