• 2020/2021 Football Season - Please, no talk about the virus itself, just football.

 #27280  by Affirm
 Fri Apr 17, 2020 3:24 pm
Furmanoid wrote:
Fri Apr 17, 2020 2:16 pm
No point in making players or cheerleaders wear them. If they are going to college all week they are gonna get exposed so it doesn’t matter what they do on game day. You mainly just don’t want to infect 4000 spectators and then have them scatter all over SC and GA.

But boy, if a 1/4 full outdoor breezy stadium is too dangerous I don’t see how any number of people could be safe indoors watching b-ball.
If they are going to college all week, it very possibly would be online courses or sitting in classes or seminars or labs, etc., where everyone is >6’ apart and masked. But you know how close together they are in the huddles, and on sideline situations with coaches and teammates. Also you know how close they are to the opposing team’s players throughout the entire game. In addition, cheerleaders, coaches, officials, et. al., do get very, very close together. It is NOT just spectators - in fact, zero spectators are “essential participants”. Any game can be played with zero spectators, but any game of the sort we are considering involves numerous participants as I have pointed out.
... And YES, you are correct to point out that college basketball, which nowadays starts only 2 months after college football, is very much in question for 2020-2021.
I guess if Furman athletics included an intercollegiate Rifle team as 3 SoCon schools do have for men and for women, that is one sport that would be able to proceed, with or without masks.
 #27282  by Furmanoid
 Fri Apr 17, 2020 6:40 pm
It wouldn’t make sense to go to campus to take all your courses online. If they aren’t on campus there won’t be sports. If they are on campus you can maybe spread them out a little for class, but they aren’t going to social distance the rest of the day. They’re college kids. They are going to get exposed just like all k-12 are going to get exposed. It’s unavoidable. But they are fit young people. They’ll be fine. Sure refs and coaches can wear the masks if they want. No big deal.
 #27291  by Affirm
 Sat Apr 18, 2020 9:53 am
Furmanoid wrote:
Fri Apr 17, 2020 6:40 pm
It wouldn’t make sense to go to campus to take all your courses online. If they aren’t on campus there won’t be sports. If they are on campus you can maybe spread them out a little for class, but [ **** (1) **** ] they aren’t going to social distance the rest of the day. They’re college kids. They are going to get exposed just like all k-12 are going to get exposed. It’s unavoidable. But [ **** (2) **** ] they are fit young people. They’ll be fine. Sure refs and coaches can wear the masks [ **** (3) **** ]. if they want. No big deal.
Disagreements on 1, 2, 3 :
1. If they aren’t going to social distance the rest of the day, then either they will be expelled or there will be no on campus live classes until after the virus subsides greatly in the general population or there is an effective vaccine or both.
2. Fit young people. Not all college students are fit. Some are not young. But even if they are fit young people, consider that there have been a number of of professional athletes in the US and worldwide (probably a number of college athletes too, they get reported less) who’ve tested positive; and there have also been numerous US military personnel who have tested positive, as well as many law enforcement officers. I believe that a large number of those groups of people are both FIT and YOUNG.
3. “If they want. No big deal.” No. I would say mandatory and “very big deal”.
**** Bottom line is that I believe it is going to be difficult to have college sports until at least April 2021, and whatever college sports we do have over the next 12 months are going to look different than what we are used to seeing. (MAYBE there can be abbreviated college baseball and softball in 2021 - start seasons March 25, 2021; short regular season, short conference tournament, abbreviated playoffs, abbreviated College World Series [baseball; softball] finishing up by not later than July 25, 2021. Maybe several of the other sports can also fit into that time frame.)
I hope we can return to normal in college sports by August 2021; but I believe that even then and going forward, things are going to be impacted and different in multiple ways.
BY THE WAY:
Furman had zero football games in 1943, 1944, and 1945. (We began playing football again in 1946, with games at Alabama, at Auburn, at Clemson, at Georgia Tech, and games at home versus South Carolina and versus Georgia, and some other games. The world did not end due to not having football for 1943, 1944, 1945, but it did end for many who went to war.)
 #27293  by Furmanoid
 Sat Apr 18, 2020 11:02 am
1. How are they going to social distance living 2 to a dorm room? How is anybody going to police social distancing in off campus apartments? They aren’t. Come to think of it there are 2 SoCon schools at which distancing is pretty much impossible. If we are ok with packing k-12 kids into typical public school hallways then it is sort of silly to even worry about colleges.
2. My fitness comment was addressing players and cheerleaders. They should be young and fit. There may be a few with asthma and sure they should consider ppe. As for regular students, if they are old or have serious underlying conditions they should consider online courses somewhere much cheaper. They certainly shouldn’t live on campus. Those who are obese should use this summer to lose weight.

