And that’s what worries me ($$).
“I know for a fact, being here on campus is way more safe than being anywhere else,” junior cornerback Eric Stokes said. “Because I know for a fact that Mr. Ron (Courson, the head athletic trainer) and all of us are gonna make sure we’re completely safe. When you come in he’s checking your temperature. If you’ve got any symptoms, you’re going to let Mr. Ron know. And anything else after that, they make sure we stay six feet apart. In the team meeting room, we’re spaced out. Everywhere you look, everyone’s wearing masks. I know for a fact we’re much, much safer here than anywhere else.”
You haven’t really been “on campus” yet, Eric, especially with your fellow students en masse. Just ask Alabama’s AD how that’s going.
“The players, they take it very seriously,” LeCounte said. “It’s been (emphasized) throughout the whole locker room and through the coaching staff that in order for us to have a season we’ve got to go by the protocols and the safety measures that have been put in place in order to stay safe, so our team can stay safe. Guys have been doing a tremendous job of wearing their masks, staying away from things that really can’t help themselves or their team. Not having groups of people at their houses, things like that.”
I have no doubt the players and staff are doing what they can. Will that be enough?
Get The Picture 
IMO, if we play a full schedule this year (with social mingling of kids that age and general viral observations), I will be shocked. Seriously shocked.
But I would take it. Going through Fall without following the Dawgs will be the first since i started to listening to Munson in his freshmen’s year. And it would suck more than I really can imagine at this point.
Never forget raking the leaves in Novemberwith the radio on as a teenager. I was hooked and never gave it up.
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Unfortunately this thing really isn’t that complicated. If we put our love for football on the back burner, and look at it strictly from a medical COVID-19 perspective there is no amount of testing that makes playing football the safer option compared to not playing. This very comment section is always talking about false positives. Guess what there are false negatives too. Meaning an infected scout team kid could easily slip through the cracks.
No, not playing doesn’t eliminate the risk of contracting the virus. But playing definitely increases the risk. We can debate about how much the risk increases or whether it’s worth the risk, but sweaty people smashing into each other is not a smart thing to do when it comes to viral spread.
We can talk about economics and mental health issues. All that is valid, but they’re external talking points. Even if the players are safer on campus than they are at home (a debatable talking point) there’s nothing to say they couldn’t stay on campus without playing.
A bubble environment would change everything from a football perspective, and I’m looking to see how major programs are going to implement a bubble without acknowledging that it’s a bubble.
Speaking of bubbles, why does the mental health discussion never arise when it’s suggested that football players should be isolated from the rest of the campus community?
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To me these two things aren’t compatible. “not playing doesn’t eliminate the risk of contracting the virus. But playing definitely increases the risk.”
If playing the game of football is what increases the risk then how can you play in a bubble? How would an off the field bubble help?
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Are you asking how a fully insulated bubble where nobody gets in or out without being tested and/or quarantined reduces the risk of contracting COVID-19? The NBA has shown it works. Although it would be a little tougher to do with football given that each individual campus would need their own bubble and you’d have to rely on all your opponents following strict protocol.
Let me clarify that when I say playing football definitely increases the risk I was speaking of a non bubble season which is what we’re currently looking at. Even in a bubble the risk is increased for reasons previously stated, but it is greatly reduced.
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Of course “an [amount] of testing makes it the safer option.” Any population getting tested 3 times per week is less likely to have the virus spread within said population. The statement presumes there will not be as much testing if we don’t play. Why would there be ? And if there is, why ? /If there is, it’s probably because they’re still literally doing everything else they would be doing BUT not playing a competitive schedule. And why in god’s name would anyone do that ?
Putting the love of football on the back burner is all good and well to making a rationale decision. But sacrificing the one activity in a sea of risks that remain constant (i.e. the Big 10 model) gets you zero safety or bonus points with the virus. As we’re told, “the virus don’t care”…… but that goes for virtue signaling as well. If it’s about player safety, I”m not really sure what throwing away the competitive schedule does when they’re still doing everything else the exact same (campus, training, etc). It’s so dumb I want to bang my head against the wall.
