I see them long hard times to come

I’ve had a few questions about the financial impact of a college football shutdown/season without fans on the local economy and have been looking for answers.  The best I’ve found so far (h/t) comes from a college professor of economics who published this in Forbes:

Complete Cancellation:

… The total local effects differ widely between a relatively small community like Auburn, Alabama and larger places like Austin, Texas or Columbus, Ohio because of differences in the amount of additional local spending on game weekends and the size of that spending relative to the size of the local economy. Using average estimates of both the direct impact of the lost revenue along with the ripple effects using Bureau of Economic Analysis “multipliers” for this kind of activity, the total impact is about 1.7 times the size of the lost revenue. For the local areas with the very top revenue-producing programs the total loss amounts to about $250 million ($150 million x 1.7) and about $140 million for areas with programs earning $80 million per year. Those are not huge numbers for larger areas but a big blow to smaller college towns.

No Fans Allowed:

If fans are excluded from games but a full slate of games is played, the impact on university revenue would be similar to the 8-game outcome. About 30% of revenue for top-tier programs comes from ticket sales. With additional revenues from concessions and merchandise, somewhere around 35% of normal revenue would be lost. However, this scenario has a larger impact on the local area because of the lack of spending in local businesses by fans attending games. There is also the possibility of no fans allowed and a shortened schedule. The combined effect would be something like a 66% reduction in normal revenue.

Exactly whose paycheck is impacted depends on choices made by universities. Head coaches and main assistants will continue to get paid, although there may be some that agree to a salary reduction. On the other end, local businesses will lose out on the revenue and some temporary staff hired for game days will lose those jobs…

Now, how much you have to discount because, generally speaking, most people aren’t flocking to bars and restaurants at present (certainly not as they were in pre-COVID days, anyway) I can’t say, but it wouldn’t account for all of those numbers.  In other words, the loss won’t be pretty for Athens’ businesses and their employees.

172 Comments

Filed under It's Just Bidness, The Body Is A Temple

172 responses to “I see them long hard times to come

  1. Corch Irvin Meyers, New USC Corch (2021)

    This has long been my single biggest worry about no CFB this season. Even if there are no fans in the stands, people will still come to Athens to tailgate and just be around the stadium. Even that much is something.

    The glee at which assholes like Stew Mandel and Pat Forde tweet and write about how there should not be a season this year carries a real cost in lives. And I mean that literally. Suicides and OD’s are way up. How do you think some people would react to losing their business and their livelihood forever?

    How do y’all think Athens will look next year after local bars and restaurants close for good? We already have a Starbucks on Broad and a Chick-fil-A on College. What’s next? A McDonald’s on Lumpkin where The Globe used to be? Will the Athens City Council go to Wal-Mart after the people successfully shut that down years ago?

    The cost in lives around covid-19 is far more damaging than from the virus itself.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Corch Irvin Meyers, New USC Corch (2021)

      *The cost in lives around covid-19 SHUTDOWNS…

      Like

    • The problem is that magically waving a “you’re open!” wand doesn’t fix the economic problem if the public doesn’t feel comfortable patronizing the bars and restaurants. That’s what Kemp gets wrong about this. You have to control the pandemic first if you want re-openings to have a positive impact on the economy.

      Liked by 2 people

      • Corch Irvin Meyers, New USC Corch (2021)

        I don’t disagree, however, everywhere I’ve been in the last two months, I’ve seen businesses make it work. Outside seating, reservations, half-full dining rooms. Those things are working. It’s not as good as being all the way open, but it’s better than being closed.

        I can go record shopping in Athens or Decatur, I just have to wear a mask. It’s become part of the no shirts, no shoes policy. I know there’s a lot of people online yelling about “no masks ever!” but again, online people make up like 10% of our entire population, and it’s 2% of those people who do the most posting online. I go to Publix and the vast majority of people are wearing masks.

        The idea that we would allow Athens (or Eugene or Lincoln or Morgantown or even stupid Clemson) to be irrevocably changed forever for the worse because of a virus that has a 99.99% survival rate for people under the age of 65 with no preexisting conditions would be just about one of the saddest things ever in my lifetime. Granted, 40 years isn’t as long as some of y’all, but I saw the Challenger exploded on live TV. I watched the towers fall from the COG Hut in the No Name Barracks on Camp Schwab in Okinawa.

        I can’t reconcile in my mind that we would choose to do this out of fear, goaded by social media and people in regular media, when it is not necessary.

        Liked by 1 person

        • General economic data I’ve seen recently, things like credit card charges, doesn’t reflect your personal experience.

