STrib Editorial Board: It's time to shut down the Big Ten football season

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Block M said:
The initial decision to postpone the season was the correct one but the leadership couldn't hold the line against people like (insert name here). Predictably, the 2020 B1G football season has been an utter farce; a slimy bloody Covid turd-burger.
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You mean because of all the dead and/or hospitalized student athletes?
 


It’s time to shut down editorial hyperbole


It's also critical to note that the virus could spread from football programs to the broader communities in which schools are located. The nation is in the midst of an alarming surge of COVID cases, hospitalizations and deaths.

The Minnesota Department of Health has "not identified any community cases associated with the Gopher football team, but that doesn't mean we might not in the future," a spokesman said on Tuesday.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
The STrib has really gone downhill for me. I don't care that they are main stream/liberal/whatever hot words you wanna throw out. I think they have shitty writers, poor takes/reasoning and their sports section is abysmal. Their beat writers are horrendous.
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Just give it to us straight. 😀
 

I don't even care anymore. The season sucks so it's no loss if we just shut it down. Football just isn't very fun to watch this year.
 



Plausible Deniability said:
You mean because of all the dead and/or hospitalized student athletes?
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That is why the State Morgue our brilliant great leader Timmy Walz spent millions on is pretty close to the Campus, to put all the dead U of M athletes, or visiting team's dead. (LMU might have left a few stiffs, now on ice, they were here in death's grip for almost a week.)

I hope the Aussie mullet guy isn't in a drawer over there.
 

Plato said:
So appealing to a known expert or authority is bad.
So the next time you have chest pain and left arm pain do not go to the ER but see what Facebook or Qnon have to say.
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LOL.... reallly? My condolences.
 

MplsGopher said:
.... what, precisely, was missing?
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The quote is anachronistic. Who gives a shit what his prediction was, It is no longer relevant. It was regarding conditions before the season started.
 



UpAndUnder43 said:
Haha. I mean some people hate them because of their political lean. I don’t care. I just think its a shitty product.
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Tough to find a quality paper anymore. NY Times, whether one agreed with their politics or not, used to be the gold standard. Now they really print some god awful stuff. One can still find quality there, but relative to ten years ago - no where near the level.

I think the Wall Street Journal is the likely the only one that I can find that really has dropped off.
 

atsgopher said:
Tough to find a quality paper anymore. NY Times, whether one agreed with their politics or not, used to be the gold standard. Now they really print some god awful stuff. One can still find quality there, but relative to ten years ago - no where near the level.

I think the Wall Street Journal is the likely the only one that I can find that really has dropped off.
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Agree. The KC Star down here in Kansas City is garbage as well.
 

Stupid! The teams that have done well as far as COVID cases/outbreaks should keep playing. No reason to punish them.
 

atsgopher said:
The quote is anachronistic. Who gives a shit what his prediction was, It is no longer relevant. It was regarding conditions before the season started.
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First of all, the word you used isn't correct for what you're trying to say. Second of all, his quote is completely appropriate for what he was expressing. Here it is again:

"Nothing has happened since I gave that interview that would change my view — in fact the COVID-19 activity across the Midwest (and in other areas of the country) has worsened considerably, making it even more problematic," Diekema told an editorial writer this week.

The underlined part proves that his quote is regarding the present state.
 



For some people, having entertainment to watch, and having college FB to watch is very important.

For other people, it's not important when measured against larger societal issues.

This illustrates where we are as a society right now. A lot of people are simply unwilling or unable to consider any opinions or viewpoints that do not agree with theirs.

for me, the question is - is it worth having college FB in the present climate, with games being called off and rescheduled on a daily basis? Some would say yes, some would say no. I'm indifferent. If there had been no college FB season, I would have lived with it. Having college FB to watch is far from the most important thing in my life.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
For some people, having entertainment to watch, and having college FB to watch is very important.

For other people, it's not important when measured against larger societal issues.

This illustrates where we are as a society right now. A lot of people are simply unwilling or unable to consider any opinions or viewpoints that do not agree with theirs.

for me, the question is - is it worth having college FB in the present climate, with games being called off and rescheduled on a daily basis? Some would say yes, some would say no. I'm indifferent. If there had been no college FB season, I would have lived with it. Having college FB to watch is far from the most important thing in my life.
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I'm fine with it, if there is no live audience allowed. If it's just the players and staff, who are tested daily, and so they know to quarantine immediately when positive ... I think it contributes next to nothing to the community spread, and it provides valuable entertainment, both mentally for people as well as continuing to stimulate the economy.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
FWIW - Souhan also had a column where he said college basketball should suspend its season until sometime in 2021.

It really gets down to priorities, or what people feel are important.

I get into this on the HS level. Some people think that, if a HS goes on distance learning, that their athletic teams should continue playing. Others would reply that, if the situation with covid is not safe enough to allow kids to attend school in person, then those same kids should not be taking part in group activities such as sports.

