Uhhh this quote from Greg Sankey...

[57stratdawg]

Doesn’t sound good. The rush to reopen states has really jeopardized the season.

[TWEET]1281956742671273985[/TWEET]

Sankey responds:

[TWEET]1281958063193444352[/TWEET]

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

The season was in jeopardy either way. The rush to reopen wasn’t wrong, the problem is people can’t control themselves and decide to go back to life as usual when we really aren’t there yet. That was the problem.

 

[GloryDawg]

I imagine that *** hole didn't miss a pay check.

 

[Walter White.sixpack]

He's still been working....

 

[Leeshouldveflanked]

Meh... I about done decided I can make it without SEC Sports.... and I imagine that sentiment is growing.... I can start playing golf....

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

Then why are you here.

 

[PineGroveBully]

Of course we could make it without SEC sports, but why would we want to?

 

[MrKotter]

Then why are you here.

probably the same reason as you minus the fear mongering

 

[00Dawg]

How do we go about having sound minds seize control of this conversation?

The argument to not play collegiate sports should be nonexistent. Athletes with preexisting conditions sit out until there's a vaccine, everyone else carries on with some regulations for testing and quarantine.
The threat to them is less than many common factors they face in day-to-day life. And yes, they need to sign liability waivers. If they're not up to that mental challenge, they can also sit out (without losing eligibility).

The only conversation ongoing should be whether to have fans, and if so, how many. Huge economic impacts are on the line with that decision and it should not be taken lightly from either side.

Instead we have entire conferences closing down seasons, classifications moving the season 6 months back, etc. It feels like our decision makers are shifting with the whims of the media, both sports-related and general. Unfortunately for all of us, those people have a vested interest in drama. If this had happened twenty years ago (maybe even 10), this would be a very different situation, as we still had people in charge who could make informed decisions behind closed doors and then unite their respective constituents.

Should those of us who pump in thousands of dollars each year be contacting the decision makers to reinforce that there will be consequences beyond Twitter storms if they don't get off their rear ends and start making the decisions that look risky to the fear-laden but the objective among us know are rooted in reality?
I'm not normally a boycott kind of guy, but it really seems like we have reached a tipping point where no one is willing to put a foot in the ground and hold a line.

 

[messageboardsuperhero]

TBH, assuming they have no preexisting condition, a college athlete is about 15x more likely to die in a car accident than from the virus. At least. If I was a college athlete, I’d be begging to play.

Kids/people with preexisting conditions need to stay home and away from folks. Healthy adults need to be wearing masks and following all healthy/hygiene guidelines to slow the spread of COVID. But there is no reason that healthy kids shouldn’t be going to school and playing sports, with proper precautions taken. And healthy adults should be able more or less go about their lives, while masking up, maintaining social distance, and washing the hell out of their hands.

 

[QuaoarsKing]

TBH, assuming they have no preexisting condition, a college athlete is about 15x more likely to die in a car accident than from the virus. At least. If I was a college athlete, I’d be begging to play.

We all know that.

If football is delayed or canceled, it's to protect the more vulnerable people the players will come in contact with, not to protect the players themselves. Hasn't that been said enough times?

 

[Leeshouldveflanked]

We all know that.

If football is delayed or canceled, it's to protect the more vulnerable people the players will come in contact with, not to protect the players themselves. Hasn't that been said enough times?

So young people need to miss a part of their life to protect older people who have lived a majority of their life and most likely have not taken the best care of themselves?

 

[Msubulldogfan1]

We all know that.

If football is delayed or canceled, it's to protect the more vulnerable people the players will come in contact with, not to protect the players themselves. Hasn't that been said enough times?

Why can’t those players wear masks and social distance when they come in contact with vulnerable people?

 

[Irondawg]

The problem is the media sniffs our the bad - one single player in the nation gets it and dies and all the media will jump on it as a story of how we unnecessarily made these kids play to appease our entertainment and how we took advantage of them.

If I thought we were sending them into a more than normal harmful environment then they shouldn’t play, but that’s not likely the case.

However some playerA will get it and get it bad - the stats just say that’s going to happen in limited amounts.

Admins aren’t really as concerned with the health of the players although that’s what they hide behind. They are terrified of the media backlash potential and how it might cost them their jobs if anything goes bad. And they know something bad will happen at some point.

Much safer to go with the flow of media consensus because who can argue with “safety of players”

If there is any fall football I’ll be shocked

 

[Leeshouldveflanked]

Why can’t those players wear masks and social distance when they come in contact with vulnerable people?

Mic drop!

 

[T-TownDawgg]

Gotta give Sankey credit here for having the balls to prepare us by saying what the other P5 commissioners won't: It's not looking good. There is still a lot we don't know about this virus and the long term effects on different demographics.

I give more blame to the bloodsucking lawyers and our letigious society. The liability issues of navigating a 2020 football season are monumental.

 

[QuaoarsKing]

Why can’t those players wear masks and social distance when they come in contact with vulnerable people?

They should. And I've never agreed with canceling football altogther, so you're preaching to the choir here.

