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No Spider football this fall

712_VT

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Jul 16, 2020
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I think most of us have seen the news that it is very unlikely anyone in the CAA will play football this fall. Some of you on here know who I am and I felt like I needed to post this, may be a little lengthy and may ruffle some feathers but this is honestly how I feel about the current situation. Football needs to be played this fall regardless. It’s a way of life in our country and we can’t lose it, not only for financial reasons but for a few other reasons I’ll lay out here as well. Football funds many other sports and that’s a fact no one can get around, no football this fall will have a large impact not just on football players but all student athletes as a whole. Many players need football because it provides them with structure and a lot of those same players come from not so great backgrounds and at home situations. You really expect those guys to be able to have a normal life at home without the sport that gives them so much? In many cases football is the only sense of normalcy in their lives and being on a college campus not only provides them with a college education but also saves their lives. I encourage everyone here to read what the Iowa state athletic director wrote earlier this week about this topic. Of course I selfishly do want to see football this fall but I know football is much bigger than just me being a fan.
Now for some of my thoughts on the virus. I’m not gonna get into politics on here but the virus is completely overblown by the media and if you can’t see that than I don’t know what to tell you. Why were there not a ton of cases around the time of all the protests? Because they were all wearing masks? No. If the virus is as bad as everyone says than almost all of those protestors would have caught it. You really think all of them were wearing masks? Big hint they weren’t. If we can have mass protests OUTSIDE than we can have football. In my opinion many of the measures we are taking to protect ourselves against the virus are just things meant to make people feel more comfortable but they don’t actually do anything. I won’t get into it but there is a lot of literature by actual doctors about how masks themselves don’t really do all that much, even Doctor Fauci said so. Another example of a measure meant to make people feel more comfortable is some conferences going to conference only schedules. Wow I didn’t know we were dealing with such an advanced virus that can differentiate what conference college football players play in. Truly mind blowing stuff. Another thing I’ll say is that if we went out and mass tested people for the flu during flu season a lot of people would test positive but be asymptomatic. This virus is the same thing. The case number is not what we need to be worried about because we are all carrying all kinds of viruses all the time. The death rate is the number we need to be worried about and the death rate for this virus is pretty low. For people who complain that we don’t have enough tests and it’s too hard to get tested it’s really not. I had someone I work with test positive so I went and got tested the next day. I had to lie and say I had symptoms and got my results in less than an hour where I tested negative.
The last thing I’ll say is this; it shouldn’t be up to people in suits sitting in an office if we play football this fall. It should be up to the players because they’re the ones that this is really about. If they’re not comfortable playing then fine we won’t have football. However I guarantee you almost all college football players would answer yes to the question of whether they want to play or not and for that reason we should have football this fall. I hope I didn’t ruffle too many feathers with this lengthy post and I really hope it gives you all something to think about. Go Spiders!
 
Many players need football because it provides them with structure and a lot of those same players come from not so great backgrounds and at home situations. You really expect those guys to be able to have a normal life at home without the sport that gives them so much? In many cases football is the only sense of normalcy in their lives and being on a college campus not only provides them with a college education but also saves their lives.

Unfortunately, you could say most of this about almost any person in America at this point. If it were just as easy as snapping our fingers and getting back to normal, I don't know anyone who wouldn't jump at that chance. No one wants to be dealing with this stuff. But that doesn't mean we can just ignore it. It's a real thing that is really affecting mankind worldwide. We, unfortunately as a nation, have done the worst job of any nation dealing with it, and the longer we F around, the longer it is going to annoy the hell out of us, or worse.

Do I think we could have played football without any of our players or any other players in the league dying from COVID-19? Probably. Would I have wanted to be the commissioner who says "No matter what, we're playing this year because all of our schools need the money" and then had even one player die from it? Hell no. That's where we are, for better or worse. It's easy to say there's no risk, just get back to life, but there is actually some risk and it's far greater than with the common cold or the flu or pretty much any other easily transmittable illness.

There's a very low risk of serious illness or death for most of us, but we don't know enough about who is actually at risk to just chance it. I know of two 30-year-olds here in town who have been hospitalized for more than a month with COVID. One in a coma for more than 3 weeks from it, seemingly she will recover but is not out of the woods yet. Perfectly healthy people with no known health issues. Of course they are the exception more than the norm, but it's evidence of what is possible, and that's the difficult part.
 
i understand from a liability issue , it was the right call to say no football , but in truth even with no football these kids are not gonna live in a bubble , were they in any more danger on the field than they will be at parties on campus that every college has?
 
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probably not, but at least most on/off campus parties are not sanctioned/ put on by the school
 
probably not, but at least most on/off campus parties are not sanctioned/ put on by the school
probably not, but at least most on/off campus parties are not sanctioned/ put on by the school
i agree with you and as i said i think they made the right call , but as a matter of fact just not sure they are safer, i assume if they were playing they would be weekly covid test and tine spent in meetings and practice , is probably safer than normal college kids weekend activities sponsored by the school or not , so is the real goal player safety or school liabilty
 
Unfortunately, you could say most of this about almost any person in America at this point. If it were just as easy as snapping our fingers and getting back to normal, I don't know anyone who wouldn't jump at that chance. No one wants to be dealing with this stuff. But that doesn't mean we can just ignore it. It's a real thing that is really affecting mankind worldwide. We, unfortunately as a nation, have done the worst job of any nation dealing with it, and the longer we F around, the longer it is going to annoy the hell out of us, or worse.