          I can’t imagine the recent surge we’re seeing is going to help, either.

          Like

        • Derek

          Don’t you think is why leadership is so important?

          Consistent messaging.

          Accurate messaging.

          Trusted messaging.

          Be careful where and when it is needed.

          Optimistic where it is appropriate.

          Get everyone on the same page and going in the same direction.

          Its not as if we can’t look around and see that this can be accomplished.

          It has. In all modern western democratic societies. Save one.

          Liked by 2 people

          • Napoleon Bonerfart

            Yes. Look at Italy and the UK. Sure, their death rates are higher, but the messaging!

            Liked by 2 people

            • Random observation:

              Population density has a LOT to do with Death Rates (per 1 million) in countries.

              Italy: 518 people per sq mile
              UK: 710 people per sq mile
              USA: 87 people per sq mile

              I submit that our fairing “better” than Italy and UK (so far) has more to do with this fact than any consistent, trusted leadership.

              Like

              • Just in case there’s some confusion… the numbers listed above are population per square mile in each country (not death rates per 1 million).

                But while we’re at it, here are the death rates per 1 million:

                Italy: 578
                UK: 658
                USA: 411

                Funny how the population density and deaths/1mil numbers for Italy and UK are very similar, while ours is way out of whack.

                As an aside, here’s Germany — which is hailed by everyone as doing VERY well at this whole thing:

                Pop density: 603/sq.mi.
                Death rate: 109/1 million pop

                Like

                • Napoleon Bonerfart

                  https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/covid-19-death-rate-vs-population-density
                  I downloaded the entire table from that site. Put the numbers in Excel and ran the correlation function between deaths per million people and population density. A result of +1 would be perfect positive correlation. -1 would be perfect negative correlation. 0 would indicate no correlation.

                  The result was 0.02. So while it makes sense for density to correlate with deaths, that’s not what the data bears out.

                  Liked by 1 person

                • Agreed. A correlation doesn’t bear out.

                  I kind of noted Germany’s statistics to point that out. Let me be even more clear:

                  Germany has been a paragon of early, consistent action. Merkel has been a model of positive trusted leadership informed by scientific evidence. And her country’s death rate is very low — currently around 1/4 of the USA’s.

                  I submit the USA’s death rate could be much lower than it is now if there had been similar early, consistent action, based on positive, trusted leadership and informed by science.

                  Disagree with me if you will. But the fact that Germany’s death rate has the opposite correlation to it’s population density than does America’s is an indicator to me that they’ve handled the whole thing better than we have (and are doing now.)

                  Liked by 1 person

                • *correlation doesn’t always bear out

                  Like

                • Napoleon Bonerfart

                  If you agree a correlation doesn’t exist, why object to European comparisons based on population density? The fact is, the USA has handled the virus better than some countries and worse than others. The American death rate is lower than the UK, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and France. It’s higher than Switzerland, Portugal, and Germany.

                  If you want to use that data to say that American leadership is just the worst, you’ve got some more work to do.

                  Liked by 1 person

                • Ha. I don’t need data on Covid to draw a meaningful conclusion that America is devoid of leadership.

                  Like

                • Then I need to know every exact single step that Germany did that was so much better.

                  The one thing I do know from personal experience as Germany, like Japan, totally different cultures. They don’t have in Germany 350 million people of different races ethnicities origins religions With dam near 350 million different belief systems. It’s a little easier to organize in a country like Korea Japan Germany when most of the population is in lock step anyway.

                  We live in a country where people smoke a cigarette at the gas pump. And the 1st and foremost most important thing you can do as washing hands and people are nasty in America and won’t even do that. I love this country and having been everywhere else wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but we have our own unique challenges based on a diverse population. I don’t think if Jesus Christ and mohammed and Moses were a triumvirate running the country our results would be significantly better today. Our leadership across-the-board could definitely have done better. But the virus was weapon ized for politics and America is a very diverse country. We should be like these European nations is just not an argument I find fits or works in America very well on most anything.

                  By the way Not preaching at you. We should learn what Germany did and try to do that in the future. But in America, freedom means freedom to be a dumb a** as well. And a lot of people carry that banner pretty proudly.

                  Liked by 1 person

                • Corch Irvin Meyers, New USC Corch (2021)

                  This, 100%.

                  People forget that America is literally the most diverse nation on earth; not just for immutable characteristics, but for all the immutable characteristics that deal with choice like religion or ideology.

                  Liked by 1 person

                • Your point is a good one. Much easier to steer the ship of State in a more homogeneous society.

