FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[wally_wabash]

Sorry to sound like a broken record, but these restrictions will forever damage our young people to varying degrees. Yes, we must take reasonable precautions to safeguard our citizens. But, why does that require stripping our college kids of the precious college years when they are amongst the least vulnerable in our population. Our focus should be on those most at risk in a balanced sensible way. Sadly, most of these colleges, beginning with Bowdoin and TCNJ, don't have the nerve. They take the easy way out in the name of safety. After all, who can argue with erring one the side of safety? Over 90% of fatalities are people over 65 and/or with serious underlying medical conditions. And over 40% of fatalities are related to nursing homes or long term care facilities. For full disclosure, I do not have a child who will begin college next year, so my family isn't directly effected. I just think it's a shame that the college kids are being robbed of their education and experiences by drastic measures.

Administrators, staff, and faculty at every institution in the country have spent countless hours in breakout rooms over the last 12 weeks or so working on plans, processes, and procedures that will allow their campuses to operate as close to pre-pandemic normal as is humanly possible.  Every school desires (some need) a return to full dormitories, students in class, athletics programs in full swing, and every other communal aspect of college life.  They've all been working diligently to get to that desired endpoint. MIT concluding that they can only have up to 60% of their students on campus, Bowdoin and TCNJ concluding that they cannot conduct fall athletics teams- those are not schools taking the easy way out.  After months of brainstorming, planning, and careful debate, these decisions that run counter to what every single institution wants to do this fall are the most difficult decisions schools have to make right now. 

[nescac1]

Williams posted an extremely lengthy message about the fall semester plans.  Here is the key passage regarding intercollegiate athletics:

Teams will be able to practice outside in small groups if they adhere to social distancing guidelines, and may progress to more game-like practice activities if conditions improve. However it has been decided that Williams fall sports teams will not travel and compete during the fall semester. Our decision has been guided by the utmost attention to safety protocols to ensure the health and safety of our athletes, coaches, staff and community. Decisions about winter and spring teams have not yet been made. The Athletics Department will host a special town hall this week devoted to information and discussion of these issues.

[gridiron]

Based upon Williams' decision combined with Bowdoin's it would appear as if the NESCAC football season is officially kaput for 2020. Bummer is probably a huge understatement.

[quicksilver]

With the growing number of new CV cases, it is hard to imagine how there can be intercollegiate competition in the NESCAC in the fall. In certain respects, Bowdoin and Williams are simply confirming the inevitable . .To be sure, the northeastern states seem to have a decent handle on the CV crisis but NESCAC students come from all over the US so would be tempting fate and pushing the envelop to try to do business as usual in the world of NESCAC sports . . Regardless, it is still a huge bummer for the students, especially the seniors. . .It is not a great time to be a college student . .   

[amh63]

quicksilver....good points.  However, wrt to locations, Williams and Bowdoin are relatively "isolated" wrt to urban areas of other Nescac schools.  On the other hand, their locations wrt health facilities may have been a key factor,IMO.  Then there is the State "rules" on the subject.  Will football recruits take a gap year...or go to another school?

[quicksilver]

@Amh63 Bowdoin is reasonably well situated in terms of access to hospitals (Portland is about 25 miles away); Williams maybe a little less so.  If I were a NESCAC administrator, I would  likely cancel the fall season given the risks associated with competitive sports and do it sooner rather than later so the seniors can take the fall semester off and finish their careers next fall or perhaps sometime in the spring of 2021 (the possibility of a late football season has been mentioned although I suspect that may turn out to be impractical). . .

[Trin9-0]

In an email to football alumni last week Devanney shared that many employees at the College will be subject to furlough, and that the football staff will be on furlough for the month of July. He also noted that while the current plans for reopening and athletics were vague and non-committal, so as to be flexible, the hope is that they will have some football activity this fall. How much they are able to do will depend on the virus, with safety being the number one priority.