Do I think we could have played football without any of our players or any other players in the league dying from COVID-19? Probably. Would I have wanted to be the commissioner who says "No matter what, we're playing this year because all of our schools need the money" and then had even one player die from it? Hell no. That's where we are, for better or worse. It's easy to say there's no risk, just get back to life, but there is actually some risk and it's far greater than with the common cold or the flu or pretty much any other easily transmittable illness.

There's a very low risk of serious illness or death for most of us, but we don't know enough about who is actually at risk to just chance it. I know of two 30-year-olds here in town who have been hospitalized for more than a month with COVID. One in a coma for more than 3 weeks from it, seemingly she will recover but is not out of the woods yet. Perfectly healthy people with no known health issues. Of course they are the exception more than the norm, but it's evidence of what is possible, and that's the difficult part.
Even if one athlete got seriously ill with this such as the 30 year olds, I would feel horrible if I made that decision to to reopen fall sports now. I have a 31 year old daughter in healthcare who shared with me what she witnessed in Covid patients and it was not pretty and one I would not wish on anyone. Yes, most it has little to no effect on, and others young and old, with or without other complications, it is devastating and has lasting effects even after you recover. Let's just be smarter and wear masks when asked to and social distance. What is the big deal and stop being so rude to restaurant personnel and store owners when they ask you to put on mask before entering. They are only protecting their personnel and you.
 
I will argue that anyone can get the flu and it can also put people in the hospital if bad enough. It is also possible for that to happen to younger people as well. I just want consistency, if we don’t shut down the country over the flu we shouldn’t over COVID either. Anyone remember the swine flu? That was pretty bad but we didn’t shut down everything. Even the Spanish flu 100 years ago we still had football for the most part with not just a pandemic going on but a world war! There are always risks and ways that people can die in everyday life and we just have to keep moving. Staying inside and shutting everything down does more harm than good.
 
COVID and the flu are completely dissimilar. That's the first and most important point. This is NOT the flu, so trying to compare it with the flu is not logical.

Beyond that, what to me is driving everyone erring on the side of caution is that because this is new, we don't understand the long-term effects of it, like Carolina said above. We have a much better understanding of what the flu, a common cold, HIV, etc. do short-term and long-term. With this, we don't. So sure, maybe most people who get it are fine after a couple weeks and never have any other issues from it. Or maybe 10% of them drop dead from lung damage in 5 years. We just don't know, and it's tough to take actions as if we do know.
 
I will argue that anyone can get the flu and it can also put people in the hospital if bad enough. It is also possible for that to happen to younger people as well. I just want consistency, if we don’t shut down the country over the flu we shouldn’t over COVID either. Anyone remember the swine flu? That was pretty bad but we didn’t shut down everything. Even the Spanish flu 100 years ago we still had football for the most part with not just a pandemic going on but a world war! There are always risks and ways that people can die in everyday life and we just have to keep moving. Staying inside and shutting everything down does more harm than good.
You cannot compare 1918 Flu epidemic to this today, mainly due to fact the communication to the public was limited and primarily our medical response and resource capability was very limited and antiquated. As many died in WW1 from infection and disease as they did from bullets and gas.
 
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COVID and the flu are completely dissimilar. That's the first and most important point. This is NOT the flu, so trying to compare it with the flu is not logical.

Beyond that, what to me is driving everyone erring on the side of caution is that because this is new, we don't understand the long-term effects of it, like Carolina said above. We have a much better understanding of what the flu, a common cold, HIV, etc. do short-term and long-term. With this, we don't. So sure, maybe most people who get it are fine after a couple weeks and never have any other issues from it. Or maybe 10% of them drop dead from lung damage in 5 years. We just don't know, and it's tough to take actions as if we do know.
Can understand the hesitancy in starting things up 100% now but the frequency with which we are now hearing "We don't know the long term effects" is bothersome. Serious question, how long until we know the long term effects? And are we really willing to wait that long? Unless people are willing to wait that long, then people should stop using long term effects as a reason.
 
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I said it before and I’ll say it again. It shouldn’t be up to the men in suits to decide what happens with football season in the fall. It should be up to the players. If the players don’t feel comfortable playing then fine, no football. However I know what the resounding answer will be to that question. It’s unfortunate that they will never leave it up to the players.
 
I said it before and I’ll say it again. It shouldn’t be up to the men in suits to decide what happens with football season in the fall. It should be up to the players. If the players don’t feel comfortable playing then fine, no football. However I know what the resounding answer will be to that question. It’s unfortunate that they will never leave it up to the players.

Because that worked so well with concussions...
 
FWIW, I’ve seen several recent/former Spiders on Twitter opining that there shouldn’t be football this fall.
 