The different with D1 and Pro sports is TV money.

right or wrong, D1 and pro teams are financially dependent on TV money, and make decisions that may be based on financial considerations as opposed to strictly health and safety considerations.
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The high school sports thing is so strange to me.
The districts have caved to a small group of parents who are loud...which makes sense.

The biggest issue I have with high school sports isn’t that kids are going to catch Covid at sports. It is that kids are being put in a really tough spot that’s not fair to them when they do get sick.

basically kids are smart enough to figure out that if they got sick, they’d shut down their buddy’s football season. They have a pretty large implicit pressure to not get sick, not get tested if sick, and not be positive. This leads to lying. Avoiding testing. Etc.

It’s just an odd choice people are making.

I have much less concern with pro and major college sports because of access to testing and the mandate to test.
 

MplsGopher said:
First of all, the word you used isn't correct for what you're trying to say. Second of all, his quote is completely appropriate for what he was expressing. Here it is again:

"Nothing has happened since I gave that interview that would change my view — in fact the COVID-19 activity across the Midwest (and in other areas of the country) has worsened considerably, making it even more problematic," Diekema told an editorial writer this week.

The underlined part proves that his quote is regarding the present state.
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nice thoughts, and I see where your going, but take a more detailed look:

the quote is referenced as a month later, then discusses an August interview. Thus placing the quote in September. It actually was around September 16th. The Season started October 23-24th.

The DR’s statement is appropriate before the season, but at the end it is not. Yup, it’s anachronistic.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
For some people, having entertainment to watch, and having college FB to watch is very important.

For other people, it's not important when measured against larger societal issues.

This illustrates where we are as a society right now. A lot of people are simply unwilling or unable to consider any opinions or viewpoints that do not agree with theirs.

for me, the question is - is it worth having college FB in the present climate, with games being called off and rescheduled on a daily basis? Some would say yes, some would say no. I'm indifferent. If there had been no college FB season, I would have lived with it. Having college FB to watch is far from the most important thing in my life.
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A fair point. However, I may add it is important to try and mitigate whatever affects of the virus we can.

moreover, if sports make too much money (i think we canagree they do), then raising their costs while lowering their revenue means redistribution. Thus, economically wealth is shifted from sports to medicine.

an objection would be fair, if their was insufficient testing supplies; I believe we still have a large capacity to test more.

Additionally, cash for testing (as distinct from wealth) from sports to manufacturers likely sped production of testing supplies and the increase of manufacturing capacity.

so, the signaling might appear off, but their are also benefits and it helps everyone in the long run to make the case.
 

atsgopher said:
nice thoughts, and I see where your going, but take a more detailed look:

the quote is referenced as a month later, then discusses an August interview. Thus placing the quote in September. It actually was around September 16th. The Season started October 23-24th.

The DR’s statement is appropriate before the season, but at the end it is not. Yup, it’s anachronistic.
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The quote in the OP article was taken on Dec 2 or Dec 3. The original interview was Sept 16.

Nothing has happened since = Nothing that happened over the course of Sept 16 - Dec 2/3 ....

Come on man ...
 

MplsGopher said:
The quote in the OP article was taken on Dec 2 or Dec 3. The original interview was Sept 16.

Nothing has happened since = Nothing that happened over the course of Sept 16 - Dec 2/3 ....

Come on man .... He did reafirm the quote. Your bolded portio
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yup your right. He did reaffirm his September interview. You should have bolded the last sentence in the article. My apologies.

Being that is it may, do you see what I am saying with regards to his reasoning? The results are in. Everything is changed.

His points from the earlier interview, don’t support the argument that the Big Ten should shut down football.
He should be looking at this to see how they have done preventing community spread (as oppossed to just spread within a team community). He should be looking at the processes used and evaluating their effectiveness. He should be looking at what can be improved. He should be looking at how/if that can be used abstractly in other areas.

Instead, he’s digging in his heels. Without incorporating the empirical case his answer is means nothing.
 
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UpAndUnder43 said:
The STrib has really gone downhill for me. I don't care that they are main stream/liberal/whatever hot words you wanna throw out. I think they have shitty writers, poor takes/reasoning and their sports section is abysmal. Their beat writers are horrendous.
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The strib also sensors which articles can be commented on and which can’t. I’ve stopped watching all news for the most part because every side has an agenda. The strib also adds fuel to the fire for race baiting. I’ve noticed article titles are quick to point out a persons racial background if it’s a minority, however if it’s the other way around they’ll leave out race entirely and use the word suspect, man, or woman.
 

Of course the Strib wants the season shut down, they most likely never wanted it to start.
 


Plausible Deniability said:
You mean because of all the dead and/or hospitalized student athletes?
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No. Because of the 27 staff members who tested positive and who very probably spread this out into the community. The University of Minnesota should NOT be defined by its sports programs. And I am a bigger sports fan than most of you cultists on the board. The problem is the University has graduated far too many alumni who won't donate money to the U unless it does well in big-time revenue sports. They have been mis-educated by this institution. This football season should never have begun in the first place. But college football isn't really about sports; it's about generating revenue for the school.

And that's a damn shame.
 

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