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You are here: Home / Politics / Education / Wednesday Evening Open Thread: In Its Way, Quite Educational!

Wednesday Evening Open Thread: In Its Way, Quite Educational!

by Anne Laurie|  August 12, 20206:40 pm| 101 Comments

This post is in: Education, GOP Death Cult, Open Threads, Sports

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Part of me thinks there’s a very real chance that the cancellation of college football might actually drive the President’s approval rating below 40%.

— Bear Braumoeller (@Prof_BearB) August 11, 2020

GO FORTH TO DIE, YOUNG GLADIATORS! WE NEED THE ENTERTAINMENT!

Coach Lou out here sacrificing the youngins to Touchdown Jesus https://t.co/SnLHtqCj3n

— Ragnarok Lobster (@eclecticbrotha) August 11, 2020


The Big Ten and Pac-12, two of the five wealthiest U.S. college sports conferences, postponed the fall football season, along with other fall sports https://t.co/IkKIdHzSeb pic.twitter.com/YEXiB4uQsp

— Reuters (@Reuters) August 12, 2020

Two of the five wealthiest U.S. college sports conferences postponed the fall football season on Tuesday because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a critical blow to both an iconic American cultural tradition and a multibillion-dollar entertainment industry…

The move leaves the future of college football being played at all this fall in significant doubt as college officials grow ever more wary of their ability to have thousands of unpaid players practice and compete without jeopardizing their safety and contributing to the spread of a highly communicable disease.

“We know that this is a difficult day for our student-athletes, and our hearts go out to them and their families,” Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said in a statement. “We have made clear that all of their scholarships will be guaranteed.” …

U.S. President Donald Trump advocated for college football to be played this year and suggested that student athletes are strong enough to withstand the novel coronavirus.

“We want to get football in colleges. These are young, strong people. They won’t have a big problem with the China virus. So we want to see college football start,” Trump said during a news conference at the White House…

I for one support Mike Pence's wish to play college football. Let's get him in there returning some punts. Maybe put him in the slot and have him run some routes over the middle. Honestly there's no wrong way to use him. https://t.co/sYOowfiuZ9

— David Roth (@david_j_roth) August 11, 2020

Last time you went to a football game, you walked out as a PR stunt.

Fuck off, you obsequious prick. https://t.co/mRYvEi4HsQ

— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) August 11, 2020

Ah yes, a little more time. If only the pandemic had exploded earlier. Like, say, in March https://t.co/IcNeab15DY

— Drew Magary (@drewmagary) August 11, 2020

buddy do you know what the word “college” in “college football” means https://t.co/QgtUGd9ATt

— kilgore trout, new tone haver (@KT_So_It_Goes) August 11, 2020

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Reader Interactions

101Comments

  1. 1.

    HumboldtBlue

    August 12, 2020 at 6:43 pm

    I’m pretty sure at this point Lou’s jaw is hanging by a single thread and his mouth is literally full of chicklets.

  2. 2.

    Wag

    August 12, 2020 at 6:46 pm

    Gosh. Maybe the student athletes can be actual students this fall…

  3. 3.

    WereBear

    August 12, 2020 at 6:46 pm

    Another day, another Wingnut happy to sacrifice someone else.

  4. 4.

    Quaker in a Basement

    August 12, 2020 at 6:47 pm

    Lou Holtz plays for the tie.

  5. 5.

    cain

    August 12, 2020 at 6:49 pm

    It’s not hard to imagine how the last days of Rome went. Canceling the arena and all…

  6. 6.

    Mike R

    August 12, 2020 at 6:49 pm

    Let’s you and him fight and I will collect the money, oh yeah you are young and strong so take your risks.  Those cash registers aren’t going to fill themselves.  Never thought much of Holtz but this is just pathetic.

  7. 7.

    jl

    August 12, 2020 at 6:50 pm

    GA HS reopening mess won’t do much good at all either. I think the problem of whole chunks of HS going down for exposure and quarantine will continue. The prevalence is just too damn high, and they rushed in with almost no planning. In Israel, they had a much lower prevalence when they restarted lower grades and it was a success, but then they rushed into higher grades with no planning and it blew up in their faces.

    In US, prevalence too high, and crappy planning. Two strikes even before they get started.

  8. 8.

    Gvg

    August 12, 2020 at 6:54 pm

    Good lord, what idiots. A war to defeat aggressive conquerors is not remotely equivalent to a volunteering fun entertainment. Get a video game or read a book you selfish jerks. If more people had stayed home earlier, the infected population would never have reached this point.

    they didn’t storm the beach’s under fire to film any random entertainment.

  9. 9.

