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Mike Pawlawski: Is College Football Over As We Know It?

July 14, 2020
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So let's talk about what's happening in major college football. Right now, obviously with COVID, a bunch of changes are going on. Thursday, the Big-10 announced they're going to play a conference-only schedule, and I quote: “We're facing uncertain and unprecedented times and the health and safety and wellness of our student athletes, coaches. Game officials and other associated with our sports programs and campuses remain our number one priority. To that end. The Big-10 conference announced today that if the conference is able to participate in fall sports, based on medical advice, it will move to conference-only schedules in those sports. by limiting competition to other Big-10 institutions. The conference will have the greatest flexibility to adjust its own operations throughout the season and make quick decisions in real time based on the most current evolving medical advice and the fluid nature of the pandemic.”

Obviously, the health of the players, the staff and everybody around the game is incredibly important, but on Friday, the next shoe dropped. The Pac-12 also announced that they if they play, they will be playing a conference-only schedule, too. The Pac-12 SEO Group announced today that the fall season for several Pac-12 Sports, including football, men's and women's soccer and women's volleyball, would schedule conference-only games and that it's delaying the start of mandatory athletic activities until a series of health and safety indicators, which have recently trended in a negative direction, provided sufficient positive data to enable a move to second phase of return to play activities. The CEO group made clear that it hopes to play football and all other fall sports provided that it can meet the health and safety needs of its student athletes and obtain appropriate permissions from state and local health authorities. Today's decision will result in the start dates for the impacted sports being delayed on the surface.

That sounds totally reasonable.

I get it. You want to talk about organizational control. So within these conferences, the Big-10 -they’re a vanguard. They're a leader. Obviously one of the Power 5 schools They have been in the forefront of making these kind of decisions for years. Pac-12, same thing. They have been in the forefront of making these kind of decisions. And so they want to retain that institutional control, that organizational control and within their conference, they know that their schools are well-funded enough, and that they can mandate general rules and regulations to control for safety for health reasons. And they can turn on and turn off the switch like that.

What that means is that you have players who are playing at the Pac-12, Big-10 level. I expect the Big-12, the SEC and the ACC to follow suit with this conference-only schedule. But you have these players that now will be playing within their conference only a couple things going on when you consider that what happens to those small schools,

The schools that don't have the budgets, that don't have the teacher revenue, that don't have the endowments. schools like San Jose State, schools like North Texas, schools like all across the country. They are schools like Marshall that don't have the same facilities, the same cash flow that these bigger schools have every year. These schools get on schedules of D1, high-ranked teams with big names, big notoriety so they can get that paycheck game. Does that feel like it makes it a business? Yeah, it does. But it is the business. It's real. And so these small schools that are no longer on Big-10 schedules, that are no longer on Pac-12 schedules, that are no longer going to be on ACC or SEC or Big-12 schedules are losing a huge paycheck.

The other thing it means is that the start of the season, the first game was gonna be in August. This year, is now being pushed back not into September, but into October and part of is kicking the can down the road trying to see if they can get a little bit of resolution, to see if we can get a better trend in what's going on with the virus, see if they can get some health answers, see if they can get some safety protocols in place. And I understand that's totally right. And it's totally understandable. But the other thing about that is, they don't have answers right now.

Think about this. When you're scheduling an event, like a big-time college football game, it takes a minimum of six to seven weeks during the best of times to put the support staff in place to figure out concessions, catering, to figure out sales, to figure out tickets, to figure out event staff, everybody that you need around the medical staff everything to get a game ready. Well, if you don't know what's going to happen, if you don't know if you're going to be able to play in September, why would schools right now be willing to dole out that kind of money? The other thing is, it's not just about the players and medical staff and everybody associated with the universities. Talk about the people that work those games right now. There are a lot of people out of work because of COVID. And a lot of those people are on unemployment. Are they going to come off of that secure paycheck to come back in and work a game, when they'll lose their unemployment and then may not have security?

