it's going to be hilarious when we are sitting here in January getting ready for the national championship game and the pac 12 and big ten look like morons.
And just like that, the PAC 12 will look like a bunch or poor buffoons as they sit back and watch the rest of the nation play football. Maybe they can invite their Ivy League friends over to watch real teams play. Maybe Biden can open up his bunker and have watch parties.
The coaches can talk about whatever they want. The school presidents are the ones with the actual say. As-is, the plan that has the most traction is the one where the Big Ten and Pac-12 start in January, but that's not a fun headline.
Was it the right thing to do? So the NFL, MLB, NBA, MLS, NHL, PGA, ACC, SEC, and BIG-12 are all idiots and the PAC-12 and BIG-10 are the only smart ones?
I mean, you do recognize there is a major difference between the pro leagues that are running and college sports, right? And those major differences are also why people don’t believe the other conferences will ultimately have a full season, if they play at all?
I mean, if you want to go into that, there's nuance comparing all of them so you can't just say "pro leagues" vs. college. The NBA is the only one in a fully enclosed "bubble", while the MLB is having localized breakouts and continuing on anyway, traveling and playing across the country. I'm sure the MLS, NFL, NHL will continue to do the same. We've had hundreds of thousands of young people get the virus and the vast majority of them don't even notice. I certainly haven't heard of any the 100+ major athletic figures who've contracted COVID, even reporting an mild sniffle. If it was so cut and dried, I don't think 3 of the 5 Power 5 conferences would have elected to proceed - in my opinion, pulling the plug on the season is a mistake.
The pro leagues are able to do various things because the players in the pro leagues are employees. They are paid salaries and have unions and collectively bargain for end results. That is not the same as in college, where college administrators have argued for years that these are students and thus shouldn't be treated like professional athletes.
What we're now seeing in those 3 Power 5 conferences still making an attempt at having a season is that they're dealing with the inherent contradiction of closing their campuses to students (essentially saying it is unsafe for students at present) but also completely safe for football players. The AAC made the subtext even more explicit today when they moved all non-football sports to the spring (https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/29739921/american-athletic-conference-moves-non-football-fall-sports-spring).
The obvious question is how is it safe enough for football, which has more players and support staff in close proximity to any other sport, but not safe enough for a sport like volleyball or soccer? The answer should be obvious: it's about money, plain and simple. Anyone arguing otherwise is deluding themselves.
Now, obviously college athletes are going to want to play. They're athletes - there's countless stories of guys who should not be playing due to things like injuries but keep trying to force their way on the field. That's why you (theoretically) have someone around who looks out for their best interests in these situations. What we're seeing instead is administrators looking out for their own best interests (making money) instead of the general health of the students at their schools.
Ok dude, don't act like you're blowing minds when you're saying that "money is important". Anything that involves human activity, for the most part is driven by incentives and involves money, but to say that it's THE factor is so reductionist.
Most activities in life have a risk-reward calculation - life is inherently dangerous, we've just mastered making it minimally so in the modern era. So why don't we try looking at this with some nuance?
"Someone who looks out for their best interests" is disingenuous - COVID19 is less deadly to students than alcohol, or playing football. 0% of all COVID deaths is among people age 0-24 (this from the CDC's raw data). 2% of all deaths total in the same period, are among people age 0-24. The precise number - 99.99x more young people died of reasons other than COVID since Feb. Do you really think that some school administrator is forcing kids to go back to school, and that they're the only ones with agency in that decision? You don't think their parents would have something to say about it if they thought it posed mortal danger to you know, the only people they generally love more than themselves?
And who is looking out for the best interests of the pro players? Oh yeah, nobody is - the players have the agency to make their own decision. And they've all decided to play, despite 100+ pro athletes contracting COVID. I am 100% for policies that say student athletes can opt-out of the season, without repercussion to their scholarship or from their teams. But give the choice to the students. We seem to like to coddle college students these days, but they're 18 and eligible to go fight and die in a war, so why don't we try treating them (and their parents) like adults. College football is more dangerous to a college football player, than COVID-19 is.
And sure the article is from May, but the school enrollment plans have largely not changed. For whatever reason, the media hasn't written about kids re-enrolling in school except a WaPo piece trying to flare up some alarm - but go do a cursory search for any of the campuses mentioned in that article. They are all open, and remain open.
So with the SEC, Big 12 and ACC still planning to play will there be a flood of Pac-12 and Big Ten players deciding to transfer?
And what happens if their seasons go off with few problems assuming they actually play?
it's going to be hilarious when we are sitting here in January getting ready for the national championship game and the pac 12 and big ten look like morons.
called it... farewell Jake Burton
Will UCLA athletics need to declare bankruptcy at some point? They already had a huge deficit before the cancellation.
major shoes are going to drop
Probably not. As part of their announcement, the PAC-12 is instituting a loan program to help the athletic departments, so they should be ok.
so the conference will go BK instead. great.
And Jake Burton is now transferring to play Fall Football. Really cannot blame him. Gotta do what is best for the kid.