    Punchy

    August 12, 2020 at 6:57 pm

    Bois and gurz….the SEC and ACC is going to play no matter how many COVID cases there are.  There’s no number too high to shut down Aluh’bamuh and Clemson.  That area is the absolute center of COVID IZ HOAX-ville and college football is everything to those simpletons.  The conference commishes would need 24/7 security to survive a cancellation announcement….

  10. 10.

    rikyrah

    August 12, 2020 at 6:57 pm

    This is absolutely horrible. These athletes should not be sacrificed for these idiots.

  11. 11.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    August 12, 2020 at 6:58 pm

    there’s been some discussion lately of the Kennedy-Markey primary, and some of the surprising (at least to me) support Kennedy has gotten– Adam Schiff, some random anti-“Establishment” types. This was clarifying, especially as I had seen in some reports that Kennedy was tied or slightly ahead of Markey. And that word cloud is something to see.

    Josh Barro @jbarro 1h
    UMass/WCVB poll finds Joe Kennedy III down 15 points to Ed Markey, and this word cloud of respondent descriptions of Kennedy is something.

  12. 12.

    Ken

    August 12, 2020 at 6:58 pm

    From the picture, it sure looks like Holtz made his statement from his living room using his phone.

  13. 13.

    different-church-lady

    August 12, 2020 at 7:00 pm

    Gridiron Warrior is supposed to be a METAPHOR.

  14. 14.

    Ken

    August 12, 2020 at 7:00 pm

    @rikyrah: These athletes should not be sacrificed for these idiots.

    They’re not. They’re being sacrificed for these idiots’ salaries and advertising revenues.

  15. 15.

    raven

    August 12, 2020 at 7:01 pm

    The Big Ten and Pac-12 pulled the cord on their conference participating in fall football on Tuesday, postponing amid player safety concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic. The SEC has yet to make any further changes to the 2020 season and one prominent Georgia player made his opinion known Tuesday afternoon following his team’s practice.

    “We’ve worked too hard to not be able to take the field this fall,” said redshirt sophomore tailback Zamir White, per his personal Twitter account. “I trust the plan that our leadership has to keep us safe on the field and off. Our team is focused and ready to play. #WeWantToPlay

    Senior defensive end Malik Herring echoed the sentiment.

    “Came back to play ball! that’s what I want to do! Same for my teammates!” Herring Tweeted.

    Like White and Herring, junior offensive lineman Trey Hill, redshirt sophomore wide receiver Kearis Jackson, and junior running back James Cook also tweeted the #WeWantToPlayhashtag on social media Tuesday.

    Their comments echo those of walk-on linebacker Matthew Brown, who made an appearanceon CNN on Tuesday. On Sunday, senior linebacker Monty Rice called out those in charge for not being consistent in their views of whether college football can be played this fall.

    “Let’s play safely!! But those ‘in charge’ quit with the back and forth!!!” Rice tweeted.

  16. 16.

    Cheryl Rofer

    August 12, 2020 at 7:02 pm

    Great response to Lou Holtz

    Never thought I would need to write this, but…

    …let's talk about the difference b/w playing college football and the D-Day invasion.

    [THREAD] pic.twitter.com/gUNX1rPOo2

    — Paul Poast (@ProfPaulPoast) August 12, 2020

  17. 17.

    different-church-lady

    August 12, 2020 at 7:02 pm

    OT: I see FYWP is back to its old tricks of deleting your name and email after every post…

  18. 18.

    JMG

    August 12, 2020 at 7:03 pm

    The players want to play. It’s in their noun, after all. But if one of the SEC or ACC teams has a bad outbreak, it’s possible they’ll just quit. Being young and strong, they might think they’re invulnerable, but they know damn well their mamas, daddys and grandparents aren’t.

  19. 19.

    Kay

    August 12, 2020 at 7:03 pm

    Lou Holtz tells Fox News that college football needs to play amid coronavirus pandemic this fall: “Let’s move on with our life! When they stormed Normandy, they knew there were going to be casualties — there were going to be risks.”

    Appalling. I also love how all of these people are appearing from sealed chambers yet are bellowing for everyone else to get out there and mix it up. Fuck off.

  20. 20.

    raven

    August 12, 2020 at 7:04 pm

    Zamir White is from Philadelphia NOT the fucking deep south. For the record I have never thought there was going to be college football this fall.

  21. 21.

    Nicole

    August 12, 2020 at 7:04 pm

    “When they stormed Normandy, they knew there were going to be casualties — there were going to be risks.”

    Yeah… but they were doing it to defeat Nazism.  And even there, they were getting paid to do it.

  22. 22.