What happens if the season shuts down? They don't have a job. They don't have unemployment. They lost all that. So a lot of that goes into this thinking. You can't just consider players, can't just consider coaches, medical staff, universities. You have to think about everybody that this decision affects when it comes to these games and you heard it in those press releases. You have to have the athletic director, the chancellor, the mayor, the conference, the governor of the state, you have to have complete alignment across the board with everybody on the same page to be able to get these games going,

California is going to be a hard sell in the Pac-12. Michigan is going to be a hard sell in the Big-10. There are some states where it's going to be hard for these teams to get all of that alignment in place. It's not one AD, it's not one chancellor. It's not one president. It's not one mayor. It's all of them from all the schools in all the locations that these games are going to be played. So think about that getting alignment across any organizational structure is tough enough. But now across separate organizational structures that are part of big conferences, then think about the games that won't be played, the canceled games. Some huge marquee games were going to happen this year, between the Pac-12 and the Big-10. And the SEC and the Pac-12. An Oregon-Ohio State game was canceled. Not going to happen this year. USC-Alabama canceled, not gonna happen this year. How about Notre Dame? They were playing both USC and Stanford, who have become traditional rivals for them with annual rivalry games. Not gonna happen. What about University of Washington versus Michigan. There's a marquee matchup, not going to happen. Playing conference-only, you're not going to have those games because you lose organizational control.

Now, let's extend that out. Teams that are in conferences can do this and they can keep a fairly stable slate full of games. The Pac-12, obviously 12 teams can play a full 11 games in conference. You can play every other conference opponent. Big-10, same thing. Plenty of teams. SEC, plenty of teams to play. But what about Notre Dame? Notre Dame is in trouble. And now they're part of the ACC in basketball. And so as a result, the ACC has already reached out and said if they go to a conference only schedule, they will support Notre Dame with games to help them fill their schedule. Now, again, they're independent so they can make their own decisions, do their own medical testing, and you don't have control of that if you're a conference. But no, Notre Dame is well-funded enough to make sure that they are doing it top notch. They can check off every box. If you make an exception for Notre Dame, then for instance, does Cal have to make an exception for UNLV? What about for Cal Poly SLO? What about for TCU? What about all those non-conference games that are on your schedule?

The other thing to think about? And it's not just the world of college football, but it's college sports as a whole. No matter what campus you’re on across the country, college football funds every other sport on campus except for basketball. Some places, basketball makes some money. Some places basketball supports itself. But the vast majority of college sports programs are funded by football revenues. Think about this in the Pac-12. Losing one TV game, you would lose about $5 million for the university, for the athletic department, for the sports program that goes out to fund women's soccer, women's volleyball, men's soccer, baseball, any sport you have on campus.

Football is funding. That's the huge revenue. It's the big ticket item. That's what's funding those sports. If they don't have a college football season this fall, then all those other sports are going to be at risk. Stanford just last week cut 11 NCAA sports. 11, because they said budgetarily they can't handle that and that's in 2021. They said they would play this year if they play. But they cut them because the revenues aren't there for it.

Stanford is fully-endowed. Stanford has a ton of money. If they're cutting sports, I don't see how across the country if college football doesn't happen, other universities don't cut sports. And so when I asked does college, the landscape of college football change? It has changed. So when I say that, not all schools have a lot of money. But the conferences which have a bigger pot to draw from are starting to cut sports. And so across the country, those smaller schools are in danger. Notre Dame is a big ticket and ACC is going to work with them. What about BYU? They're an independent. Who's going to play BYU? Who's going to reach out to them there? It's a huge name school. I'm a huge fan of BYU. Their athletic director, Tom Holmoe is a fine human being, but what's going to happen to BYU, because they are not the draw that Notre Dame is. It's not the same type of team and they don't have a conference alignment, like Notre Dame has to bring those revenues in.

So you have to think about all these smaller schools across the country. What are they going to do? How are they going to get funding? Where does their money come from? This pandemic is changing the face of college football, right? In front of our eyes, we're going to find out what the schedules look like July 31. The Pac-12, announced that they're gonna have a schedule out by July 31. And there are a ton of different options. Do you play nine conference games? With a championship? Do you move it back? Do you play full 11 conference games?

There's a ton of options out there. I'm not going to get into that speculation. But this is going to be the first in a series of videos about this, about college football and what's going on. I've got some other analysts from around the conference and they're gonna be coming on with me and we'll talk about football. We'll talk about teams.

