Bartles

Not a word about football in this longish twitter thread, but it's a stark explanation of how colleges in general are pretty fucked if the virus situation doesn't improve dramatically asap

Both those guys have actually been pretty vocal about safety protocols, including masks. Their fans probably think the stuffy university presidents put a gun to their head to make them say it

One thing I don't see a lot of reporting on is what's to be done with other fall sports if campuses are able to open. If I was an AD, I would be lobbying to shift damn near everything except FB to the spring. Maybe soccer is OK, and cross country, if you can get enough COVID tests for everyone. But volleyball and maybe even basketball should be flexible enough to back their schedules up. Any pre-January activity by other large-roster sports (baseball, softball, swimming) could be delayed too. And I never understood why indoor track exists anyway. Besides student/staff safety, there is a cost issue with the amount of tests that would be needed. I'm sure there would be an uproar about special treatment, but as the last few posts point out...

The entire P5 and most likely all of FBS would be back for the 2021 season assuming it starts on time. There are all kinds of gloomy projections, and I'm sure there's good evidence for those, but the guys in charge are no strangers to getting money when they need it. And unlike some industries, college football is a proven profit center which won't change after COVID-19.

I think this pic was about 2 pm CT. Are we gonna have to endure that annoying sun-pattern in LF for day games? Also seems like an outfielder could easily lose a ball in those if it took a certain path. Can't wait for someone to discover a hidden jetstream to right center or whatever oversight gets exposed next

RE: Beaches I agree the on-beach activities are very safe. But the act of traveling to/from the beach towns, all the shopping and socialization that goes on (even if outdoors)...it's nowhere near the protest level of outdoor crowding, but I would have expected some impact. Those outdoor patios and boardwalks feature a lot of drinking, hugging and loud talking. It doesn't seem to have blown up in the northeast, looks like it has created a rise in coastal Texas. Higher immunity levels, I hope.

To me this is by far the most notable development we've had up up until the recent flare-ups. I don't see a lot of media reporting on this or even asking questions about it, but there almost has to be greater immunity in the northeast than we would expect. The NJ beaches have been open for six weeks and yet numbers in those counties, along with big cities that flock there, have not jumped up. I hope this is pertinent to Texas, because regardless of the cause(s), it may give some hope that if you ride this out for a few weeks, but follow up with continued mask-wearing and distancing, you can start to see the other side of this shit.

If 10-20 percent are still in person classes, and presumably all students have access to those classes, that is plenty of wiggle room to have athletes on campus. You could legitimately argue sports would be safer that way than cramming them into spring when everybody comes back to campus (maybe). But I don't think the commissioners are crazy enough to make than announcement unless the hotspots level off noticeably in the next week. If they play in spring, it sounds like everybody realizes you're gonna lose most of the NFL quality guys. They would also probably have to reduce the schedule to 8-10 games. I think it could work...throws the CFP race a little more open, and gives fringe NFL prospects a chance to make an impression.

Overwhelming favorite for sure...like Clemson to win ACC odds

I have no idea who the guy is, and like I said I am very skeptical of his overall messaging. BradinATX did a more thorough reading of his threads and is not impressed. But yes, bad cat's narrow theory of why southern protest cities (inc. LA) have been slammed while northern ones have not is "the best analysis I've read" so far. Mainly because I haven't seen mainstream media even tackle the subject, they just assume it's all on "opening up". Feel free to post some links if you have any I think the phenomenon has a mixture of causes, but the early suffering of the big cities makes sense as an impediment to later outbreaks. Herd immunity isn't like "OK we have it, green light everybody!" Places that are closer to immunity can tolerate certain behaviors better than others.

I don't think I'm on board with Twitter's @boriquagato in general, he seems like maybe an anarchist or at best a shit-stirrer. But the thread below and some of his other points are pretty compelling as far as theories on why NY/DC/Phila/Chi have been under control post-protest but many others have blown up.

TSN reporting the hub cities will be Edmonton and Toronto. Finally the Cup will be hoisted north of the border again!