    Kent

    August 12, 2020 at 7:04 pm

    Assuming the three remaining southern conferences go ahead with their seasons, the whole thing is basically going to an exhibition season with all the other conferences standing down. How do you do a national championship and bowl games and such with 50% of the teams not even playing?

    What’s going to happen when say 50 players on the LSU team test positive?  Are they going to go ahead and hold that regularly scheduled game against Alabama?

    These people have no fucking idea what they are doing.

  23. 23.

    PsiFighter37

    August 12, 2020 at 7:05 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Big mistake IMO for Kennedy to run. Honestly, he could have waited for Warren or Markey to retire (which will happen for one or both of them within the next decade). I don’t think he realizes that the successful primary challenges have come against long-term incumbents who have been viewed as being asleep at the switch…that ain’t Markey.

  24. 24.

    Cameron

    August 12, 2020 at 7:05 pm

    @Gvg: You mean college football teams aren’t taught to look at their conference opponents as if they’re the Waffen-SS?  Shut my mouth.

  25. 25.

    raven

    August 12, 2020 at 7:06 pm

    Parents of the players are just as committed and confident in the program leaders.
    “I have complete confidence the University of Georgia, Ron Courson and Kirby Smart are going to do everything to protect my son,” Terence Mathis, father of UGA redshirt freshman quarterback D’Wan Mathis, has said on more than one occasion.
    RELATED: Father says ‘Georgia saved my son’s life’

    D’Wan Mathis, of course, underwent emergency brain surgery in May of 2019 and is on the brink of an amazing comeback under the supervision of Courson, the director of sports medicine.

     

    Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity put the current situation into perspective last week, as far as schools’ moving forward with athletics amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
    “We have an obligation to try to play, whether it’s volleyball, soccer, these young people have a three, four, or five-year window to participate, and we have an obligation to try to make that happen,” McGarity said.
    “But it’s gotta be done in a safe manner. They have to feel safe. Their parents have to feel safe, and it’s a new world. We all have to learn how to live in a COVID society.”

  26. 26.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    August 12, 2020 at 7:06 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Kennedy and Markey were both on Lovett or Leave it last Saturday, and to me, Markey came across much better. Kennedy kept repeating what I can only assume he thinks is his strongest attack: Markey is only in MA one week every month. Frankly that sounds like a lot to me.

  27. 27.

    Kay

    August 12, 2020 at 7:10 pm

    @JMG:

    Being young and strong, they might think they’re invulnerable

    My completely unscientific observations among friends and coworkers has been that the people who take the best care of themselves (eat well, exercise, avoid things that damage their health) are also the people likeliest to take covid safety advice seriously. It surprised me- they are, after all, healthy, but maybe it makes sense. They take care of themselves. In all things. Including avoiding catching a virus :)

  28. 28.

    Cameron

    August 12, 2020 at 7:11 pm

    Lou Holtz rallies players and coaches alike: “Was it over when the Germans won the Rose Bowl?”

  29. 29.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 12, 2020 at 7:12 pm

    My nephew is starting college this fall and was planning to play soccer. He was told at the end of July that it wasn’t happening. They said that the team would still exist, practice, and scrimmage internally, but there would be no games. He was devastated for about an hour and then accepted that this was the way it had to be. BTW he is/was a big Biden supporter from jump.

  30. 30.

    Kent

    August 12, 2020 at 7:12 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Kennedy and Markey were both on Lovett or Leave it last Saturday, and to me, Markey came across much better. Kennedy kept repeating what I can only assume he thinks is his strongest attack: Markey is only in MA one week every month. Frankly that sounds like a lot to me.

    I heard the same show and interviews.  Markey did come across much better.   Kennedy’s only argument seemed to be that Markey wasn’t enough of a celebrity politician, running around doing appearances and fundraising for other candidates.   Since when is that in the job description of a Senator?   I’m on the opposite side of the country, but I would definitely have voted for Markey after that interview.

  31. 31.

    Percysowner

    August 12, 2020 at 7:12 pm

    College football HAS to be cancelled because of COVID. That said, I live in Columbus and restaurants and bars in the University District make HALF of their revenue during football season. This is necessary, but is going to hurt a lot of people, not just fans of the sport.

  32. 32.

    Martin

    August 12, 2020 at 7:15 pm

    There’s a bit more context to the PAC-12 decision. We think of the NCAA as this immovable force, but when CA ruled that student athletes must be paid for use of their likeness, CA universities threatened to pull out of the PAC-12 and NCAA over the ruling, and NCAA backed down.