The ground is shifting under our feet with college football as we sit here today.

Discussion from...

Mike Pawlawski: Is College Football Over As We Know It?

9,350 Views | 19 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by mbBear
Sebastabear
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Well that was cheery. I mean I don't disagree that, to quote Pulp Fiction , "we're a pretty long ****ing way from OK" but some of this is still up in the air. Things are still moving rapidly all over the place. I'm not sure anyone knows what's going to be happening tomorrow with this virus much less three months from now. We shall see.

If I'm reading Mike correctly here this also says the decision has been made to push the start into October (best case). Not sure that decision has really been made yet.

Quote:

The other thing it means is that the start of the season, the first game was gonna be in August. This year, is now being pushed back not into September, but into October and part of is kicking the can down the road trying to see if they can get a little bit of resolution. . .
GivemTheAxe
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Sebastabear said:

Well that was cheery. I mean I don't disagree that, to quote Pulp Fiction , "we're a pretty long ****ing way from OK" but some of this is still up in the air. Things are still moving rapidly all over the place. I'm not sure anyone knows what's going to be happening tomorrow with this virus much less three months from now. We shall see.

If I'm reading Mike correctly here this also says the decision has been made to push the start into October (best case). Not sure that decision has really been made yet.

Quote:

The other thing it means is that the start of the season, the first game was gonna be in August. This year, is now being pushed back not into September, but into October and part of is kicking the can down the road trying to see if they can get a little bit of resolution. . .


Once again with my blue and gold colored glasses.
The first SIP order in March took about 2 months to flatten the curve on the initial Coronavirus wave. Hopefully by postponing the season for 2 months Newsom's recent order might begin flattening stage 2 of the first wave by the start of the CFB season in October.

In addition there appears to be some positive news today from Moderna which appears to have hit upon a promising vaccine that will start phase 3 testing at the end of July.
So far each phase has taken 2 months, so maybe (just maybe) we might learn whether the broad based testing phase 3 brings us some good news in
October.

BTW I like Pawlawski's reporting Thoughtful and thorough.
Cal84
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>The ground is shifting under our feet with college football as we sit here today.

Of course it is. But just as with the spurt of conference alignment a few years ago, CFB will survive. That's not to say that everyone in FBS CFB will remain. Weird stuff can and does happen. But there is still enough demand for the sport that even if it needs to take a full year's hiatus, some form of it will return. This isn't a build it and they will come hypothesis. It's a there's demand and some profit seeking collegiate entities will respond and offer a product.
HoopDreams
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he forgot about NIL
71Bear
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GivemTheAxe said:

Sebastabear said:

Well that was cheery. I mean I don't disagree that, to quote Pulp Fiction , "we're a pretty long ****ing way from OK" but some of this is still up in the air. Things are still moving rapidly all over the place. I'm not sure anyone knows what's going to be happening tomorrow with this virus much less three months from now. We shall see.

If I'm reading Mike correctly here this also says the decision has been made to push the start into October (best case). Not sure that decision has really been made yet.

Quote:

The other thing it means is that the start of the season, the first game was gonna be in August. This year, is now being pushed back not into September, but into October and part of is kicking the can down the road trying to see if they can get a little bit of resolution. . .


Once again with my blue and gold colored glasses.
The first SIP order in March took about 2 months to flatten the curve on the initial Coronavirus wave. Hopefully by postponing the season for 2 months Newsom's recent order might begin flattening stage 2 of the first wave by the start of the CFB season in October.

In addition there appears to be some positive news today from Moderna which appears to have hit upon a promising vaccine that will start phase 3 testing at the end of July.
So far each phase has taken 2 months, so maybe (just maybe) we might learn whether the broad based testing phase 3 brings us some good news in
October.

BTW I like Pawlawski's reporting Thoughtful and thorough.
A vaccine in 1Q21 - the best we can hope for.

