FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[lumbercat]

One solution I've heard is the flip flopping of seasons.
Football seems to be the most vulnerable sport for the spread of the virus so why not play the Football schedule in the spring? 

[SpringSt7]

I've been a fan of moving the seasons around as well. The push back with that becomes a facilities issue—unless you're completely flipping fall and spring, you're going to run out of field space.

[lumbercat]

If they moved Football at Bates to the spring it would not create a problem for Bobcat Mens and Women's Lacrosse- easy fix. No one else uses Garcelon Field. I draw the same conclusion at Bowdoin and Colby.
The only facilities conflict I can see on first look is at Wesleyan where Football and Baseball share the same field.
I don't see a facilities crunch on this but maybe I'm missing something.

[nescac1]

When you see stories like this, hard to imagine football anywhere in the fall:

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/29336227/21-clemson-football-players-positive-covid-19-latest-testing

[Oline89]

When you see stories like this, hard to imagine football anywhere in the fall:

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/29336227/21-clemson-football-players-positive-covid-19-latest-testing

Let me play Devil's advocate here:  why would this story dissuade you from thinking football can be played 3 months from now.   Student athletes were screened and 21 players are positive.  I am willing to bet that all of them were asymptomatic.  You isolate those players.  In 2 weeks they are no longer contagious.  They have recovered, are protected from future infections, and should have no issues with returning to play in the fall.   Why does that mean there should be no football in the fall?

[nescac1]

The point is that despite the most aggressive precautions available, for both pro and future-pro athletes in environments with limitless resources, the disease seems to spread explosively in any intensive, sustained close-quarters situations (locker rooms and, alas, more broadly, dorms).  If it happens at Clemson now, it will happen everywhere in the fall.  Covid is unlikely to be gone a few months from now.  In fact, in roughly half of the country, it's now trending up, at very concerning rates.  And that's all before the first of what are sure  to be a serious of packed, massive, indoors, superspreader rallies drawing science skeptics (many of whom will refuse even to wear masks) traveling in many cases hundreds of miles to attend.  It's the perfect formula for accelerating the spread, nationally, into the fall. 

It's possible we could have had football in the fall if we had handled this disease well from the outset and continued to take it seriously now.  We aren't. Everywhere  I look, I see people packing into bars and such as if we've won.  All it will take is one high profile athlete who tests positive at a place like Clemson to become seriously ill or worse yet die and the NCAA will pull the plug.  The odds of that happening, alas, look increasingly likely.  And believe me, Nescac Presidents will eliminate (for them) the low-hanging fruit first.  Including intercollegiate athletics.  Although personally, I'd say it makes no sense to have students in dorms and shared dining halls, simply no way to contain the disease in any shared bathing or eating venue  - the biggest likely risk venues - while canceling sports.   Either shut down entirely or say, screw it, let's roll the dice.  The best hope for return to normal soon, in lieu of vaccine, is dramatically easier and more effective proven treatments. That feels like a long shot by the fall, alas.  If we are banking on this trending down AFTER reopening, that's laughable.  Look at Florida, Arizona, Texas right now. Not good. 

Oh and on another note, immunity for asymptomatic carriers may be limited to just a few months.  That news just came out this week.   If confirmed makes things much worse. 

[amh63]

Enough already!  I'm just going to wait a bit longer....until after I file my taxes ...and see what's up in the Nescac, etc.  With all the marches/protests, etc., imho, the pandemic numbers are being intertwined with politics.

[Chicobeans45]

Well, my kid attending a Nescac school in the fall as a recruited football player.   His frosh season unlikely to occur imo, which is unfortunate, but hardly the priority as far as we are concerned.  The coach is wonderful and our son is incredibly excited to compete and be part of what seems to be a great group of guys, but the much bigger picture is that the broader college experience could be significantly marginalized.  Put simply, this school passed the broken leg test for him - if he broke his leg and could never play again, would he be happy at the school - and his answer was a resounding yes throughout the recruiting and admissions process.  Missing a year of football - would be a bummer, but ultimately meh - but having the vibrant energy and infectious (pardon the pun) enthusiasm he felt on campus during his visits disappear is more important of a problem imo.  Seriously considering gap year at this point - football is a piece of it, but a small piece.  I get this is a football board, and some comments will tend to try to find reasons for a season, but this is the Nescac folks, not the SEC

[Chicobeans45]

But (sorry cut off), my kid has a good friend who's number #1 priority is football - at a Nescac. They are waiting to see how this plays out before kid commits.  Every kid and situation is different, but I'm sure there's more than a few football recruits who will either gap it or enroll elsewhere. The last thing Patton, Roth, Mandel, Berger-Sweeney etc want is to demonstrate preferential treatment to sports (especially football lol) over other activities, but will be interesting to see what the recruit classes do if season gets cancelled. My uneducated guess is half either gap or go elsewhere..

[quicksilver]

I am seeing that the NESCACs are not necessarily going to approve gap requests. It has to do with not wanting to accidentally greatly the size of the class of 2025 by allowing members of the class of 2024 to defer matriculation and become members of the class of 2025. Then again, they also should be seeking a smallish class of 2024 in order to facilitate physical distancing in dorms, bathrooms, classrooms, etc. So it will be interesting to see how the NESCACs balance these competing concerns . 

[Chicobeans45]

Was wondering that myself because it's being positioned that all gap requests need to be in by 6/30, and that all will be approved.  Not sure if that's everywhere, but it's what my kid's school is saying..

[ColbyFootball]

Covid-19 is not the flu when applied to the overall population. But, the statistics show that covid-19 is no more serious than the common flu in people under 40. NJ has over 10,000 covid-19 related deaths, with only 1 in a person under 18. All of the government leaders, and presumably college leaders, say they are guided by the facts.yet, they ignore that important fact. They need to open our schools with responsible precautions.

[nescac1]

For the zillionth time, no one is ignoring that fact.  All those students under 40 interact with lots of people on campus over 40.  You may feel comfortable sacrificing cafeteria and building and grounds workers so college kids don't miss a semester of instruction, but if COVID is (1) not dramatically diminished by September or (2) treatment options are not a lot better, and if dorm style living is as conducive to spread as it appears, then that may be the tradeoff we are talking about.  Look, there are a ton of variables and a lot of unknowns.  But to act as if college life impacts only those under 40 is not in any way reflective of reality.  Colleges have responsibility to care for their staff and communities, not just students.  There are no cost-free solutions and hence none of this is close to an easy call. 

[ColbyFootball]

We can protect everyone. My point is that we know who's at biggest risk, and lowest risk. We can provide enhanced care for those at highest risk, conduct enhanced testing of everyone. Have plans to isolate anyone testing positive etc. But get the kids from K thru college back in school.  Being out of school is harming them. So, two questions. Do you care about the adverse effect on the kids, and second, what is your solution?

[quicksilver]

This message to the Bowdoin community from the Bowdoin president says that there will be no fall or winter sports during the first semester. I suspect we will hear a similar message from other NESCAC schools since the president mentions working with other NESCACs on a plan that would allow for some sports after Jan. 1. Not a surprise given the US's failure to contain the coronavirus and the bad news from the pro teams that were tentatively beginning the process toward re-starting . .