    I can tell you that we feel quite a bit more emboldened after that. And the issue isn’t just football, but so many of the other NCAA sports, particularly the indoor ones that simply can’t be done safely. I know football is the headline, but wrestling, volleyball, water polo, gymnastics, basketball are all really challenging. Most schools don’t differentiate that much between the sports. Most of us aren’t making millions off of TV rights. That’s a minority of NCAA schools, and so football is going to be opposed just as strongly as wrestling would be by most schools.

    There are 24 NCAA Div I schools in CA and exactly 4 generate meaningful revenue off of their sports – Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA, USC. There’s another 30-odd Div II and III schools in CA. So out of probably 60 schools, 4 make money, and the rest of us are just making students sick and are out there telling the NCAA we’ll take our ball and go home if they force our students to compete. NCAA isn’t interested in just being a limited number of schools doing football and basketball, because they know that eventually the rest of us will build a larger organization and take those sports over as well.

  33. 33.

    Brachiator

    August 12, 2020 at 7:16 pm

    College football is big business. It obviously brings a lot of money to universities and helps find a lot of programs.

    And a disruption of the college football season has a huge impact on high school kids entering college and maybe losing a year or more of eligibility, and it has an impact on young players going on to the NFL.

    And then you have to take into account the hit on all the jobs related to athletic activities.

  34. 34.

    Gravenstone

    August 12, 2020 at 7:16 pm

    @Punchy: Maybe they won’t survive the waves of covid that sweep across their campuses. Might have been better to take their chances with the pitchfork wielding alumni.

  35. 35.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 12, 2020 at 7:17 pm

    @Martin: Who is “we” in this comment?

  36. 36.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 12, 2020 at 7:18 pm

    @Brachiator: How would they lose a year of eligibility if there is no season?

  37. 37.

    Kay

    August 12, 2020 at 7:20 pm

    @Percysowner:

    Our public high school uses the football concessions revenue to fund “extras” for the music programs. So we’re down 20,000 dollars right from the get-go. It’s not “vital” but I’ve doled out the money to the three music programs and they use it carefully and well, and..it sort of is. Vital.

    I didn’t bring it up at the last school meeting. People have so much to worry about and every day it’s another problem. One at a time :)

  38. 38.

    Chief Oshkosh

    August 12, 2020 at 7:21 pm

    Ike, the guy who was in charge of the Normandy invasion, was all about saving as many US soldiers lives as possible given the task at hand.

    But Holtz and the other ninnies? They just say “Fuck it! Somebody else’s kid’s gonna die!” The one good possible outcome of Holtz getting his wish is that one of his players gives him the disease and he dies a fucking long, miserable death.

    Ike shit turds bigger than you before breakfast, Lou, so why don’t you sit down and quit embarrassing yourself?

  39. 39.

    Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)

    August 12, 2020 at 7:21 pm

    Kennedy’s campaign pushes back on claims that he’s lost his wide polling margin. They contend early internal polling never showed him with such a wide lead over Markey.

  40. 40.

    Redshift

    August 12, 2020 at 7:23 pm

    @Nicole:

    “When they stormed Normandy, they knew there were going to be casualties — there were going to be risks.” 

    Well, that would explain why they’ve fought so hard against doing anything about concussions…

  41. 41.

    Geminid

    August 12, 2020 at 7:23 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: I’ve been hearing this “brave heroes storming Normandy” bullshit from conservatives for a while. The Normandy invasion had to be made, and it was the most extensively and intensively planned operation in human history. This comparison to an improvised fall 2020 college football season is ridiculous. And outrageous.

  42. 42.

    Kay

    August 12, 2020 at 7:24 pm

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    I think it’s appalling too. So many people are so horrible. We’re just inundated with them and they never fucking stop talking.

  43. 43.

    VeniceRiley

    August 12, 2020 at 7:25 pm

    Just got out of the Biden/Harris private fundraiser. Was more like an online Town Hall and it was heartening to see the younger voters participating and asking good questions.

  44. 44.

    trollhattan

    August 12, 2020 at 7:25 pm

    @Punchy:

    Yeah, I figure they’ll be the last holdouts. Too bad we don’t yet know about the longterm consequences of an infection. “Your heart has permanent damage.” “But, what about the NFL draft?”

  45. 45.

    Martin

    August 12, 2020 at 7:26 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Universities. Sorry, that wasn’t clear.

    Most universities really do feel powerless against NCAA. Maybe some of the top tier sports schools feel differently, but every  administration I’ve spoken to finds the NCAA rules to be unfavorable to students, encourage cheating, poorly enforced, and overall bad for academia overall. But they are the force that must be dealt with, and we generally feel unable to get them to change other than pulling sports out altogether – which isn’t great – a lot of student spectators really like having these sports on our campuses, and most campuses don’t treat athletics as a revenue source, rather as proper student enrichment. My campus makes no money off of sports, but we turn out a LOT of olympians, and we’re pretty proud of that.

