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Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2020 7:44 am
by Bob Juch
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Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2020 7:08 pm
by silverscreenselect
We now have the first documented case in the US of a person being infected twice. It's a 25 year old Nevada man who had relatively mild symptoms in April, then recovered and tested negative twice. Then, a month later he was hospitalized and put on a ventilator (and tested positive). Based on the test results from both infections, doctors have determined that there were two different strains of the virus involved and not merely the original infection lying dormant. Needless to say, this is very disquieting on multiple levels, not the least of which is the man's youth.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/28/health/c ... index.html

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2020 9:47 am
by silverscreenselect
The college football season opened last night with Central Arkansas beating Austin Peay 24-17 in a game played before a crowd of about 2,000 in Montgomery, AL. Central Arkansas and Austin Peay are both FCS teams. Central Arkansas plays in the Southland Conference, which canceled its season but is allowing teams to play non-conference schedules. Austin Peay plays in the Ohio Valley Conference, which also canceled its season but is allowing teams to play non-conference schedules. A few teams in each conference are playing, some of them very limited, three or four game schedules.

Next weekend the FBS football season starts. Currently there are nine games involving FBS teams on the schedule, including Central Arkansas' next game against UAB and the best matchup, featuring Brigham Young and Navy on Labor Day night.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2020 3:46 pm
by silverscreenselect
Yesterday was the first day that all 30 major league baseball teams played on the same day since July 26, the opening Sunday of the season, thanks to COVID and weather postponements. That streak lasted one day. The Houston-Oakland game today was postponed due to a positive test in Oakland's traveling team.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2020 4:20 pm
by SpacemanSpiff
Some of the attendance numbers for the ACC schools are coming together and here is what the scuttlebutt is:

Duke, UNC, and Syracuse - none
Virginia and Virginia Tech - 1,000 (not a typo)
Georgia Tech - 11,000
Miami - 13,000
Clemson - 16,000, which I am sure will tick off some IPTAY folks
Louisville - 18,000, which at 30% has one of the highest percentages out there right now.
FSU - 20,000 (25%), plus allowing tailgating, which most schools have banned.
Boston College - "Month to month"
NC State, Wake Forest, and Notre Dame - haven't said yet. Wake would be problematic since it is a very small stadium.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2020 5:31 pm
by silverscreenselect
SpacemanSpiff wrote:
Sun Aug 30, 2020 4:20 pm
Georgia Tech - 11,000
Georgia Tech had been scheduled to play Notre Dame at Mercedes Benz Stadium this season. Since Notre Dame signed its agreement to play five ACC schools per season, this is their first appearance in Atlanta (the two met once previously in South Bend). This was supposed to be the first of a five-game series that Tech was to play annually at Mercedes Benz. This summer, the game was officially moved to Tech's home stadium and Tech's series at MB Stadium will instead start next year against a team to be determined.

Tech had been using the Notre Dame game rather prominently in its ticket marketing for the season, but that's going by the boards now.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2020 2:39 pm
by SpacemanSpiff
Following up on the above, here are the SEC seating projections:

Miss State and Mizzou - 15,000
Arkansas, Ole Miss, and South Carolina - 16,000
Auburn - 17,500
UGA - 18,600
Bama and Tennessee - 20,000
Texas A&M - 26,000 (they have one of the biggest stadiums in the conference, and are going with 25%)

Florida, Kentucky, LSU, and Vandy haven't said anything officially.

The only neutral-site game remaining, Florida-Georgia in Jacksonville, will go with the stadium's NFL setup and only have 17,000 in the stands.

Vandy will be especially problematic, since their stadium is only 40,000 in SEC country. Even 25% would only allow for 10,000 in attendance. But then again, Vandy doesn't have so many fans, as seen below from a 2017 game (the home team wears black and gold):

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This was from the 2017 Alabama game there. I could have just as easily pulled up last year's Georgia game and had the same effect.

EDIT: Tennessee has started with their first round of ticket distribution, based upon the fact that some of them have shown up on Vivid Seats, the official ticket reseller of the Vols. I'm looking to go to the Bama game in Knoxville, but I already see a snag -- everyone is selling their tickets in whole blocks of four or eight, nothing else. (There is one that is selling a pair, but they are on the 45 yard line close to the field, and priced much higher than I want for seats, of course. That and they are on the wrong sideline. :P ) Hopefully, as more tickets are distributed, this will change. I am also trying to get a ticket to the Bama-Mizzou game in Columbia, but they won't do their distribution until after Labor Day.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2020 10:47 am
by silverscreenselect
None of the North Carolina ACC schools will have fans in the stands initially. The ACC has said that teams can provide recorded crowd noise and music but it can't be used in an effort to drown out the other team's signals (which is not how that works in real life; a full house at Clemson or Florida State can make it very tough on visitors to hear signals, although they don't allow the bands to play music).