I'm just pointing out that the "COVID isn't dangerous for college students so don't cancel football!" argument is disingenuous because no one is saying that the point of canceling or delaying is to protect the players. We won't convince anyone if we just address arguments they're not making.

 

[T-TownDawgg]

Sankey is a good Commish. He's been very generous with giving some of his time on JOX in Bham every week, and I find him to be a genuinely good guy. He's been very good at his job and wants football in the fall as bad as anyone.

I'd bet he's worked harder this year than previous years just to trying to keep up with the ever changing covid landscape just to get a handle on the task of how to get teams back to playing.

 

[T-TownDawgg]

Mic drop?
Guess I need to buy stock now in wearable placards with "VULNERABLE" in huge red font on both sides

 

[1msucub]

probably the same reason as you minus the fear mongering

With all due respect, friend...I haven’t seen any examples of fear-mongering by Desoto. There has been plenty of posters who have, but I don’t think he’s one of them.

 

[00Dawg]

I think you're the first I've heard say it....

with respect to college athletics.
I have heard it for schools in general.

I will admit from that perspective it is an argument. It's also one that makes much more sense in a vacuum, which we are not. Schools must resume in person, or an entire generation will have an educational deficit that will have to be made up, with all the ripple effects that entails, not to mention more economic issues.
At risk: stay home. Other folks: take precautions.

Anyway, that's not why suspending college athletics is being debated.

 

[00Dawg]

So how do we give Sankey the balls to talk about litigation in public?

I'm on board with that being a big reason that the decision-makers are heading in the weak-kneed direction.
How do we get this discussion fully out in the open so that we can get it solved (and yes, I realize that likely depends on Congress)?

 

[Tall Dawg]

If Sankey kills football this fall, as soon as all the economies of the SEC towns go in the tank this fall, he’ll be canned. Book it.
Lets PLAY BALL!!

 

[T-TownDawgg]

Signing personal waivers of liability for football players would be a very difficult sell, unless you find a way of uncoupling that from injuries.

 

[00Dawg]

I imagine the COVID waiver...

or whatever it was Ohio State was catching flak about was limited to COVID-19.
The media tried to play that as the university being irresponsible to their athletes. Ideally, we need to beat that stupid argument down and help more things like their waiver get approved, ideally while also having a responsible testing/quarantine framework in place.

 

[Len2003]

So young people need to miss a part of their life to protect older people who have lived a majority of their life and most likely have not taken the best care of themselves?

Older people don't owe you their retirement years that they worked hard to enjoy. The athletes will be fine if they don't play football. So will we.

 

[T-TownDawgg]

That's what I'm saying. There's going to be a sizeable minority of ******** who can't wait to throw a monkey wrench into any sort of reasonable compromise.

You cant put 5 people in a car and ask them where they want to eat and get any agreements.

Good luck with this covid ****.

 

[We suck again]

Older people don't owe you their retirement years that they worked hard to enjoy. The athletes will be fine if they don't play football. So will we.

The ones who were going to make a living as an athlete will not be fine. They won't have the ability to work hard for their retirement.

 

[00Dawg]

The football athletes may be fine. Others won't.

The groups of people who will be negatively impacted, many with life-changing consequences include:
1. Athletes from non-revenue sports that are cancelled due to budget shortfalls (and their scholarships with them)
2. Staff directly and indirectly supporting non-revenue sports whose jobs go away when those sports are cancelled (think coaches, trainers, and AD staff)
3. Support staff and non-profit groups who count on their income from working games
4. Hospitality industry and restaurant workers who lose their jobs due to continued lack of demand for their services

Those are some of the ones directly impacted in major ways, but there are other groups impact like media employees and those in the travel industry, not to mention all sorts of ripples.

 

[GloryDawg]

Sankey is a good Commish. He's been very generous with giving some of his time on JOX in Bham every week, and I find him to be a genuinely good guy. He's been very good at his job and wants football in the fall as bad as anyone.

I'd bet he's worked harder this year than previous years just to trying to keep up with the ever changing covid landscape just to get a handle on the task of how to get teams back to playing.

Not my point. My point is it is easy to sit back with a paycheck in your pocket and say "keep it shut down."

 

[T-TownDawgg]

My point is, that attitude would be a very dubious and stressful position for an SEC commissioner to put himself in, and is completely out of character for Greg Sankey. Calling him a lazy ******* out of speculation and frustration is unfair and unreasonable.

 

[Apoplectic_Objurgator]

So if there are no grannies in the locker
rooms or dorm rooms can we have football?

 

[ckDOG]

Jesus some folks really have bought the evil media message too hard

The argument to not play collegiate sports should be nonexistent. Athletes with preexisting conditions sit out until there's a vaccine, everyone else carries on with some regulations for testing and quarantine.
The threat to them is less than many common factors they face in day-to-day life. And yes, they need to sign liability waivers. If they're not up to that mental challenge, they can also sit out (without losing eligibility).

The only conversation ongoing should be whether to have fans, and if so, how many. Huge economic impacts are on the line with that decision and it should not be taken lightly from either side.

