SI: College Football Leaders moving to cancel season

[diaclone]

I'm sorry, but this does the discussion no good and is such a ridiculous tactic during an otherwise well reasoned discussion (except for the rioting stuff).

No one wants people to die, and no one has a "number" of acceptable deaths and you know that.

Well, we (collectively) have told ourselves that it is ok that meatpackers get sick and some will die so that we can have bacon. We collectively said it was fine to "open" the economy early so that some can make money, put stress on the health system, knowing that alot of people were going to get sick, families would be devastated, etc. Certain leaders are saying we need to send kids back to school, knowing that many will get sick and it will spread like weeds through schools, impacting staff, teachers, and families. I could go on and on. Obviously there is a number because we (collectively) have made a choice to increase spread and risk and illness.

We all are saying we don't want the consequences, but our choices and actual behavior are gonna result in those consequences. Obviously we've made a choice and there is some number that folks are ok with - no one wants to state that number, but we've each implicilty ok with some number so that we can watch college kids play football, Joel Klatt can make money, and advertisers can advertise.

Still the question exists......whether you like it or not.

 

[diaclone]

I know it is and I've never said I'm against the people protesting. I was just saying how those big groups can b

Never said I didn't care about black lives. I'm just for all police ******** shooting and brutality to stop no matter who it is against it should never happen to anyone.

But you just focused on white lives to ignore the racism embedded in the law enforcement system.

 

[JM4CY]

I think I’m glad campbell is keeping his mouth shut.

Even if he did talk, I see him being very careful about anything he says and not putting his foot in his mouth.

 

[Clonefan32]

Well, we (collectively) have told ourselves that it is ok that meatpackers get sick and some will die so that we can have bacon. We collectively said it was fine to "open" the economy early so that some can make money, put stress on the health system, knowing that alot of people were going to get sick, families would be devastated, etc. Certain leaders are saying we need to send kids back to school, knowing that many will get sick and it will spread like weeds through schools, impacting staff, teachers, and families. I could go on and on. Obviously there is a number because we (collectively) have made a choice to increase spread and risk and illness.

We all are saying we don't want the consequences, but our choices and actual behavior are gonna result in those consequences. Obviously we've made a choice and there is some number that folks are ok with - no one wants to state that number, but we've each implicilty ok with some number so that we can watch college kids play football, Joel Klatt can make money, and advertisers can advertise.

Still the question exists......whether you like it or not.

As people have mentioned, you have to weigh risks. As people have mentioned, it would appear that after they got kids to campus and starting their workouts COVID cases have dropped. As people have mentioned, many kids are much more likely to not follow the "rules" if they aren't in a team setting. As people have mentioned, these kids would almost exclusively fall into a group that appears to be a minimal risk of death or serious hospitalization. As people have mentioned, there are kids that are worried about having to go home where they will have much worse care.

There are legitimate questions you can ask about why they are doing this and what good it will do without advocating for death, as you seem to be implying.

 

[Lyddea]

There is no developed nation in the world in which this epidemic is raging like it is in the United States today.

Cancelling the college football season never even needed to be countenanced. We knew this virus was a big one in February at the latest. But, at the national level (and at many other levels) we chose not to do what was needed to beat the virus. And here we are now.

 

[jsb]

Even if he did talk, I see him being very careful about anything he says and not putting his foot in his mouth.

me too and if he says something I’m sure it’ll be fine.

 

[BCClone]

Even if he did talk, I see him being very careful about anything he says and not putting his foot in his mouth.

As the old quote from Abe Lincoln goes, " Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt." Unfortunately social media has allowed a lot of doubt to be removed.

 

[Clonefan32]

There is no developed nation in the world in which this epidemic is raging like it is in the United States today.

Cancelling the college football season never even needed to be countenanced. We knew this virus was a big one in February at the latest. But, at the national level (and at many other levels) we chose not to do what was needed to beat the virus. And here we are now.

Look at what those in the know are saying. This isn't about the virus. If it was the NFL wouldn't be playing. This is about amateurism and wanting to maintain their business model. If these kids were being paid they wouldn't be canceling the season.