    But NCAA doesn’t really support our vision of student athletics. They are much more focused on the big ticket stuff. But while the big ticket stuff is very well known and makes a lot of money – the overwhelming majority of NCAA schools get nothing out of it.

  46. 46.

    E.

    August 12, 2020 at 7:26 pm

    I see that “come to Florida where we have freedom” shit and I think, This country is going to split apart. There is an iron curtain between the personality that wants to cooperate with other people to make life great for all and the person who sees evil in all others not in their tribe and believes in little besides power and punishment. The two groups don’t seem to have an inch of common ground. It’s terrifying me.

  47. 47.

    WaterGirl

    August 12, 2020 at 7:27 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I fell asleep shortly after Markey started talking with Jon, but I thought Kennedy came on way too strong and came across as an entitled dick.

    Needless to say, I was not favorably impressed.  Will start again on Markey when I go to bed tonight.

  48. 48.

    Punchy

    August 12, 2020 at 7:28 pm

    @Kent: why yes…..yes, they will.  Their entire fanbase are disbelievers.  Theres no number too appalling for them to shut this down.  Red conferences vs. Blue ones, incredibly.

  49. 49.

    trollhattan

    August 12, 2020 at 7:29 pm

    @Percysowner:

    Any fall football will be played in empty venues, so there’s no retail boost regardless. MAYBE there can be crowds come spring. Maybe.

  50. 50.

    raven

    August 12, 2020 at 7:29 pm

    @Punchy: Oh bullshit, stop with the sweeping generalizations.

  51. 51.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 12, 2020 at 7:30 pm

    @Martin: I come from a Div-III world.  Nothing makes money.  OTOH tickets are cheap and easy to get.

  52. 52.

    dmsilev

    August 12, 2020 at 7:31 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: I once read a SF short story reimagining high-school football as actual warfare, with trenches and mortars and everything. Maybe someone read the same story and didn’t realize it was fiction?

  53. 53.

    Martin

    August 12, 2020 at 7:32 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, this is what I don’t get. Sure, if some schools are playing and others aren’t you  potentially have a  problem with things down the road in terms of opportunities for the pros, but if everyone stops, then everyone is on an equal footing.

    Does anyone think the NFL is going to say ‘sorry, not drafting anyone for the next 4 years because y’all played a year less than we want’. No, of course not.

  54. 54.

    dmsilev

    August 12, 2020 at 7:32 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: I work for a school that proudly celebrates its basketball tradition, that tradition being a losing streak that was once measured in decades.

    Tickets to games are free.

  55. 55.

    NotMax

    August 12, 2020 at 7:32 pm

    @Punchy

    the SEC and ACC is going to play no matter how many COVID cases there are. There’s no number too high to shut down Aluh’bamuh and Clemson.

    Putting the loco in in loco parentis.

  56. 56.

    The Moar You Know

    August 12, 2020 at 7:38 pm

    Great response to Lou Holtz

    @Cheryl Rofer: Mine’s unprintable.  I called my grandfather (2nd wave, Omaha Beach) after having seen Saving Private Ryan, the first ten minutes of, for those of you who haven’t seen it, is utterly horrifying.  I almost shit my pants in the theater.  I’ve never been that freaked out by a movie before or since.

    And I asked him, pops, was it anything like that?  (He’d seen the movie too).  And he just sat silent for what seemed like a couple of minutes and then said “No.  I’m gonna tell you the truth.  It was so much worse that I don’t have the words to ever tell anyone just how bad it was.”

    I hope Holtz dies in a fire and I mean that literally.  What utter disrespect.  For everyone involved, what utter and total disrespect.

  57. 57.

    NotMax

    August 12, 2020 at 7:40 pm

    Raised hob with a certain slice of the alumni at the time, the decision twenty years ago by one of my alma maters to drop football looks positively prescient.

    ;)

  58. 58.

    Martin

    August 12, 2020 at 7:42 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: I come from a Div-I world, and still nobody makes money and tickets are cheap.

    USC and Alabama, etc. are such outliers among universities and only in 2 sports. How much does UConn make off of the gazillion women’s basketball championships, or UCLAs gymnastics? Basically nothing.

  59. 59.

    Crashman06

    August 12, 2020 at 7:44 pm

    @Punchy: zero doubt in my mind that the SEC and ACC are just going to go ahead and do this. The question is what happens when their players start testing positive.

  60. 60.

    Mary G

    August 12, 2020 at 7:45 pm

    @Punchy: Football is the real religion in the South.