Yes young fit people are going to get infected but they probably aren’t going to get very sick. Roosevelt data indicate that most will have no symptoms at all.
3.Many coaches are fit 20 somethings. My no big deal comment meant that it is no big deal for a coach to put on a mask if he needs to.
You are probably right though. I doubt we will have sports. And unless some new treatment proves effective, the risk probably won’t be acceptable for some until 2022 when we may get a vaccine.
 #27296  by Affirm
 Sat Apr 18, 2020 4:36 pm
Furmanoid wrote:
Sat Apr 18, 2020 11:02 am
1. How are they going to social distance living 2 to a dorm room? How is anybody going to police social distancing in off campus apartments? They aren’t. Come to think of it there are 2 SoCon schools at which distancing is pretty much impossible. If we are ok with packing k-12 kids into typical public school hallways then it is sort of silly to even worry about colleges.
2. My fitness comment was addressing players and cheerleaders. They should be young and fit. There may be a few with asthma and sure they should consider ppe. As for regular students, if they are old or have serious underlying conditions they should consider online courses somewhere much cheaper. They certainly shouldn’t live on campus. Those who are obese should use this summer to lose weight.

Yes young fit people are going to get infected but they probably aren’t going to get very sick. Roosevelt data indicate that most will have no symptoms at all.
3.Many coaches are fit 20 somethings. My no big deal comment meant that it is no big deal for a coach to put on a mask if he needs to.
You are probably right though. I doubt we will have sports. And unless some new treatment proves effective, the risk probably won’t be acceptable for some until 2022 when we may get a vaccine.
Thanks for the responses.
It actually is helpful to talk about this, especially since there is nothing else college-sports-related to talk about.
I am glad we can differ in our opinions and comments in a civil manner.
 #27298  by Affirm
 Sat Apr 18, 2020 5:00 pm
Building on a reader comment found after a recent article, I present (not recommending it) the following as a possible scenario:
1. A 3 game regular season involving all college football teams who want to participate. No games between FBS and FCS.
2. An 8-team playoff series based on the top-ranked 8 teams (by vote of "experts") in FBS and in FCS. Quarterfinals, semifinals, and final (National Championship).
3. A 4-team consolation series of the 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th ranked teams in FBS and in FCS
3. The 3 regular season games from late October to late November.
4. The 8-team championship playoff series in FBS and in FCS from mid-December to mid-January.
5. The 4-team consolation playoff series in FBS and in FCB from early December mid December.
6. The proceeds from broadcasting the season will go in large part to the NCAA overall, which will equally divide its receipts among ALL Division 1 teams (good ones and bad ones), after paying the bona fide playoff expenses (championship level and consolation level) of the 8+4+8+4= s4 participating post-season teams, and after paying the expenses of an insurance policy to protect the NCAA from liability related to damages incurred from Coronavirus exposure.
 #27299  by Affirm
 Sat Apr 18, 2020 5:02 pm
affirm wrote:
Sat Apr 18, 2020 5:00 pm
Building on a reader comment found after a recent article, I present (not recommending it) the following as a possible scenario:
1. A 3 game regular season involving all college football teams who want to participate. No games between FBS and FCS.
2. An 8-team playoff series based on the top-ranked 8 teams (by vote of "experts") in FBS and in FCS. Quarterfinals, semifinals, and final (National Championship).
3. A 4-team consolation series of the 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th ranked teams in FBS and in FCS
3. The 3 regular season games from late October to late November.
4. The 8-team championship playoff series in FBS and in FCS from mid-December to mid-January.
5. The 4-team consolation playoff series in FBS and in FCB from early December mid December.
6. The proceeds from broadcasting the season (larger than normally expected due to very highly inflated charges to advertisers) will go in large part to the NCAA overall, which will equally divide its receipts among ALL Division 1 teams (good ones and bad ones), after paying the bona fide playoff expenses (championship level and consolation level) of the 8+4+8+4= s4 participating post-season teams, and after paying the expenses of an insurance policy to protect the NCAA from liability related to damages incurred from Coronavirus exposure.
 #27300  by Affirm
 Sat Apr 18, 2020 5:03 pm
affirm wrote:
Sat Apr 18, 2020 5:02 pm
affirm wrote:
Sat Apr 18, 2020 5:00 pm
Building on a reader comment found after a recent article, I present (not recommending it) the following as a possible scenario:
1. A 3 game regular season involving all college football teams who want to participate. No games between FBS and FCS.
2. An 8-team playoff series based on the top-ranked 8 teams (by vote of "experts") in FBS and in FCS. Quarterfinals, semifinals, and final (National Championship).
3. A 4-team consolation series of the 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th ranked teams in FBS and in FCS
3. The 3 regular season games from late October to late November.
4. The 8-team championship playoff series in FBS and in FCS from mid-December to mid-January.
5. The 4-team consolation playoff series in FBS and in FCB from early December mid December.
6. The proceeds from broadcasting the season (larger than normally expected due to very highly inflated charges to advertisers) will go in large part to the NCAA overall, which will equally divide its receipts among ALL Division 1 teams (good ones and bad ones), after paying the bona fide playoff expenses (championship level and consolation level) of the 8+4+8+4= 24 participating post-season teams, and after paying the expenses of an insurance policy to protect the NCAA from liability related to damages incurred from Coronavirus exposure.