FB: American Rivers Conference

[Schipper Strong]

So I just answered my own question by looking at the ARC website. Looks like Wartburg will have two games under their belt when they play Central. Does practice start based on when the season was supposed to start or before it officially starts? Central's non-conference games were cancelled by the other teams. Are schools still trying to line up opponents or are they settling for conference only?

[doolittledog]

Here is the op-ed the UD president had in the Dubuque Telegraph-Herald re:Covid

https://jeffbullock.com/inoculation-of-common-sense/?ct=t(inoculation_of_common_sense)&mc_cid=afd3076003&mc_eid=2ea4b0baa2

[OzJohnnie]

Here is the op-ed the UD president had in the Dubuque Telegraph-Herald re:Covid

https://jeffbullock.com/inoculation-of-common-sense/?ct=t(inoculation_of_common_sense)&mc_cid=afd3076003&mc_eid=2ea4b0baa2

Wow.  Powerful argument.  I hope he succeeds in his mission of persuasion.

[Outside the Crate]

Wartburg's two non-conference games (Monmouth and Gustavus) have both been cancelled.  The game with Central will open the season for both teams.

I think Bullock's article for the Dubuque newspaper is thoughtful and persuasive.

I agree with Schipper, Central should be favored given the experience on their team.  Needless to say, however, I'll be rootin' for the Real Orange.

[Schipper Strong]

I guess the ARC site was not updated, it still showed Wartburg's games as scheduled. I have had high hopes for this year and hate that it is being overshadowed by the pandemic. All the uncertainty has to be playing with every team's minds. I would normally be cranking up my excitement level, but it is hard to do this year as I don't want the extreme letdown if the season doesn't happen. Normally I would have ordered my reserved seat tickets by now, but nothing has come out about that yet. Since the first home game is still weeks away, it could just be a delay or it could mean family members and students only. Who knows.

There was a story in the Des Moines Register this morning about the risk of playing football this year that is very much in direct conflict with the UD president's story. I guess that is equal representation.
I am not sure I agree with everything in the UD president's article. Yes, most deaths have been in the elderly, but until recently so were most infections. The mortality rate should be much lower, because at their age they should be healthier, but the next few weeks will be telling.

For the former players out there, if it was you, what would your thoughts be? Take at least a minute to actually think about it. If the option to flip fall and spring sports with the possibility of a vaccine in early 2021, would you flip the sports?

[doolittledog]

Here is a link to the CDC.

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm

When you scroll down to Table 1 under Age and sex and then click on 2 of 2, it gives you deaths by age group by week from 2/1/20 through 7/11/20.

This one gives you total to date by age group. 

https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/Provisional-COVID-19-Death-Counts-by-Sex-Age-and-S/9bhg-hcku

I like the weekly totals better.  Lets you see the curve we've been on. 

Weekly deaths
15-24 years since 2/1/20-7/11/20
0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 4, 14, 23, 17, 23, 12, 16, 11, 5, 10, 6, 5, 4, 1, 0

Mrs doolittledog and I fall in the 45-54 years group
0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 40, 245, 677, 844, 783, 676, 509, 438, 406, 315, 294, 268, 221, 161, 92, 38, 12

My in-laws are in the 65-74 years group
0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 10, 16, 139, 700, 2300, 3579, 3518, 3007, 2580, 2326, 1750, 1398, 1218, 970, 736, 557, 342, 144, 66

If my parents were still alive they would have been in the 85 years and over group
0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 11, 15, 138, 740, 2437, 4649, 5620, 5396, 4778, 3952, 3332, 2457, 2068, 1550, 1167, 970, 575, 199, 132

We are seeing some significant declines in deaths.  And those declines come after many states opened back up for business. (subject to change over the summer I would suspect) 

The UD plan is everyone on campus wears a mask, each desk gets disinfected before each class, practice social distancing.