Agree about the data, but in real life I'd go the other way on that testing advice. You can also save lives by keeping yourself isolated at home until the symptoms have been gone for two weeks. That's how it was in the northeast when testing without a doctor's order was impossible (as far as I know, it still is). If you have trouble breathing, go to the ER for sure. But basic cold symptoms, I think a ton of people just rode it out at home.

The best analysis that I've read would indicate that yes, the protests are the main driver of the large increases we've seen in much of the country. They are not the only driver, and there is plenty of evidence that indoor drinking or crowded patios are also dangerous. Many cities did not see any protest increase which is still a mystery but quite likely because those areas had already been slammed and thus have more immunity. It ticks me off to see people suggest the protesters were just bored or tired of the lockdown. I was on the periphery of a few marches in Philly and it was not a party atmosphere or social hangout. It looked the same in other cities too. They had signs and they were mad. As to football, I think what Sejir and Bevoswag mention above has a good chance of happening: the southern numbers will remain horrifying into next week, then will plateau for several weeks and slowly come down. It's not gonna be an easy decision for colleges, but if numbers are dropping in early August, my guess is they move forward with the intent to play games on time.

Doing something right in Lubbock, although watch them hold a celebration party for eliminating the virus @nicoleauerbach Texas Tech announces that it has completed 21 additional tests for COVID-19 among its football newcomers/staff members with zero positive results. Texas Tech has completed 218 tests for football athletes/staff with a total of 23 positive results, all of which are now recovered.

There are some twitter threads by @boriquagato that make an interesting case that the new spikes are mostly protest related, but many of the northern cities had already been hit so hard that they had more immunity and thus were able to weather the mass gatherings. I'm not fully on board with that, but there may be something to it. It's just hard to ignore the much more obvious sparks coming from crowded indoor bars.

Some great lines in there but it absolutely fucking matters who wins a bunch of elections in November

All good. Most of those pics are outdoors, and that's the only reason I am defending her. Nothing else at all.

Looks like another season is in production. This article gives a good look at how creative and ruthless the producers are to make sure they are able to expose idiocy while covering their own asses legally. Hiring their own security to prevent anyone from stopping the bit prematurely. Similar to the deceptive but legal contracts the dumbass targets signed in season 1.

From a very good David Ubben column in The Athletic. The players end up giving this prick way more attention that he could have dreamed. And there is no legal remedy. Probably should have just confronted him in person to get a viral video of him pissing himself.

Quoting to get this on the new page. How would this food delivery work, for any hospital? Is there enough food storage so you don't get bombarded all at once?

Ouch, that's like 200 more than Philly ever got in a day. Still, there's a decent chance the recent hotspot numbers will plateau in about a week and then slowly come back down. Despite incompetence from local and fed governments, and despite so much anecdotal evidence of dumbassery...a ton of people have taken notice and are adjusting their behavior. Basically staying home.

Yeah, up here in the northeast, we're gonna have to cut back lecturing you southern bumpkins a little bit. Definite trend in the wrong direction as summer begins and restaurants are opening. I think it's just people letting their guard down and hope enough of them are paying attention to cut it off quickly. Philadelphia was supposed to go to "green" level this week but sounds like they will wisely postpone.

^ Agree, there are some laughs and never a time where I thought about turning it off. But it's not in league with Ferrell's better movies. Subtitles for the song lyrics probably helped appreciate the satire.

My wife teaches 3rd grade and it was way more than 8 hours per week for her. For every student zoom call, there were at least two teacher-only prep zooms so they would be on the same page for the "live" class. And usually an all-faculty call at least a couple times a week. The brief videos you guys are mentioning can easily take an hour to knock out. But I would say the majority of her time was researching what was working elsewhere in terms of methods, videos, assignments, everything. She could do that well into the night. For every little graphic, video or song that was part of the class, there are a bunch of others teachers have screened in deciding which to use. For the record, she fucking hated the whole thing and agrees it is barely helping the kids. Her solace was that things like Katrina have knocked kids off schedule for long periods before, and society eventually recovers.