  61. 61.

    Martin

    August 12, 2020 at 7:47 pm

    @Martin: Let me quality ‘almost nothing’. UConn likely funds the majority of their sports off of women’s basketball, and that’s pretty darn good. But a lot of these universities are looking at millions in losses from their hospitals, from the loss of dorm and res dining revenue (which often rivals tuition) and so on. Unless you’re pulling down big TV revenue for your sports, whatever you are making from tickets and concessions is such a trivial number relative to all of your other losses, that you don’t even focus on it. One lawsuit from a sick athlete will wipe out whatever you would have earned by playing the season.

    The downside risk of playing is so much worse than the upside that nobody is considering it at all but a few schools.

  62. 62.

    MisterForkbeard

    August 12, 2020 at 7:47 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: It’s that the kids are only in school for 3-4 years, so they can only be eligible for that long unless they stay longer.

    If everyone’s sophomore and junior years of playing (but not school) go kaput due to COVID, then those players are only playing in their Freshman and Senior years.

  63. 63.

    Obvious Russian Troll

    August 12, 2020 at 7:48 pm

    Fucking Lou Holtz.

    He was a very good college coach. But could he ever translate that into anything remotely interesting when he was an analyst on CBS and ESPN? Fuck no. Far too often he’d end up either trying to promote Notre Dame and later the coaching career of his son, Skip Holtz.

    I am not the least bit surprised that fucking Lou Holtz, sitting in his living room, doesn’t understand the difference between invading Nazi Germany and playing college football.

  64. 64.

    columbusqueen

    August 12, 2020 at 7:49 pm

    @Percysowner: yep, this isn’t going to be pretty. I can’t believe how many local businesses here in Cbus are already closing, & more will after autumn.

  65. 65.

    prostratedragon

    August 12, 2020 at 7:53 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer:  Not only is the comparison preposterous, but it implies something inaccurate. At least 350 colleges and universities suspended their football programs for the duration of the war. The 1942 Rose Bowl events were cancelled by the CA governor, though the game was played –in the South (Duke), naturally.

  66. 66.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    August 12, 2020 at 7:57 pm

    Monmouth poll:

    National
    Joe Biden 51%
    Donald Trump 41%

    Fully half (50%) of registered voters continue to say they are not at all likely to support Trump.
    — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 11, 2020

     

    Poll was taken before Kamala-Mania started running wild in the streets

  67. 67.

    Anotherlurker

    August 12, 2020 at 8:00 pm

    As a semi-retired Audio Tech, living in the Bat Area, I am bummed with the loss of welcome income that will occur with the loss of College Football. 2-4 games /month goes far toward my quality of life.

    However, I’m 68 and in very good shape .   I really don’t want to put myself in a situation where I contract a  disease that has unpredictable, horrific side effects.

    I’ll gladly sit out this college football season.

  68. 68.

    Shana

    August 12, 2020 at 8:04 pm

    When I was in high school in the mid 70s, living in the Quad Cities where John Deere and International Harvester had big factories, there was an economic downturn that greatly effected the farming industry and therefore farm equipment manufacturers.  Because of that the school system needed to cut its budget. There was muted grumbling when they cut back arts education but that didn’t close the budget gap.

    Then they decided to cut the sports programs. You never heard such outrage from people when the schools went after sports. I recall that emergency funding was approved in record time.  Actual academics being cut back?  Meh. No football? Outrage.

  69. 69.

    trollhattan

    August 12, 2020 at 8:05 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    My university (small, private) nearly lost D1 status when I was there and they plowed a bunch of money into more football scholarships to stay in the club. Then after years of the program hemorrhaging money they dropped football. Well sir, the alums raised so much hell they reinstated the team and proceeded to lose games and money until they dropped it a second and final time. When I look at sat images the stadium is mostly gone.

    At the time they were dumping moar cash into football the library lost accreditation and they had to pass the tin cup to find money to deal with that.

  70. 70.

    prostratedragon

    August 12, 2020 at 8:05 pm

    @Brachiator:  Helping those local businesses is where an effective President and at least fewer knuckleheads in the Senate could have made a big difference. Of course, if we had one or more of those things we might have knocked down the pandemic spread enough to have some kind of season.

  71. 71.

    PsiFighter37

    August 12, 2020 at 8:13 pm

    @David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: National polling seems good but the swing state polling seems to have tightened up. I wonder if that is due to a switch in voter screens (from RV to LV), but there has been no change in any of the dynamics to think that the race has fundamentally changed IMO. Trump going on teevee and touting the stock market levels as evidence of a V-shaped recovery was ridiculous…the stock market is where it is almost primarily due to Federal Reserve actions and by big technology companies outperforming during the pandemic. It is no reflection on how well he is handling the recovery, which is to say not at all.

