FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[ColbyFootball]

Nescac1

Not sure what I deleted about transmissions, but if I did it was purely inadvertent operating off my phone. Are you referring to it bring inconclusive whether asymptomatic people gain transmit the virus? If so, the answer is unclear. I won't waste any additional time of this Board. My position is clear and remains unchanged. The college kids are in an extremely low risk group. So take reason and proper precautions to safeguard them, and the older higher risk people they come in contact with. So many things can be done short of moving to remote learning and shutting all sports down. It is an overreaction, and the simple way out for the college heads.

[ColbyFootball]

Despite your "extensive research" you appear to be misinformed on asymptomatic spread.

https://www.statnews.com/2020/06/09/who-comments-asymptomatic-spread-covid-19/

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/09/health/asymptomatic-presymptomatic-coronavirus-spread-explained-wellness/index.html

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/asymptomatic-transmission-of-coronavirus-may-be-worse-than-sars-or-influenza-2020-06-12

If there was little to no risk of such spread, cases would not be skyrocketing right now in AZ, TX, FL and elsewhere.  Deaths by the way are a lagging indicator, so there is no way to know what the impact of this ongoing spike will be in terms of mortality rates in the affected regions for another month or so.

If college students are infected en masse, it is simply impossible to protect adults who by necessity will come in close contact with them.  Maybe read up on the medical professionals who have succumbed to this disease notwithstanding all sorts of precautions unavailable to the general public. You've chosen to ignore the very real and unavoidable threat to college staff and community members presented by full reopening.  But that doesn't mean colleges should stop caring and focus only on their students.  To do so would be an unbelievably selfish act.  Non-students' welfare MUST be part of the cost-benefit analysis when colleges do reach a decision.  If things look dramatically better in terms of the disease trajectory in one month, that's one thing.  But right now, we are doing very poorly. 

(Edit: much of this post is responsive to a since-deleted post ...)

I am going to jump in here, simply because I can't hold back (I will probably regret this later).  Since we all agree that the least "at risk" group is the healthy college students, the main argument for not returning the students and athletes back to "normalcy", is the worry about transmission to non-student employees, coaches, professors, etc. Have you stopped to consider the personal situation of this group?  Perhaps the idea of being furloughed for another 6 months is not something this group could tolerate financially, mentally, or socially.  Certainly there is a physical risk that each of these employees will face, but given proper distancing, HAND WASHING, hygiene, the risks can be significantly mitigated.   Perhaps the overall damage caused to the students, employees, faculty and coaches by not working outweighs the manageable risk of catching the virus.

Thank you so much for bringing a sense of reason to they able. Of course this is damaging to the kids, and of course the colleges can minimize the risk. I think it's shameful.

[amh63]

Was a little excited today....planning to get a haircut on Wed.!  Am growing a "Prince Valiant" hair cut presently.  Amherst alums are aware that the comic strip has an Amherst connection and to nearby area of Ma.
Decided to check the "board"....boy has it gone a bit crazy, IMO.   Basketball and football boards...both.  Some comments follows.
Agree with JEFFFAN that Amherst's AD did NOT have the final say on the choice of the BB HC....guided by the Amherst Prez.
Nothing much to add wrt Fall starts and Fall Sports.  Too bad wrt Bowdoin's position on Sports. 

[ColbyFootball]

Was a little excited today....planning to get a haircut on Wed.!  Am growing a "Prince Valiant" hair cut presently.  Amherst alums are aware that the comic strip has an Amherst connection and to nearby area of Ma.
Decided to check the "board"....boy has it gone a bit crazy, IMO.   Basketball and football boards...both.  Some comments follows.
Agree with JEFFFAN that Amherst's AD did NOT have the final say on the choice of the BB HC....guided by the Amherst Prez.
Nothing much to add wrt Fall starts and Fall Sports.  Too bad wrt Bowdoin's position on Sports.

It's nice to have you posting. Hopefully you can direct the posts to football, and away from politics. And hope you're doing well during this crazy time.

[lumbercat]

Christ people, give it up.  (At least Colby Football realized enough to delete his incorrect post about transmission after bragging about all of his expertise).

