oldtimeqb

Have a great week to all the teams practicing and conditioning this week. It looks like teams are allowed to wear helmets/shoulder pads and get some work done. As Coach Nowlin likes to say - get better!

I think Castle has the most impact players returning in the conference this year. But look at those last four games: Reitz, Jasper, Central, Memorial. That’s a tough way to close the season.

Based on what I have heard from the county health department, I would agree with this conclusion. I got tested (negative) and it all revolves around ‘close contact’ by the CDC. Fifteen minutes or more within 6 ft. (2 yards) and unmasked. And they check close contacts 48 hours before and 48 hours after symptoms appear. If a player wakes up Monday with symptoms, everyone from Friday nights game would be outside that window. Translate the 15 minutes to football, let’s assume 150 plays at 6 seconds apiece, which amounts to 15 minutes total. I think it would be an extreme stretch to qualify an opponent as a ‘close contact.’ They have to be within 2 yards the entire play every play. Scientifically, the bus ride, sideline, locker room, and huddle are more dangerous for viral transmission than playing a down of football. It is transmitted like the flu. I would be more nervous about transmission playing a team with a MRSA outbreak transmitted skin to skin. From a referee standpoint, I would wear a mask for pre-game coach and captain meetings including the coin toss. A white hat is more likely to catch something from his line judge or umpire than a player.

Out of curiosity, how many of the 9 weeks will a crew work a game at a "new" facility? In other words, when they look at their yearly schedule, how many are fields that they have referred at in a prior year? I have a friend who worked Friday nights in the past, and I think he said maybe 2 weeks a year would they travel several hours away, to try to advance for tournament purposes. I wasn't sure how common that was. I would think this year of all years, I would be extremely nervous to work with a new AD/School.

I don’t know. Have you seen some of the railroad crossings and 4-way intersections when the corn is up? Fort Branch can be pretty dangerous. 😀 (Sorry, couldn’t resist! Lol)

I played on a 2-8 team in HS. Our fans socially distanced naturally. 😀

Agreed. And given what we know, tell me how this makes sense: A college athlete has been on campus, hours away from ‘home’ for the last 3 weeks. Last weekend he and his teammates attend a house party (shocker) with female athletes, one of whom tests positive on Monday. The school’s response is to suspend workouts for two weeks and send all the male athletes back home to live with their 50+ year old parents and siblings. Is the university acting in the interest of the health and safety of their student athletes or just trying CYA maneuvers?

We need a new google translator. Replace "out of an abundance of caution" with "Because we don't want to be sued.: And "For the safety of our students..." with "We just don't want you to catch the virus here.." Schools need to be open. And they need to be open as safely as possible. I hate blanket delays. If anything a phase in of group 1/ group 2 until students get the feel of the school day. I'm hearing some school protocols might include one-way hallways and up-only /down-only stair cases? That will take some getting used to.

A very high level club team? Kudos to you and yours.

Same thing here in Evansville. Travel softball teams (220) come to down. Minimal masking. Check out this article from Evansville Courier & Press: 220-team softball tournament in Vanderburgh County is almost totally mask-free https://www.courierpress.com/story/news/2020/07/17/220-team-softball-tournament-vanderburgh-county-mostly-mask-free/5450917002/ BTW I’m not mask shaming anyone. It just still boggles my mind that IHSAA schools are getting raked on social media for restarting practices. This is the first I have seen travel teams discussed.

That is my biggest concern - teacher to teacher spread. Years ago, I spent 3 months as a substitute teacher in multiple schools at every level - elementary, middle, and high school. I was considering going back to become a teacher through a masters/transition program. What turned me off were the discussions I overheard in every teacher's lounge I entered. I can picture some teachers viewing the lounge as a 'safe space' and removing masks or other PPE to vent and exposing each other in the process. *And just to clarify, I'm not knocking the teacher's lounge complaining either. My last two employers have had lunch rooms and I've discovered the employee complaints are not unique to education. I just had not encountered it prior to that time.