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What would be a term for morally posturing your own “me want football” perspective over common sense by labeling anyone who disagrees with you as “virtue signaling?” I can think of a few terms, but they’re PlayPen fodder. Is it virtue signaling to pointing out that somebody walking into traffic might get hurt? Just wondering if we’re still allowed to point out obvious things without triggering others.
Feel free to make the case that a 4 hour 22 man dog pile is safe because they’ll be using the same inaccurate testing you’ve been criticizing for months. You need only to look at the struggling MLB to see an example of a non contact sport that has had serious issues. Throw in the inept leadership in college football that has been on full display this summer and the picture isn’t a hopeful one.
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point out*
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Ok, your first paragraph is an emotionally based personal attack, but do carry on. Are you even talking about the virus or are we getting into the inherent risks in a contact sport here ?
I think the only area of real increased risk is the players along the line of scrimmage. It’s certainly not a “4 hr dog pile.” Inept leadership ? All you are doing is bloviating about being above the fray but aren’t actually saying shit.
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“Will that be enough?”
No.
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Here’s an anecdote to add to the mile-high pile of anecdotes:
I received an email from a colleague just one minute ago:
“My brother dropped my niece off in Athen, GA, she’s an incoming freshman at UGA…..
HE SAID IT WAS A ZOOOOOOOO!!!!!!”
To which I replied:
“Aye aye aye. Good luck to your niece! What a time to start college. I keep seeing photos of SEC college towns with crowds of people mulling around, waiting in lines for restaurants/bars, etc., with no masks or social distancing. Zoo is right!”
To which he, in turn, replied:
“Yes sir, my brother said he gives it about 3-4 weeks and they’ll be sending kids home…….”
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By and large, young people aren’t concerned with something that basically has zero symptoms and little to no threat to them. I can’t say that I blame them. That’s the take I brought back from a week on the Florida Panhandle
It was nice to see the school bus roll by home this AM in Peachtree City.
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I was in the panhandle two weeks ago and it wasn’t just the young folks who had little concern for their health. It’s no surprise that Florida, like Georgia is headed in the wrong direction. Enjoy those buses going by while you can.
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The peak for positive cases in GA was July 24th. 4800, most recent data showed 3200….
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The way you say “the” peak, it’s like you think there can only be one.
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There’s a reason after all why it’s the Redneck Riviera…
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If we could just pay a small sum of money for the rights to these players, we could force them to stay in their quarters, control all of their activities, control who they can interact with, test them regularly to see if they are healthy specimens, control who they have sex with, maintain a healthy diet for them until we get the work out of them that we want.
What the heck, let’s throw in having the kneel for good measure.
Let’s end the oppression of these players and pay their families a small sum of money for their labor.
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That scene will be repeated on every college campus in the nation in the next few weeks. We’re already seeing reports of cases popping up in Milledgeville. The only questions are how bad does it get and how quickly. As we’re seeing in the local high schools, twenty or thirty cases can put put hundreds of people in quarantine for two weeks. That’s what’s going to kill the football season. Once contact practice begins one or two positive cases can put nearly the entire team in lockdown. Yes, all the players are saying the right thing at the moment. But we know they absolutely will eventually do things that put them at risk. While football may be their number one priority, partying and chasing girls generally rank higher than going to class. We’ve all been there and we’d act the same way today.
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A statement I’ve never particularly cared for or understood, but…..WHAT’DYA GONNA DO ? Meaning, the gnashing of teeth (by all of us) at this point seems futile. In just about everything. I know I don’t want to live with the shutting on and off of life for…several years. I’m resigned to just “fuck it” at this point. Avoid 20 somethings like the plague (pun intended), wear a mask and rock on. Easier said than done for those who work at universities.
I think the gov’t needs to just subsidize the massive manufacture of N95 masks at this point and only sell them to people over the age of 55. Card them like they’re buying alcohol and only let people buy 1 at a time. People 18-24 by and large DGAF and I don’t know what’s going to change that so maybe we can just let the virus burn itself out.
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I’ll just leave this here.
https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/viral-video-shows-huge-gathering-students-near-georgia-university-campus/LKIWUBJ5XVCDLKLXBIRWPGKVNY/
They’re college kids, many of whom are away from their parents for the first time ever.