First, regarding the "forgiven" part, several of you have divorced entirely from context of the discussion that preceded it, if you had bothered to follow the discussion here, that was a response to Lumbercat, who was in turn responding to my point that PERHAPS we should not be following the sage advice of all the people who back in March were absolutely APOPLECTIC that NESCAC sports were being cancelled.  Lumbercat made the very fair counterpoint that we knew a lot less back then than we do now.  So my point in response is, sure, while it's maybe "forgivable" that they were wrong back when we knew so little, to not in any way change their perspective, to STILL treat this disease as the equivalent of the common flu when SO many have died and so many MORE are still suffering greatly from the aftermath of this disease, is highly problematic. 

Second, China is not to blame for OUR government's response to the coronavirus, which by every statistical metric available is one of the three worst in the world (the other two being Brazil, which is just a ****show in every way imaginable, and Sweden, which at least had a strategy in mind, albeit one that didn't turn out quite so well).  There are barely any new infections in Western Europe right now (10 percent of the U.S. level, and dropping, while ours are rising), and that dramatic differential has nothing to do with China.  Sorry to be "political" but NESCAC schools are trying to figure out what the safest, best strategy is for moving forward, and unfortunately, that can't be divorced from the reality we are facing HERE in the United States, which in turn is a reflection of our leadership.  The coronavirus has taken a very different path in the U.S. than in, for example, western Europe, and NESCAC Presidents have to be cognizant of political reality, including a government that isn't taking the disease terribly seriously right now, when setting its own policies and projecting very uncertain risk levels far into the future.  I feel for them, as again, they are faced with no good options. 

Third, Oline89 does raise a good point about the loss of income for affected employees.  My solution to that is a pretty simple one: if NESCAC schools determine that it is not safe for those employees to interact with students, simply pay them their salaries and benefits until it is.  That will mitigate a huge amount of the damage caused by a limited on-campus student population.  Schools can also take all sorts other proactive measures to help their communities, economically, which is far easier than managing an incredibly contagious, highly dangerous disease.  These 11 schools collectively have more than 10 billion dollars in endowments, and a massive pool of incredibly wealth alumni to draw from.  They have the rare luxury of being able to do that.  But making people, especially working-class people, choose between economic survival and, potentially depending on how things evolve over the next few months, a high likelihood of catching the coronovirus is very cruel unless it's absolutely necessary.  Which, at least given NESCAC resources, it is not.  Things like hand-washing and mask wearing, while certainly helpful at the margins, just aren't (I expect, I hope I'm wrong, perhaps there can be more creative solutions) going to cut it for people interacting intensely INDOORS with dormitory-style living and dining on a daily basis.  Cleaning college student bathrooms and serving multiple meals a day to several thousand young people all living together and spreading the virus amongst themselves is just very high-risk activity, as we've seen from the impact of this disease on medical professionals taking all the precautions, and more, being discussed here.

As for discussing this in lieu of sports, well, no one is forcing anyone to read.  I've contributed as much football-related content to this board over the years as anyone.  I'd sure rather be discussing football.  I miss sports in a massive way.  But in case folks haven't noticed, there are currently no sports of ANY kind to discuss, and it's unlikely there will be any for quite some time, certainly at the NESCAC level.  So it's not like these discussions are crowding out talking about a non-existent football season.  Alas.

I've gotta check out on this - way too political with kind of a righteous slant. I have a lot of respect for NESCAC 1 and have always had a lot of fun debating Football and the NESCAC issues of the day.
Time to step aside here and look forward to the time where we can get fully back to Football. However, given the enormity of this pandemic I don't expect that to be anytime soon.

Lets all hope for the best.

Until then....goodnight Al Davis wherever you are!

[jmcozenlaw]

Christ people, give it up.  (At least Colby Football realized enough to delete his incorrect post about transmission after bragging about all of his expertise).

First, regarding the "forgiven" part, several of you have divorced entirely from context of the discussion that preceded it, if you had bothered to follow the discussion here, that was a response to Lumbercat, who was in turn responding to my point that PERHAPS we should not be following the sage advice of all the people who back in March were absolutely APOPLECTIC that NESCAC sports were being cancelled.  Lumbercat made the very fair counterpoint that we knew a lot less back then than we do now.  So my point in response is, sure, while it's maybe "forgivable" that they were wrong back when we knew so little, to not in any way change their perspective, to STILL treat this disease as the equivalent of the common flu when SO many have died and so many MORE are still suffering greatly from the aftermath of this disease, is highly problematic. 

