Page 18 of 29

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2020 3:25 pm
by silverscreenselect
The Canadian Football League has canceled its 2020 football season.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2020 3:45 pm
by SpacemanSpiff
silverscreenselect wrote:
Mon Aug 17, 2020 3:25 pm
The Canadian Football League has canceled its 2020 football season.
Besides the obvious, they might have had trouble getting all of the "import players" (i.e., Americans) over the border, and since they are roughly half of the players....

EDIT: Part of the issue was that the league was trying to negotiate a $30 million interest-free loan from Ottawa (originally $44 mill), and have all of the teams play in Winnipeg under a bubble setup; the loan deal fell apart, hence the cancellation. Obviously, the CFL gets a much higher percentage of revenues from ticket sales than the NFL or the NHL, so empty stands would be devastating.

It will be the first time since 1919 that the Grey Cup won't be awarded.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2020 7:14 am
by SpacemanSpiff
As noted, the SEC totally revamped its schedule. Many games have been moved around, though some notable games ("The Third Saturday in October" game between Bama and Tennessee, the Iron Bowl, and the Egg Bowl) stayed in their traditional spots, although others (such as the Auburn-UGA game, traditionally two weeks before the Iron Bowl) are totally relocated. This means that the added week after Thanksgiving will see games after these traditional rivalries, some for the first time since the 1940s. The rejiggled schedule means some tough games in a row for some teams -- for instance, Auburn gets to play a resurgent Texas A&M team the week after the Iron Bowl.

Also, all of the bye weeks will be on three consecutive weekends mid-season, between October 24 and November 7.

And, of course, this assumes the season actually gets off the ground. Given the way the students at Bama and UGA have started off the year (hitting the bars and not wearing masks), and what has already happened at UNC, this may be a short-lived plan.

EDIT: The SEC will require masks be worn by all fans and workers at football games. Issues like tailgating, pre-game formalities (like the Tiger Walk at Auburn), and number of fans in the stands will be left up to the individual schools. Water fountains will be turned off to prevent spread of the disease (this might be problematic for early season games, when the gametime temperatures might still be in the 80s or 90s).

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2020 10:59 am
by silverscreenselect
The Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United, who share Mercedes Benz Stadium, have announced that there will be no fans in the stands for September home games. The Falcons have two September home games, against Seattle on September 13 and against Chicago on September 27.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2020 11:08 am
by SpacemanSpiff
As a followup to the ACC's "Plus-one" scheduling model, I just did a recalculation, based upon a story involving Liberty University and (non) testing, and some of the ACC coaches being concerned about same.

Of the fifteen "plus-one" games in the conference, eight have fallen by the wayside, and two had never been scheduled to start with, meaning that 2/3ds of their non-conference slate doesn't exist.

Of the five games left, three are with Liberty University (the other two are UAB and UCF).

As the number of available teams and dates get scarcer, I wouldn't be surprised if the ACC punts on the non-conference schedule altogether.

Regarding the Liberty situation, this is the story behind it. Simply put, they haven't had a positive test in three weeks. Of course, that's because they haven't done any testing in the past two weeks, claiming that it wasn't necessary because no one had symptoms.

https://newsadvance.com/sports/college/ ... 1ae62.html

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2020 12:38 pm
by SpacemanSpiff
silverscreenselect wrote:
Tue Aug 18, 2020 10:59 am
The Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United, who share Mercedes Benz Stadium, have announced that there will be no fans in the stands for September home games. The Falcons have two September home games, against Seattle on September 13 and against Chicago on September 27.
The Tennessee Titans and Nashville SC have announced the same thing, through "at least" September. Vanderbilt's first home game isn't until October, so we'll have to see how that plays out.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2020 5:06 am
by silverscreenselect
The Peachtree Road Race, a 10K race held on July 4 in downtown Atlanta for the last 50 years, will be run virtually this year. The race was originally postponed until Thanksgiving and will now be in the form of an app, where, I"m gathering, runners run on their own and can see what their progress would have been on the actual course and how they finish compared to other runners.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2020 8:24 am
by SpacemanSpiff
Now I'm having fun with IRS (or the USPS, not sure which).

Last month, I sent a bunch of tax payments for year end of several entities - mailed 7/13, as they were due 7/15. I just noticed a week ago that one of them didn't clear the bank (all the others had) and, sure enough, we got a notice from IRS to that effect on Monday.

After being on hold for an hour with IRS, I was basically told that he'd gotten a number of reports of checks not being processed / not opened / lost in the mail, and to basically not pay the notice and wait another 30 days to see if it clears up on its own.

I'm not thrilled with that concept, especially since tax notices generally don't give you such leeway, but I'll live with it for now.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2020 8:56 am
by silverscreenselect
The University of Georgia announced plans to seat up to 23,000 fans for home games (25% of capacity) and mask wearing will be required. That total includes tickets for students, staff and families. Depending on how much money they donate, current season ticket holders can get tickets to 1, 2, or all 4 home games (UGA plays Florida in Jacksonville every year and this year it's considered Georgia's "home" game, so they only have four other games in the stadium). Season ticket holders can also opt out if they feel it's too risky to attend games this year (they won't get the contribution they made in the spring back, but they won't lose their priority for 2021 tickets either).