Instead we have entire conferences closing down seasons, classifications moving the season 6 months back, etc. It feels like our decision makers are shifting with the whims of the media, both sports-related and general. Unfortunately for all of us, those people have a vested interest in drama. If this had happened twenty years ago (maybe even 10), this would be a very different situation, as we still had people in charge who could make informed decisions behind closed doors and then unite their respective constituents.

Should those of us who pump in thousands of dollars each year be contacting the decision makers to reinforce that there will be consequences beyond Twitter storms if they don't get off their rear ends and start making the decisions that look risky to the fear-laden but the objective among us know are rooted in reality?
I'm not normally a boycott kind of guy, but it really seems like we have reached a tipping point where no one is willing to put a foot in the ground and hold a line.

Take off your conspiracy hat for a moment and ask yourself who pays the billions of dollars a year to broadcast these events. I'll answer. The media. It stands to reason that they profit off stability and knowing they have a product to sell this fall. No football is bad for them. Guess who also profits? The non broadcasting media. They have stories to write and clicks to generate. The media doesn't want the season cancelled any more than you or I do. Their livelihoods are directly connected to it.

The decisions being made have more to do with liability. It's easy to say someone should do this or that when you don't have to answer for the health and safety of thousands impacted by that decision. It's pretty natural for a decision maker to err on the side of caution when nobody has an idea to make any of this work without a sizable amount of risk. If the two biggest drivers to a play the season decision are "we won't lose as much money" and "the kids probably won't die", then it's pretty natural to expect that adults with liability are going to bail.

 

[tbaydog]

Gotta give Sankey credit here for having the balls to prepare us by saying what the other P5 commissioners won't: It's not looking good. There is still a lot we don't know about this virus and the long term effects on different demographics.

I give more blame to the bloodsucking lawyers and our letigious society. The liability issues of navigating a 2020 football season are monumental.

17 Sankey!! Seem enough to know where he stands. He loves low hanging fruit!

 

[Msubulldogfan1]

Take off your conspiracy hat for a moment and ask yourself who pays the billions of dollars a year to broadcast these events. I'll answer. The media. It stands to reason that they profit off stability and knowing they have a product to sell this fall. No football is bad for them. Guess who also profits? The non broadcasting media. They have stories to write and clicks to generate. The media doesn't want the season cancelled any more than you or I do. Their livelihoods are directly connected to it.

The decisions being made have more to do with liability. It's easy to say someone should do this or that when you don't have to answer for the health and safety of thousands impacted by that decision. It's pretty natural for a decision maker to err on the side of caution when nobody has an idea to make any of this work without a sizable amount of risk. If the two biggest drivers to a play the season decision are "we won't lose as much money" and "the kids probably won't die", then it's pretty natural to expect that adults with liability are going to bail.

“The kids probably won’t die” is an extraordinary exaggeration. Kids die of heatstrokes, but they still practice in the summer right?

Where is this liability? Can a simple waiver (which is 100% unnecessary) fix that? They have liability wavers for everything else under the sun.

 

[T-TownDawgg]

Some of you idiots forget what it was like for MSU with Mike Slive around.

And for that matter, your own kids.

How's that for low hanging fruit, tbay?

 

[ckDOG]

“The kids probably won’t die” is an extraordinary exaggeration. Kids die of heatstrokes, but they still practice in the summer right?

Where is this liability? Can a simple waiver (which is 100% unnecessary) fix that? They have liability wavers for everything else under the sun.

No it's not. It's repeated on this board daily as a reason, if not the sole reason, we should play. That plus local economic impact.

Your liability is job loss at a minimum. I assume you could manage a lot of risk with covid waivers, but lawyers are pretty crafty at getting around waivers when there's plenty of money around.

There's not a lot of established norms in playing sports in a pandemic. I guess a kid could sign a piece a paper saying he accepts the risk of playing, but does he have all the information he needs to have to make a well informed decision for him? Many may have choice but to sign a liability waiver even if they didn't want to. Everyone understands there's a risk of injury, stroke, etc. playing sports. That's inherent and not really relevant to pandemic.

Do we truly know the risks playing football this fall? I'm not sure anyone can say that they do and if you try to push that risk down to kids that earn a scholarship and the protected parties made a nice profit, I'm not sure you don't get lit up by an army of lawyers in a swiftness. I couldn't make that call and sleep at night to be honest.

 

[Leeshouldveflanked]

So if no vaccine and virus is still around and people are dying this time next year.... do we play football then?

 

[The Usual Suspect]

States may have opened too fast or not, I don't know. But I do know that Governors or Mayors cannot make decisions about millions of people's livings and economies based on whether it jeopardizes the football season.

 

[GloryDawg]

My point is, that attitude would be a very dubious and stressful position for an SEC commissioner to put himself in, and is completely out of character for Greg Sankey. Calling him a lazy ******* out of speculation and frustration is unfair and unreasonable.

I didn't call him lazy. But it is easy to say keep everything shut down if you are not shut down. I would bet if there is no fall sports he is going to have to lay off some people but he will still have his.