Second, China is not to blame for OUR government's response to the coronavirus, which by every statistical metric available is one of the three worst in the world (the other two being Brazil, which is just a ****show in every way imaginable, and Sweden, which at least had a strategy in mind, albeit one that didn't turn out quite so well).  There are barely any new infections in Western Europe right now (10 percent of the U.S. level, and dropping, while ours are rising), and that dramatic differential has nothing to do with China.  Sorry to be "political" but NESCAC schools are trying to figure out what the safest, best strategy is for moving forward, and unfortunately, that can't be divorced from the reality we are facing HERE in the United States, which in turn is a reflection of our leadership.  The coronavirus has taken a very different path in the U.S. than in, for example, western Europe, and NESCAC Presidents have to be cognizant of political reality, including a government that isn't taking the disease terribly seriously right now, when setting its own policies and projecting very uncertain risk levels far into the future.  I feel for them, as again, they are faced with no good options. 

Third, Oline89 does raise a good point about the loss of income for affected employees.  My solution to that is a pretty simple one: if NESCAC schools determine that it is not safe for those employees to interact with students, simply pay them their salaries and benefits until it is.  That will mitigate a huge amount of the damage caused by a limited on-campus student population.  Schools can also take all sorts other proactive measures to help their communities, economically, which is far easier than managing an incredibly contagious, highly dangerous disease.  These 11 schools collectively have more than 10 billion dollars in endowments, and a massive pool of incredibly wealth alumni to draw from.  They have the rare luxury of being able to do that.  But making people, especially working-class people, choose between economic survival and, potentially depending on how things evolve over the next few months, a high likelihood of catching the coronovirus is very cruel unless it's absolutely necessary.  Which, at least given NESCAC resources, it is not.  Things like hand-washing and mask wearing, while certainly helpful at the margins, just aren't (I expect, I hope I'm wrong, perhaps there can be more creative solutions) going to cut it for people interacting intensely INDOORS with dormitory-style living and dining on a daily basis.  Cleaning college student bathrooms and serving multiple meals a day to several thousand young people all living together and spreading the virus amongst themselves is just very high-risk activity, as we've seen from the impact of this disease on medical professionals taking all the precautions, and more, being discussed here.

As for discussing this in lieu of sports, well, no one is forcing anyone to read.  I've contributed as much football-related content to this board over the years as anyone.  I'd sure rather be discussing football.  I miss sports in a massive way.  But in case folks haven't noticed, there are currently no sports of ANY kind to discuss, and it's unlikely there will be any for quite some time, certainly at the NESCAC level.  So it's not like these discussions are crowding out talking about a non-existent football season.  Alas.

I've gotta check out on this - way too political with kind of a righteous slant. I have a lot of respect for NESCAC 1 and have always had a lot of fun debating Football and the NESCAC issues of the day.
Time to step aside here and look forward to the time where we can get fully back to Football. However, given the enormity of this pandemic I don't expect that to be anytime soon.

Lets all hope for the best.

Until then....goodnight Al Davis wherever you are!

I'm with you. Political AND pompous (no names here) is a terrible combination. It's tiring, one sided and quite frankly, wrong at least 50% of the time. Boring.

[letsgo!]

Football!
Tufts news.

Tufts is having regular scheduled Fall classes as normal with provisions for all variables. Many options for students and calendar is the same as normal. Basically leaving it up to the student and supporting that student with any choice they make. Kinda love that actually. 

As too fall sports the AD/Pres are doing all they can to have something. NESCAC is working at it as well along with the schools that want to participate in something that will be better than nothing. Being optimistic of course but realistic as well. Im done with the guessing games. I now wait for information instead of speculating.

Thursday night there's a meeting with Football coach and parents. Im assuming they will learn more at this meeting.

All the news I have regarding Tufts and I don't care about your politics. GO AWAY! Football is why we are here.

[ColbyFootball]

Football!
Tufts news.