Any of y’all remember your first week in a dorm? It’s kind of fuzzy for me….
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Put the players in a bubble or forget the whole thing. If they’re going to mingle players with the greater campus population all the effort getting to this point is wasted. Plenty of campuses are going to be shut down in short order anyway.
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How much money would be required for you to have your life restricted from ages 18-22? How about at your current age?
To go only where the government told you you could go. To see only the people the government told you you could see. To be poked and prodded thrice a week. To eat what the government told you you could eat. To forego conjugal visits from coeds. To love on their schedule, sleep on their schedule, eat on their schedule, restrict your human interaction, to forego life? Because that’s what the bubble is.
I’m actually truly interested.
How much would you sell your freedom for?
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The bubble has nothing to do with government. Schools can’t put their athletes in a bubble unless they put their entire campus in a bubble. Otherwise.the athletes are receiving benefits not available to the general student population.
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You basically just described the military. This is an interesting thought experiment. I’m hopeful that we won’t be in this same spot in 2021, so I’ll scale that back to six months which is plenty of time to get the season in. Perhaps even 5 months.
I was never a highly recruited player with a star ranking and many schools vying for my services so I can’t really relate on that level, but speaking for myself a decade past my athletic prime, if I could regain my youthful healthy form and play football for 5 months at UGA I’d have definitely done it for room, board and tuition alone when I was that age. But again, I’ve never experienced a long line of people wanting my autograph.
At my current age given I still had the ability to play at Georgia, and I could come back to my current job when I was finished, I’d definitely do it for a continuance of my regular salary. Mid 5 figures. I’d probably do it for free if room and board was provided and I could still cover my bills.
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Looks alot like savannah, ga the last few days
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i haven’t seen anyone doing any reporting on what percentage of our players’ time is going to be in physical classrooms this fall and what percentage of our players are going to actually be online only. I’d be very surprised indeed if Kirby and Butts-Mehre weren’t trying to get these kids all-online so they can be in as much of a bubble setting as possible. I didn’t need to see the pictures from UNG and Tuscaloosa to know what it’s going to be like at literally every campus in America when kids get back to school. To have any kind of realistic shot at getting college football done in 2020, I’d think the players really can’t be in classrooms. It can’t hinge on whether 30,000 college kids obey social distancing rules.
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Everyone keeps talking about the risks of Playing. What’s the difference between Playing and Practicing?
You’re still hitting and sweating and breathing on each other.
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Agree, I’ve been asking where are all the kids in the hospital are due to practicing. I don’t see much of a difference myself.
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Other than lack of full control over what the other teams are doing, nothing.
The biggest risk is players doing what players would normally being doing on a daily basis then bringing it to the facility.
The saliva test could be a season saver in terms of identifying and quickly quarantining positive cases.
If we can:
1) get the saliva test operational and
2) get through mid-September without mass “opt outs” and/or positive tests maybe we can play.
I have a feeling this may go the wire, but we clearly aren’t going to be able to get an assist from the student body.
If the general student body cause a campus spike (likely) and school gets shut down, we might not play even if we ck off 1 and 2.
Interesting times.
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Derek,
Exactly.
And are we to believe that 18-22 year old jocks will suddenly stop hooking up with cleat chasers? Please. Swapping spit is putting it mildly.
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Salt peter in the powerade?
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I would be shocked if very many if any at all of our football players are actually going to in-person face-to-face classes this week.
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They have been and are playing full schedules of rugby and league football here in South Georgia and North Florida. A local sportswriter here in Brunswick posted all the pics on Facebook and was gleeful that she could watch football again. I asked her how they were allowed to play but such limitations were put on college football. Of course, I got screamed at for being that asshole. It was a truly serious question.One that I thought might naturally come to mind to a “sports reporter/journalist”. Guess I just need to stay in my lane.
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Those guys can sign waivers. And there are no pockets for lawyers to dig into.
Kemp could stop then, but won’t as any rule he could impose would also apply to college football.
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I wish the ADs luck in convincing these kids to give up everything that makes college worthwhile.
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