I'm guessing that other SEC teams will make similar plans.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2020 9:29 am
by SpacemanSpiff
silverscreenselect wrote:
Wed Aug 19, 2020 8:56 am
The University of Georgia announced plans to seat up to 23,000 fans for home games (25% of capacity) and mask wearing will be required. That total includes tickets for students, staff and families. Depending on how much money they donate, current season ticket holders can get tickets to 1, 2, or all 4 home games (UGA plays Florida in Jacksonville every year and this year it's considered Georgia's "home" game, so they only have four other games in the stadium). Season ticket holders can also opt out if they feel it's too risky to attend games this year (they won't get the contribution they made in the spring back, but they won't lose their priority for 2021 tickets either).

I'm guessing that other SEC teams will make similar plans.
Alabama has announced they will be at 20% of capacity (about 20,000 seats). They split their tickets into two packages (I don't think you can get both) - one for the UGA and Texas A&M games, the other for the Auburn, Kentucky, and Mississippi State games. The ticket prices themselves range from $1525 to $325/seat for the second plan, only slightly less for the first plan. And, of course, you have to have paid all of the usual contributions up front to qualify. I assume that some folks will be given the option to just decline either offer and wait until next year - considering that pretty much all of the tickets are season tickets, there will be some disappointed folks. The rumors are that the Bama -UGA game will go for well over a grand in the secondary market.

Since everyone has their money paid anyway, I'm not sure if the Athletic Department will offer to refund the differences, or hold onto it for credit next year (or give the purchaser the option).

Cooling fans and "water monsters" (think of it as a giant Igloo water cooler) are unavailable. Good luck with that in the first half of the season. You can bring in a water bottle as long as it fits in the permitted plastic bag, and of course water will be sold at a "reasonable price."

Oh, and no tailgating.

EDIT: Mizzou and Tennessee have said they will go with 25% capacity, though they have much differently sized stadiums; it would be about 25,600 and 15,000 per game, respectively. No other word on how tickets would be distributed.

EDIT 2: Auburn is also going the 20% route, meaning they would only have about 17,500 at home games. Their AD, Allen Greene, has said that between the reduced capacity and the loss of two home games, it would cost the Athletic Department tens of millions of dollars.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2020 11:48 am
by silverscreenselect
An incoming freshman quarterback at Georgia State University, who was expected to compete for the starting position, has been diagnosed with a COVID related heart condition and will miss the season. Georgia State plays in the Sun Belt Conference, which is currently on track to play a nearly full schedule this year.

Because he's a freshman competing for the job at Georgia State instead of a senior starter at the University of Georgia, this story won't get much traction past a one-day mention in the Atlanta Journal.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2020 10:54 am
by silverscreenselect
The New York Mets have postponed this weekend's subway series with the Yankees after positive coronavirus tests. Their game with the Marlins yesterday was also postponed.

The SEC also announced enhanced screening and testing protocols including a third weekly test for players and enhanced screening for myocarditis and other heart ailments.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2020 11:23 am
by silverscreenselect
The Associated Press released its preseason Top 25 football poll. Assuming that nobody else drops football, there will be about 80 FBS teams playing this season. However, the preseason poll includes nine teams that aren't scheduled to play this season, including Number 2 Ohio State (Clemson is #1). According to the AP, once the season starts, teams that aren't playing will not be included in the poll.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2020 11:27 am
by SpacemanSpiff
The President of the University of Alabama has issued a warning that the on-campus semester is in peril.

https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/story/sp ... FiL-d9ob68

The Mayor of Tuscaloosa has ordered the bars shut down for two weeks (good luck with that) in an effort to help minimize the spread of the virus.

https://www.wvtm13.com/article/universi ... s/33751472

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2020 12:13 pm
by Bob Juch
Today is the first day of classes at the UArizona. We'll see how long the in-person sessions last.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2020 3:01 pm
by SpacemanSpiff
And now for what some of the ACC schools are going, attendance-wise.

The Miami Hurricanes are taking the lead of the NFL Dolphins and allowing 13,000 people in the stands. Of course, some of their past games have had trouble reaching that number anyway...

https://images.app.goo.gl/Vfgg5WhHogJxy3fz6

Duke is not allowing any fans at all at Wallace Wade Stadium. UVA and Virginia Tech are allowing 1000 fans due to state mandates, so those tickets will likely go to families of the players.

Also, UVA has basically said they will not replace the cancelled VMI game with another plus-one game.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2020 7:04 pm
by Vandal
University of Alabama reports more than 500 confirmed COVID-19 cases

The University of Alabama on Monday released the first numbers of on-campus COVID-19 test results that raised alarm bells internally.

A total of 531 confirmed cases between students, faculty and staff were reported on the Tuscaloosa campus since classes resumed Aug. 19, UA announced Monday evening. The dashboard did not include how many were tested Aug. 19 through Aug. 23 or the rate of positive tests.


https://www.al.com/news/2020/08/univers ... cases.html

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2020 7:11 pm
by silverscreenselect
Nick Saban says that playing this season is: "really about providing an opportunity to the players if we can do it in a safe way."

