wabashalwaysfights

Is the consensus here honestly that a treatment or vaccine is a perquisite to resume some semblance of "normal" activity?  I'm not even talking about play of any sports, I'm saying people going back to work (if they feel comfortable), stay at home orders lifted, etc.

8 hours ago, Irishman said:

I REALLY hope you are right. BUT, with not to get too far off topic; if there is no viable vaccine, the fact is the virus will always be around, just like many other viruses and strains of them. With no vaccine, we could easily see another outbreak of this as people start going back to work, school and practice, as well as gathering in large crowds. Not to create fear, but the fact is we will wake up to a different world once this outbreak has eased up or even passed. 

A vaccine is not a magic bullet though.  I haven't gotten a flu shot in years and have not had the flu *knocks on wood* for several years.  A co-worker of mine gets one every year and has had Influenza A twice this year.  

Apparently, we'll know quite a bit this week as this will apparently be our "Pearl Harbor" or "9/11" moment.  I take that to mean that diagnosed cases and deaths are to skyrocket.  Unfortunately, as with all of this, time will tell.

From the article you posted:

"Even if the college football season could be moved to spring 2021, the consequences would likely be devastating for colleges across the country. As one coach mentioned, per The Athletic, schools might have to cut down to just football, basketball and four women’s sports due to budgetary restrictions."

So basically their damned if they do, damned if they don't. Again, moving an entire sport to a different season for,one year make absolutely zero logical sense in the long term at any level. The same coaches complaining now that they need 2 months to prepare would then complain the fall after "Springfest 2021" that their players had no time to recover. Stories like this, it would appear, are going to keep popping up in the absence of actual athletic events to cover. 

2 hours ago, Raven67 said:

I am in no means saying that it is the right answer, I am brainstorming. I do however think that it is a REAL possibility that the season is going to not be on in the fall. NFL and NCAA are already mentioning it. Unless we find a treatment or a cure I dont think our social distancing restrictions will be lifted to more than 50 people in a place. Its a unprecedented time. I also do not think that schools will start next year on Elearning, I think they will postpone the starting of school and go straight through the following sumer if need be. Under normal circumstances I wouldnt want to make a kid choose either, or stretch coaching staffs, but this is different. Let a kid choose. It is not a normal time. If he is a baseball kid playing football, let him play baseball. If he is a football kid playing baseball, let him play football. Its a un-normal thing, because its an un-normal time and circumstance. I know at our school it would be about 7 kids in that spot out of 80 on the team. So we cant let 7 kids having to make a decision affect the other 73. There are some of those remaining 73 that would not even care about school if it wasnt for football.  Now I also thought about the small school thing. That one I am open to ideas lol. I understand that small schools have an issue fielding teams. Obviously we could let schools opt out and combine 1a and 2a. Or have an option for 7 man football at the 1a and 2a levels. I understand the logistics would be hard, but thats why I brought it up now. We should be thinking about it now.

I think you are being a bit too drastic in your approach.  MLB is already kicking around a July 1 start date; albeit potentially in empty stadiums, but that still puts them well over a 50 person gathering even for the roster, coaching staff, umpires and TV crews.  The long and short is this; we're in early April and talking about August and September.  The way news happens these days we could literally be back to normal by June/July or be quarantined for a full calendar year. 

These are "un-normal" (I prefer unprecedented) but I think you have your answer with how the IHSAA handled the Spring sport season.  The very simple answer, unfortunately, is that if this continues into August, the IHSAA likely shortens the fall season by a month initially, then 6 weeks if needed, to then cancelling totally.   I would add too that in many ways, the IHSAA handled the Spring sport season better in my opinion than the NCAA did because they at least gave the situation some time to play out before completely axing things rather than cancelling immediately.  You can always postpone indefinitely before you cancel, you can never cancel then restart.  

As to 7 on 7, I think you run into similar issues.  As a former offensive linemen, my first thought is what about your offensive linemen?  Are you going to also have some kind of offensive lineman challenge along side it?  Sorry, there is no way you get any kind of extensive interest statewide.

And at the end of the day, Irishman has it right.  We should probably pump the breaks on anything major happening to the calendar until after we get into May.  To quote Tom Hanks from Apollo 13: "All right, there's a thousand things that have to happen in order.  We are on number eight. You're talking about number six-hundred and ninety-two."

8 hours ago, Raven67 said:

I honestly think for the betterment of all student athletes, the IHSAA should have a BACKUP plan to play football in the spring with a shortened regular season. Let the kids decide. If it's a baseball kid, let him play baseball. At this point it's not about what a kid does, it's about letting all kids experience their sport and having something to be excited about again. 6-8 game season, with playoffs. Not that I think they should pull the trigger early, just have a plan.

