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Will there be a 2020 season?

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Oct 25, 2017
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So the question begs to be asked, given the current public sentiment for complying with all things COVID and the dire predictions for a fall resurgence, what are the odds?

50/50
 
I think there’s a lot of knee jerking and panicking going on here over this. This thing is going to be winding down by mid-June (roughly 3 months after the lockdown began in most states), which will be roughly the same amount of time it took for things to settle down in China. I don’t mean to downplay the danger that it is, but don’t get sucked in to the media sensationalism over it either. By fall, COVID-19 will be damn near forgotten about.

 
I wish I shared your optimism but after observing my fellow Americans over the past six weeks I must say I’ve never been more disappointed or disillusioned. From hoarding TP, to ratting on socializing neighbors, to being frightened of engaging in ...or even defending free market economics...it’s been breathtakingly pathetic. So you’ll have to excuse me if I’m less than convinced we have the leadership in DM to withstand what will be an unprecedented coordinated attack on our system as we head into what is going to be the most important election in our lifetime. Make no mistake, there are a significant number of politicos who are quietly cheering on this devastating debacle of a shutdown for their own twisted ends...so a year without HS football (or any spectator events) will be a small price to pay (from the statists perspective), they will view it as just collateral damage on our way to “the fundamental transformation of America”.
 
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Kids are not at risk, and the games are outside, so it’s possible to distance. It’s going to have to get to the point where if you are vulnerable, you have to take the precautions yourself.
 
Can’t play HS football when it’s controlled by the government. Illinois governor yesterday said be prepared for online learning in the fall. I know that’s Illinois, but that doesn’t make me optimistic. No school = no football
 
I see it happening in many states around us, but Iowa has some of the most relaxed policies around the virus
 
I think Gov. Reynolds is determined to get things back to normal as soon as possible. That mean school this fall and associated sports.
We're still 3.5 months away and numbers are beginning to decline. I think we should be ok.
 
If a team/student-athlete becomes infected with the virus and the team is asked to quarantine for 14 days, does that situation turn into a forfeit? I am with everyone, that we are a long way from having to make that decision but in a "worst case" situation and a school or team has an outbreak, would that team then be forced to close temporarily until it subsides?
 
A lot can happen between now and July or August. Both good and bad ... we don’t know, and anybody who says different is lying.

I’m cautiously optimistic about school & fall sports. IF the trends continue as they are nationwide, it SHOULD be possible to figure out a way for them to happen. If there’s a second wave/rebound in cases by September or October, that would be bad, of course - you’d hate to start fall sports & then end up canceling partway through, but I have to admit that’s a possibility.

And maybe we can turn down the paranoia about “statists” “cheering on” a worldwide epidemic that’s killing hundreds of thousands of people. Are there some who think this crisis could help us change our economic system to address climate change, for instance? Sure. I’d argue there are *much louder and more numerous* voices in government who’d also like to use this crisis to *increase* corporate power and centralize *more* wealth, so let’s not be afraid we’re going to fall the Commies because of a pandemic.

Plus, very little of that topic has anything to do with fall sports. Our leaders (in Iowa, particularly) are much more interested in getting back to “normal” and getting residents some kind of activity/entertainment to keep them occupied than they are with exerting some kind of onerous authority to “ban” high school sports.

Anyway, yeah, cautiously optimistic, but treading carefully with my expectations.
 
Okay, not to play back and forth with the political games going on concerning this issue but in the interest of facts and in an attempt to “turn down the paranoia”, the CDC attributes 480,000 deaths each year in the US to tobacco use (almost 10x what we’ll lose to COVID). If we are really interested in saving lives there’s a rather simple way to do just that without shutting down an entire economy, destroy business owners dreams and way of life...think it would happen?

Me neither, so back to HS football.
 
UCLA just put out a study recently that showed research to make them believe that over 400,000 have been infected in California, meaning that the death rate would not be much higher than the flu. The main problem is still so little is known about the virus.
 
Okay, not to play back and forth with the political games going on concerning this issue but in the interest of facts and in an attempt to “turn down the paranoia”, the CDC attributes 480,000 deaths each year in the US to tobacco use (almost 10x what we’ll lose to COVID). If we are really interested in saving lives there’s a rather simple way to do just that without shutting down an entire economy, destroy business owners dreams and way of life...think it would happen?

Me neither, so back to HS football.

Comparing a personal decision to smoke to catching a novel virus isn't applicable or helpful.
But, we have made numerous legislative decisions to reduce smoking (taxes, prohibiting in restaurants, etc.).
And, now we're making behavioral efforts to reduce infections.
Hopefully we've done enough through social distancing efforts and building herd immunity through limited exposure, that the severity of the virus will be manageable this summer and fall.
People get sick. We just want to prevent what we can and limit death associated with this outbreak.
 
Comparing a personal decision to smoke to catching a novel virus isn't applicable or helpful.
But, we have made numerous legislative decisions to reduce smoking (taxes, prohibiting in restaurants, etc.).
And, now we're making behavioral efforts to reduce infections.
Hopefully we've done enough through social distancing efforts and building herd immunity through limited exposure, that the severity of the virus will be manageable this summer and fall.
People get sick. We just want to prevent what we can and limit death associated with this outbreak.
  • Look, I’m not advocating the prohibition of tobacco, I’m just pointing out the hypocrisy of the extraordinary measures taken (as you state) “to prevent what we can and limit death”. What better way to “prevent” cancer and “limit death” than banning tobacco? So I think the comparison is germane from the prism of saving lives, recognizing one is a personal decision (unless you’re subjected to second hand smoke) while the virus is primarily by chance. My point in all this is next time around, protect the most vulnerable (e.g., aged, nursing home residents, immunodeficient etc.) but let’s not shut down a $20 trillion economy.
 