                  Like

              • Now why would you go and insert facts where drama belongs….?!

                Like

          • Corch Irvin Meyers, New USC Corch (2021)

            Things like this is why I can’t ever take you seriously. The lowest death rate per capita for people under the age of 65 with no preexisting conditions in the civilized world and you honestly believe the bullshit fear porn about “cases.” Infections were always going to happen. No one ever said they weren’t. We are controlling WHO gets infected now. That is the most important thing.

            The majority of the deaths suffered in the United States were directly caused by governors of states who also believed the fear porn lies and ordered infected senior citizens back to their nursing homes. It’s not the fault of the orange guy you hate, but the fault of the Cuomos of the world.

            But you keep doing you.

            Liked by 2 people

            • Derek

              Their rates of infection are near non-existent.

              Ours are at record levels.

              Their lives are getting back to normal.

              Ours continue to be uncertain.

              Saying 90% mortality in New Guinea is meaningful because 9 of 10 total cases died is not meaningful.

              We are number 1 in cases all time and no. 1 in daily covid cases now.

              It is an unmitigated clusterfuck of a disaster by any rational measure.

              The messaging has been logically inconsistent:

              its a hoax!

              its a chinese weapon!

              its the flu!

              We opened up too early. Governors are admitting that. On tv.

              Someone encouraged that speedy return to normal that we are paying for now and that is fucking up my football.

              If any competency had been applied to this I’d be watching football this fall.

              You may want a pass, but you ain’t getting it.

              Liked by 3 people

            • ATL Dawg

              LOL, so much bullshit.

              By the way, whatever happened to you going on and on and on about how hiring Mike Bobo was the only way Kirby Smart was going to fix the offense?

              If there’s an Internet Blowhard Championship (IBC) belt out there, you definitely deserve a shot at it.

              Liked by 3 people

              • Orange c*cksucking is now its own pandemic. And mark this, it will become progressively more myopic and intense as the virus takes a firmer grip.

                Like

                • Corch Irvin Meyers, New USC Corch (2021)

                  Why do you think it’s okay to call me an “Orange cocksucker”?

                  I guess the fact that I didn’t vote for Trump, and won’t vote for Trump, doesn’t matter to people like you.

                  Regardless, I wish you’d keep that in the playpen, but you’ve been going through people’s posts hours after they’ve posted and saying shit like this all week thinking no one would notice. I’ve mostly ignored you, but the name calling is over the line.

                  Liked by 2 people

                • The term is used much more generally than in reference to your limited diatribes on here Corch. So why not put on those Big Boy pants you tend to accuse the “libtards” of needing. And also, are you know deputizing yourself as Post Sheriff? You actually invest the time to monitor when I comment??

                  Like

                • Corch Irvin Meyers, New USC Corch (2021)

                  Firstly, I’ve never used the word “libtard” as I am an actual liberal.

                  Secondly, those generally called “libtards” are not liberals in any way as they tend to the authoritarian end of the spectrum.

                  Thirdly, ad hominem attacks are supposed to be verboten here, as we are all Dawgs and at the very least, while being politely uncivil at times, we should not devolve into name-calling. That’s not my rule, by the way.

                  Lastly, I usually click the box to receive an email after I reply, so if I’d like to continue a conversation, I can. So yeah, I see all the late night musings where you post garbage like this. I chose to respond this time because you called me a cocksucker, which no, I don’t appreciate.

                  Liked by 1 person

                • He really does come in 2 3 4 days later and drop an attack. Orange cock sucker is a new one though.

                  Liked by 1 person

                • It’s just humurous that you felt so slighted to respond to a general comment in response to a comment directed toward SOMEONE ELSE…… Good luck out there. Keep doing you, General Gibberish.

                  Like

                • Corch Irvin Meyers, New USC Corch (2021)

                  Now you’re just lying. Dude, I’m trying to remain pleasant here. I don’t appreciate you calling me a cocksucker, but I appreciate less you trying to equivocate. We both said our piece, there was no need to come back and lie about it. Have a great Saturday. Go Dawgs.

                  Liked by 1 person

                • Of course, there is no lying involved anywhere in what I put down. Just a cloying lack of self-awarenes or comprehension from your end. Don’t bother me anymore.

                  Liked by 1 person

      • I’m not a bar kind of guy any longer although I’ll go to a spot for a beverage, but I’m not going to stay for hours. I love going to restaurants. My family has no problem going to restaurants. The ones I’ve been to are taking the guidance seriously and are providing better service. As a family, we went out in Roswell for my wife’s birthday last night and had a great experience.