  72. 72.

    Yutsano

    August 12, 2020 at 8:13 pm

    @Anotherlurker:

    As a semi-retired Audio Tech, living in the Bat Area

    How is Bruce Wayne these days? :P

  73. 73.

    debbie

    August 12, 2020 at 8:13 pm

    @Brachiator: 

    The NFL should step up and offer assurances players will be judged on the time they have played without factoring in a missing year.

    The news that there would be no OSU football has even Catholics sitting shiva around here.

  74. 74.

    prostratedragon

    August 12, 2020 at 8:17 pm

    @dmsilev:
    a losing streak that was once measured in decades.

    Wow, in basketball that’s really impressive. My university held the football futility record at least once in its long history, but they only play about 10 times per year.

  75. 75.

    Van Buren

    August 12, 2020 at 8:20 pm

    @NotMax: My college dropped football in 1942.

  76. 76.

    Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)

    August 12, 2020 at 8:24 pm

    @Punchy: Alabamian Crimson Tide fan AND liberal here. Not expecting a season and didn’t want one. FUCK YOU.

  77. 77.

    Jay Noble

    August 12, 2020 at 8:28 pm

    @Kay: If it’s like here, the music programs aren’t going to be needing it. Singing and blowing horns is kinda on the Nope list

  78. 78.

    Uncle Cosmo

    August 12, 2020 at 8:29 pm

    @The Moar You Know: “It was so much worse that I don’t have the words to ever tell anyone just how bad it was.”

    I believe it.

    I was 12 or so & one of my friends from up the street was retelling war stories his father (machinegunner on a Marine landing craft in the Pacific IIRC) had told him. When I started telling some of them to Dad, he just exploded. Never saw his that angry before or after. Don’t you believe a word, he said, because no one who went through that ever wants to talk about it – ever!

    Dad was a diesel mechanic who landed on Leyte and Okinawa, but never the first day, & only sporadically under Japanese artillery fire – & happy he’d never had to fire a shot in anger. Though I suppose he saw his share of dead & mutilated bodies. (I never asked.) If he felt that way…

  79. 79.

    dmsilev

    August 12, 2020 at 8:34 pm

    @prostratedragon: I looked it up. It was a 310 game losing streak spanning 26 years. That was soon followed by a mere 55 game/4 year losing streak. We’re …not an athletic-focused school.

  80. 80.

    burnspbesq

    August 12, 2020 at 8:35 pm

    @Crashman06:

    it’ far from clear what the ACC will do. There are plenty of schools that take academics more or less seriously and don’t make enough money from football to make the money outcome-determinative. Duke, Wake, UVa, BC, GaTech, and Pitt are not the same as Clemson, FSU, Carolina, and State. Miami and Syracuse may be the swing votes.

  81. 81.

    Uncle Cosmo

    August 12, 2020 at 8:38 pm

    @debbie: Can you imagine what State College PA is going to be like on Saturdays this fall? In the middle of nowhere to begin with & no indigenous commercial activity not joined at the hip to Penn State – it’ll probably resemble nothing so much as a Potemkin town awaiting an atom bomb test.

  82. 82.

    WestTexan

    August 12, 2020 at 9:08 pm

    @trollhattan: The folks at Texas A&M still believe that they will halfway fill their 110,000-person stadium five times this Fall.
    (Using my fingers and toes, I figured out that comes to 55,000 people)

    I hope they don’t need hospitalization until they get back to DFW, Houston and San Antonio, because this relatively small community has nowhere near the hospital beds needed. On top of that, we have more than 60,000 students coming in from all corners.

  83. 83.

    Ken

    August 12, 2020 at 9:18 pm

    @WestTexan: Texas A&M is not just planning to play games, but to have spectators?  Definitely putting the “ir” in irresponsible.

  84. 84.

    burnspbesq

    August 12, 2020 at 9:21 pm

    @WestTexan:

    Aggies. Whatareyagonnado?

  85. 85.

    Spinoza Is My Co-pilot

    August 12, 2020 at 9:38 pm

    Lou Fucking Holtz.

    “What, over? Did you say over? Nothing is over till we decide it is!  Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!”

  86. 86.

    WestTexan

    August 12, 2020 at 9:44 pm

    @Ken: Watching Footmaball.

    It’s who they are. It’s what they do.
    I am a graduate and have worked at the big school for 25 years. There’s a helluva lot of magical thinking around here.

  87. 87.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    August 12, 2020 at 9:44 pm

    @Kay: One will not health minded people don’t run head first into other people.

