Around the Big Ten

[lineygoblue]

Desmond is wrong. If any team should be tossed from the Big Ten for whining it should be Penn State. They're at the front of the class.

Nebraska fits in the Big Ten better than they do in the Big XII. And they fit better than Penn State. The Nits can leave any time they like, IMO.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I was in the airport yesterday when I saw Desmond's rant on ESPN. I could just see the CC but he was very animated. His views are not at all reflective of what I've heard from BT players. Puzzling.

I think it was Hannibal talking about ESPN's scripted take that was supportive of the idiocy of the B10 and PAC12. I don't get that either and seems inconsistent with the COVID take from players and coaches.

Conference officials that have had the courage to take a stand on playing have obviously looked at the COVID data available to them, formulated protocols to make playing and practicing as safe as possible, assessed health risks to be acceptable and said that in plain, unambiguous terms. It is astonishing to me that officials in the BT and PAC12, looking at the same data and having implemented as rigorous if not more rigorous COVID protocols than the ACC, SEC and B12, probably did the same ris assessment and decided to cancel fall sports.

Once again, we have this disconnect from what is most likely the COVID reality - a low health risk for student athletes - and a falsely created one not supported by the data at all. There's deference given to the falsely created one in an effort to assuage and pander to hand wringing groups. All of this in an effort to avoid what would most certainly be a legal and PR nightmare for them, as unjustified it might be, should a student athlete become seriously ill from COVID. It's the unobtainable in life zero-risk approach.

This sort of thing has become the MO at multiple levels beyond sports ....... look at the data, then reject what reasonable risk/cost/benefit analysis reveals about COVID and chose a COA that is based on emotions not the facts. Rejection then precipitates unnecessary mitigation measures that are both shots in the dark and clearly more harmful than the data tells them the derived PH benefits will be. Amazing.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Desmond is a complete tool. Fuck him. And fuck Wilbon. UNL won't leave the B1G for three reasons...money, mula and dinero.

Period.

[Tom W]

Conference officials that have had the courage to take a stand on playing have obviously looked at the COVID data available to them, formulated protocols to make playing and practicing as safe as possible, assessed health risks to be acceptable and said that in plain, unambiguous terms. It is astonishing to me that officials in the BT and PAC12, looking at the same data and having implemented as rigorous if not more rigorous COVID protocols than the ACC, SEC and B12, probably did the same ris assessment and decided to cancel fall sports.

They obviously didn't look at all of the data and/or didn't conduct a risk analysis that wasn't heavily biased to the legal/PR doomsday failure mode. It is delicious, though that they will still pay a hefty price for their decision.

They didn't need to be Churchills, but they could have done better than the Chicken Littles that they were.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Fucking Pussies

[THE_WIZARD_]

Kevin Warren needs to be removed. Period. The guy is a fucking moron. Why the fuck did you require all these programs for TWO FUCKING MONTHS to go through EXTREME COVID PROTOCOLS...giving them all the ILLUSION they were going to be playing...then just a WEEK AGO you release the improvised schedule...only to SHUT IT DOWN 48 HOURS LATER? Do the non-pussy conferences have different medical "experts"??? If you are shutting down sports why aren't the various campuses being told to shut down? Why can the players still workout now? Why did you just LAST WEEK CLAIM YOU FELT YOUR OWN SON WAS SAFE PLAYING THIS FALL AT MISSISSIPPI ST.??? The players are FAR SAFER IN THE CFB ENVIRONMENT THAN ELSEWHERE THIS FALL. They face far more risks from the game itself...injuries...etc...

If you think this has to do with player safety...it's not. It's some about liability I think but there is something else going on. Either complete lunacy or something sinister. The PAC12 was waiting for the B1G to shutdown. I don't think they shutdown if the B1G doesn't. Congrats Commish Warren...you just single handedly detroyed many programs, players hopes and dreams, fans who have spent a lifetime following their respective programs, college communities whose survival has been tepid at best in the last 6 months now are at the brink of economic collapse...nice work Commish.

EPIC. FAILURE. PERIOD.

REMOVE. HIM. NOW.

[lineygoblue]

That's the puzzling thing for me. All the Big Ten programs seemed to be in high gear, heading for at least a start of the season, only to see it all totally shut down in a matter of a few days. And not just in football. All the fall sports were moving along, getting ready for their respective seasons, and in just a matter of 3-4 days, everything gets shut down until at least January.

So the worry-wart in me wonders several things. Biggest concern is, did the medical advisors have information in front of them that shows this thing is about to explode again, and that led them to cancel the season? But then, if they had that kind of information, why haven't they shut down the campuses completely? Why are they even considering in-person classes? Why are they opening the dormitories? If they are expecting some huge new wave of Corona, why even bring the students back at all?

There's been some discussion here that this decision is probably based more in liability, than it is in virus containment. I think that's got to be it. The presidents saw the potential for huge lawsuits later on if Covid-infected players suffer long term effects from being infected during football season. If this is the case, then why in the world are they even floating the balloon of "We'll try again in the Spring"? Covid is still going to be around. Hopefully there will be better and more effective treatments, and maybe even an imminent vaccine, but Covid is still going to be around.

In my Captain Obvious moment of the day, the decision to cut and run is more about legal issues than it is about the containment of a virus.

[iam416]

Kevin Warren needs to be removed. Period. The guy is a fucking moron. Why the fuck did you require all these programs for TWO FUCKING MONTHS to go through EXTREME COVID PROTOCOLS...giving them all the ILLUSION they were going to be playing...then just a WEEK AGO you release the improvised schedule...only to SHUT IT DOWN 48 HOURS LATER? Do the non-pussy conferences have different medical "experts"??? If you are shutting down sports why aren't the various campuses being told to shut down? Why can the players still workout now? Why did you just LAST WEEK CLAIM YOU FELT YOUR OWN SON WAS SAFE PLAYING THIS FALL AT MISSISSIPPI ST.??? The players are FAR SAFER IN THE CFB ENVIRONMENT THAN ELSEWHERE THIS FALL. They face far more risks from the game itself...injuries...etc...