The announcement from Williams seemed pretty firm and clearly hurts the prospects of a NESCAC football season. Things can always change however, and the northeast states seem to be trending in the right direction. There's still a glimmer of hope but it is fading fast.

Finally, at the risk of being "political", I wanted to give a shout-out to a former teammate of mine at Trinity, Paul Mounds, Jr. who was a standout corner for the Bants in the mid/late '00s. He's currently the Chief of Staff for Governor Ned Lamont of Connecticut whose administration, in my opinion, has done has done an exceptional job of handling the pandemic for my home state.

[Chicobeans45]

I guess williams and others leaving the door open for spring football, but how likely is that? Especially when you would have to consider lumping all the other fall sports into the spring, and possibly winter sports too.  32 school teams competing in the spring? Unlikely given training, facilities, and staff limitations...

[jmcozenlaw]

Football is my favorite sport. Baseball might be our pastime..................but football is this country's passion and obsession (see ratings and numerous other measures). But to be fair, i don't want to see the Fall and Winter sports moved to the Spring IF it strains the athletic department and screws the Spring student athletes.

The Spring student athletes, whether they were seniors or underclassmen, lost a season already. If the Fall and Winter student athletes have to lose a season.........it would suck, but so be it. It would be unfair to the Spring sports programs to cram a bunch of other schedules into their time.

My biggest fear, and the group that I would feel horrible for is the Spring athletes, coaches, etc., should they lose a second season in a row. THAT would be crushing, especially to those soon-to-be seniors, losing back-to-back seasons.

[College Soccer Observer]

Sorry to sound like a broken record, but these restrictions will forever damage our young people to varying degrees. Yes, we must take reasonable precautions to safeguard our citizens. But, why does that require stripping our college kids of the precious college years when they are amongst the least vulnerable in our population. Our focus should be on those most at risk in a balanced sensible way. Sadly, most of these colleges, beginning with Bowdoin and TCNJ, don't have the nerve. They take the easy way out in the name of safety. After all, who can argue with erring one the side of safety? Over 90% of fatalities are people over 65 and/or with serious underlying medical conditions. And over 40% of fatalities are related to nursing homes or long term care facilities. For full disclosure, I do not have a child who will begin college next year, so my family isn't directly effected. I just think it's a shame that the college kids are being robbed of their education and experiences by drastic measures.

Administrators, staff, and faculty at every institution in the country have spent countless hours in breakout rooms over the last 12 weeks or so working on plans, processes, and procedures that will allow their campuses to operate as close to pre-pandemic normal as is humanly possible.  Every school desires (some need) a return to full dormitories, students in class, athletics programs in full swing, and every other communal aspect of college life.  They've all been working diligently to get to that desired endpoint. MIT concluding that they can only have up to 60% of their students on campus, Bowdoin and TCNJ concluding that they cannot conduct fall athletics teams- those are not schools taking the easy way out.  After months of brainstorming, planning, and careful debate, these decisions that run counter to what every single institution wants to do this fall are the most difficult decisions schools have to make right now.

The problem with getting all of the experts in a room is that they suffer from group think.  I would be surprised if there were many on these campuses outside the athletic department who are actively advocating for athletics to return. Folks, we cannot lock our young people away until there is a vaccine.  In the context of college professors and administrators, there is not a lot of intellectual diversity, and I suspect many of them have moved far beyond flatten the curve to we can't let anyone get sick.

[jmcozenlaw]

Sorry to sound like a broken record, but these restrictions will forever damage our young people to varying degrees. Yes, we must take reasonable precautions to safeguard our citizens. But, why does that require stripping our college kids of the precious college years when they are amongst the least vulnerable in our population. Our focus should be on those most at risk in a balanced sensible way. Sadly, most of these colleges, beginning with Bowdoin and TCNJ, don't have the nerve. They take the easy way out in the name of safety. After all, who can argue with erring one the side of safety? Over 90% of fatalities are people over 65 and/or with serious underlying medical conditions. And over 40% of fatalities are related to nursing homes or long term care facilities. For full disclosure, I do not have a child who will begin college next year, so my family isn't directly effected. I just think it's a shame that the college kids are being robbed of their education and experiences by drastic measures.