Of course, had everyone simply followed the recommendations of the scientists instead of the politicians, we could have been on our way out of this mess by now. Just wear a f***ing mask and socially distance. Is it that difficult?
GivemTheAxe
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71Bear said:

GivemTheAxe said:

Sebastabear said:

Well that was cheery. I mean I don't disagree that, to quote Pulp Fiction , "we're a pretty long ****ing way from OK" but some of this is still up in the air. Things are still moving rapidly all over the place. I'm not sure anyone knows what's going to be happening tomorrow with this virus much less three months from now. We shall see.

If I'm reading Mike correctly here this also says the decision has been made to push the start into October (best case). Not sure that decision has really been made yet.

Quote:

The other thing it means is that the start of the season, the first game was gonna be in August. This year, is now being pushed back not into September, but into October and part of is kicking the can down the road trying to see if they can get a little bit of resolution. . .


Once again with my blue and gold colored glasses.
The first SIP order in March took about 2 months to flatten the curve on the initial Coronavirus wave. Hopefully by postponing the season for 2 months Newsom's recent order might begin flattening stage 2 of the first wave by the start of the CFB season in October.

In addition there appears to be some positive news today from Moderna which appears to have hit upon a promising vaccine that will start phase 3 testing at the end of July.
So far each phase has taken 2 months, so maybe (just maybe) we might learn whether the broad based testing phase 3 brings us some good news in
October.

BTW I like Pawlawski's reporting Thoughtful and thorough.
A vaccine in 1Q21 - the best we can hope for.

Of course, had everyone simply followed the recommendations of the scientists instead of the politicians, we could have been on our way out of this mess by now. Just wear a f***ing mask and socially distance. Is it that difficult?

There are too many people who believe that "Freedom" in America gives a person the right to act irresponsibly and put themselves and others at risk

As Weird Al said: "Dare to be stupid". .
BearGreg
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Staff
Balancing the "Right to do what I want" with "Doing the right thing"

71Bear
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GivemTheAxe said:

71Bear said:

GivemTheAxe said:

Sebastabear said:

Well that was cheery. I mean I don't disagree that, to quote Pulp Fiction , "we're a pretty long ****ing way from OK" but some of this is still up in the air. Things are still moving rapidly all over the place. I'm not sure anyone knows what's going to be happening tomorrow with this virus much less three months from now. We shall see.

If I'm reading Mike correctly here this also says the decision has been made to push the start into October (best case). Not sure that decision has really been made yet.

Quote:

The other thing it means is that the start of the season, the first game was gonna be in August. This year, is now being pushed back not into September, but into October and part of is kicking the can down the road trying to see if they can get a little bit of resolution. . .


Once again with my blue and gold colored glasses.
The first SIP order in March took about 2 months to flatten the curve on the initial Coronavirus wave. Hopefully by postponing the season for 2 months Newsom's recent order might begin flattening stage 2 of the first wave by the start of the CFB season in October.

In addition there appears to be some positive news today from Moderna which appears to have hit upon a promising vaccine that will start phase 3 testing at the end of July.
So far each phase has taken 2 months, so maybe (just maybe) we might learn whether the broad based testing phase 3 brings us some good news in
October.

BTW I like Pawlawski's reporting Thoughtful and thorough.
A vaccine in 1Q21 - the best we can hope for.

Of course, had everyone simply followed the recommendations of the scientists instead of the politicians, we could have been on our way out of this mess by now. Just wear a f***ing mask and socially distance. Is it that difficult?

There are too many people who believe that "Freedom" in America gives a person the right to act irresponsibly and put themselves and others at risk

As Weird Al said: "Dare to be stupid". .
The dumbing down of the citizenry of the United States is accelerating at a frightening rate. Those who are complaining the loudest are those who do not have a basic understanding of "freedom" and "liberty". They are not just words, they are concepts that include responsibility, community and social norms.

"Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel" - Samuel Johnson


Blueblood
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"C'mon, sing 'God Bless America' with me!"


"Okee Dokees, 'Peoples bless the State' the land that I loves..."
71Bear
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Blueblood said:



"C'mon, sing 'God Bless America' with me!"


"Okee Dokees, 'Peoples bless the State' the land that I loves..."
Hey, I have a hat like that. I put my Lenin pin on it......
heartofthebear
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71Bear said:

GivemTheAxe said:

Sebastabear said:

Well that was cheery. I mean I don't disagree that, to quote Pulp Fiction , "we're a pretty long ****ing way from OK" but some of this is still up in the air. Things are still moving rapidly all over the place. I'm not sure anyone knows what's going to be happening tomorrow with this virus much less three months from now. We shall see.

