Conference USA postpones all fall team sports... except for football
C-USA announcement: https://mobile.twitter.com/ConferenceUSA/status/1296907743266316288
Also, FAU is suspending football practices due to covid positive tests: https://mobile.twitter.com/FAUFootball/status/1296888609472012288?s=19
August 21st, 2020 at 5:21 PM ^
Hey man, we'll see.
August 21st, 2020 at 8:52 PM ^
See, why can’t you just post normal shit like this all the time? You’d actually get to engage in some conversation, meet cool people, etc.
August 21st, 2020 at 9:24 PM ^
Yeah, the majority of people don't seem too cool.
August 21st, 2020 at 11:47 PM ^
No they aren’t. But there’s some cool people on this blog.
August 21st, 2020 at 9:53 PM ^
Because I'm weird. And I'm proud to be myself instead of someone else.
August 21st, 2020 at 11:46 PM ^
Being weird is good. As a scientist, most of us, especially physicists, are really weird.
Purposefully walking into a room (or joining a blog) and contributing nothing but being an annoyance to everyone to the point no one wants you there isn’t “being weird” or “quirky” being “yourself.” It’s being an undesirable jackass.
August 22nd, 2020 at 8:23 AM ^
Not sure how you were nominated for “the rest of us”, but you’re the one being an ass. If he wants to post oddball stuff, then leave him alone.
August 22nd, 2020 at 8:14 AM ^
Being 'myself' is trickier than it sounds. I'm an older gent who has spent a lot of time pursuing self-awareness, and nothing can fool you like yourself. This is where the outside world helps, as it provides a mirror on which more objective (or at least different) perception of yourself is available. I'm not judging you, Pony, as I see echos of my younger self in your 'contrary for contrary's sake' persona. You will grow when you decide to look more deeply into your motivations, and the results will be demonstrated in a more harmonious co-existence with your fellow man/woman.
August 21st, 2020 at 5:28 PM ^
Except football.
This pains me so much.
August 21st, 2020 at 5:48 PM ^
How does title IX factor in?
August 21st, 2020 at 5:54 PM ^
I have to imagine if they're still honoring their scholarships they are okay? Or moving to spring?
August 21st, 2020 at 6:41 PM ^
Moving to spring is a trick. They have football and then at spring they say, oh, it’s unsafe!
August 21st, 2020 at 7:38 PM ^
A few people have said this but I don't see how or why Title IX would factor in.
How are you taking opportunities away from anyone? You're just telling them they have to play at a different time.
Scholarships remain the same and it's not like FB plays while everyone else is canceled...that would be problematic (from a Title IX standpoint...it's already problematic, and quite frankly, sad).
August 21st, 2020 at 8:32 PM ^
There is a precedent for using Title IX to address timing. After all, it was used to switch volleyball and girls' basketball seasons.
August 21st, 2020 at 9:41 PM ^
This is true, but COVID is likely an exception. That said, there's no way CUSA can argue football is safer than those other sports, so I guess they're using the BCS Championship in the winter as justification for their greed.
August 22nd, 2020 at 8:55 AM ^
Bingo. This is their best shot at making the playoffs and they're going to take it.
August 22nd, 2020 at 10:08 AM ^
Your assumption is correct about CUSA making the playoffs. Provided CFB can go the distance this fall season. I'm not sure the SEC can make it the Sept 26th opening.
CUSA has it backwards, other fall sports should continue except football.
August 21st, 2020 at 5:51 PM ^
Money, money, money, money, MONEY!
August 21st, 2020 at 9:52 PM ^
(They're) Only In It For the Money:
August 21st, 2020 at 6:03 PM ^
Yeah, it's what keeps the economy running and people employed
August 21st, 2020 at 6:41 PM ^
Well, the athletes aren’t employed.
August 21st, 2020 at 7:41 PM ^
and clearly they should be if they're being treated like essential personnel.
I guarantee all of these schools won't even have everyone in the athletic department on campus, working. But they'll have the football team? SMDH.
August 21st, 2020 at 8:29 PM ^
No, but they can opt out if they want to. And plenty other people are employed either directly or indirectly that will be affected by football season.
August 22nd, 2020 at 7:12 PM ^
Gus Johnson for one.
Joel Klatt, Gary Danielson....Hmmm ?
August 22nd, 2020 at 12:04 AM ^
Is it about the money? Below are links to two of their television contracts with CBS and ESPN. From these two TV deals, each school gets $700,000 a year. These TV deals are for football and basketball. $700,000 probably doesn't even cover the salaries of the football coaching staffs.
August 22nd, 2020 at 9:25 AM ^
They had just this month scheduled a handful of games vs the Big 12 and ACC. It's hard to drop them now. Not only for the lost revenue, but for future opportunities. Add that to the TV money and remember those salaries are getting paid either way.
