NCAA doctors caution against fall sports
I've made my feelings about the decision to not play sports this fall known (pro postponement), and it appears the NCAA's medical advisers agree. I'm sure there will be a spirited discussion below about scientific evidence, personal freedom, etc., but I think it's notable that the NCAA's own experts say there's simply too many known and unknown dangers with trying to play a fall season in any sport, though obviously the focus is football.
It's why I feel like the SEC/ACC/Big 12 are mostly posturing with their claims of a season; beyond the safety concerns there's just so much exposure to liability that it's hard to see how the presidents of these schools would be willing to take on those risks for what would likely be a couple of games.
August 13th, 2020 at 6:53 PM ^
I'm sure there will be a spirited discussion below
If by that you mean a discussion that makes me want to imbibe spirits, then yes.
August 13th, 2020 at 7:15 PM ^
Almost done with my first glass of Blanton's. Been sleeping on the floor for a week and found out it'll probably be another three weeks before this "two week" renovation is done and that it's going to cost thousands more than planned. Ughhhhhhh...
August 13th, 2020 at 8:13 PM ^
Blanton’s like so many other bourbons has skyrocketed in price this year as it’s become even harder to find. Enjoy the pour!
August 13th, 2020 at 9:17 PM ^
It's a legit good bourbon. Easiest to find Buffalo Trace mash bill #2 around these parts.
August 13th, 2020 at 7:19 PM ^
This is an OT comment, but I attended a ZOOM call with Dr. Erica Saphire last night. Good presentation, though your Neck Sharpies were better. Are you one of her colleagues at LJI or at one of the other institutes like Scripps?
August 14th, 2020 at 11:27 AM ^
Hey, just saw this. No, I don't know Dr. Saphire or anyone at Scripps (at least not since many years ago when I did have a couple of connections there).
I'm glad people like her are out there trying to de-mystify some of the biology because the journalists are a little out of their depth trying to write about it in most news accounts (not a criticism, really, just the reality).
August 13th, 2020 at 6:55 PM ^
Sop beat me to it....Going to be spirited discussion for sure.
August 13th, 2020 at 7:36 PM ^
Drink early, drink often...
August 13th, 2020 at 9:23 PM ^
To Health!
August 14th, 2020 at 12:13 AM ^
Huzzah!
August 14th, 2020 at 1:56 AM ^
In Mother Russia PutinkA drinks you.
August 14th, 2020 at 7:03 AM ^
Nostrovia.
August 13th, 2020 at 6:57 PM ^
The doctors simply aren't brave enough. They are unhinged and hysterical.
August 14th, 2020 at 12:21 PM ^
Uhhh, they are not supposed to be brave or take chances. They are supposed to provide medical data and facts and let the decision makers take it from there.
August 13th, 2020 at 7:03 PM ^
Best comment I've seen so far came from the President of the University of Oregon. He was asked "What is the PAC10 and B1G10 seeing that the ACC, Big12 and SEC aren't seeing?"
His answer?
"Reality"
August 13th, 2020 at 7:28 PM ^
Speaking of reality, today is day 150 of "15 days to flatten the curve." The numbers don’t add up for the pro-shutdown crowd unfortunately.
As of today:
-Only 3% of Emergency Room visits are for COVID symptoms.
-Only 1.9% of active covid cases are hospitalized.
-Only .014% of Americans are hospitalized with Covid.
-Only 0.7% of Americans currently have a positive covid case.
The U.S. median age of covid death is 78, which is the average life expectancy in our country.
Why are cases rising? We have conducted 41 million more tests than the next closest free country (India. India which has a population of 1.35 Billion. U.S. population is 328 million)
The SEC, ACC and Big 12 are actually looking at the data while we look like a bunch of fucking morons in the B1G.
cdc.gov
Worldometers.info
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu (Johns Hopkins)
August 13th, 2020 at 7:39 PM ^
I tend to agree with you in general... and then we use phrases like “fucking morons”, and you lose me.
You and I may disagree with the caution certain people are taking (like wearing masks in cars... I mean come on, we can all agree that’s a bit odd), but canceling a season where there may be some larger ideas at play doesn’t make them “fucking morons”. Yes, I think they are overreacting, yes I think football should be played for a bunch of reasons that are bigger then Covid, but people are not “fucking morons” that have a reason based disagreement with you.
Please... stop making people that tend to agree with you feel dirty for agreeing with you.
August 13th, 2020 at 7:55 PM ^
I see "Thomas Sowell" and I know that what is being typed is ipso facto intellectually dishonest .
August 13th, 2020 at 7:58 PM ^
Go on
August 13th, 2020 at 9:24 PM ^
This was really easy to find. I think it's generally fair.
Here's a strike against Sowell IMO: His columns over the years have been utterly predictable. He's not the only predictable columnist. Here's another: https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/create-your-own-thomas-friedman-op-ed-column
August 13th, 2020 at 10:22 PM ^
I had the same thought, though the exact phrase that came to mind was "pseudo-intellectual claptrap."