Of course, the millions that he and the university stand to make from playing this season have nothing to do with it.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/s ... ty-players

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2020 8:47 am
by Bob Juch
My fears have come true. There have now been three cases of people who have become reinfected with COVID-19, The new infections have been a different strain. That's what I was worried about. The implication of that is a vaccine may not be effective. Coronaviruses mutate.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2020 10:22 am
by silverscreenselect
Bob Juch wrote:
Tue Aug 25, 2020 8:47 am
My fears have come true. There have now been three cases of people who have become reinfected with COVID-19, The new infections have been a different strain. That's what I was worried about. The implication of that is a vaccine may not be effective. Coronaviruses mutate.
From what I've read, this might not be as bad as it seems. The two European cases that have been confirmed have both been people who had mild symptoms originally. From what I've read, the body doesn't build up as high a level of antiboides in milder or asymptomatic cases (which makes sense). A vaccine would have a higher level of antibodies and would therefore be more effective, especially if we developed yearly booster shots as we do with the flu.

Also, it's a myth that mutations are necessarily more deadly. Viruses need to spread to survive and a strain that kills its host is less likely to spread than a milder strain would.

What this does mean is that the " naturally developing herd immunity" theories may be badly flawed if a significant number of the herd who survived with mild or no symptoms are at risk a few months later.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2020 10:36 am
by Bob Juch
silverscreenselect wrote:
Tue Aug 25, 2020 10:22 am
Bob Juch wrote:
Tue Aug 25, 2020 8:47 am
My fears have come true. There have now been three cases of people who have become reinfected with COVID-19, The new infections have been a different strain. That's what I was worried about. The implication of that is a vaccine may not be effective. Coronaviruses mutate.
From what I've read, this might not be as bad as it seems. The two European cases that have been confirmed have both been people who had mild symptoms originally. From what I've read, the body doesn't build up as high a level of antiboides in milder or asymptomatic cases (which makes sense). A vaccine would have a higher level of antibodies and would therefore be more effective, especially if we developed yearly booster shots as we do with the flu.

Also, it's a myth that mutations are necessarily more deadly. Viruses need to spread to survive and a strain that kills its host is less likely to spread than a milder strain would.

What this does mean is that the " naturally developing herd immunity" theories may be badly flawed if a significant number of the herd who survived with mild or no symptoms are at risk a few months later.
I didn't say that mutations are more deadly even though the strain that hit the East Coast that came from Europe was deadlier than the China strain that hit the West Coast. You can never tell how bad they're going to be.

A virus that kills a couple of weeks after infection is going to spread but not as much as one that causes no symptoms at all.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2020 10:56 am
by silverscreenselect
The North Carolina State - Virginia Tech football game, which would have been the season opener for both teams on September 12, has been postponed until September 26 (a formerly open date for both teams) due to the coronavirus outbreak on the NC State campus.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2020 11:13 am
by SpacemanSpiff
silverscreenselect wrote:
Wed Aug 26, 2020 10:56 am
The North Carolina State - Virginia Tech football game, which would have been the season opener for both teams on September 12, has been postponed until September 26 (a formerly open date for both teams) due to the coronavirus outbreak on the NC State campus.
Interestingly, that makes the Virginia Tech - UVA rivalry game* the first game of the year for both teams; UVA's "plus one" game against VMI was cancelled when the Keydets opted not to play this fall.

(* This was a one-way rivalry for a long time when the two teams were in differing conferences. UVA usually insisted that it wasn't one because Tech was in a lesser conference or independent, and would put their home games with Tech in midseason; whereas the Hokies believed otherwise and would put it at the end of the season.)

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2020 4:56 pm
by silverscreenselect
Faced with a lack of scripted shows ready to go, CBS has announced that it will show episodes of Star Trek Discovery (from CBS All Access), One Day at a Time (from Netflix) and Manhunt: Deadly Games this fall. The last of these is interesting; it's a nine-hour mini-series that aired on Spectrum in the spring about the hunt for the Atlanta Olympic bombing and offers a different perspective from Clint Eastwood's Richard Jewell. Cameron Britton (the creepy serial killer from the first season of Mindhunter) plays Jewell, and Judith Light plays his mother. Carla Gugino plays reporter Kathy Skruggs. Unlike Eastwood's movie, Manhunt follows the case through the capture of Eric Robert Rudolph (played by Jack Huston).

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2020 7:16 pm
by silverscreenselect
The East Carolina-Marshall game, scheduled for September 12, has been postponed due to the pandemic. It's a non-conference game. East Carolina is in the AAC and Marshall is in Conference USA. The teams hope to reschedule later this year.

And Notre Dame has scheduled South Florida as its non-conference game to replace Western Michigan, which was in the MAC and had its season canceled. One other ACC team, Virginia, will not reschedule a non-conference game after VMI canceled its season and will play only ten games.