If I'm reading Mike correctly here this also says the decision has been made to push the start into October (best case). Not sure that decision has really been made yet.

Quote:

The other thing it means is that the start of the season, the first game was gonna be in August. This year, is now being pushed back not into September, but into October and part of is kicking the can down the road trying to see if they can get a little bit of resolution. . .


Once again with my blue and gold colored glasses.
The first SIP order in March took about 2 months to flatten the curve on the initial Coronavirus wave. Hopefully by postponing the season for 2 months Newsom's recent order might begin flattening stage 2 of the first wave by the start of the CFB season in October.

In addition there appears to be some positive news today from Moderna which appears to have hit upon a promising vaccine that will start phase 3 testing at the end of July.
So far each phase has taken 2 months, so maybe (just maybe) we might learn whether the broad based testing phase 3 brings us some good news in
October.

BTW I like Pawlawski's reporting Thoughtful and thorough.
A vaccine in 1Q21 - the best we can hope for.

Of course, had everyone simply followed the recommendations of the scientists instead of the politicians, we could have been on our way out of this mess by now. Just wear a f***ing mask and socially distance. Is it that difficult?
the problem with this country is that too many people are too emotionally disturbed to follow simple instructions. It's amazing we can field an army.
blungld
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heartofthebear said:


the problem with this country is that too many people are too emotionally disturbed to follow simple instructions. It's amazing we can field an army.
It is hard not be worried about the future of sport...and civil society. It feels we stand on precipice of something really catastrophic that is just beginning now. Is this the prelude to war, severe climate consequence, global economic meltdown? Some destruction of our own creation does seem to be happening (and is happening).

In my 60 years on the planet I have never felt this hostility all around. There were moments in the 70s gas shortage, Iran hostage, 9/11, and 2007 financial crisis, but nothing like this. Maybe the internet makes it worse and makes us feel surrounded by negative and aggressive conflict too, but on the street I can see and feel the tension. People are ready to yell at one another. Everyone making assumptions about others. No matter how you feel or interpret words like "freedom," "liberty," "socialism," "left/right, etc, one thing seems clear: we do not actively work to assure the exercise of freedom as a social responsibility. Individualism seems to have been conflated with liberty (not that those exercising this version of freedom have put much thought into it), and what we have is a society of people selfishly broadcasting themselves on social media and in all facets of social engagement and communication. Everyone talking at others, few listening, and the only thing looking to be accomplished is their materialism or immediate gratification or buttressing of their ideology or Cognitive Dissonance. It's me me me in a way the 80's could have only dreamed about.

Unfortunately sport, in the words of Harry Edwards, recapitulates society, and we see the same myopia reflected in the provincial tribalism of fandom and the sacrifice of ethics/values in the celebration of "win at all costs/if you are not cheating you are not trying." I think the chickens are coming home to roost on 30+ years of Americans abdicating the meaning of words for symbols (perhaps igniting with the hypocritical rise of the so-called Moral Majority), and the worship of ends over means (gains, no matter how ill gotten, purchasing societal and political clout).

I became a Cal fan because I loved the plight of the underdog, and the narrative of character winning out in the long run (it's been a very long run), and the hope that "the old college try" still meant something (and praise be to Mike who perhaps as much as anyone embodied what I loved about college sport and Cal, he and his team will always be dear to me). With each passing year my idealism looks increasingly naive and delusional, and unfortunately fewer and fewer share my disappointment.

Perhaps this pandemic, creates an opportunity for a reset on the influence of money and allows for a more distributed value-set across many sports in authentic collegiate competition. I suspect not. There will instead be consolidation, and the corrupt NCAA, the professional leagues, the owners, the coaches and their agents making millions, will not reform a system that rewards their excess.