I agree they need to have some sort of contingency, but do not like this for a number of reasons. First, I do not like the idea of a player ever having to make a choice like this, even under extreme circumstances. Second, you're stretching a lot of coaches thin here too. Finally, I think the long term effects for the following season are too great. Kids need the year to properly recover, so doing this would land us on a shortened season the following fall as well.

I think we're potentially looking at no organized work in the summer, which I know for a lot of programs seems unthinkable. In reality however you do not NEED the summer months, many of us just think we do. Football has been played before with no summer workouts; it may have been since the 70s and under different circumstances (no global pandemic, kids were different, etc.) but it has happened.

5 hours ago, Staxawax said:

If you believe ANY news out of China I've got some prime land in Florida I'll sell you at a really good price!

Too bad I hate water... And Florida as a rule...

16 hours ago, LaSalle Lions 1976 said:

You can't assume your players have been staying in shape.

Honestly, for some smaller rural schools this is nothing new.

Trojandad, thank you very much, I really appreciate it. I tell my students all the time, most of us educators are not in it for the money, we really do love our jobs and love the kids we work with, even if some of them can be a little difficult at times.

Completely agree TojanDad.  We, as a track staff, had held out hope but in retrospect, it seems as if this was a foregone conclusion 3-4 weeks ago.  Definitely feel for our Seniors.  We had 9 between the boys and girls teams which for a school with a total population of roughly 185 in 4 grades is pretty outstanding.  And they were a great group of kids too, gonna miss them...

3 hours ago, TrojanDad said:

China took some hard line actions of shelter in place.....which is what just happened yesterday in the San Fran area.  Will we do that as a nation?  Not sure.  Their tolerance for non-compliance is a little bit different than in the US...unless that changes in the short term.

Shelter in place would seem to me at this point here in the US to be what it is currently; localized and focused primarily on urban areas.  National shelter in place would only work if you had some sort of martial law, which I would say is out of the question, but a week ago I was preparing for track season and had only paid passing attention to this virus thing so...

3 hours ago, TrojanDad said:

I concur. I am seeing and reading projections that the US will peak with COVID 19 cases anywhere from the end of April to June/July. Is this accurate?  I don’t know. But even at the start of that range, I don’t see spring sports this year. I hope this isn’t the case. I feel bad for kids, especially seniors. I guess it all boils down to the rate this virus cannot sustain in this country and beyond. 

I have not seen that, but the problem is that there are so many sources of information out there.  It seems like, from what I remember of looking at a graph of cases reportd in China, that they peaked around 3-4 weeks after their first cases.  If that were the case, you are looking at the US peaking near the beginning of April to the middle of April.  That said, I don't know what our response here in the US has been as compared to China, quality of healthcare systems, susceptability of the population, etc. so that may be, and probably is, wishful thinking.

I did see where the Wuhan province only had one new reported case yesterday, so that would appear to be good.  I also heard some speculation that cases could surge again around October just based on climate.  The long and the short is that it appears as through this year's Seniors (high school and college) are going to get drastically shortchanged on their experience.  It just goes to show, as I think someone else on these boards pointed out, you can't take anything for granted.

Still holding out hope for this spring season, but given the speed with which so many things have happened, government recommendations becoming increasingly more restrictive, restaraunts closing dining rooms, public libraries closing, not to mention all the professional and collegiate sport cancellations, that hope is quickly fading.  No matter how seriously you are personally taking this whole thing, it's going to be really hard to justify high school athletics when you are going to have schools not physically back in session until mid to late April at the earliest.

Congrats to all selected, but especially another Region 4 guy Jack Hargan of Attica.  Becomes only the 4th or 5th player in Attica history selected! Incredibly well deserved!

This whole thing has become a mess to say the least. The biggest issue I see is with schools that are issuing 14 day quarantines how do you keep track of/monitor who has eligibility and who does not. The IHSAA would have to come out with something soon, especially after the NCAA's decision yesterday and the various states which are mandating extended e-learning and mass school closures. Definitely very fluid and with folks leaving or already gone on Spring Break it makes it even more difficult.

13 hours ago, LCKfan4life said:

If  Spring sports do cancel, let's take baseball for instance. Is there anything preventing players and coaches from meeting another local team and playing at a non school facility? No team buses, get there on your own, and not mandatory. Teams would not have to wear any uniform provided by the school, or use any school purchased equipment. Obviously it would not be a sanctioned contest, but would allow players to still compete. 