        Since March, I know many are leery of going anywhere beyond what’s necessary. Local businesses are trying to do the right thing. If you can, we owe it to them to help them succeed.

        Liked by 1 person

        • Well, if we’re exchanging personal stories, I’ve been to one restaurant in the past week. In Buckhead. My group walked in wearing masks and stayed at an isolated table in the back, away from folks.

          When we left, the front area, where the bar is located, was full. No one there was wearing a mask.

          Like

          • I admit I haven’t done a lot of dinners out on weekends (I don’t know if that was your experience). We’ve done lunch or brunch on the weekends and had what I would consider very safe experiences in North Fulton.

            Like

            • I think my general rule of thumb is that the places serious about protecting their patrons don’t have open bar areas.

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              • Milton Dawg

                Correct. My wife and I have been out in Alpharetta and Milton several times. We are cautious about where we go and the positions we put ourselves in. One place we went we turned around and left. We walked in and while all the tables were distanced and the staff was masked and gloved, the bar was packed with people not wearing masks or taking any precautions whatsoever.

                Like

              • Texas Dawg

                The data suggests that bars reopening were one of the huge contributors to the surge in cases. In Texas they were allowed to reopen at 50% capacity but few if any appeared to take that seriously. On my way home from the office each day I pass several local establishments. I did not go inside, but judging from the parking lot, the place was WAY over 50% or each person had driven 2-3 cars to the joint. Maybe it still would have been a problem, but now we will never know. By not adhering to the guidelines, they are now at ZERO capacity as they are once again closed. The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission had already shut down several violators for 30 days before the total shut down order was issued. My restaurant experience has been much like yours. We were well spaced from other parties and it also appeared that the places had a pretty robust take out business going. I’m sure it was not what normal would be, but hopefully enough to tread water until this crisis (hopefully) passes.

                Like

          • tiredofidsearch

            Mine – seafood place in Buford. Employees wearing masks but had people seated in booths next to each other. We were on the other side by ourselves until.we.ordered dessert. A group of 4 came in and sat at the both right behind us (no masks either). We asked the waitress to change our order to go because of the.people sittings foot and a half from my head.
            Never asked the people to move, etc…
            My sister reported them. Have driven by there, packed like parking lot and patio, no way they are doing anything other than 100% capacity.
            I hope they got fined or shut down.

            Like

            • Just a tiny bit off topic, but if you’re familiar with Buford? If and when you feel comfortable going to a restaurant give Bare Bones a try. Outstanding steaks.

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            • PTC DAWG

              That seems excessive…..wanting a business shut down,.,,or fined even. Just leave.

              Liked by 2 people

              • Cancel culture knows no bounds. I’ve seen people defend doxing.

                Like

                • Derek

                  If you showed me a guy who, over the last 8 years, demanded the following people and things be cancelled, fired or boycotted, I wouldn’t like him:

                  Touré, Chris Matthews, Vanity Fair magazine Editor Graydon Carter, Glenfiddich Scotch, HBO, Rolling Stone Magazine, New York Magazine, CNBC polls, Mexico, Jonah Goldberg, Univision, Macy’s, Charles Krauthammer, Rich Lowry, Katy Tur, “all Apple products, WSJ editorial board, Karl Rove, Megyn Kelly, Dallas Morning News, the Arizona Republic, Chuck Todd, social media in general, Paul Krugman, NFL “kneelers”, CNN, & Harley Davidson.

                  Anyone leading the cancel culture like this guy has to go!

                  Liked by 2 people

                • Napoleon Bonerfart

                  Like

                • Hahahahaha…. The Reds simply can’t see the con that’s being carried out on “their” behalf.

                  Like

            • Normaltown Mike

              Thanks for sharing! What restaurant is it?

              A lot folks think cops and fireman are heroes, but they are wrong.

              It’s Karens. The people like you and your sister, that try to ruin other peoples livelihood when they don’t do what you want them to do, you fascist.

              Liked by 2 people

            • Thank you comrade. Your allegiance to the state is noted. Please inform us of your neighbors activities, your reports have been late.

              Like

          • Jim

            Kinda hard to drink at a bar with a mask on, no?

            Liked by 1 person

          • spur21

            And somehow that is Trumps fault – according to Derek.

            Liked by 1 person

        • PTC DAWG

          Agree, I’ve been out and about as much as I normally would have.

          Like

    • Will (the other one)

      In that case, hopefully you’re calling / writing your federal representatives (congressmen, senators) and urging them to pass some bills that get temporary rent relief or extra money, or incredibly favorable loan terms to local businesses. The fallout from no CFB you’re describing is entirely avoidable.