If the USA had 30% less cases you think we'd be playing? No chance.

It's more the risk of players organizing than the risk of getting COVID to those who are making decisions. Let's quit pretending this was avoidable, because short of a vaccine we weren't avoiding this.

If you don't believe me here it is straight from a P5 AD:







Matt Hayes

@MattHayesCFB
·
Aug 8, 2020
Power 5 AD just texted: “You and your colleagues are chasing the wrong story. The virus alone is enough to stop the season. But presidents are terrified of players organizing. It’s the paradigm shift to change amateur sports.” (1of2)




Matt Hayes

@MattHayesCFB
(2of2) “You potentially lose one season with the virus. You lose the entire framework of your mission statement with players organizing. They need time to figure out how to attack it.”

 

[alarson]

Look at what those in the know are saying. This isn't about the virus. If it was the NFL wouldn't be playing. This is about amateurism and wanting to maintain their business model. If these kids were being paid they wouldn't be canceling the season.

If the USA had 30% less cases you think we'd be playing? No chance.

It's more the risk of players organizing than the risk of getting COVID to those who are making decisions. Let's quit pretending this was avoidable, because short of a vaccine we weren't avoiding this.

If the US currently had spread levels in line with Europe, we'd be playing at very least with no fans.

 

[Clonefan32]

If the US currently had spread levels in line with Europe, we'd be playing at very least with no fans.

I disagree, but I guess we will never know. I'd agree with you that it certainly wouldn't have hurt CFB's chances, but I still don't think we would have been in a position to play.

I guess my question would be why is the NFL playing and NCAA isn't if the risk is the same? Same sport. Similar number of people. Same COVID statistics.

It's because one are paid professionals and one are amateurs.

 

[isufbcurt]

I disagree, but I guess we will never know. I'd agree with you that it certainly wouldn't have hurt CFB's chances, but I still don't think we would have been in a position to play.

I guess my question would be why is the NFL playing and NCAA isn't if the risk is the same? It's because one are paid professionals and one are amateurs.

The NFL also hasn't started yet so we don't know how it will turn out.

 

[Clonefan32]

The NFL also hasn't started yet so we don't know how it will turn out.

True, but I don't get a sense there is any traction there to cancel the season.

Again, I'd point you to the Tweet I put out before where a P5 AD basically said this is more about players organizing and maintaining amateurism than anything else.

 

[DeereClone]

Look at what those in the know are saying. This isn't about the virus. If it was the NFL wouldn't be playing. This is about amateurism and wanting to maintain their business model. If these kids were being paid they wouldn't be canceling the season.

If the USA had 30% less cases you think we'd be playing? No chance.

It's more the risk of players organizing than the risk of getting COVID to those who are making decisions. Let's quit pretending this was avoidable, because short of a vaccine we weren't avoiding this.

If you don't believe me here it is straight from a P5 AD:



Matt Hayes
@MattHayesCFB
·
Aug 8, 2020
Power 5 AD just texted: “You and your colleagues are chasing the wrong story. The virus alone is enough to stop the season. But presidents are terrified of players organizing. It’s the paradigm shift to change amateur sports.” (1of2)

Matt Hayes
@MattHayesCFB
(2of2) “You potentially lose one season with the virus. You lose the entire framework of your mission statement with players organizing. They need time to figure out how to attack it.”

I think they have been and will continue to delay any decisions so the players/schools/conferences don’t have time to break away from the NCAA and do their own thing. If they had announced last spring that the NCAA was going to cancel football, they would have had enough time to organize and put together a professional league without the NCAA, and change college sports forever.

 

[Statefan10]

If the US currently had spread levels in line with Europe, we'd be playing at very least with no fans.

I doubt we would be. This debacle is happening right now due to the liability concerns. What would happen if someone were to get seriously ill or worse? Us having more stable numbers doesn't mean one of these players wasn't going to get the virus. People are still getting the virus and dying in other countries. Athletes in other countries are still getting the virus. Those are professional athletes though. There isn't college athletics in other countries like there is in the US.