[MediaGuy]

I don't know if anyone has asked this question yet, because I realize that the "spring season" solution is an attempt to still play a season hoping there will be significant changes to the statistics or health care by spring...but if we play a full season in the spring and then again in the fall of 2021 we are going to ask athletes to play a minimum of 20 college level football games in a span of 7-8 months.  And that is a minimum...even if you have a shortened spring season say 8 conference games plus say 3 rounds of playoffs there is still a huge potential for over-use type injuries.  Say Mount Union or UW Whitewater plays in all 13 games of a shortened spring season, then goes to the Stagg bowl the following fall, that would be 27 games played in 8 months. 
I've talked to players who have played in 13 game seasons, and most of them are still dealing with lingering injuries well into Jan or Feb the next year.  The off-season is used not only to get bigger, faster and stronger, but also to change the work load on an athletes body.

If you look at baseball players, the pitchers who end up getting Tommy John surgery in their early 20s don't throw harder or do less rehab than other players, they're usually the ones in winter leagues and multiple traveling teams growing up and they never get an off-season to rest and recover.  If we learn anything from the CTE debate that has dominated our sport for the last few years, it should be that proper recovery and rehab is just as important than preventing injuries and that even though college athletes look and feel indestructible, they are far from it.

I don't have a simple or easy solution, but I do know if we end up playing spring and fall back to back, we will see a significant increase in knee, back and shoulder injuries in the fall

[Schipper Strong]

Good points that I had not thought about.

[DBQ1965]

Pat ... I've been thinking about you and the D3 staff these days.  You must be immersed in uncertainty about Kickoff for the upcoming season when so many schools are making/not making decisions about Fall football.  It must feel like its "third and long" for the staff.  I don't know how much you depend on subscriptions to Kickoff to help keep everything D3football does above water, but I am willing to subscribe for the 2020 season even if there is to be no "publication".  I am resigned to not having any D3 football this Fall ... but I would sorely miss all the chatter from these boards.  Good luck from one member of the Spartan Nation.

[Pat Coleman]

Thanks -- I appreciate you thinking of us. We are not uncertain about the state of Kickoff, unfortunately. We've known for a few weeks that it was going to be impossible to do. The good thing is that we didn't sink any costs into starting it up this year.

Kickoff is about 90% of our June-July-August revenue. And traffic on the website is our main source of Sept-Oct-Nov rev -- both of those are obviously severely at risk, and some of our costs (server) are fixed. We also lost revenue in March from basketball and April-May from baseball, although we did also save costs in that time when championships were canceled.

I'm planning on something along the lines of a GoFundMe or something. Please stay tuned. Thanks.

[formerd3db]

Pat:

I was going to ask you the same question, however, DBQ1965 beat me to it.  I assumed you and your staff were going to be facing some challenges from decreased revenue due to this coronavirus situation.  Good to hear you will have a venue for us to help you out.  Will await hearing your further announcements as you mentioned.     

[doolittledog]

Pat, I always listen to your podcasts through the D3 website.  Does it make a difference for you guys if I listen through a different platform like iheart of spotify or something like that?

I'll check out any gofund me page you do.  If you ever wanted to tackle a kickoff type preview for other sports like basketball or whatever i would certainly throw money at those as well. 

[Outside the Crate]

I was having breakfast this morning with a retired coach.  I said something about there being "hell to pay in the economy," and he responded, "...but what about the stock market?"  The implication, of course, is that since the market is high things must be okay.  I think a lot of people don't realize the impact of this pandemic on the nation's economic life (including certainly Pat Coleman's organization).  A spokesperson for Amtrak this morning said their ridership was down 95%!  The airlines have mothballed most of their fleets.  Theaters have been empty for months.  Virtually every college is facing a huge economic challenge.  The Univ of Iowa's football program is planning on a $40M hit to their athletic budget.  Movie studios are shut down.  Revenue at your local gas station is down to nothing.  It just goes on and on.  Mr. Trump keeps saying we're going to bounce back quickly.  He's kidding us (again).  Then there's the nation's debt, which has grown from $ 20 trillion when Mr. Trump took office to, now,  $ 26.5 T.  I'm scared, and not just about fall football.

[colts183]

Loras is pushing back their fall camp.

[doolittledog]

Loras is pushing back their fall camp.

Isn't there some sort of formula for when fall camp can begin?  Some sort of combination of 1st day of classes and when your 1st game is?  If schools are getting their non-con games cancelled that would make sense their fall camp would start later as well.  But like usual, I am probably way off here.