Administrators, staff, and faculty at every institution in the country have spent countless hours in breakout rooms over the last 12 weeks or so working on plans, processes, and procedures that will allow their campuses to operate as close to pre-pandemic normal as is humanly possible.  Every school desires (some need) a return to full dormitories, students in class, athletics programs in full swing, and every other communal aspect of college life.  They've all been working diligently to get to that desired endpoint. MIT concluding that they can only have up to 60% of their students on campus, Bowdoin and TCNJ concluding that they cannot conduct fall athletics teams- those are not schools taking the easy way out.  After months of brainstorming, planning, and careful debate, these decisions that run counter to what every single institution wants to do this fall are the most difficult decisions schools have to make right now.

The problem with getting all of the experts in a room is that they suffer from group think.  I would be surprised if there were many on these campuses outside the athletic department who are actively advocating for athletics to return. Folks, we cannot lock our young people away until there is a vaccine.  In the context of college professors and administrators, there is not a lot of intellectual diversity, and I suspect many of them have moved far beyond flatten the curve to we can't let anyone get sick.

This "we need a vaccine" talk drives me insane for the following reasons:

- In a poll done by Quinnipiac, with over 120K responses (phone calls, text, internet, snail mail)...................63% of respondents said that they would NOT get this vaccine shot (cited roughly 9 different reasons across the group). My doctor said that a little over half of our population does not get an annual flu vaccination.

- Regarding the flu vaccination...............(1) it helps a certain percentage of people not get the flu. The number is unknown but is smaller than we think. I've never had a flu vaccination.........and I've never had the flu vs. those who think they don't get the flu annually because of the vaccine shot (2) it helps a certain percentage of people in that their symptoms are a bit less severe and (3) the largest classification..........it does not prevent one from getting the flu and severe symptoms in that the vaccine is nothing more than a guessing game about the next most likely strain. The vaccine for COVID-19, as many experts have said, will be that much more of a guessing game given the mutations and strains already seen in a relatively short period of time.

The magic bullet(s) are therapeutics. The "take two of these twice a day for a week" kinds of pills. Until THAT (short of this thing burning itself out) happens.........we are in for a loooooooooong slog. And since it looks like you can get it more than once (as antibodies can disappear in as little as a month.........and that is scary), we'd better learn to live with it.

Without excellent therapeutics, some non-political, non-conspiracy 'experts' (who have devoted decades to this research) believe that this will be with and around us for a minimum of the next 2.5 years (making it around a 3 year issue, IF we are lucky). If that's the case................actually,I don't even want to venture there. I'm working on some passive income opportunities 24/7.

Hey, enjoy the day!!

[jamtod]

Sorry to sound like a broken record, but these restrictions will forever damage our young people to varying degrees. Yes, we must take reasonable precautions to safeguard our citizens. But, why does that require stripping our college kids of the precious college years when they are amongst the least vulnerable in our population. Our focus should be on those most at risk in a balanced sensible way. Sadly, most of these colleges, beginning with Bowdoin and TCNJ, don't have the nerve. They take the easy way out in the name of safety. After all, who can argue with erring one the side of safety? Over 90% of fatalities are people over 65 and/or with serious underlying medical conditions. And over 40% of fatalities are related to nursing homes or long term care facilities. For full disclosure, I do not have a child who will begin college next year, so my family isn't directly effected. I just think it's a shame that the college kids are being robbed of their education and experiences by drastic measures.

Administrators, staff, and faculty at every institution in the country have spent countless hours in breakout rooms over the last 12 weeks or so working on plans, processes, and procedures that will allow their campuses to operate as close to pre-pandemic normal as is humanly possible.  Every school desires (some need) a return to full dormitories, students in class, athletics programs in full swing, and every other communal aspect of college life.  They've all been working diligently to get to that desired endpoint. MIT concluding that they can only have up to 60% of their students on campus, Bowdoin and TCNJ concluding that they cannot conduct fall athletics teams- those are not schools taking the easy way out.  After months of brainstorming, planning, and careful debate, these decisions that run counter to what every single institution wants to do this fall are the most difficult decisions schools have to make right now.