 

[alarson]

I doubt we would be. This debacle is happening right now due to the liability concerns. What would happen if someone were to get seriously ill or worse? Us having more stable numbers doesn't mean one of these players wasn't going to get the virus. People are still getting the virus and dying in other countries. Athletes in other countries are still getting the virus. Those are professional athletes though. There isn't college athletics in other countries like there is in the US.

If current levels of the virus were lower, liability concerns would be lower.

 

[madguy30]

I disagree, but I guess we will never know. I'd agree with you that it certainly wouldn't have hurt CFB's chances, but I still don't think we would have been in a position to play.

I guess my question would be why is the NFL playing and NCAA isn't if the risk is the same? Same sport. Similar number of people. Same COVID statistics.

It's because one are paid professionals and one are amateurs.

If the cases/deaths would have continued to trend like they were in late May-mid June we may have at least felt more comfortable with starting it out since there maybe wouldn't be so much conflict as the illusion would be there it had subsided a bit.

Give it like 3-4 weeks into the season though and cases going up would have probably led to no football either way.

 

[Doc]

Look at what those in the know are saying. This isn't about the virus. If it was the NFL wouldn't be playing. This is about amateurism and wanting to maintain their business model. If these kids were being paid they wouldn't be canceling the season.

If the USA had 30% less cases you think we'd be playing? No chance.

It's more the risk of players organizing than the risk of getting COVID to those who are making decisions. Let's quit pretending this was avoidable, because short of a vaccine we weren't avoiding this.

If you don't believe me here it is straight from a P5 AD:



Matt Hayes
@MattHayesCFB
·
Aug 8, 2020
Power 5 AD just texted: “You and your colleagues are chasing the wrong story. The virus alone is enough to stop the season. But presidents are terrified of players organizing. It’s the paradigm shift to change amateur sports.” (1of2)

Matt Hayes
@MattHayesCFB
(2of2) “You potentially lose one season with the virus. You lose the entire framework of your mission statement with players organizing. They need time to figure out how to attack it.”

I’m not sure the players would be in the position they are currently in if we had done a better job of suppressing the virus early, though.

30% less is one thing, but it should have been a much much larger reduction than that.

 

[Clonefan32]

It’s terribly difficult to predict the effect of having a football season against not having one, so I don’t think giving you a number would help the discussion at all.


I’m not sure the players would be in the position they are currently in if we had done a better job of suppressing the virus early, though.

Even if we were in a "better position" we'd be talking about the potential spike of putting all these players in the same place.

To me, I think the numbers going down would have been more relevant to the fan/ no-fan argument, not playing.

 

[TurbulentEddie]

Well, we (collectively) have told ourselves that it is ok that meatpackers get sick and some will die so that we can have bacon. We collectively said it was fine to "open" the economy early so that some can make money, put stress on the health system, knowing that alot of people were going to get sick, families would be devastated, etc. Certain leaders are saying we need to send kids back to school, knowing that many will get sick and it will spread like weeds through schools, impacting staff, teachers, and families. I could go on and on. Obviously there is a number because we (collectively) have made a choice to increase spread and risk and illness.

We all are saying we don't want the consequences, but our choices and actual behavior are gonna result in those consequences. Obviously we've made a choice and there is some number that folks are ok with - no one wants to state that number, but we've each implicilty ok with some number so that we can watch college kids play football, Joel Klatt can make money, and advertisers can advertise.

Still the question exists......whether you like it or not.

Based on our actions, that "number," for most people, appears to be "anyone who's not a close family member or friend." I.e. my entertainment is more important than your health.

 

[Clonefan32]

I’m not sure the players would be in the position they are currently in if we had done a better job of suppressing the virus early, though.

30% less is one thing, but it should have been a much much larger reduction than that.

The risk was never going away by August. I'm in total agreement the US could have done more sooner. No argument here. Where you lose me is thinking the risk would be eradicated to a point where we'd be comfortable with players assuming it. The risk was going to be there, and without a vaccine there is no way to mitigate the risk of spread. So I don't think in terms of risks to players we are in any different spot.

All "if we had done more we'd have college football" does is push a political agenda, which is fine, and is an agenda I agree with. But it isn't based in fact.