Tufts is having regular scheduled Fall classes as normal with provisions for all variables. Many options for students and calendar is the same as normal. Basically leaving it up to the student and supporting that student with any choice they make. Kinda love that actually. 

As too fall sports the AD/Pres are doing all they can to have something. NESCAC is working at it as well along with the schools that want to participate in something that will be better than nothing. Being optimistic of course but realistic as well. Im done with the guessing games. I now wait for information instead of speculating.

Thursday night there's a meeting with Football coach and parents. Im assuming they will learn more at this meeting.

All the news I have regarding Tufts and I don't care about your politics. GO AWAY! Football is why we are here.

I think this is very positive on all fronts. Thanks for the update. Please keep them coming.

[SpringSt7]

NESCAC presidents making their own decisions and not hiding behind group think is a welcome surprise. Tufts being the most or second most urban campus (Trinity) and still committing to a return is a good sign. Even if they could just play a few games, that'd be great. Every kid deserves to know that their last game is their last game.

[Bucket]

If there is any participation in football, I wouldn't be surprised if it's something akin to Spring Football at the D1 level. Practices, workouts, an intrasquad scrimmage. But, honestly, even this seems like a stretch to me, as any contact sport immediately violates health guidelines for social distancing, etc that will be enforced on campuses where students are returning.

[nescac1]

If any of the people complaining about the so-called "politicizing" of this board want to actually discuss football, by all means, please do so.  So far as I can see, not one of you complaining has mentioned an actual football player, formation, strategy, statistic, etc. for many months.  Especially rich coming from ColbyFootball, who was the one who actually introduced this entire line of discussion here on the board.  So I think what you are really upset about is that someone is disagreeing with your preferred take on non-football matters, not that they are being discussed at all. 

SpringSt7 has periodically tried to provide some interesting football-related content (including some great statistical analysis) and no one seemed to take the bait.  So I'm hardly the only one "guilty" of talking about non-football matters here.  Moreover, I seem to recall near-endless discussions on this board related to complaints about all manner of "woke" culture at NESCAC schools from the generally-conservative posters on this board (and trust me, you are just as annoying discussing these topics as you find people you disagree with discussing other topics), and that conversation often drowns out discussion of ACTUAL football being played.  There is also PLENTY of discussion right now on the basketball board that has nothing to do with basketball, again, being driven by posters with their own agendas.  And that is fine!  There's nothing sports-related happening at all right now, and in any event, we live in a world in which sports are not divorced from race, the coronavirus, and other matters of political import.  Right now, there is no football, and may be no football for many, many months.  Trust me, I'm just as starved, if not moreso, to discuss sports rather than all of this mess.  It's a hell of a lot more fun.  So again, by all means, instead of whining, just introduce a football-related topic to discuss.  Or, respond to one posted by someone else ... 

And with that, I'm done, happy to be through with this waste of time and I trust others who find the discussion so offensive will do the same.  See ya'll whenever there is an actual football season.  I hope it's sooner rather than later.  But I trust, either way, that NESCAC schools will make a responsible call that balances the very difficult competing concerns at play here, and will ignore the haters who love to second guess any call they make under impossibly uncertain conditions. 

[Hawk196]

I love talking about football on forums, whether it was about national High school programs, Ivy league boards or this one.

Now to politics, I find it ridiculous that my boys fear on voicing their opinion (especially through their school work) on things that don't fit the agenda in today's college environment, its a shame. They know about keeping their head down whether it was on the recruiting trail or in school. So far one made it through and he just let me know he received an offer from Morgan Stanley,

[MUC57]

If any of the people complaining about the so-called "politicizing" of this board want to actually discuss football, by all means, please do so.  So far as I can see, not one of you complaining has mentioned an actual football player, formation, strategy, statistic, etc. for many months.  Especially rich coming from ColbyFootball, who was the one who actually introduced this entire line of discussion here on the board.  So I think what you are really upset about is that someone is disagreeing with your preferred take on non-football matters, not that they are being discussed at all. 