And Georgia Tech's chances this season have gone up. Their non-conference game is against UCF, which just announced that 10 players, including two starters, are opting out this season.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2020 2:12 pm
by SpacemanSpiff
silverscreenselect wrote:
Tue Sep 01, 2020 10:47 am
None of the North Carolina ACC schools will have fans in the stands initially. The ACC has said that teams can provide recorded crowd noise and music but it can't be used in an effort to drown out the other team's signals (which is not how that works in real life; a full house at Clemson or Florida State can make it very tough on visitors to hear signals, although they don't allow the bands to play music).
Let's hope the SEC doesn't decide to do that with the cowbells at Mississippi State. I can see some communications major intern running the stadium board and having fun with that.

(An obtuse side remark -- the largest specific-yard penalty I ever saw was in an Arena Football League game where the house DJ kept playing the tunes too long and loud when the visitors had the ball. The ref first got on his mike, warned the DJ about it, but he didn't heed the warning. Then the ref gave a 5 yard penalty for delay of game after the next play. The DJ persisted on the following play, and the referee issued a 25 yard penalty on the home team for it -- and keep in mind, that's only a 50-yard field!)

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2020 8:33 am
by SpacemanSpiff
More on the local collegiate front:

* James Madison University is shifting to online classes and asking students to leave after 500 new COVID cases. For reference purposes, the school has about 20,000 undergrads and 6,000 on campus in the dorms.

* Virginia Tech, as well as the surrounding city of Blacksburg, has banned tailgating for all sports this fall. Of course, since they only are allowing a thousand non-participants to attend the games, that might be a minor issue anyway.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2020 8:51 am
by Bob Juch
SpacemanSpiff wrote:
Wed Sep 02, 2020 8:33 am
More on the local collegiate front:

* James Madison University is shifting to online classes and asking students to leave after 500 new COVID cases. For reference purposes, the school has about 20,000 undergrads and 6,000 on campus in the dorms.

* Virginia Tech, as well as the surrounding city of Blacksburg, has banned tailgating for all sports this fall. Of course, since they only are allowing a thousand non-participants to attend the games, that might be a minor issue anyway.
JMU is hoping they can resume in-person classes on Oct. 5. They're telling the students to leave and go home. Great, they'll infect their parents.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2020 9:23 am
by SpacemanSpiff
And now another ACC change - the Wake Forest - Notre Dame game, initially set to be played in Charlotte, is being moved to Wake Forest on September 26 (no change in dates). Wake's first game is supposed to be in an empty stadium (31,500 normal capacity), and no word on if that will change for this game.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2020 8:49 am
by silverscreenselect
While we haven't talked about it that much, the NFL is making a number of rules changes (not involving the actual play of the game) this year due to the coronavirus. Teams will be cutting down to 53 players by Saturday (many are holding final scrimmages today and tomorrow). The biggest changes have to do with the practice squad, which allowed teams to keep (under the pre-COVID agreement) 12 players with limited NFL experience under contract but who could be signed by other teams to their active squads. Now, the practice squad will be 16 players, some of whom will be allowed to have more extensive NFL experience and, more important, can't be signed by other teams. Also teams will be able to call players up from the practice squad up until 90 minutes before game time. The reasoning here is that teams could lose players unexpectedly due to positive tests with no way to bring someone in at the last minute and clear the protocols. So, the practice squads will probably have a backup kicker and some utility offensive and defensive lineman and defensive backs.

Ironically, in last week's opening college football game, one reason that Austin Peay lost was because its top three long snappers were not on on the team that took the field due to coronavirus tests or opting out of the season. They used a fourth-stringer, and botched snaps on punts led to two Central Arkansas scores.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2020 3:04 pm
by silverscreenselect
Penn State doctor says 30-35% of Big Ten athletes positive for COVID-19 had myocarditis symptoms
Cases of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, appear to be prevalent among Big Ten athletes, said Penn State's director of athletic medicine, impacting roughly one-third of all athletes who have tested positive for the coronavirus. Wayne Sebastianelli, who is also the team doctor for Penn State football, said Monday during a meeting of the State College Area School District board of directors that cardiac scans of Big Ten athletes who contracted COVID-19 showed "30 to roughly 35 percent of their heart muscles" indicated symptoms of myocarditis.

"And we really just don’t know what to do with it right now," he said. "It’s still very early in the infection. Some of that has led to the Pac-12 and the Big Ten’s decision to sort of put a hiatus on what’s happening." Myocarditis, which can be fatal, was a driver behind the Big Ten's decision to postpone the coming season with the possibility to return this winter or spring.
In early August, a 27-year-old former FSU basketball player playing for a Serbian professional team died of what was reported as a heart attack after having tested positive for the coronavirus.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2020 6:47 am
by silverscreenselect
The Big 12 has issued guidelines for teams fielding rosters this season to prevent teams from postponing games if they are missing a few key players in order to reschedule with a healthier roster later in the season. If a team has 53 eligible healthy players with one quarterback, seven offensive linemen, and four defensive linemen, it must play or the game will be a forfeit. If they have fewer than that total but still meet the position benchmarks, they can elect to play. Games that are not played because the team can't meet the benchmarks will be declared "no contest" and rescheduled if possible.

