Let me start by saying McGarity and Brooks deserve a lot of credit for making the effort to foster safe conditions under trying circumstances. For the most part, it worked.
That being said, college kids are gonna college kids. Two pictures nicely sum up the day’s festivities.
Now, Rovell’s an idiot, but there’s no denying that the majority of students I saw yesterday acted as if the coronavirus didn’t exist. Not just inside the stadium, either — it looked that way in the parking lot before the game, downtown Athens afterwards (at least where the cops weren’t watching) and at a pre-game house party we drove by.
I hate to sound like one of those “get off my lawn” folks, but I am truly grateful that I don’t have any college-age children now. If I did, either I wouldn’t let them go to school, or I wouldn’t let them come home.
The only other problematic group we faced yesterday were the inebriated, who all seemed to want to get close in order to have a conversation. The good news is that I didn’t run into a single member of the But Muh Freedom Brigade.
The cool weather was a godsend, in that it was easy to wear a mask the entire game, which I did. Folks were spaced out to meet social distancing guidelines, but there was an awful lot of yelling and cheering going on (not to mention some wandering) and I was just more comfortable masked.
Bottom line: the good outweighed the bad and with regard to the latter, I know what to anticipate. I’ll be back for the Tennessee game.
If you’ve got any questions, ask away in the comments.
Get The Picture 
Yeah, those people talking about freedom are a real drag.
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I know, really. Next thing you know, people will want out of Cuba, North Korea and Venezuela. We will probably need a wall just to keep them away from all this freedom we will have.
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Context is key. We started a revolution over a 2% tea tax and now we’re taxed 40% and nobody seems to care as long as we aren’t required to wear masks.
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Senator, because of all the opt-outs, were you able to secure a full slate of games?
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Me, personally? Nah. But the group I’m part of has at least a few tickets to each game.
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What was the entering/exiting process like? Ushers do anything? Food service? Bathrooms?
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Came for this. Need bathroom info!
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Entering/existing process was as usual. We came early and sat in our seats for a few extra minutes to avoid crowds.
Didn’t really notice ushers. There were open concessions stands and I didn’t notice much of a crowd around them. Bathrooms were fine, since the crowd was quarter-sized.
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I decided not to go yesterday in part because I didn’t want to wear a mask for a whole game and also I’m a little nervous about being around that many people. On tv I didn’t hardly see anyone wearing a mask. Someone told me you had to wear one anytime you left your seats but there were also lots of folks in very close quarters yelling loudly (hello multiple Auburn false starts) which from what I know is a really good way to spread this thing. What were the rules?
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You didn’t have to wear a mask when you were in your seat, but otherwise, you were required to.
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From what I read, masks were only required going to and from your seats, but not during the game itself. (Which, yeah it’s outdoors, but it’s 3+ hours in one spot, so not the safest practice.) Was there any signage to this?
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Speaking of college age kids, my son is 18 and will graduate high school this spring. He doesnt really know what to do next year. He and my wife and I have never been ok with “gap year” talk, but I think he may decide to just get a job and wait for higher education to return to normalcy. Crazy.
About the stadium crowd, I was really surprised at how loud you folks were. It was a thoroughly pleasant game to watch and the fans made a huge difference. I watched some of the BC game with no fans, very uncomfortable to watch.
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They are allowed to pipe in crowd noise and I’m sure they do.
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Until classes go back to being more normal, based on the students I’m talking to, I’d do something productive other than zoom meetings and eLc at the price of tuition. But that’s just me.
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Tried to talk my freshman to take a gap year but she wasn’t hearing it. Luckily her school seems to be taking it seriously. I know she is.
But yeah, gap year this year really made sense to me. Hopefully by next year this will be over for the most part.
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Rovell sounds like a real peach…
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Replace the p-e-a with a b-i-t, and you’ve got it.
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I unmasked at my seat, but masked up everywhere else. From what I saw, that’s what the vast majority were doing. Didn’t see unmasked folks on may way to and from the restrooms and didn’t hit any concessions. The closest fans to us were about 10 feet away. The school did a great job.
Also – saw the same scenes downtown with the kids before the game. It was far less crowded on the north side of downtown and we were able to sit immediately at Trappeze two hours before kick. Folks there were distanced well.
I could’ve done without the fake noise coming in when we were on offense. What was going on with that?
Last thought, the crown noise was legit. I have a theory that a lot of our fans sit on their hands and absorb my yelling. Last night, my yells got to echo off the empty bleachers and it was spectacular.
Amen on the weather, Bluto!
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To keep it “fair” for both teams, the home team can’t cut off the fake crowd noise when they’re on offense. I’m almost 100% certain that’s the rule this season.