      Like

      • Napoleon Bonerfart

        Not really. Printing out more dollars doesn’t create anything. It just boosts inflation and makes the inevitable correction all the worse.

        Liked by 2 people

        • Will (the other one)

          Even Milton Friedman’s definition of inflation requires there to be more money than there is a demand for money. You’re paying them to stay home for public benefit, and when it’s safe that pent up demand has money pouring back into the economy.

          Like

  2. FlyingPeakDawg

    Create a bubble. Fans must be tested before entering and then cannot leave. Tailgate for 10-12 straight weeks. UGAAD could charge for admission. Recovery time for folks leaving the bubble would be about a month, so this would really help slow the spread of COVID especially in southern states.

    Some solutions are just easy to come up with.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. MGW

    Going to go ahead and predict a policy of “no fans… in the general seating areas”

    Boxes will be quite expensive.

    Liked by 1 person

    • jtp03

      Because of near impossibility with distancing inside the boxes, they’ll be able to hold what, 1/5 of normal capacity?

      Having been fortunate enough to attend a couple games in a friend’s business suite, there are about 30 seats I think, so we’d be looking at 5 or 6 people per.

      Like

      • I don’t know what Georgia’s law is right now but you can have gathering to 50 people here. So you can put everybody in a Box if they claimed to be family

        Like

  4. practicaldawg

    I’m ready for anything. This too shall pass and we will have CFB again one day. Go dawgs!!!

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Debby Balcer

    If they have fans in the stands it should be students.

    Like

  6. TimberRidgeDawg

    You’ll never leave Harlan alive…

    Liked by 4 people

    • “We dug coal together…”

      Best final line of a series since Newhart (“I just had the strangest dream…”).

      Liked by 1 person

      • Corch Irvin Meyers, New USC Corch (2021)

        “Sometimes I think the only way to get out of our town alive is to never have been born there.”

        The greatest drama series in the history of television, and I will brook no argument. Breaking Bad by comparison is so overrated as to be ridiculous. The show, the writers, Olyphant, and Goggins were routinely robbed of awards they should have won by that show.

        Liked by 2 people

        • PTC DAWG

          It was too country, or Southern…for awards from the Hollywood Elite.

          Liked by 2 people

          • Corch Irvin Meyers, New USC Corch (2021)

            But those people keep telling us they’re so tolerant and love diversity. 🤔

            Liked by 2 people

          • Right.

            Justified received a 2010 Peabody Award.[61] The series has received eight Primetime Emmy Award nominations. For the first season, the series received a single nomination, for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music. For the second season, it received four acting nominations for the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards—Timothy Olyphant for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, Walton Goggins for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, Margo Martindale for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, and Jeremy Davies for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series, with Martindale winning. For the third season, it received two nominations for the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards, with Jeremy Davies winning for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series, and a nomination for Outstanding Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series. For its fifth season, it received a nomination for Outstanding Art Direction for a Contemporary or Fantasy Series (Single-Camera).[7] The sixth season received five nominations at the 5th Critics’ Choice Television Awards, the most of any other programs nominated. It received nominations for Best Drama Series, Timothy Olyphant for Best Actor in a Drama Series, Walton Goggins for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, Joelle Carter for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series and Sam Elliott for Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series, with Elliot winning.[62]

            Liked by 1 person

            • But other than that…nothing.

              Like

            • Corch Irvin Meyers, New USC Corch (2021)

              Senator, aside from three lonely wins at the Emmys, those were all nominations. It never won best drama. It never won best writing. It never won best actor or supporting actor. The only Emmys it won was for Margo Martindale, who damn well deserved it but so did Olyphant from that second season, and for Davies and Elliot as guest stars. As for Goggins, he could’ve won for any season save season 5.

              I don’t see how, given that, I’m wrong in what I said. Nominations aren’t winning.

              Liked by 2 people

        • No argument here.

          Liked by 1 person

          • Corch Irvin Meyers, New USC Corch (2021)

            It’s the Elmore Leonard of it all. Was there a better American storyteller in the 20th century than he? He instinctively knew how to write the most natural sounding dialogue, and was able to turn laconic characters like Chili or Raylan into these memorable, fantastic protagonists.

            Arguably the best film of Quentin Tarantino’s entire career was his adaptation of Rum Punch into Jackie Brown.

            Easily the best film of Jennifer Lopez’s career (and possibly Clooney’s, too) is Out of Sight.

            Leonard’s characters were real people you could connect with on an almost spiritual level.

            God, we’ll never see the like of Elmore Leonard again on this good earth.