August 13th, 2020 at 7:57 PM ^
My bad. Just frustrated that no one seems to be looking at the data.
To add to my post, total covid hospitalizations update: national totals down from 47,954 yesterday to 47,252 today, a 1.5% decrease.
The last two weeks have seen a drop of 9,212 (16.3%)
cdc.gov
August 13th, 2020 at 8:17 PM ^
You're bad is that you preface the data with "only". Points towards being subjective, not objective, and screams someone cherry picking data to fit their own narrative.
August 13th, 2020 at 8:32 PM ^
Counter-point - there was a two-week rise in COVID-19 deaths, there's been a drop in overall testing (particularly in the South where there are hotspots), and the administration's changes to how hospitalizations were reported (now to HHS and not the CDC) likely messed with some of those numbers in ways that make them somewhat dubious.
Again, we can keep going back-and-forth over this (though I would like to point out that including the name of a sprawling website as "evidence" isn't particularly helpful in terms of fact-checking your claims), but calling everyone "fucking" stupid because they don't think fall sports is in the cards isn't particularly compelling for your side.
August 13th, 2020 at 10:56 PM ^
This is a prime example of cherrypicking data and missing the forest for the trees. The numbers ebb and flow. They will flow again. Just two weeks ago, they were a nightmare levels. Still about 1500 Americans per day are dying -- the highest figure we've seen since March. In the fall, when idiot governors send kids back to school, the surge will return. Then people like you will go conspicuously silence. Again.
You're seriously urging us to look at the data. Every health organization in the world is constantly looking at and releasing the data -- all of which suggests the opposite of what you're saying. None of the experts agree with your spurious conclusion.
But I'm sure you know better, guy sitting in your kitchen. For crissake, dude, just ask a frontline doctor what he or she thinks. Asks an infectious disease expert. Stop trying to interpret data you clearly don't understand.
August 14th, 2020 at 8:33 AM ^
I think one big thing he is saying is the media HAS NEVER even used the word improvement during this pandemic. It's so obvious it's laughable now.
As for none of the experts agree with him, that's simply not true. I've listened to dozens of different people in the field and many have different views thankfully.
So with that said he's able to interpret data to some extent, silly to say otherwise and in doing so he will line up with SOME frontline people in the field but maybe not the majority opinion that's for sure.
August 14th, 2020 at 9:20 AM ^
Do you have any sources for the different views you mention? From the research that I have done, and I am by no means an expert, it SEEMS that their is a pretty well established consensus among the experts. Will there be anecdotal exceptions? Certainly. The anecdotes shouldn't supersede the expert consensus.
I look forward to your response. I love you.
August 14th, 2020 at 10:20 AM ^
+1. Underrated social media signature line.
August 14th, 2020 at 10:29 AM ^
Haha thanks. It is my attempt to keep things civil.
Also I do try to love my fellow man (and woman and non-binaries). I don't think there are a plurality of crappy people out there. Just misinformed people that are trying to make sense of this chaotic universe of ours.
August 14th, 2020 at 8:45 AM ^
Think another that bothers people is there seems to be no consistent data points being shared with public like what is the goal from a numbers standpoint, would love to know what we're shooting for. Nothing being put into context at all makes it hard for most to grasp. With that you NEVER hear the media EVER use words like improving or better etc...
Said this before as well, what's exactly the goal for the future when vaccine gets here. It's not going to eliminate the virus. So then what? Is it to improve on death rate percentage which for under 65 is shockingly low right now which I think if talked about more would ease the fear which we need to do badly.
Feels like without consistent data being shared and goals that the public feels hopeless with your. Heard a study recently was done where they asked Americans what percentage of our population has died from covid and most popular answer was 10 pct which would mean around 30 million deaths when reality is it's 200x less.
August 13th, 2020 at 7:42 PM ^
You are correct
and as far as liability goes... what is the difference between having the players on campus vs playing a sport? My suspicion is that we will see the same number of players on a given big 10 team positive over the course of the fall as on a given SEC team. Of course nobody will care about the big 10 teams because they won’t be playing.
August 13th, 2020 at 7:47 PM ^
This is exactly the point. Where do we draw the line with “liability” and living life. Anyone we come in contact to could have the “thing” that kills us, and we don’t even know it.
There comes a point where we understand the risks, who seems most susceptible, and try to avoid that as much as possible.
Or... find a life style that doesn’t put you in harms way, but don’t complain about choices you are making. Life needs to go on.
August 13th, 2020 at 10:14 PM ^
I definitely get that, and the line so far is if you have multiple covid infections on a team, that team basically can't play until they have enough players cleared (MLB).
I just don't see how that is possible on a college campus. I mean it's possible, just really unlikely. Can't really bar players from leaving their apt like MLB and PGA are doing, for example. And once you get a few positive tests, that team can't play, the team they just played can't play, the teams they'd be playing can't play. And you can't really practice or work out either.
Selfishly, I want to see college football, but I'm perfectly fine with 8 conference games in the spring. It's inconvenient but doesn't really hurt anything.