If you think this has to do with player safety...it's not. It's some about liability I think but there is something else going on. Either complete lunacy or something sinister. The PAC12 was waiting for the B1G to shutdown. I don't think they shutdown if the B1G doesn't. Congrats Commish Warren...you just single handedly detroyed many programs, players hopes and dreams, fans who have spent a lifetime following their respective programs, college communities whose survival has been tepid at best in the last 6 months now are at the brink of economic collapse...nice work Commish.

EPIC. FAILURE. PERIOD.

REMOVE. HIM. NOW.

Quoted for truth and co-signed.

[Whitley]

That's the puzzling thing for me. All the Big Ten programs seemed to be in high gear, heading for at least a start of the season, only to see it all totally shut down in a matter of a few days. And not just in football. All the fall sports were moving along, getting ready for their respective seasons, and in just a matter of 3-4 days, everything gets shut down until at least January.

So the worry-wart in me wonders several things. Biggest concern is, did the medical advisors have information in front of them that shows this thing is about to explode again, and that led them to cancel the season? But then, if they had that kind of information, why haven't they shut down the campuses completely? Why are they even considering in-person classes? Why are they opening the dormitories? If they are expecting some huge new wave of Corona, why even bring the students back at all?

There's been some discussion here that this decision is probably based more in liability, than it is in virus containment. I think that's got to be it. The presidents saw the potential for huge lawsuits later on if Covid-infected players suffer long term effects from being infected during football season. If this is the case, then why in the world are they even floating the balloon of "We'll try again in the Spring"? Covid is still going to be around. Hopefully there will be better and more effective treatments, and maybe even an imminent vaccine, but Covid is still going to be around.

In my Captain Obvious moment of the day, the decision to cut and run is more about legal issues than it is about the containment of a virus.

I think that is a large part of it. But I wonder something as well Between The Big Ten and Pac 12 there is an awful lot of medical brain power (especially if you include UoC and John Hopkins) that have access to research that we as the public don't have. I think they might have a good idea on what is coming down the pike as the way of vaccine/treatments. Also, I think they are thinking that college football could very well be a spreader event.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I think that is a large part of it. But I wonder something as well Between The Big Ten and Pac 12 there is an awful lot of medical brain power (especially if you include UoC and John Hopkins) that have access to research that we as the public don't have. I think they might have a good idea on what is coming down the pike as the way of vaccine/treatments. Also, I think they are thinking that college football could very well be a spreader event.

I addressed this idea of medical experts "knowing what's coming" in another thread: They might think they know. That they base this supposed knowledge on pre-publication release of studies submitted to them for peer review and later official publication is speculative and dangerous. How much medical research conducted very early on in the pandemic in China - none of it with controls, adequate sample size and power or peer review - turned out to be right? For example, Chinese Doctors recommended early ventilator support for Acute Respiratory Failure. Over time, this medical management approach was found to kill more ICU patients than it saved. Countries, including the US, went nutz over finding ventilators - a wasted undertaking. There are more stories like this.

In the specific cases of HS football in FL and claims by the BT office that they had breaking medical news that influenced the decision on fall sports, the BT went one way and cancelled fall sports and the FL HS football league association went another and elected to play. The HS medical advisory boards in FL, and I opined this to also be the case for the BT, alleged they had knowledge of the potential for long term cardiac effects in student athletes infected with SARS-CoV-2. I went on to explain that those cardiac threats involved and increased potential for congestive heart failure (CHF) ..... important caveat: more research needs to be done. I read a review of the pertinent literature on-line. Have at it if you want but, IMO, at this point, assuming that the risk of cardiac disease over the long term is scientifically baseless. https://www.heartrhythmjournal.com/a...625-1/fulltext

Competent MDs don't articulate risks or patient management options based on pre-publication research studies. I don't doubt the members of these medical advisory groups are well intentioned but recommending that a sport be cancelled based on speculation isn't sound medical advice. In the case of FL HS football, the league took the medical advisory group's speculative input, contectualized it along with other hard data and correctly, IMO, elected to start the HS football season. Clearly, there are risks in undertaking either COA. It appears to me that in FL's case, they judged the benefits of playing HS football outweighed the risks...... we're going to find out if they made the right decision or not, and mind you, don't count on the press to report on the outcome fairly. Be assured, I'll be here to dig out the facts.

[AlabamAlum]

This decision wasn’t made on the basis of some medical consensus, and if the universities were concerned about a ‘spreader event’ they would empty dorms and campuses.

[lineygoblue]

This decision wasn’t made on the basis of some medical consensus, and if the universities were concerned about a ‘spreader event’ they would empty dorms and campuses.

Exactly. Lets face it. Students get much closer in dorms, both intentionally and unintentionally, than they ever do in a classroom or football field. This is why I had to laugh when they suggested that they were going to allow students to attend football games, "with social distancing requirements in place". What a laugh. You aren't going to keep students apart. It isn't happening.

Therefore, it seems to me that this is more of a cover-our-ass move than it is a virus prevention move.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Tainted...I think you'll enjoy this video of a Baton Rouge radio host going off on the B1G elitists, Desmond Howard, Kellerman, Wilbon, etc...

https://youtu.be/PJ6pqmknHKk

[AlabamAlum]

There is an ad for a wing place in the back drop of that video. Now those look good.

[THE_WIZARD_]

STFU