            Liked by 2 people

        • I Absolutely adore justified but I don’t know that I give it the title greatest of all time.

          Was not a big fan of the Flash forward at the end.

          Like

          • Corch Irvin Meyers, New USC Corch (2021)

            It wasn’t a giant leap into the future. Just far enough to show you how things settled for most everyone important.

            And the ending, which I posted above, is sublime.

            Like

            • I mean I consider it one of my top 5 shows of all time most likely. Ive watched every episode 3 times. Own each season on blu ray DVD. Modeled my own cowboy hat after justified. Still wasn’t a big fan of the fast forward.

              Like

            • Jdawg108

              Only got through season 4, so didn’t get to see that ending. It truly is something.

              Like

              • Corch Irvin Meyers, New USC Corch (2021)

                Season 5 wasn’t as good as the other seasons. It’s still better than most every other show ever made, but it’s the least of Justified’s 6 seasons.

                I’d rank them: 2, 1, 6, 4, 3, … 5.

                Like

  7. Classic City Canine

    I’m not worried about the bar scene, but I am worried about the boutiques and some of the local restaurants in Athens that depend on game day. I’ve done my part to eat local in Athens, but there’s only so much one wallet and one stomach can handle.

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Love the “Justified” reference in the header. Just finished the series.

    Like

  9. ATL Dawg

    Getting my refund from the Butts-Mehre Country Club is going to be one of the most satisfying fan experiences I’ve ever had as a Georgia fan.

    Liked by 1 person

  10. RangerRuss

    Here ya go…

    Like

  11. 69Dawg

    I’ll try a bit of reason. This is the first pandemic in the history of the U.S. were the whole economy was shut down. You isolate the sick or the carriers not the whole damn population. I’m 73 and live in the Villages in central Florida. I’ve had friends from other states calling to check on me thinking we were all dead or dying. It has, except for the 117 deaths out of a population of 125,000 + (0.1%), not been as projected. With our age group we would have lost that many neighbors over the same period. They closed the indoor Rec areas and swimming pools but the golf courses remained open. The majority of our deaths came, like so many other places, in the assisted living or nursing homes. The weakest of the weak suffered most, as usual. A large % of us wear masks and stay close to home but then we are retired and our income was largely unaffected. Young adults already think they are bullet proof and to a great extent they are from Covid-19. We are now a nation of people controlled by fear and have screwed it for the younger generation in more ways than one.

    Liked by 3 people

    • Corch Irvin Meyers, New USC Corch (2021)

      Age and wisdom are often brothers. You are 100% correct. The two youngest generations were raised terribly with outsized, narcissistic senses of self, and have now become the fragile-minded and weak-willed adults their Boomer parents raised them to be.

      Liked by 1 person

      • I find it interesting that the milleniala hate the boomers. Because they’re exactly the same. Just 3 or 4 decades removed.

        Like

        • Corch Irvin Meyers, New USC Corch (2021)

          I wouldn’t say exactly the same. Many Boomers had spines of steel. Protesting for the Civil Rights Movement and Protesting the Vietnam War took a lot of character and strength of will.

          Are some Boomers absolute trash, like those who protested drafted soldiers directly? Of course. That holds true with any generation.

          The problem is, almost all of the youngest Boomers raised Millennials and Gen-Y so poorly, trying to prevent them from having any failures and over-inflated their self-esteem, they generally coddled them to the point where they literally can’t function as adults. When you run around and believe, “Words are violence,” you are unqualified for pretty much any endeavor or job outside of academia.

          Like

          • You are one complicated dude.

            Like

            • Corch Irvin Meyers, New USC Corch (2021)

              If you mean I am what as late as the year 2000 was once known as a liberal, but who is now constantly told he’s “conservative,” “alt-right,” or “an Orange cocksucker,” by people with increasingly extreme beliefs, then yeah, I guess I’m a complicated dude. As others who make far more money than I do have said over the last five or so years, I didn’t leave the Left, the Left went so far left they left me.

              Liked by 1 person

              • Nope, that’s not what I meant at all. I just find it interesting, and refreshing, that a Marine would laud the anti-Vietnam war movement. I’m a Korea and Vietnam vet and actively worked against the war when I came home and it’s not a popular stance among vets these days (even though it was much more prevalent than they’d have you believe). BTW, did you see the picture of the Jeremiah Johnson reinterment with Redford as a pallbearer?

