“We’re trying to buy a little time that allows us to move forward in a safe manner or otherwise.”

Marc Weiszer has the latest on Greg McGarity’s pandemic plans:

• “We’re looking at what others are doing,” McGarity said. “The good thing is we don’t have to make that decision right now, but I think we would all be naïve if we think there’s going to be 100 percent capacity. …I don’t think anybody’s been over the 50 percent threshold.”
• Asked if he sees a chance for more than 25 percent capacity in Sanford Stadium if football is played, McGarity said he didn’t want to commit to anything and wanted to wait until an announcement is made. He expects that would come a couple of days after an SEC decision on the season.
• McGarity said while SEC athletic directors are listening to their conference counterparts about their plans, he expects schools to come up with different capacity scenarios for each of their stadiums.“I don’t think there will be consistency in the SEC because there’s not consistency in a lot of different COVID protocols right now,” he said.

Sounds like home field advantage is a flexible concept in 2020.

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And now, a timeless message

Happy what would be 94th #UGA birthday to the late, great Erk Russell—one of the greatest football coaches, both assistant and head, in the history of the sport. pic.twitter.com/O6CFltRELb

— Patrick Garbin (@patrickgarbin) July 23, 2020

Nothing more needs to be added, except…

Free market for me, not for thee

So, logic emerged at yesterday’s Senate hearing where Mark Emmert made his plea for an antitrust exemption for the NCAA.

Sen. Mike Lee, who chairs the Senate’s subcommittee on antitrust issues, asked Emmert and Radakovich why any type of restrictions on how college athletes are able to make money with endorsements were necessary.

“Why shouldn’t we let the free market protected by our longstanding antitrust laws including precedent on this issue play out naturally?” Lee said. “… When someone is trying to take their existing sphere and have it grafted into federal law, one must ask these questions.”

Radakovich said they wanted to make sure that future endorsement deals did not become thinly veiled ways for boosters and other fans of a particular college team to pay athletes to induce them to play for that school. The fear among college sports leaders is that type of environment would lead to an unfair competitive advantage for some schools.

Booker asked Radakovich why those restrictions should apply to student-athletes when there are no NCAA rules that cap the amount of money schools can spend on coaching salaries, facility upgrades or other methods of making their programs more appealing to prospective athletes. The senator called those differences in opportunity “plainly hypocritical.”

Radakovich said the legislation that he and other Power Five conference leaders are trying to move forward would help athletes more in the future. Radakovich said that athletes would be able to “capitalize on whatever market opportunities are available to them just like coaches, I think, have the ability to capitalize inside their marketplace.”

The proposal put forth by those conferences, however, includes restrictions that are not imposed on coaches or others in the athletic department. For example, the proposal suggests that the new law should prevent athletes from signing deals with companies that are already sponsors of the university where they play. The proposal also suggested that schools should have the ability to block athletes from accepting an endorsement deal with a company that is a competitor of a university sponsor. Lee asked Radakovich, “Won’t this rule out most opportunities?”

“It’s problematic on its face, for sure,” Radakovich said.

Yeah, that free market.  What a problem.

It’s all about football.

Always.

The NCAA football oversight committee is asking the association’s Board of Governors to avoid making a decision soon on whether to conduct fall championships as college sports tries to find a path to play through the coronavirus pandemic.

A letter dated July 21 was sent by committee chairman Shane Lyons, the University of West Virginia athletic director, to the board before it meets Friday. The letter was obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press and first reported on by Yahoo Sports.

“We acknowledge that the path forward will be challenging, and that the virus may ultimately dictate outcomes,” the letter reads. “We are simply requesting that the Board of Governors not make an immediate decision on the outcome of fall championships, so that conferences and schools may have ample latitude to continue to evaluate the viability of playing football this fall.”

They want to play so badly.  They also want to avoid the PR hit as badly.  Something tells me they can’t have both.

“The enterprise”

Shot.

Chaser.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) played college football at Stanford and was part of the committee hearing. He noted how many of the NCAA’s rules need changing throughout its duration and pointedly questioned Emmert.

Emmert noted that while the NCAA had made its concussion protocols better in recent years he admitted that there were no ways to penalize schools that don’t follow protocols.

“As a former college football player I know that for athletes who do things wrong, like for an athlete who sells his jersey to get a little bit of money so maybe that their family can fly out and see them, there are strict consequences enforced regularly for athletes who make those mistakes,” Booker said. “But when it comes to the health of their brain, what we now know about traumatic brain injury, that you’re not enforcing this standard is exactly the problem.”

If you think these people are full of shit, it’s only because they are.

Meanwhile, in Alabama

Tommy Tuberville’s college coaching career remains fair game.

It’s a target rich environment.

TFW you act like you know less about college football than you actually do

Of all the shameless things Mark Emmert has said, this may top the list.

Either that, or the man really needs to get out more.

TFW you act like you know more about college football than you actually do

Ladies and gentlemen, the senior Senator from the great state of South Carolina:

I hope Jimmy Sexton uses that in his next set of negotiations.