I said it before and I’ll say it again. It shouldn’t be up to the men in suits to decide what happens with football season in the fall. It should be up to the players. If the players don’t feel comfortable playing then fine, no football. However I know what the resounding answer will be to that question. It’s unfortunate that they will never leave it up to the players.

Your adolescent naïveté is refreshing.
 
FWIW, I’ve seen several recent/former Spiders on Twitter opining that there shouldn’t be football this fall.
I don’t wanna go here but I’m gonna have to. It doesn’t surprise me one bit that UR players would be the ones to think there should be no football. UR is the smaller version of uva; soft. Say what you want but credit to jmu for still trying to play. Why has UR gotten passed by jmu to the point that they will NEVER compete with them again? Because jmu takes athletics seriously and UR puts way too much money towards a grossly underperforming basketball team. jmu might start a streak against UR similar to the 15 year streak Tech had over uva, and to be honest I think it could could be longer than 15. Good thing either jmu will jump to FBS or UR will drop football before a streak like that can happen. Meanwhile UR will just keep on running the never ending hamster wheel with Mooney and men’s basketball. What a joke.
 
COVID and the flu are completely dissimilar. That's the first and most important point. This is NOT the flu, so trying to compare it with the flu is not logical.
That is correct. The flu is much more dangerous for people under 50 years old.
 
Come on now Broc, you know better.

The flu killed 3,000 people last year under the age of 50:
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/2018-2019.html

COVID has already killed that many under the age of 44 in less than half the time:
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm
I'm more interested in the iFR and hospitalization rates, stratified by age. But not in this thread.

I apologize for responding to an off-topic post with one of my own. I've spent the last few days talking to my athletes devastated by VHSL's decision, last night watched an awards "ceremony" for one of Central Virginia's best scholar-athletes who has to take a gap year, then the Broccoli floret cried herself to sleep after CCPS's announcement. It wasn't a good night.

I'd love to continue a reasoned discussion on the Off Topic Threads, but unfortunately each one of them tends to get polluted by the poop-throwers.
 
Come on now Broc, you know better.

The flu killed 3,000 people last year under the age of 50:
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/2018-2019.html

COVID has already killed that many under the age of 44 in less than half the time:
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm

For school age children, they have a 1- 2.5 million chance of dying from Covid, significantly higher than 1-200,000 chance of dying from the flu. So, when you see schools talking about the health of your kids, they either don't know what they are talking about or conflating the health of their kids, with the health of there staff.

People under the age of 25 have a statistically higher chance of dying from the flu than Covid. The older you get, the worse the death toll is from Covid. If you are 85 or older, you have a 314 times higher chance of dying from Covid than those in the 25-34 age bracket.

So, this whole one player dying scenario is overblown in my opinion. Yes, it is a possibility but much more distinct possibility of a college football player dying from any number of other issues than Covid.

Now, if you are worrying about coaches, broadcasters, bus drivers, referees who are older and would have to be around for game situations, than their is some justifiable worry with playing games.
 
FWIW, I’ve seen several recent/former Spiders on Twitter opining that there shouldn’t be football this fall.

Easy for them to say, they got to play. Not up to them, it should be up to the folks who are affected. That's like former restaurant owners telling current restaurant owners that they need to close down.
 
Easy for them to say, they got to play. Not up to them, it should be up to the folks who are affected. That's like former restaurant owners telling current restaurant owners that they need to close down.
That’s not how sports work though, especially at the collegiate level. The players don’t make those decisions. Fan1 explained why it would be a terrible idea if they did.
 
John Hardt 7/23 w/ Bob Black ESPN950

Richmond A.D. John Hardt with the Lastest Spiders Athletics News -

https://espnrichmond.com/92823/richmond-a-d-john-hardt-with-the-lastest-spiders-athletics-news/


Bob self proclaimed that a "fascinating" interview. Ok sure. Hardt loves to use a lot of fancy pretentious words without saying anything. What fascinates me is why Bob would not even ask an AD who was heavily involved in canceling CAA fall football what he thinks about other conferences including FCS ones - at least currently - moving forward. And what he thinks about our core competition JMU, Nova, & Elon attempting to play as independents in Fall. And how that would affect their spring eligibility should CAA football occur in Spring as planned. Honestly there was little to none insight on football. Save your time & don't click, I fell on the grenade.
 
You cannot compare 1918 Flu epidemic to this today, mainly due to fact the communication to the public was limited and primarily our medical response and resource capability was very limited and antiquated. As many died in WW1 from infection and disease as they did from bullets and gas.
Not only that aspirin was the latest wonder drug and patients were given 10 times what we now consider the max. The ‘treatment’ killed a lot of people.
 
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Will college football happen in 2020? How each conference is approaching the upcoming fall season
Some conferences have already made decisions regarding fall sports while others will wait and see.
Read Now
 
I fear that I’m turning into FRS a little...but I’m tired of hearing the opinions of JMU. About ready for them to “go big” and then come crawling back in a few years when the Rusted Motor Parts Bowl against Arkansas St isn’t as much fun as they thought it would be.
 
It's hard for me to comprehend how a conference like the Southland is going to be able to prevent virus outbreaks when Major League Baseball is unable to do it.
 
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