                Liked by 1 person

                • Corch Irvin Meyers, New USC Corch (2021)

                  Well, I take my Oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States seriously. That means, as any good liberal would still believe, that I will always defend your right to say, believe, and do what you want (as long as it causes no physical harm to others) even if I vehemently disagree with it. That doesn’t mean I won’t argue against or point out hypocrisies and inconsistencies.

                  I guess you can say that’s what I try to be as much as I can: consistent and avoiding hypocrisy as much as I can. We were all born hypocrites, but I’d like to think I try extremely hard not to be.

                  Liked by 1 person

                • I take mine seriously as well. Hat’s off.

                  Liked by 1 person

                • In Big Wednesday they visit the grave of their buddy who gets killed in the Nam. In the voice over in Jeremiah Johnson Milius explains that the scene was shot at the real grave of Johnson at the Vets cemetery in Santa Monica. After they made JJ they had the remains moved to Cody.

                  Like

                • Corch Irvin Meyers, New USC Corch (2021)

                  That’s pretty cool. John Milius is a helluva guy. To this day, Conan the Barbarian remains one of those films that I can’t believe got made let alone turned out as amazing as it did. The star was a body builder from Austria no one could understand. James Earl Jones took it as a paycheck movie. No one knew who Basil Poledouris was, or that he had an amazing score like that in him. Yet Milius brought it all together and made it work, and launched the career of one of the greatest stars in the history of cinema.

                  Liked by 2 people

                • I was active duty had already deployed When Iraq was getting ramped up and I was fundamentally and absolutely 100% against going into Iraq. It made no military tactical sense whatsoever.

                  Like

                • Or any other sense for that matter.

                  Like

    • This virus hitting an election year was the worst of timing. The tribalism is the worst of my life time.. it was instantly weapon ized.

      We can’t even as a country agree to fight the cold war and an economic war against China. You’d think even that would be easy. Everything is weapon ized.

      Like

      • Playpen.

        C’mon, guys. Work with me here a little bit.

        Like

        • Sometimes I’m certain that Derek has some juicy blackmail on you. He literally comments directly underneath your comment saying to stop commenting.

          I thought my comment was in the flow of the conversation, apologies if you feel I’ve crossed A-line

          Like

      • Derek

        If you can unite the country around invading Iraq in 2003, you can unite the country around fighting coronavirus.

        We’ll follow ANYONE in a time of crisis and proven it over and over again.

        We’ll fight in rice patties, deserts, lebonon, small Caribbean islands, Panama, really anywhere. We’ll do anything no matter how dumb and pointless, if led to do so.

        .

        Liked by 1 person

    • Napoleon Bonerfart
    • Do you know the White Power golf cart cat…?

      Like

      • 69Dawg

        No but the national media only showed what Trump posted not what was actually happening that cause the guy to shout it while laughing. There were democrat counter demonstrators that were blocking the golf carts and cussing the Trump people. The guy had just received a FU racists from a Democrat and was responding.

        Like

  12. RangerRuss

    It’s Friday afternoon and y’all are depressing the hell out of me.

    Liked by 1 person

    • No depression here RR! It’s Friday!
      The missus and I are hitting an open air market on the square in about an hour and a half. Then to a real bar to listen to a real band and have a couple of libations, maybe dance a little. (She’s still a looker after 30 some odd years) We carry masks and will wear them in the uber on the way home.
      Tomorrow is lake day.
      Sunday I’ll head out to the farm and hang out with Got Sr,, who is currently pissed off at me ’cause he bush-hogged a rough ass field a couple of days ago and I need to “Get your ass out here and get it smoothed up, Gotdamit, before it grows back. I ain’t doing it again.” So I get to bang around on the tractor while he rides the bird dog and the cowdog around in the truck and makes sure I’m doing it right.
      Good to be me, sometimes.

      Like

  13. Businesses have to take a smaller hit up front by limiting the number of customers

    Like

  14. Wth! I had a 2 paragraph reply get chopped into a partial sentence. This WordPress app sucks.

    Like

  15. Russ

    So, Senator does the legwork to start this discussion and Atticus doesn’t even show up?

    Like

  16. In other football news, Dabo is being cancelled on Twitter as we speak.

    Like

  17. ASEF

    So, it’s cancel culture coking from the left, what do we call it coming from the right?

    This is a Republican, btw.

    Yes, I read the Bret Stephens piece. Ho hum. Yes, the intolerant left is a threat. Stipulated. However, I have excoriated people on the left for most of my career. But only opposing Trump produced harassment, demands to fire me, and death threats. Cancel culture, indeed. /1— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) July 4, 2020

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

    And man, if we don’t have football this fall, the Internet is going to melt from all the hawt takes. Why the hell didn’t Al include a sprinkler system?

