Went to a high school football game last night.

[UteThunder]

It was great to see but also very frustrating. How in the world are high schools able to figure this out but the Pac12, MWC, and B1G can’t?

[cjd1]

I agree 100%!

[Tony (admin)]

Because nobody is going to sue the high school.

[UteThunder]

Uuuuhh . . . ?

[noneyadb]

Because high schools don’t make billions of dollars and players haven’t tried to unionize.

[EagleMountainUte]

Don’t say nobody.

[PlainsUte]

They could sue high schools, but most States have liability laws that are very protective of local governments.  The P5 Athletic Departments have deeper pockets.

[UteThunder]

Wouldn’t public universities fall under the laws meant to protect local governments? 

[PlainsUte]

Perhaps, but the Athletic Departments have become their own behemoths.  Pockets are pretty deep, also the Universities are often sitting on yuge endowment accounts through quasi-independent University Foundations.

[Grimmetal]

But you also had a canceled game (Bingham), we don’t know how testing is going, and this week will be very telling on IF this will work.

[EagleMountainUte]

Might not make it until September. I was optimisitic for almost October. 

[UtMtBiker]

They haven’t and it’s going to end poorly. But, might as well enjoy it while you can.

[S.CarolinaUte]

Depends on what your definition of poorly is. If the bar is no positives then you will be right. If its 7.8% positives then it will be a success.  The state avg is 7.8% positive rate without football.

[89ute]

Probably the same reason why the son of the Big 10 commissioner is playing football in the SEC while deeming football unsafe for the Big 10?

https://www.outkick.com/big-ten-commissioners-son-is-playing-at-mississippi-state-this-fall/

[GameForAnyFuss]

Probably because universities are run by smarter people than high schools. And I don’t mean that as a political statement – there are more PhDs and MDs in the university systems, so they are more likely to err on the side of science than high schools.

[89ute]

So what are you saying about people running universities in the ACC, SEC and Big 12?

[S.CarolinaUte]

The biggest misconception in todays world is that all science agrees on Covid. The science is split about the risks, the research and the proper way to medicate for this disease. So implying that some our listening to science and some are not is wrong. My oncologist and my Cardiologist cant even agree on my medicine and they are looking at all the research but interpreting the risks differently. 

[PlainsUte]

Agree, there is still a considerable disagreement on science.  Also people these days are intently focused on COVID-19 risk it whatever their realm is rather than overall risk as a whole.  By that I mean Presidents and ADs are worried about COVID risk to their players in their system, which is good as far as it motivates them to take precautions in their facilities, etc, but when assessing the total impact on a players health, the players are probably safer INSIDE the athletic programs than out in the general population.   Keep them busy and in a controlled environment and they are actually better off than without.   The experience at OU this past week bears that out.  Let out of football camp for a week and 9 came back positive for COVID-19 and one got caught with a DUI at 1am on a Wednesday — that’s not happening when the coaches have them in camp or in a regular workout-class-practice-homework routine.

Same argument can be made for school kids, I believe.  Sure, its not going to go perfectly, some are not going to following masking and distancing but the overall risk to their health is less at the school, factoring in suicide rates, kids in bad situations at home, limited parental oversight, etc.  And this is particularly true for the K-12 school-age group which has low symptom rates and really, really low fatality rates.  Teaching them about safety of masks, etc, at school and some of that will rub off on their parents — sounds funny but sometimes the messaging from school->kids->parents can actually be quite effective.

[jsimmons327]

Most of the research done by universities is not science. They collect money to research a hypothesis. If they can confirm what the person with the money wants, it gets published. If it doesn’t it gets put in the trash. Science is about questioning, and searching for the truth. That is rarely done any more. Everyone says they are following the science or what experts say but is what they really mean is we are following what the experts that agree with me say. And then they sensor the other side of the argument. Universities are like any other business. They are there to make money. No football is about the lawyers concern for liability. If the data was being followed everything would be open and we would be back to normal. 

[Stone]

The liability concern is such bs. The liability risk is not increased because players play a game for a few hours versus allowing in-person teaching or having players train together, etc. How are you going to prove that the infection came about from those few hours of game time? Just horse s**t legal reasoning. 

The decision is just optics. 

[89ute]

Why can the son of the Big 10 commissioner play football in the SEC but deem football unsafe for Big 10 players?

<p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>How can Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren say it isn’t safe to play college football in the Big Ten this fall, yet let his own son play this fall in the SEC? https://t.co/U2BZE21p3x</p>— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) August 15, 2020

 

[89ute]

Let’s take it one step further. Why does Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren think it’s unsafe for the BIG to play football but it’s okay for his son to play football at Mississippi St?

<p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>How can Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren say it isn’t safe to play college football in the Big Ten this fall, yet let his own son play this fall in the SEC? https://t.co/U2BZE21p3x</p>— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) August 15, 2020