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My daughter, who lives in Watkinsville, tells me UGA currently has about 3,000 COVID positive students. Not something they talk about much.
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My daughter is a sophomore at UGA and has already had and recovered from Covid 19. She did the quarantine in her apartment at the Mark and none of her 3 other roommates got it. She wears her masks religiously. Pretty sure she got it at a bid day celebration. Since she lives off campus, her case was not counted as a UGA case, instead it was counted as the county we live in. Fun with numbers.
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They did speak about it quite a lot, but when the numbers from 37 universities with nearly 50k positives had one hospitalization and no deaths, we all moved on.
The virus is real and dangerous. Just not to people under 40 unless other complications. Just like all the other respiratory viruses.
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New York Times tracks cases reported by colleges. It’s free coverage. 3,532 cases at UGA, from today’s list. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/covid-college-cases-tracker.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
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I work with the hospitals, the local department of health and the University on a weekly basis and I can say that there are not 3,000 active infections going on among University students that anyone is aware of. That number is way higher than anything I have heard from anyone that knows. I would put the number probably in the 1,000-1,200 range at the most. 4 weeks ago 3,000 would have probably been a very low estimation IMO but we are past that and way down the hill on the backside. I am masked up and take Covid very seriously but that 3,000 number is just not accurate right now.
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I went and looked at the NYT article and the numbers are through Sept. 24 so that seems to be consistent with your comments.
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The NYT numbers are cumulative. So 3,532 would be from the start of the semester, I believe.
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For the week 9/21 to 9/27 the number of new cases at UGA was, wait for it…63! The number of new cases at UGA is going down like an Auburn cheerleader.
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Oooweee!! Ghurka bring the heat on aubrun today.
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You wouldn’t have made it in PCB this summer. We didn’t wear masks until forced and then tore them off once the ordinance expired.
And we are packed here this summer. Love walking around in public bare faced.
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Lol. Yea bay county never played along.
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Well, I just came from Half Hitch and Target and most people is aw “played along”. Is it some kind of badge of honor not to mask up?
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More power to you, my man.
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I’ve been twice to the gulf coast this season, it’s great…
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Yeah Herbie commented on the downtown bar scene saying they were full and all the students acting like there isn’t a virus.
I also saw that SMU cleared out their student section at halftime of their game because the students weren’t following guidelines.
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I’m not a get-off-my-lawn kind of person, but I’m pissed that the students aren’t taking this seriously at all, and the University hasn’t done enough to make them take it seriously. We were doing okay in Athens until the students showed up.
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i mean, after 8 months it sort of “is what it is” at this point, right ? The reason we haven’t done well with this compared to other developed nations is because we are ridiculously free (as cheesy as that sounds) and because we are a nation of obese chilardos teaming with comorbidities.
In other words, it is what it is. WTF arenany of us going to do about it except scream at the void and maybe fat shame.
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A vote for “Sleepy Joe” would be a start….
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The virus is definitely scared of him.
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Like the Sun rising in the East. (You should follow football more, and politics less…)
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We’re entering cold/flu season. Now’s not the time to let up on standard precautions like masks. The stadium is a controlled environment so UGA shouldn’t be lax in enforcement.
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Countdown to closed thread begins.
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LOL
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Commenters at Alligator Army have accused us of overloading too. Meh.
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I’m wondering if everyone just came down to the good seats? Lower bowl seemed pretty crowded for a limited attendance.
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Karen Rovell was really on our nuts about it.
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He seems really fun at parties.
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Has anyone mentioned that Barrett Sallee is a tool? I’ll hang up and listen.
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He took it like a man on Twitter last night and on his SXM show today. He owned it.
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He always does. It’s why I like him. Other people like Mandel or Bianchi or Woken or Kanell or Forde or Dodd will run and hide when they’re wrong.
Barrett Sallee is a stand-up dude.
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I haven’t seen Kanell in a few days. Is he still taking the Handbags to the bank as East Division Champs?
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Espn is all in on UF
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He might be a stand-up dude, but he’s doing a lot of standing up lately.
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Let he who has never said anything stupid or made a bad prediction cast the first stone.
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Good. I needed to. Not bright making one game proclamations. Big ups to Sam Pittman and the Hogs. Showed the blue print for slowing down MS St.
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He needed to.
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I had no idea what the ‘But Muh Freedom Brigade’ was until just now. I hope to use that in a witty post somewhere soon. Learning is fun.
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Probably should wait until the Playpen on Wednesday to be safe.
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Sounds scary. Thoughts and prayers.
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How many, if any, fans were turned away because they had a fever?
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