SpringSt7 has periodically tried to provide some interesting football-related content (including some great statistical analysis) and no one seemed to take the bait.  So I'm hardly the only one "guilty" of talking about non-football matters here.  Moreover, I seem to recall near-endless discussions on this board related to complaints about all manner of "woke" culture at NESCAC schools from the generally-conservative posters on this board (and trust me, you are just as annoying discussing these topics as you find people you disagree with discussing other topics), and that conversation often drowns out discussion of ACTUAL football being played.  There is also PLENTY of discussion right now on the basketball board that has nothing to do with basketball, again, being driven by posters with their own agendas.  And that is fine!  There's nothing sports-related happening at all right now, and in any event, we live in a world in which sports are not divorced from race, the coronavirus, and other matters of political import.  Right now, there is no football, and may be no football for many, many months.  Trust me, I'm just as starved, if not moreso, to discuss sports rather than all of this mess.  It's a hell of a lot more fun.  So again, by all means, instead of whining, just introduce a football-related topic to discuss.  Or, respond to one posted by someone else ... 

And with that, I'm done, happy to be through with this waste of time and I trust others who find the discussion so offensive will do the same.  See ya'll whenever there is an actual football season.  I hope it's sooner rather than later.  But I trust, either way, that NESCAC schools will make a responsible call that balances the very difficult competing concerns at play here, and will ignore the haters who love to second guess any call they make under impossibly uncertain conditions.

nescac1

That's worth a +K. Nice to see some sanity on the boards. The type of discussion you mentioned HAS appeared elsewhere, not just on your board.
Yes, I follow most boards. The OAC board seems to be out for a long lunch. Good luck in the fall to all our teams. 

[jmcozenlaw]

If any of the people complaining about the so-called "politicizing" of this board want to actually discuss football, by all means, please do so.  So far as I can see, not one of you complaining has mentioned an actual football player, formation, strategy, statistic, etc. for many months.  Especially rich coming from ColbyFootball, who was the one who actually introduced this entire line of discussion here on the board.  So I think what you are really upset about is that someone is disagreeing with your preferred take on non-football matters, not that they are being discussed at all. 

SpringSt7 has periodically tried to provide some interesting football-related content (including some great statistical analysis) and no one seemed to take the bait.  So I'm hardly the only one "guilty" of talking about non-football matters here.  Moreover, I seem to recall near-endless discussions on this board related to complaints about all manner of "woke" culture at NESCAC schools from the generally-conservative posters on this board (and trust me, you are just as annoying discussing these topics as you find people you disagree with discussing other topics), and that conversation often drowns out discussion of ACTUAL football being played.  There is also PLENTY of discussion right now on the basketball board that has nothing to do with basketball, again, being driven by posters with their own agendas.  And that is fine!  There's nothing sports-related happening at all right now, and in any event, we live in a world in which sports are not divorced from race, the coronavirus, and other matters of political import.  Right now, there is no football, and may be no football for many, many months.  Trust me, I'm just as starved, if not moreso, to discuss sports rather than all of this mess.  It's a hell of a lot more fun.  So again, by all means, instead of whining, just introduce a football-related topic to discuss.  Or, respond to one posted by someone else ... 

And with that, I'm done, happy to be through with this waste of time and I trust others who find the discussion so offensive will do the same.  See ya'll whenever there is an actual football season.  I hope it's sooner rather than later.  But I trust, either way, that NESCAC schools will make a responsible call that balances the very difficult competing concerns at play here, and will ignore the haters who love to second guess any call they make under impossibly uncertain conditions.

Beat. dead. horse. beat. dead. horse. beat. dead. horse. I can tell that you are younger vs. those of us more, shall I say, "seasoned". Relax. Why the need to constantly go after Colby? You're both obvious raking in the millions, ya know, having gone to NESCAC schools, so forget the pot shots and be more productive. Give not only of your resources, but your time, to those less fortunate. Trust me, as an "older head", life becomes that much more meaningful. This coming from a non-NESCAC undergrad, but a "Little Ivies" grad (Swarthmore)........not that you've ever heard of us, before this men's basketball season where we would have likely been national champs!!

[MUC57]

jmcozenlaw

I give you a +K as well. Good stuff. I think I must live in a closet. But I am a Mount Union alumnus. And I'm old (see signature below). Those two probably explain my liking lots of these comments, even if at odds with each other. The OAC board is really dead. This board is a good one - as is the MIAC board.
Anyhow, I'm for everybody. Let's get back to education and have a resumption of our athletics. 🎓 🏈