August 13th, 2020 at 7:59 PM ^
Why are cases rising? We have conducted 41 million more tests than the next closest free country (India. India which has a population of 1.35 Billion. U.S. population is 328 million)
This is a blatantly dishonest argument. It uses one fact to argue something which is barely relevant to the pandemic problem in the USA while ignoring the real issues.
The number of confirmed cases are rising in part because of the amount of testing. This is true. The number of deaths is rising too, at a rate that is orders of magnitudes worse than any other developed country. The number of actual cases is obviously rising at a similar rate too.
Doing less testing is one the most moronic ideas ever proposed. The number of confirmed cases would go down. I guess that provides a small amount of positive PR for the most gullible. The number of actual cases would go up even further. So would the number of deaths. Those positive tests help control the spread of the disease.
August 13th, 2020 at 8:12 PM ^
People keep saying we are magnitudes worse then other countries, but this is something that feels like it changes by the day. Can you site some recent numbers that shows this is true?
August 13th, 2020 at 8:38 PM ^
Here are the first ten highly developed countries by alphabetical order. Those are how many deaths each had attributed to Covid-19 yesterday. The USA had 1229.
Source is worldometer.info/coronavirus
9 - Australia
1 - Austria
9 - Canada
1 - Croatia
0 - Czech Rep
0 - Denmark
0 - Estonia
0 - Finland
17 - France
5 - Germany
August 13th, 2020 at 9:04 PM ^
Nuh uh man... it's just because we're testing more.
/s
August 13th, 2020 at 8:43 PM ^
I mean, there's a lot of metrics to compare us to other countries (positive test rate at over 6% while most industrialized countries are 3% or under, a mortality rate per 100k that trails only the UK, Peru, and Chile, etc.). But this is a stat I keep coming back to: the US has 170k confirmed COVID-19 deaths; the rest of the world combined is at 580k deaths. The US population represents 4.25% of the world's population. Yes, I'm sure there is some book cooking in other countries but so is the US, and so for really one of maybe two global super-powers to be this bad at containing a virus, and really for months on end, is gobsmacking.
August 13th, 2020 at 10:38 PM ^
I keep thinking of this: the United States and South Korea found their first confirmed cases on the same day. South Korea is (obviously) much closer than us to China, and their population density is much higher than ours, which I have to assume is a liability during a pandemic. Yet they have 305 deaths. Even correcting for their smaller population puts them at only about 1,925 deaths. 1,925!
August 13th, 2020 at 8:12 PM ^
If we test less, fewer people will die. It really is all this testing we’re doing that’s driving up the death rate. We should also stop testing people who are dying. If they look like they’re going to die, what difference does it make if they’re COVID pos? At that point, it is what it is.
August 16th, 2020 at 12:57 PM ^
Absolutely agree... can't believe people continue to parrot this...
PERCENTAGE of positives tests is the key here.... it doesn't matter the number of tests, because the infections are understood through how many positives you are getting. The percentages had had been rising for months.
At the end of the day, rates of hospitalizations or the death rate are not affected by the number of tests that are done.
And per capita counts...its a standard way of comparing data
data can be found here:
August 13th, 2020 at 8:34 PM ^
Imagine getting downvoted for being 100% correct. Fucking cry babies on this blog.
August 13th, 2020 at 8:41 PM ^
0.014% of the country is hospitalized
written in another way means nearly 50,000 people are hospitalized with this disease. That doesn’t include the new cases who will subsequently be hospitalized, and those who have already been hospitalized and/or died.
that’s with the measures the country has attempted to curb this disease, which shows no signs of stopping
Are you trying to imply that is an acceptable number?
August 13th, 2020 at 8:49 PM ^
I don't think you even need to ask that last question as their answer is a resounding, yes.
August 13th, 2020 at 9:00 PM ^
Absolutely correct, the data has been baked from day 1 to fit the "PANIC-demic" narrative. Everything has been about wrecking the economy in an attempt to sabotage a Trump re-election. Suggest those folks who have a concern stay locked-in until spring 2022, when they may have the courage to step outside for the first time. Otherwise get out of the way, stop your belly-aching and let those so-willing to safely get back to some type of normalcy!
August 13th, 2020 at 10:12 PM ^
Who were you before this neat username?
August 13th, 2020 at 11:01 PM ^
I've narrowed it down to one of about 3 or 4 recently-banned MGoUser accounts.
Doesn't matter who he was or is, because he just earned the ban-hammer after 4 days of trolling the board. Bye Tony, and please, don't bother returning under another username, go troll elsewhere.
August 14th, 2020 at 8:41 AM ^
He trolls reddit and the Michigan subreddit there with the EXACT same username
August 14th, 2020 at 12:27 PM ^
Yeah, his antagonism and shit-posts were suspiciously similar to recently banned creeps lostwages or JPC.
August 13th, 2020 at 11:12 PM ^
Everything has been about wrecking the economy in an attempt to sabotage a Trump re-election.
Okaaaay... Please ex-communicate this one. Buh-bye, ya nutcase.