  88. 88.

    WestTexan

    August 12, 2020 at 9:45 pm

    @burnspbesq: Been asking that most of my life.

  89. 89.

    bk

    August 12, 2020 at 10:11 pm

    @burnspbesq: Oh please, Duke fan. Switch Ga Tech and Carolina and maybe you are close to being correct.

  90. 90.

    Eunicecycle

    August 12, 2020 at 10:15 pm

    @Uncle Cosmo: I think your dad was right. My dad never talked about his experiences. I didn’t know he was at the liberation of one of the camps until I was in my 30s.

  91. 91.

    TriassicSands

    August 12, 2020 at 10:34 pm

    There is no question in my mind that playing college football — and having a few (or more) players die or have their health permanently impaired — is far more important that storming the beaches on D-Day and defeating the Germans. We are so lucky to have men of vision like Coach Holtz to set us straight on our priorities. Every college athlete should be willing to die…WTF is he talking about. It’s worth having people die so we can have football in the midst of a pandemic, which, incidentally would be under control now if we didn’t have idiots like Holtz spewing nonsense like this and lots of people out there buying into that kind of crap.

    Now, if Holtz had argued that we should play college football this fall because otherwise the constitutional rights of fans to be entertained while they sit on their butts are being violated, well, that would…be just as effin’ stupid. I realize this may offend sports fans across the country, but I sincerely believe that we’d be a much healthier country — both mentally and physically — if there was a whole lot less sedentary fandom and a whole lot more ex-fans getting out and doing physical activities themselves.

    It would be nice to see a new slogan arise: Don’t watch. Do!

  92. 92.

    Anne Laurie

    August 12, 2020 at 10:34 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Markey is only in MA one week every month. Frankly that sounds like a lot to me.

    Ed Markey was my Rep before he was my Senator.  For at least the past 25 years, he’s been known for having an office that does great constituent service, and legislators with that reputation don’t get knocked out of office easily.

    Sure, JoeIII could still win the primary, he’s a perfectly fine ‘progressive’ Rep… but MA voters are already suspicious about why he’s doing this and where his funding is coming from.  Even the people who like what he does will be waiting for the skeletons to drop out of the closet, and the people who don’t have this ready-made suspicion to weaponize against him.

  93. 93.

    Villago Delenda Est

    August 12, 2020 at 10:39 pm

    Coach Lou can FOAD.

  94. 94.

    Punchy

    August 12, 2020 at 11:06 pm

    @WestTexan: I dont see how you can put 55K in a stadium, all yelling and only about ~20% searing masks, and not spread this virus all over the place.  West TX hospitals gunna get bizzay…..absolutely nuts.

  95. 95.

    Anotherlurker

    August 12, 2020 at 11:19 pm

    @Yutsano: LOL! Curse my failing eyes!

    I swear, as Cthulu is my witness, I will wear my glasses when posting.

  96. 96.

    Aleta

    August 12, 2020 at 11:20 pm

    When the US decides to ration every person’s meat, sugar, butter and gasoline and everyone understands the players might die instead of return from the game, then Lou Holtz can try to compare  Normandy to football.

  97. 97.

    The Pale Scot

    August 12, 2020 at 11:27 pm

    @Geminid:

    I’ve been hearing this “brave heroes storming Normandy” bullshit from conservatives for a while

    Same shit in the UK with Brexit, “we stood up to the Jerries all by our selves” Uh, no you didn’t. “We’ll recapture the Blitz Spirit, new careers will open up picking turnips, a little adversity will be good for “us”.” All said by people with paid off houses and defined benefit pensions.

  98. 98.

    Barbara

    August 12, 2020 at 11:35 pm

    @Crashman06: Having gone to multiple ACC schools and worked briefly at another I am pissed. Not surprised, but seriously angry.

  99. 99.

    VOR

    August 13, 2020 at 12:07 am

    I think I speak for the entire state of Minnesota when I say Lou Holtz can eat a bag of salted dicks.

  100. 100.

    Ian

    August 13, 2020 at 2:06 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: 
    From what I can tell the Anti-Kennedy vibe is “he feels he just deserves it”.

    This may or may not be a fair criticism. However from what I can tell Senator Markey is well liked among Mass Dems. If 40% of them want Kennedy to replace Markey I think there is more too it than Kennedy Nostalgia.

  101. 101.

    sgrAstar

    August 13, 2020 at 2:50 am

    @Martin: jsyk, Berkeley subsidizes Athletics to the tune of >$10m annually. Those sacred teevee revenues do not cover the expenses of  Berkeley athletics. Where do you suppose the subsidy comes from? GRRR

    ?

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