We're gonna need to add some reaction emojis for me to properly express my feelings on that. 🙂

There are two chicken/egg or Catch-22 (whichever you prefer) issues at play. Teachers are rightfully upset about the lack of clear direction from most administrations about how they will handle re-opening schools. But administrators feel they have to always leave uncertainty in any communication, because things change so rapidly. We can't give you a plan, because we don't know all the details. And we can't give you details until we have a plan. The other problem is the rush to start school. Honestly, I have never understood the need to start classes July 30th or August 5/6 like here in Evansville. If ever there was a year to go back to the late August (heck, even after Labor day like most of the east coast) start dates it would be this year. The downfall of that is most cases in SW Indiana can currently be traced to people who have traveled outside of the state to Alabama, Florida, Texas, etc. and then returned after a week's vacation. I'm afraid the ill-advised travel won't stop until school starts. Based on what I've read/seen I think NoName County School Corp should announce "School will re-open August 5th for students who have not traveled out of state after July 26. If you have traveled out of state, you are welcome to join us August 10th." I don't know the how/if you could enforce such a thing or even if it would be effective. I would say the same of teachers as well, though. Based on the studies I have read, elementary teachers are more at risk from contracting from a fellow teacher, custodian, parent, administrator, etc. than one of their students. So the same travel modifications should apply to them, which would be met with plenty of resistance I'm sure.

I have heard a lot of coaches/teams call an H-Back in that spot a ‘sniffer’ because ... well, use your imagination. 😂

General question: can anyone find an AAU basketball, travel soccer, or travel baseball tournament that has been cancelled due to COVID concerns since June 21st? I can’t find one. Therefore, I’ve come to the conclusion that you can only catch the coronavirus Monday - Friday at an IHSAA sanctioned event. That’s the only explanation.

Congratulations, fellas, on just playing the game. I assume many of them may not have the chance to lace things up competitively again in their career. I wish I could have watched on a stream somewhere. Anyone know if it’s available? I remember when Evansville used to have its own city vs area All-star game for the Region 9 seniors not invited to the North-South game.

I see a weekly rate of hospitalizations that peaked on May 23 and May 30th for ages 5-17, (0.5 per 100,000) and May 23rd for ages 18-19 (3.3 per 100,000). Both have fallen since then.

Smartest... richest... wisest... North Central High School??? Kind of a smack in the face to folks from Fishers, Carmel, Avon, Brownsburg, Cathedral, Chatard, Park Tudor, Center Grove, and I could go on. As well as the 300+ other schools outside of Marion County. (They do exist. I've actually seen them!)

Whatever. Not even Bob Ross uses as broad a brush as you just used. I said last week I think fans should wear a mask if they want to sit in the stands. I respect the virus. But I refuse to live in fear of it. We wash our hands. We wear masks in public. And we live our life. If that bothers you, that is a you problem.

My biggest problem all along has been the unwillingness of those who say "science is the answer", yet refuse to look at factual data and only make decisions based on emotion (fear). There was a 16 year killed in an accidental shooting here in Evansville last week. https://www.courierpress.com/story/news/2020/07/06/juvenile-dead-after-sunday-night-shooting-police/5382529002/ The week before that, two teens were killed in a car crash. https://www.courierpress.com/story/news/2020/06/28/names-2-teens-killed-vanderburgh-co-crash-friday-released/3275314001/ The week before that, an 18 year old died in a swimming accident near Jasper - at a graduation party! https://duboiscountyherald.com/b/jasper-man-who-died-after-falling-into-lake-identified If you want to only worry about football players, I can remind you that Mario McCullough of Cathedral was shot and killed in March. Are these deaths not tragic? Can we not mourn their passing because they didn't die of COVID? Football players have died of heat stroke. Football players have been paralyzed. Football players have had life-changing broken bones, ACL tears, etc. We know the risks. We take precautions. We play football.

I'm not sure if anyone from Outside the Huddle ever checks this board out, but I have to say I have been impressed with their work. The last two years in 4A (Evansville Central - Dwenger and Evansville Memorial - East Noble) I have checked out their site leading up to the state finals. They do a great job promoting and reporting NE Indiana football. Kudos!

Every time you read the phrase "out of an abundance of caution" just replace it with "in order to cover our a$$."

How exactly does Illinois have ONE 6-man team? I"m curious if that is a typo or a legitimate thing. I don't see any surrounding states that have 6-man teams either, so I'm not sure who they would even play.

Yes. The offensive team always had to move the same direction... away from the right field wall. All kickoffs were toward the RF bleachers, offense went towards home plate. As soon as a punt happened, the offense/defense switch sides. I watched the game on TV. One of the craziest things ever.

Interesting and great news, IMO. I wonder if the sticking point with many non-football playing schools have been numbers or $$? I've never priced it, but I would think cost to outfit 20-30 players could be prohibitive, but I think I read somewhere they might (or already have) a grant? That would go a long way.