HuskerBoard

ZRod

https://www.oregonlive.com/collegefootball/2020/05/lessons-from-1918-spanish-flu-pandemic-is-a-murky-guide-for-college-football-in-coronavirus-era.html?outputType=amp

College football back then was already trying to field teams amid the lingering effects of World War I. There were restrictions on travel, practice and number of games played. The storied Army-Navy game was canceled in 1918 and the lone postseason game was the 1919 Tournament East-West game in Pasadena, California, a game better known today as the Rose Bowl.

The pandemic sickened players and coaches, shortened seasons and even forced some universities to scrap their seasons. On Oct. 13, 1918, The Washington Post carried a story that declared the epidemic "sweeping the country has dealt the death blow to necessary preparations, and with the stage still undetermined, the outlook is anything but bright."

Penn coach Bob Folwell, better known as the first coach of the New York Giants, was hospitalized with Spanish flu and missed six weeks during the 1918 season. West Virginia failed to field a team and at least one player died after a cold turned out to be the virus. The Missouri Valley Conference, which included Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri, shut down for the season. Pittsburgh and Michigan shared the national championship, though neither team played more than five games and all but one was held in November.

In September 1918, the second and by far deadliest wave hit in the U.S., the final blow for teams trying to schedule a full season. The headlines that followed included "Masks for Michigan Men" (Daily Pennsylvanian, Oct. 23) and "Rough Year For Football, But Game Shows Its Mettle" (Chicago Daily Tribune, Oct. 21).

https://www.si.com/college/tmg/tony-barnhart/spanish-flu

Many schools were not able to play until late October or early November. The annual Army-Navy game was not played. Many schools played only three or four games.

Atbone95

Those are all valid points. But football was played, that's all I'm saying.

knapplc

The real question is, now that we know what can happen from the above information, should football be played this year?

ZRod

Context and some history is always nice though right?

The Dude

I would just do it without crowds. It's not going to kill healthy college-aged people like the Spanish Flu. Test them, obviously.

I don't know how much I would trust college football crowds to all wear masks.

Atbone95

I agree with all points made here. See guys, we are on the same team!

ZRod

I don't think you can say it's not going to kill a football player. It has killed college age kids, and it has messed up some very fit people. Not to mention obesity is a big risk factor; which could be because those people are more likely to be sedentary as opposed to athletic obese people, but being big puts all kinds of stressors on the body.

The Dude

It's not going to kill healthy college-aged people like the Spanish Flu. Not. Even. Close.

ZRod

I mean... yeah, it's not the same disease but it can still f#&% up healthy college age people, and even kill them. It's killed over 1k people between the ages of 15 and 34 according to the CDC.

I know somebody who actively did triathlons who got sick, and they struggle to even walk a mile after they could finally get up and outside. Just imagine what kind of stress on the heart and lungs that would be as a 300lbs man. I think almost all of the COVID patients that have died on my fiancee are very obese, it's a huge risk factor.

The Dude

Yeah that's way too much paranoia for me. People young enough and healthy enough to play college football are more likely to be killed by . . . pretty much anything.

ZRod

It's reality though. One athlete dieing is too much when it didn't have to happen.

Atbone95

Maryland had that guy die of heat stroke. It is an inherent risk in all workouts of any type, especially for those who are obese.

Should we cancel college football because athletes run the risk of heat stroke?