    Like

    • Napoleon Bonerfart

      #SurprisingTakes
      #KeepingItFresh

      Like

    • Normaltown Mike

      Getting meanie emails and tweets from those meanies on the magic computer box is not cancel culture, tho preening princesses like David French and Tom Nichols would have you believe otherwise.

      Losing your job b/c your wife pulled a gun on someone or b/c you yelled at someone at Costco or b/c you made a donation to Prop 8 or b/c you tweeted that you hope you don’t get AIDS is cancel culture.

      I, for one, am glad that liberals are so confident in their moral supremacy that they harass strangers in hopes of ruining their life. Nothing bad will come of THAT!

      Like

      • ASEF

        Death threats? Having someone slime your wife over being sexually assaulted as a girl by a pastor in articles and books? Those are mean emails? That’s absurd.

        We wanted at will employment? Well. You got it. The #1 thing for any job holder is this question: “Do people want to come to work and be around you everyday?” Do something insanely stupid on video, and you just made your life a hell of a lot harder. We warn teenagers all the time that digital is forever and everywhere.

        “Cancel culture” is a problem, but it’s a bipartisan one. Anyone denying that is just blinded by tribalism.

        Like

        • Corch Irvin Meyers, New USC Corch (2021)

          That is a bit mealy mouthed, and you know it. The difference is ASEF, one side has total control of social media and 90% control of traditional media. And the side which used to be my side has gone completely insane by embracing extremism.

          So yes, while cancel culture exists on both sides, one side has the power to actual cancel someone through social media and traditional media pressure. If you can’t acknowledge that reality, well, there’s no use continuing this particular conversation.

          Like

          • FFS.

            The next person who goes off on a tangent is going to time out. Y’all can bitch all you want, but it’s a promise.

            Like

          • ASEF

            Remember the woman who got fired for showing up at work in Alabama with an Obama sticker on her car? Was she cancelled?

            Employers make decisions for themselves. If you’re going to be a butthead on what is now national TV, you better be damn well worth the headache.

            This isn’t a conspiracy, and it’s not rocket science. Facebook is a conservative conspiracy hothouse, and you know it. It’s also the #1 media platform out there. Saying it’s all controlled by liberals is just ridiculous.

            Liked by 1 person

  18. Cojones

    Finebaum feels the cfb schedule is just for the money. A sentiment I”ve seen here before. He said it live on ESPN, his benefactor who is pushing to get that money.

    Cojones Award goes to Finebaum for having the balls to speak up where his livelihood can be imperiled.

    Like

  19. Corch Irvin Meyers, New USC Corch (2021)

    Senator, since this conversation has gone a bit off the rails, and to try to get away from the material that keeps needing to be deposited into the playpen, I’d like to know, are you an Elmore Leonard fan?

    Do you like his western or crime novels more?

    Do you have a favorite book? Favorite character or recurring character?

    Favorite adaptation for television and film?

    Like

  20. Well, my gang has all checked in and out. Y’all will have to finish this on your own, as I have a hot date.
    Try not to worry so much and have a great and safe weekend, everybody.
    Cowdog out.

    Like

    • RangerRuss

      Yeah it’s gon be a hot date alright, Cowdog. Especially at the outdoor market. I’m gonna grill some Wagyu burgers with a big slice of sharp cheese,crispy lettuce and a slab of juicy tomato. Gonna slather the bun with Duke’s and wash it down with a Corona poured in a frozen fishbowl mug Mr Billy Cooper(RIP) gave me before he closed the original Cooper’s bar.
      I should be sitting in a nice restaurant in the Keys enjoying a Scotch while flashing three fingers at my gaytard buddy. The Chicom virus ruined that trip. Hope the Gulf Shores trip happens in two weeks. Ya’ll stay safe and healthy. Wear your mask when you’re in public. And,,,

      FUCK THOSE MOTHERFUCKERS!!!!

      Liked by 1 person

  21. Didn’t someone here say that if your business plan hinged on 6 days a year it wasn’t a very good business plan?

    Like

    • Cynical Dawg made that comment.

      Like

    • Gurkha Dawg

      That comment is 100% true as far as it goes. I think the real problem is if students don’t return to Athens for a while. The restaurants and bars will be devastated. Of course, a lot of people are saying we need to stay out of restaurants and bars anyway. But that is why there is no way UGA will start fall semester online. I’m not sure how I feel about it. My daughter is starting her Junior year in Athens and I am worried.

      As we say in the hood: “It’s all about the Benjamin’s”.

      Like

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