If you’re wondering why I reacted to the news that the SEC presidents are soon to vote on an opening day for football players to return to campus as I did, maybe you should read this Ross Dellinger piece asking a number of college conference commissioners and Notre Dame’s Jack Swarbrick how the 2020 season could unfold.
As you go through it, ask yourself if there’s a consensus for doing much of anything right now. I didn’t see it.
It’s good that they’re talking with each other regularly. As I keep saying, it’s good that they hope for a football season. But there’s no obvious course of action at present, for the simple reason there’s still much that is uncertain and unknowable.
That’s why I don’t understand what the SEC presidents appear to be moving towards. They don’t have any special insight right now. Nor is it as if they’re a bunch that’s proven themselves to be especially gifted in large scale decision making, other than trying to make as least as much money as their Big Ten counterparts do.
It’s easy to urge them to roll the dice if you’re an average fan wanting the game you love. It’s a lot harder if you’re the person who might have to look a parent in the eye (or that parent’s lawyer) if you guess wrong about the timing of your decision. But there’s all that money to consider, too.
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It is good that they are communicating, no doubt. Definitely a sticky subject though when trying to gauge intent. It would be nice if we could presume good intentions. In my feeble mind, seems to me that there is no way to stop the virus from sweeping the masses so the real question is; can we have college open/sports without accelerating the spread beyond our means to care for the sick? What’s the answer?
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Yeah, I have to keep reminding myself this. The real reason for the shutdown was to spread the infection rate out, not to reduce the total number of infections. Until there’s an effective vaccine (big “if”), we’ll just have to add that risk to our lives somehow. The “somehow” is the big question, isn’t it?
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It’s going to be a balancing act. The person that makes the decision to play is also going to need the courage and the authority to shut it down, wholly or in part, before the pandemic gets totally out of control.
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What happens if, say, 12 out of the 14 vote to proceed?
Does this have to be a unanimous decision? I’m asking about procedure here. I didn’t see it outlined. If they have the vote next week, what is required to make a decision. A simple majority?
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I wonder if 12 of 14 schools would then play a round robin schedule? Lots of unanswered questions. Glad they’re talking about it, but I’m not optimistic we’ll ever get consensus.
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They know one thing and one thing only. No season, no money. In their minds, that’s all they need to know.
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$EC: It ju$t mean$ more
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Lawsuits will happen, but that’s no reason to postpone the decision to play football.
Teams routinely deal with the flu during the season every year which, while milder than this particular virus perhaps, can still be deadly.
Should a jury rule that the act of playing football is hazardous because it exposes players to other players that might have the flu, or HIV, or hepatitis, or MRSA or any other pathogen, and that becomes the standard of legal precedence, then the game is forever lost. What would the threshold be for mortality rate before a season was cancelled each year and who would be issuing that guidance? Will each year require the NCAA to consult the CDC for a woefully inaccurate epidemiology model and what will be the acceptable loss of life level at which football may be played? It would be entirely untenable.
Football is a voluntary activity. I imagine if you asked the players if they want to play, they’d say yes. I imagine if you ask the coaches if they want to coach, they’d say yes. I imagine if you ask the fans if they want to attend, most would say yes.
If you are a parent or a player that is concerned, act on your concerns and sit out. There is no shame in that.
But if you want to play because it is paving the way to an education that will make your life better, go for it. Or because you have dreams of playing in the NFL, go for it. Or if you just love the game, go for it. There is no shame in that either.
The concept that people must be saved from themselves flies in the face or what liberty and freedom are all about.
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No one is telling the players who to hang out with or how to spend their time.
It’s a question of whether they require players and coaches to show up for work. Got jack shit to do with liberty.
A friend of mine reopened last Saturday morning and shut down again by 5 pm. Too many customers were refusing to follow his requests to protect his employees. Since he felt he couldn’t protect his employees, he shut down. Told people to GTFO.
Whose liberty should win out here? Customers refusing to wear masks or social distance, or the guy who owns the business?
It’s not as simple as people make it out to be.
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TN Dawg, use of common sense like that will get you banned from this board!
Seriously, great post.
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For healthy men between the ages of 18-22, jogging in Brunswick, Georgia is FAR more dangerous than Covid-19
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OUCH
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“For healthy black men….”
FIFY
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There will be football played. Anyone who thinks otherwise isn’t being honest with themselves. Too much money to go around to not have some type of season.
It players don’t want to show up, fine. If coaches don’t want to show up, fine. Play without them. No one will be forcing them to play/coach.
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No one knows what this virus situations will look like in 90 days in their neck of the woods. 90 days ago, we had extremes predicting dead bodies everywhere or hardly any bodies at all. Both were spectacularly wrong, but they got all the attention.
Hopes and plans are great, but the situation by definition is going to remain way too fluid and way too localized for any sort of master plan to get going.
It’s just football. As much as I would love to see some, I would say a season undertaken with unknown risks and a jerryrigged schedule just to balance the books would not be of nearly as much interest to me. But I get some people would.
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I work in higher education administration (not in GA). During my weekly remote meetings with my colleagues at other institutions the only thing that anyone knows for certain is that we will know more two weeks from now than we do now. Anything else is pure speculation.
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I sit on a call for stake holders and the state flagship is represented. They’re waiting to hear what the rules are from the CDC and state health department. Until then they’re just committed to doing whatever it takes to be open, and the state is committed to working with them.
Personally I think residential colleges will have face to face classes until there is a flare up, and then it’s back online. The online might only last 2-4 weeks though.
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It’s not just football. It’s a huge economic engine considering the part education at all levels plays in our economy.
They’re playing and kids will be back in school this fall. I imagine there will be online options for those who are not comfortable with it from Kindergarten to the University level but I firmly believe that our state at least will open it’s institutions.
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I’m late to the comments today but I had to reference the picture that has been making the rounds of Grant field during the Spanish Flu of 1918, there was no social distancing but everybody had on masks. The Spanish Flu was much more deadly that Covid-19 and there was no vents or medicines to stop it. It literally kill 100,000s. If they test the players regularly and require masks on the fans, I say it’s good to go, that is unless the current citizens of this country are ready. If you want to go you should be able to. If you don’t want to go stay home. I’ve said this for weeks, I live in the Villages and they thought we were all going to die but out of 125,000 of us old people 36 died, hell we lose that many some weeks from old age. Would I go to the game hell yea but I would be wearing a mask.
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