GiveHim6

Meanwhile in the BiG10 the entire Rutgers and Michigan State teams are in quarantine. A couple of weeks ago some lamebrain assistant coach at Clemson said he wished the entire team would get the virus now so they could recover in time to start the season. Reality is only a month away.

"During an appearance on ESPN Radio's Marty & McGee last week, Sankey said his concern about whether it'd be possible to play the college football season is "high to very high." He added a final decision would probably come in late July." Story

Fulmer is dreaming. 100,000+ yelling and screaming fans packed shoulder to shoulder in Neyland as soon as September is a recipe for disaster. I miss CFB as much as anybody but it's too soon to play and certainly too soon to pack stadiums. Nick Watley tested positive this weekend after playing a round at the RBC Classic at Hilton Head. This despite all the testing and precautions and the "bubble" concept of protecting players the PGA tour put in place. If it can happen in a non-contact sport like golf, imagine what the risks are for contact sports like football and basketball. CFB had basically said all programs are free to develop their own standards for testing and protecting their athletes, which is why they are all over the board. Some programs (like South Carolina for instance) are refusing to make test results public. Several SEC schools that do (or had the info leaked out) have already had positive tests. Clemson had 23 players test positive last week. What do you do, have 200 man rosters to fill in for the players who get sick? Football will have to wait till 2021. Hopefully there will be a safe and effective vaccine by then, or at least some kind of treatment. I'll be shocked and disappointed if CFB tries to play it's normal schedule or any kind of schedule, with or without fans. It's too damn soon.

I'll believe it when I see it.

Glad your wife is alright.

It's been a long time since Johnny came marching home in '77. He took over a program that had fallen into mediocrity and worse. Younger fans might not remember and older fans might forget how far the program had fallen. It wasn't easy and it didn't happen overnight but it was a testament to his determination, recruiting and coaching ability that he was able to right the ship and put Tennessee football back in the spotlight where it belongs. The win over Bama and the Bear in '82 is one of my favorite memories, as is the win over #1 Auburn when they knocked Bo Jackson out of the game, the comeback against Notre Dame, the Sugar Bowl upset over Miami, and on and on. Thanks for the memories coach.

Maybe the best thing Pruitt brought to the table is respect. Recruits seem to think this is a program and a staff that knows what it takes and what it's doing.

Looks like Mack Brown has it going for the Tar Heels too.

I'm not sure what I said that set you off, assuming it was something I said. I have no desire to stand at the pulpit. You asked for comments and I gave my honest opinion. I would be happy to be proven wrong. I would love to see football this fall as much as anybody else. Time will tell.

Just saw where the NFL is announcing their schedule tonight. Whether they can play it or not is still not certain. Story

South Carolina announced it's campus will be open this fall as have some others. There have been some lawsuits filed by students at some universities, including Florida (I think), because they say that they aren't getting the college experience they paid for with online studies only. And I've seen stories about how colleges are feeling the financial pinch due to the virus anyway. So it seems primarily a financial matter to the various administrations to open back up and hope for the best. As far as what that means for athletics I'm not optimistic. A contact sport like football in particular would be a challenge to keeping all involved safe from the covid virus. Players, coaches, support staff, officials, medical personnel, broadcast crews, and anyone else on the field would have to be tested on a regular basis and I've read where players would be quarantined for the duration of whatever season they might attempt. And that's just one hurdle that would have to be overcome. Maybe the colleges and universities can work something out but time is not on their side and of course the virus is nowhere near done. Like I said, I'm not optimistic.

Since football pays the freight for other athletic programs at most if not all colleges, the Mountain West commissioner thinks that if no CFB is played, other sports may not be played either. Story

I'll just add that my wife told me she was talking to an AD at one of the state's school districts yesterday and he said there have already been discussions to consider cancelling all fall sports. There are other options being discussed but right now it's open to question whether schools will be able to reopen in the fall. Even if they do my wife thinks it won't happen till after Labor Day at the earliest. Since colleges and universities are in pretty much the same boat, it wouldn't surprise me at all to see them follow suit as far as sports are concerned. Until there is widespread testing it would seem to me to be impossible to play contact team sports, spectators or no.

This is a post from April 3. Basically it says everything's suspended till May 31st. Story

Sports news of any kind is scarce and you wonder with the wheeling, dealing, trading and commitments that the professional leagues and college conference teams are doing, if it even matters, at least in the short term. Meanwhile, my wife & I miss watching the Braves and going to see our Sally League team in Columbia. The BaseVols of 2020 looked full of potential to be a serious conference contender this year. They'd be taking on Florida this coming weekend. Instead the schedule ended right before conference play was to begin. Last weekend CBS showed last year's Masters, NBC had last year' Stanley Cup finals and Fox Sports South had a Braves/Reds game from last season. There have been lots of replays on the other networks that show sports too. I just don't care to watch. For one thing, it's not live. The thrill of victory or the agony of defeat has already been experienced, is now a matter of record. There's no possibility of the unexpected or unanticipated In addition, the whole experience of live sports is missing and who knows when folks will again be able to pack stadiums or concert halls or restaurants or anything else. Yes, there are more pressing and serious problems with the virus situation but still... Watching old games just makes me miss live sports more. It's a real drag, man.