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/29759687/thanksgiving-weekend-start-option-big-ten-football
And just like that, the PAC 12 will look like a bunch or poor buffoons as they sit back and watch the rest of the nation play football. Maybe they can invite their Ivy League friends over to watch real teams play. Maybe Biden can open up his bunker and have watch parties.
The coaches can talk about whatever they want. The school presidents are the ones with the actual say. As-is, the plan that has the most traction is the one where the Big Ten and Pac-12 start in January, but that's not a fun headline.
Was it the right thing to do? So the NFL, MLB, NBA, MLS, NHL, PGA, ACC, SEC, and BIG-12 are all idiots and the PAC-12 and BIG-10 are the only smart ones?
I mean, you do recognize there is a major difference between the pro leagues that are running and college sports, right? And those major differences are also why people don’t believe the other conferences will ultimately have a full season, if they play at all?
I mean, if you want to go into that, there's nuance comparing all of them so you can't just say "pro leagues" vs. college. The NBA is the only one in a fully enclosed "bubble", while the MLB is having localized breakouts and continuing on anyway, traveling and playing across the country. I'm sure the MLS, NFL, NHL will continue to do the same. We've had hundreds of thousands of young people get the virus and the vast majority of them don't even notice. I certainly haven't heard of any the 100+ major athletic figures who've contracted COVID, even reporting an mild sniffle. If it was so cut and dried, I don't think 3 of the 5 Power 5 conferences would have elected to proceed - in my opinion, pulling the plug on the season is a mistake.
Guess I'll explain it then!
The pro leagues are able to do various things because the players in the pro leagues are employees. They are paid salaries and have unions and collectively bargain for end results. That is not the same as in college, where college administrators have argued for years that these are students and thus shouldn't be treated like professional athletes.
What we're now seeing in those 3 Power 5 conferences still making an attempt at having a season is that they're dealing with the inherent contradiction of closing their campuses to students (essentially saying it is unsafe for students at present) but also completely safe for football players. The AAC made the subtext even more explicit today when they moved all non-football sports to the spring (https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/29739921/american-athletic-conference-moves-non-football-fall-sports-spring).
The obvious question is how is it safe enough for football, which has more players and support staff in close proximity to any other sport, but not safe enough for a sport like volleyball or soccer? The answer should be obvious: it's about money, plain and simple. Anyone arguing otherwise is deluding themselves.
First, https://www.abcactionnews.com/sports/sec-schools-expect-campuses-to-be-open-in-the-fall
Second - if it's all about money, why are Big 10 students the ones clamoring to play, and Jake Burton transferring so he can get some playing time?
That article is from May? And now we're stuck with a host of colleges realizing their whole plan was not well thought-out and are moving everything online, such as at UNC (https://www.businessinsider.com/how-unc-went-from-leading-college-reopening-to-shutting-down-in-a-week-2020-8). In fact, the whole push to open colleges despite knowing that college students would act like college students is being tied back to...money! (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2020/08/17/covid-cases-college-fall-semester-tuition/5591245002/)
Now, obviously college athletes are going to want to play. They're athletes - there's countless stories of guys who should not be playing due to things like injuries but keep trying to force their way on the field. That's why you (theoretically) have someone around who looks out for their best interests in these situations. What we're seeing instead is administrators looking out for their own best interests (making money) instead of the general health of the students at their schools.
Ok dude, don't act like you're blowing minds when you're saying that "money is important". Anything that involves human activity, for the most part is driven by incentives and involves money, but to say that it's THE factor is so reductionist.
Most activities in life have a risk-reward calculation - life is inherently dangerous, we've just mastered making it minimally so in the modern era. So why don't we try looking at this with some nuance?
"Someone who looks out for their best interests" is disingenuous - COVID19 is less deadly to students than alcohol, or playing football. 0% of all COVID deaths is among people age 0-24 (this from the CDC's raw data). 2% of all deaths total in the same period, are among people age 0-24. The precise number - 99.99x more young people died of reasons other than COVID since Feb. Do you really think that some school administrator is forcing kids to go back to school, and that they're the only ones with agency in that decision? You don't think their parents would have something to say about it if they thought it posed mortal danger to you know, the only people they generally love more than themselves?
And who is looking out for the best interests of the pro players? Oh yeah, nobody is - the players have the agency to make their own decision. And they've all decided to play, despite 100+ pro athletes contracting COVID. I am 100% for policies that say student athletes can opt-out of the season, without repercussion to their scholarship or from their teams. But give the choice to the students. We seem to like to coddle college students these days, but they're 18 and eligible to go fight and die in a war, so why don't we try treating them (and their parents) like adults. College football is more dangerous to a college football player, than COVID-19 is.
And sure the article is from May, but the school enrollment plans have largely not changed. For whatever reason, the media hasn't written about kids re-enrolling in school except a WaPo piece trying to flare up some alarm - but go do a cursory search for any of the campuses mentioned in that article. They are all open, and remain open.
actually there are also now some smaller private elementary schools opening in the la area. and everything is fine.