In other Big 12 news, TCU's scheduled opener next Friday against SMU has been postponed due to positive tests

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2020 1:00 pm
by silverscreenselect
Temple has postponed its scheduled season opener against Navy on September 26 to October 10 because coronavirus restrictions in Philadelphia haven't given them enough time to prepare. Judging by their performance against Brigham Young last night, Navy could also use the extra time to prepare.

Not Covid related, but the coach at Southern Miss, Jay Hopson, is out after one game this season, a loss to South Alabama.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2020 8:39 am
by silverscreenselect
The Louisiana Tech - Baylor game scheduled for Saturday has been postponed indefinitely due to a COVID outbreak on the La Tech campus and team following the large-scale power failures during the recent hurricane. Two other Big 12 games had been postponed earlier: SMU-TCU and Tulsa-Oklahoma State. Under the Big 12 scheduling protocol, teams can play one non-conference game (there are only 10 teams in the conference so a round-robin conference schedule would leave half the teams with only four home games). All three postponed games are the non-conference games for the respective Big 12 teams.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2020 10:02 am
by SpacemanSpiff
The Va Tech - UVA game next week has been postponed due to COVID issues with the Hokies team.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2020 12:34 pm
by silverscreenselect
Georgia Southern (where my granddaughter just graduated) is playing Campbell today and 33 players have been ruled out of the game for a combination of COVID concerns, regular injuries, and suspensions.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2020 10:49 am
by SpacemanSpiff
Vandy, the last SEC school to announce an attendance policy for home games, has said it will have no fans in the stands, at least through the end of October.

(I could repeat my joke made earlier on this page, but that would just be piling on.)

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2020 8:48 am
by silverscreenselect
UGA, the University of Georgia bulldog mascot, will not be on the sideline for home games this year. The SEC has banned all animal mascots, including the Mississippi State bulldog and the Auburn war eagle. The ACC did allow FSU's Chief Osceola on horseback to plant his spear on the field prior to the game against Georgia Tech (it didn't help the Seminoles) and will also allow Tech's Ramblin Wreck on the field prior to Tech home games.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2020 9:15 am
by SpacemanSpiff
And now the on-again, off-again Big Ten is now on again (at least until the secondary reason they postponed before rears its ugly head again -- player activism).

They are looking to play an eight-game season starting October 24 (no bye weeks), with the conference championship game on December 19, the day before the playoff selection committee does its thing.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/s ... ber-return

An interesting line in the article:
Fans are not expected at Big Ten games, which will be held on campus throughout the season.
That kind of begs as to if the championship game will be at a neutral site or not, especially if it's an empty stadium (though it would be under a roof, no small thing in mid-December up there).

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2020 9:33 am
by silverscreenselect
Major League Baseball has announced changes in the playoff schedule for this year only.

The World Series will be played at the Texas Rangers stadium in Arlington. (The Rangers are in last place, so there is no chance of them getting a "home field" advantage). Officials expect to have up to 25% capacity at the games. The home team for each game will have the last at-bat and wear their "home" uniforms.

The ALCS will be played in San Diego, and the NLCS in Arlington.
The ALDS games will be played at Dodger Stadium and in San Diego, while the NLDS games will be in Houston and Arlington. The intent here is to eliminate any home field advantage and minimize travel and the possibility of inclement weather delays. There will be no off-days in the divisional championship or league championship series. There is no final decision on fans in stands at those games.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2020 11:22 am
by Appa23
Glad to see the Big Ten comes to their senses and listen to Nebraska and Iowa. Now, they need to bring back other sports, especially volleyball where the Big Ten is a dominant league.

I am curious what is the "population at risk" for the population % positive numbers. Common sense says that it is maybe the general college population. Not sure why the numbers outside of the team matter.

I imagine that they decided not to allow fans due to the competitive advantage of schools in states where they are in a higher phase of "opening up" to public events. For example, Nebraska is generally open, though Lancaster County (Lincoln) is slightly less open right now.

Curious if high school sports are impacted anywhere. I really have not looked. In Nebraska, all sports are playing, though none of the Omaha Public schools are competing because the district chose to use 100% remote learning. A few games otherwise had to be cancelled due to a team having a player test positive, so the team had to quarantine.

Re: Coronavirus-Aggregation Thread-Non political

Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2020 3:51 pm
by silverscreenselect
Appa23 wrote:
Wed Sep 16, 2020 11:22 am
Glad to see the Big Ten comes to their senses and listen to Nebraska and Iowa. Now, they need to bring back other sports, especially volleyball where the Big Ten is a dominant league.
Spoken by someone who can watch the games in the COVID-free comfort of his living room, while Nebraska and Iowa are seeing spikes in cases.