August 22nd, 2020 at 7:07 PM ^
This great song is forever ruined by its association with a reality TV show!
August 21st, 2020 at 6:08 PM ^
How stupid is that? Football is easily the worst sport for controlling spread of the virus.
With each passing day the fiction of football players being student athletes erodes even more.
August 21st, 2020 at 6:37 PM ^
Wrestling?
August 21st, 2020 at 6:43 PM ^
Rugby. More people than wrestling, less equipment than football.
August 21st, 2020 at 6:56 PM ^
My former brother-in-law had one of his supraorbital ridges crushed in a rugby scrum. The doctor didn't try to repair it and they put an implant under the skin to make it look like it wasn't crushed.
August 21st, 2020 at 6:30 PM ^
Obviously, everyone knows conference USA football players didn't go to college to play school.
August 21st, 2020 at 6:34 PM ^
..... I’m so sick of this. I understand the parents frustration. We’re the laughing stock.
August 21st, 2020 at 6:40 PM ^
I get the B1G's rationale to delay/cancel football with the health angle. That said, it makes no sense to do that while allowing the students to return to the dorm and not move to all on-line classes.
August 23rd, 2020 at 12:47 PM ^
I agree with you there.
Apologies for jumping on you so hard the other day. I don't think I'm doing well at handling the stress of everything happening right now.
August 21st, 2020 at 7:28 PM ^
Yes, the Ivy League and conferences whose members include Michigan, Northwestern, Stanford, Cal, et al are the laughingstock. Totally spot on.
August 21st, 2020 at 7:39 PM ^
Greatest comment ever! You win the internet.
August 21st, 2020 at 11:47 PM ^
I learned a long time ago, when shit gets serious, the smart kids are the cool kids.
August 21st, 2020 at 7:43 PM ^
Serious question.
Hypothetically speaking...if everyone cancels in the next month.
Do we become leaders, visionaries and pioneers?
August 21st, 2020 at 7:59 PM ^
If they are good salesmen they do
August 21st, 2020 at 9:16 PM ^
Leaders and Legends, I believe
August 21st, 2020 at 9:41 PM ^
Honestly, it's the same pissing-in-the-wind mentality that led to all the Southern states looking at the Midwest and Northeast battle the disease, assume "it didn't like the heat" or some other horseshit, and proclaiming themselves immune right up until they got hit with massive waves of infections. Yes, some of the best, most well-funded schools in the country looked at the country and said "we're going to give up millions of dollars because we don't believe we can do sports safely" and schools like UAB and Southern Miss looked at their bank accounts and said they have to play some games because otherwise they won't be able to pay the minimum on the massive debts they took out to try to play with the big boys for a couple of years. It's no deeper than that.
August 22nd, 2020 at 1:12 PM ^
I live in Florida and no one was thinking covid was only a cold weather virus. You may recall Australia was hit hard very early (Tom Hanks!). They were having a very hot summer at the time.
August 21st, 2020 at 6:41 PM ^
Well, that's exactly what "we're not even trying to hide how the money works" looks like. I will say that anyway.
August 21st, 2020 at 9:16 PM ^
The USPS says hi.
August 21st, 2020 at 7:10 PM ^
I know they are trying to justify it, but it really doesn't matter. The optics of this are plain bad; and, it'll be difficult to explain away the initial impression: This is a money grab.
While college sports may be an exciting product for alum and other spectators to watch, the individual life of a student athlete is not a commodity. Student athletes should all be celebrated for their performance both on and off their respective fields of play, and although some fields of play may be more interesting to segments of the fanbase, the lives of all student athletes are all equal.
It's obvious some sports generate a higher rate of return financially; however, that financial reality should not be justification for putting the lives of some players (and the entire ecosystem they function in) at risk...while others are given the benefit of public health.
I'm not sure amateurism ever really existed in college football (and basketball), but these types of decisions definitively highlight that it doesn't exist now. Or maybe it highlights the mirage of amateurism is more universal - across more leagues - than I realized. I guess I always associated it with the larger conferences and not the smaller ones.
August 21st, 2020 at 7:46 PM ^
Crazy thing is C-USA plays on like CBS College Sports.
When you factor in the loss of ticket revenue and the cost for testing, I feel like it can't be THAT much money. But I guess something is better than nothing, because if they send FB home, they still have to cover the scholarships.
August 21st, 2020 at 9:51 PM ^
Conference-USA actually signed their newest TV deal .......... yesterday.
So, yes, TV is the effective driver of this. Plus, a handful of C-USA schools still have guarantee games (with SEC or Big XII foes).