The problem with getting all of the experts in a room is that they suffer from group think.  I would be surprised if there were many on these campuses outside the athletic department who are actively advocating for athletics to return. Folks, we cannot lock our young people away until there is a vaccine.  In the context of college professors and administrators, there is not a lot of intellectual diversity, and I suspect many of them have moved far beyond flatten the curve to we can't let anyone get sick.

This "we need a vaccine" talk drives me insane for the following reasons:

- In a poll done by Quinnipiac, with over 120K responses (phone calls, text, internet, snail mail)...................63% of respondents said that they would NOT get this vaccine shot (cited roughly 9 different reasons across the group). My doctor said that a little over half of our population does not get an annual flu vaccination.

- Regarding the flu vaccination...............(1) it helps a certain percentage of people not get the flu. The number is unknown but is smaller than we think. I've never had a flu vaccination.........and I've never had the flu vs. those who think they don't get the flu annually because of the vaccine shot (2) it helps a certain percentage of people in that their symptoms are a bit less severe and (3) the largest classification..........it does not prevent one from getting the flu and severe symptoms in that the vaccine is nothing more than a guessing game about the next most likely strain. The vaccine for COVID-19, as many experts have said, will be that much more of a guessing game given the mutations and strains already seen in a relatively short period of time.

The magic bullet(s) are therapeutics. The "take two of these twice a day for a week" kinds of pills. Until THAT (short of this thing burning itself out) happens.........we are in for a loooooooooong slog. And since it looks like you can get it more than once (as antibodies can disappear in as little as a month.........and that is scary), we'd better learn to live with it.

Without excellent therapeutics, some non-political, non-conspiracy 'experts' (who have devoted decades to this research) believe that this will be with and around us for a minimum of the next 2.5 years (making it around a 3 year issue, IF we are lucky). If that's the case................actually,I don't even want to venture there. I'm working on some passive income opportunities 24/7.

Hey, enjoy the day!!

wrt effectiveness of the vaccine, everything I've seen suggests good news in how these types of viruses evolve compared to the flu. Still not very helpful if most people refuse it once available though, and there is a possibility of future mutations (although those have tended towards higher transmission but weaker effects/less deadly).

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/what-to-know-about-mutation-and-covid-19#The-bottom-line

The new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has already mutated a handful of times, which has many people wondering whether the mutations could lead to a more severe, deadlier disease.

According to experts, the new mutations are extremely similar to the original virus that appeared in Wuhan, China, and don't seem to be any more aggressive.

Because the mutations are so similar, a vaccine would likely protect people against not only the original strain but new mutations as well.

[Trin9-0]

Bates announced their plans for reopening this fall here and also provided the most comprehensive detail to date from NESCAC schools regarding what athletics may look like here.

None of it is too surprising at this point, fall sports are a very long shot but intercollegiate contests aren't completely ruled out just yet.

[ColbyFootball]

Here's Colby's reopening plan.
http://www.colby.edu/president/2020/06/30/official-notice-the-plan-for-returning-to-campus/

Buried in there is the the following regarding athletics, "The presidents of the NESCAC institutions have agreed to implement flexible rules for athletics this year that should provide for exciting opportunities for our student athletes and coaches, even if the normal schedule for competitions is likely to be disrupted." I find this encouraging. I can see football being a little delayed and playing 5-6 total games. And for Colby finishing up against Bates. Assuming Bates is playing, which I don't know since I haven't read their reopening plans. It's unfortunate Bowdoin pulled the trigger so soon shutting fall sports down. If each NESCAC had 5-6 games, with a rivalry type game thrown in, it would be a terrific outcome. It would give the new kids so much, and the seniors a proper send off under the circumstances.