Impossible for track meets, takes too many volunteers to adequately run a meet. Also an insurance nightmare.

23 hours ago, Coach Nowlin said:

been at it 17 years   gonna have to jog my memory?    BC game, Seeger game?  mid 2000's?   

I had to chuckle a bit at the thought of Seeger airing it out enough to warrant rushing 2 and dropping 9.  Fall of 2011 v. BC.  We had Rooze at QB and Fischback as our leading WR.  Very physical game, but not uncommon at all for you guys to literally have two guys with hands in the dirt and 9 on their feet in coverage.  

11 hours ago, Coach Nowlin said:

Gonna be a great challenge.    I think we may run a 1-1-9  Umbrella 

I've seen you guys do something like this before.  If memory serves correct it was more of a 2-9 Umbrella...

44 minutes ago, Donnie Baker said:

Dale Hummers was on the WRC Mount Rushmores before those 2 were head coaches. I swear to God he was and I’ll say it right to your face. I gotta go 

I would second this... 

Dr. Strange...

I student taught under Kurt, he is a great guy and knows his stuff.  Really looking forward to what he can do at CHS!  Best of luck Coach!

I have long referred to the following things as part of me being "stuperstitious," meaning I know that they have no bearing on the outcome of a game itself (hence the "stupid" part) but I can't bring myself to NOT do them (the "superstitious" part):

-The only night of the week that I shave is Thursday night.

-I wear the same coaches polo every Friday at school and on the sideline (despite being told that I can wear a team t-shirt).

-I have to have the same numbered headset every Friday night (it was #8 last year) and wear it on the left ear over my baseball cap.

-I take two pieces of chewing gum before the game and two at half time.

These are not "winning streak stretchers" I simply HAVE to do these every week, win or lose, or else I feel like I personally doom our chances on Friday night... I know, stuperstitious right?

16 minutes ago, GB4 said:

 

I got this from Wikipedia, so take it for what it is worth, but the Bengals, Colts, Saints, and Titans of the NFL and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the CFL are affiliated with the Memphis Express. 

GB 

Geographically those all make sense. Memphis is who I thought I'd root for, but San Antonio looked good defensively. It'll be interesting to see if that holds up.

30 minutes ago, AG said:

Add to this that each AAF team has NFL affiliate teams, much like NBA G/D-League does. It's great for the sport and keeps veterans active for longer. I'm predicting that we will see more feel good comeback stories in the NFL due to the AAF's impact.

I asked this on another thread, but I've read about some of the affiliates for other teams, but who is the Colts' affiliate?

1 hour ago, AG said:

What I also love about this league is that they are specifically a minor league of sorts. They're not trying to go head to head with the NFL.

This.  This is huge.  If they had tried to go up against the NFL they wouldn't have even gotten off the ground...

35 minutes ago, GB4 said:

I don't believe there is a direct link yet.

GB 

I had hyperlinked it.  I've tried several times, but it keeps getting flagged as spam so I'll attach it here as a PDF if it will let me. The ads stretch the PDF out to be around 15 pages, but I promise the reading is not that much.

Indianapolis Colts 2019 Mock Draft Monday_ Feb. 11.pdf

Curious to know what happened in Meadeville, it seemed like Hammer had things on the right track.  I remember watching he and his bother play together when I was in high school, they were scary good.  Good luck to him as he moves on.

It would be easy to look at the past few years and say that it has been a down spell, but honestly, we've spoiled for the past 10-20 years.  It is important to keep in mind that Wabash is a small, all-male, liberal arts college in the middle of Indiana.  That's not a bad thing at all, in fact it's something I believe we should be incredibly proud of (I know I am), but when you are talking about competing with the "Purple Powers" of Division III football, that makes it tough.  We have had an incredibly great run of coaches in that span (Creighton, Raeburn, and Morel, not to mention their various assistants) that have been a huge part of that.  

Life has made it somewhat difficult to keep up with the team since I graduated, but I like what I see when I get a chance to watch really closely.  The on the field talent has been phenomenal, but perhaps inconsistent when it has counted at times.  This past year was incredibly difficult, lose Ike James for the season early (first game I think), having Witt on the road, and above all else Evan Hansen's heartbreaking passing and yet still a share of the conference title.  That is very impressive.  

As to Oliver Page and whether he would stay for another season.  The name Wes Chamblee comes immediately to mind.  Wes had an additional year due to injury and not only did he take it, but he had a great final campaign.  Again, I don't know Page at all, but just pointing out that his return would not be without recent precedent.  #WAF