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Fear mongering works both ways. It’s rampant among the left and right.

What better way to spread information than spewing opinions about things you know little to nothing about. It’s one thing when it’s football, something entirely different when it’s viruses, pandemics, and the economy.

It’s just so damn hard for people to admit they don’t know anything though...
 
Not sure who you’re referencing stating “know little to nothing about” concerning the economy but as a three decades long business owner and MBA graduate I’m pretty comfortable discussing macroeconomic policies...viruses and pandemics? I’ll give you those.
 
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I'm going to said this if college are operating as normal and playing football then high schools will. Keep your eye on Australia because they are going into their winter. If it hits hard their then you know how weather effects its. Look they do have a possible emergency use drug with a doctor OK.
 
I haven't logged into Rivals for literally years, but did so to say I do not understand whatsoever the idiotic idea that politicians WANT illness/shutdowns/economic failure/etc. Like,seriously, WTF? I have extremely strong political views and cannot stand many of those in leadership right now, but I cannot fathom why anyone in leadership could possibly "want" to see this happening. Just an incredibly bizarre and strange perspective on things.
 
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On line education in cities like Chicago and, I suspect, Des Moines is a joke. There are reports that in some schools 60% of the kids have simply never checked in. Not that they're not doing the work, they've simply not entering the system. My point is that failure to get schools open in the fall will remove any education for entire segments of the population. That is not sustainable! Given the schools will have to be open, I believe extra curricular activities will take place as well.
 
On line education in cities like Chicago and, I suspect, Des Moines is a joke. There are reports that in some schools 60% of the kids have simply never checked in. Not that they're not doing the work, they've simply not entering the system. My point is that failure to get schools open in the fall will remove any education for entire segments of the population. That is not sustainable! Given the schools will have to be open, I believe extra curricular activities will take place as well.

I totally agree with you. I will say our principal has passed on that IF we have to continue this into the fall, the online learning will not be voluntary, which is the model most schools chose to finish out this year. So, I think at least the higher ups are preparing for the possibility this could continue into the fall.
 
Not sure if it is true...but I read somewhere else that the Governor has suggested to school administrators that they look to begin the fall school year a bit earlier, on August 10th.
 
Never could understand why the school start date wasn’t a decision left up to individual school districts.
 
Not sure if it is true...but I read somewhere else that the Governor has suggested to school administrators that they look to begin the fall school year a bit earlier, on August 10th.
She has put it into place that schools can start up to 3 weeks earlier or August 3. This is to figure out if they need to catch some kids up before starting into new year.
 
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It used to be until the State Fair rule was introduced

Technically, there had been a rule for a long time that said schools couldn't start until some arbitrary late August date (heck, it might have even been first week of September). Pretty much every school in the state got a waiver, though, so the general school-opening date creeped back into mid-August. Then the State Fair and the Okoboji tourism lobby leaned hard on the state government to do something to get those pesky schools out of the way of their vacation/tourism activities - and that's when the hard date of the the Monday after the State Fair came about (with no waivers allowed).
 
Technically, there had been a rule for a long time that said schools couldn't start until some arbitrary late August date (heck, it might have even been first week of September). Pretty much every school in the state got a waiver, though, so the general school-opening date creeped back into mid-August. Then the State Fair and the Okoboji tourism lobby leaned hard on the state government to do something to get those pesky schools out of the way of their vacation/tourism activities - and that's when the hard date of the the Monday after the State Fair came about (with no waivers allowed).
Good luck making the State Fair work.........
 
The Governor also came out and said the school days before the normal starting date will not count towards next year, so I don't see too many district doing it.
 
The Governor also came out and said the school days before the normal starting date will not count towards next year, so I don't see too many district doing it.

Yep, this. When she said schools can start early (to make up for the end of the 2019-20 school year), but they’d still need their 180 days starting August 23 ... what school is going to do that? First of all, how do you pay for it? Teacher contracts are all for 180 days of instruction - teachers aren’t going to start early and do extra days for free.

Turns out this “schools can start before August 23 this year” statement is pretty much useless.
 
The resumption of BB & SB is a GOOD sign for the resumption of FB this Fall.

That’s exactly right. This is great to help AD’s, coaches, players and fans, get a ‘practice run’ in for post-Covid sports this fall.
If all goes well, it will help bring a lot more confidence into the fall season.
 
Let’s hope this is the case and people don’t become squishy this fall...assuming COVID makes a return.
 
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Glad it's happening - sounds like the schedules just pick up where they would be on the 15th vs trying to create new ones. Albeit some shuffling may be necessary if teams choose to not participate.

They're still just trying to figure things out, but the MVC is talking about just doing a 14-game round robin in each division for baseball/softball, so they are at least considering revamping their schedule.
 
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i have heard that MN most likely wont play fall sports and border athletes have already contacted Iowa schools near them about possibly open enrolling. is this going to be possible?
 
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