I'll keep hoping.

[ColbyFootball]

Sorry to sound like a broken record, but these restrictions will forever damage our young people to varying degrees. Yes, we must take reasonable precautions to safeguard our citizens. But, why does that require stripping our college kids of the precious college years when they are amongst the least vulnerable in our population. Our focus should be on those most at risk in a balanced sensible way. Sadly, most of these colleges, beginning with Bowdoin and TCNJ, don't have the nerve. They take the easy way out in the name of safety. After all, who can argue with erring one the side of safety? Over 90% of fatalities are people over 65 and/or with serious underlying medical conditions. And over 40% of fatalities are related to nursing homes or long term care facilities. For full disclosure, I do not have a child who will begin college next year, so my family isn't directly effected. I just think it's a shame that the college kids are being robbed of their education and experiences by drastic measures.

Administrators, staff, and faculty at every institution in the country have spent countless hours in breakout rooms over the last 12 weeks or so working on plans, processes, and procedures that will allow their campuses to operate as close to pre-pandemic normal as is humanly possible.  Every school desires (some need) a return to full dormitories, students in class, athletics programs in full swing, and every other communal aspect of college life.  They've all been working diligently to get to that desired endpoint. MIT concluding that they can only have up to 60% of their students on campus, Bowdoin and TCNJ concluding that they cannot conduct fall athletics teams- those are not schools taking the easy way out.  After months of brainstorming, planning, and careful debate, these decisions that run counter to what every single institution wants to do this fall are the most difficult decisions schools have to make right now.

The problem with getting all of the experts in a room is that they suffer from group think.  I would be surprised if there were many on these campuses outside the athletic department who are actively advocating for athletics to return. Folks, we cannot lock our young people away until there is a vaccine.  In the context of college professors and administrators, there is not a lot of intellectual diversity, and I suspect many of them have moved far beyond flatten the curve to we can't let anyone get sick.

This "we need a vaccine" talk drives me insane for the following reasons:

- In a poll done by Quinnipiac, with over 120K responses (phone calls, text, internet, snail mail)...................63% of respondents said that they would NOT get this vaccine shot (cited roughly 9 different reasons across the group). My doctor said that a little over half of our population does not get an annual flu vaccination.

- Regarding the flu vaccination...............(1) it helps a certain percentage of people not get the flu. The number is unknown but is smaller than we think. I've never had a flu vaccination.........and I've never had the flu vs. those who think they don't get the flu annually because of the vaccine shot (2) it helps a certain percentage of people in that their symptoms are a bit less severe and (3) the largest classification..........it does not prevent one from getting the flu and severe symptoms in that the vaccine is nothing more than a guessing game about the next most likely strain. The vaccine for COVID-19, as many experts have said, will be that much more of a guessing game given the mutations and strains already seen in a relatively short period of time.

The magic bullet(s) are therapeutics. The "take two of these twice a day for a week" kinds of pills. Until THAT (short of this thing burning itself out) happens.........we are in for a loooooooooong slog. And since it looks like you can get it more than once (as antibodies can disappear in as little as a month.........and that is scary), we'd better learn to live with it.

Without excellent therapeutics, some non-political, non-conspiracy 'experts' (who have devoted decades to this research) believe that this will be with and around us for a minimum of the next 2.5 years (making it around a 3 year issue, IF we are lucky). If that's the case................actually,I don't even want to venture there. I'm working on some passive income opportunities 24/7.

Hey, enjoy the day!!

The magic bullet you describe exists, but it doesn't make money for Big Pharma. It is the Hydroxychloroquine Z Pack combo. You can check the studies, and if anyone messages me I'd be happy to supply them. It's bring used successfully worldwide, but it must be used early. Within 5 days of the onset of symptoms. The earlier the better. It's efficacy when used early makes a vaccine less urgent, possibly even unnecessary. As well as the other expensive drugs under study, e.g. Remdesivir at over $3,000 a course of treatment. And Remdesivir hasn't shown great results. It's about the $$$.