Mike's video is interesting, but as has been mentioned there is a deeper and more deadly poison in the system than the COVID virus that needs addressing. But sport won't change until we change. This isn't the Off Topic board, but re-electing Trump will further send us down a bad path, while electing Biden (though not a saint or panacea) will turn us away from that path, give us a chance at resetting our values, send a message about what we do NOT want, and more than anything de-stress our over-stressed society. Biden, love him or hate him, will allow us all to take a step back and breath. Not make us feel that we are under tweet assault, anger on the streets, subject to the constant barrage of ever-amplifying 24 hour news cycle. FOX will try to depict the Biden presidency as just as much of an "emergency" and threat to Democracy, but it won't be. And it won't feel that way culturally. Maybe we can get back to living our lives a little more, and not feeling the tension on the street...or in the stands.

So, I know this is long, meandering, and ironic (six paragraphs on people talking AT other people on the internet), but I hope that the other side of this election and pandemic starts to feel a lot more like real freedom, and not people screaming about freedom. And if this is virtue signaling, so be it. Signal your virtue too.

Play football in the spring and let's get back to a "socialism" that means being part of a society, caring for all, and our actual American values. Go Bears and thanks Mike for your thought-provoking video and all the memories you provided to, those who are now, Old Blues like me.
smh
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> Play football in the spring and let's get back to a "socialism" that means being part of a society, caring for all, and our actual American values. Go Bears and thanks Mike for your thought-provoking video and all the memories you provided to, those who are now, Old Blues like me.

keep up the good work (all grown up) BnG, don't let the b'tards get you down, and the other thing..
# go bears
muting ~250 handles, turnaround is fair play
heartofthebear
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blungld said:

heartofthebear said:


the problem with this country is that too many people are too emotionally disturbed to follow simple instructions. It's amazing we can field an army.
It is hard not be worried about the future of sport...and civil society. It feels we stand on precipice of something really catastrophic that is just beginning now. Is this the prelude to war, severe climate consequence, global economic meltdown? Some destruction of our own creation does seem to be happening (and is happening).

In my 60 years on the planet I have never felt this hostility all around. There were moments in the 70s gas shortage, Iran hostage, 9/11, and 2007 financial crisis, but nothing like this. Maybe the internet makes it worse and makes us feel surrounded by negative and aggressive conflict too, but on the street I can see and feel the tension. People are ready to yell at one another. Everyone making assumptions about others. No matter how you feel or interpret words like "freedom," "liberty," "socialism," "left/right, etc, one thing seems clear: we do not actively work to assure the exercise of freedom as a social responsibility. Individualism seems to have been conflated with liberty (not that those exercising this version of freedom have put much thought into it), and what we have is a society of people selfishly broadcasting themselves on social media and in all facets of social engagement and communication. Everyone talking at others, few listening, and the only thing looking to be accomplished is their materialism or immediate gratification or buttressing of their ideology or Cognitive Dissonance. It's me me me in a way the 80's could have only dreamed about.

Unfortunately sport, in the words of Harry Edwards, recapitulates society, and we see the same myopia reflected in the provincial tribalism of fandom and the sacrifice of ethics/values in the celebration of "win at all costs/if you are not cheating you are not trying." I think the chickens are coming home to roost on 30+ years of Americans abdicating the meaning of words for symbols (perhaps igniting with the hypocritical rise of the so-called Moral Majority), and the worship of ends over means (gains, no matter how ill gotten, purchasing societal and political clout).

I became a Cal fan because I loved the plight of the underdog, and the narrative of character winning out in the long run (it's been a very long run), and the hope that "the old college try" still meant something (and praise be to Mike who perhaps as much as anyone embodied what I loved about college sport and Cal, he and his team will always be dear to me). With each passing year my idealism looks increasingly naive and delusional, and unfortunately fewer and fewer share my disappointment.

Perhaps this pandemic, creates an opportunity for a reset on the influence of money and allows for a more distributed value-set across many sports in authentic collegiate competition. I suspect not. There will instead be consolidation, and the corrupt NCAA, the professional leagues, the owners, the coaches and their agents making millions, will not reform a system that rewards their excess.

Mike's video is interesting, but as has been mentioned there is a deeper and more deadly poison in the system than the COVID virus that needs addressing. But sport won't change until we change. This isn't the Off Topic board, but re-electing Trump will further send us down a bad path, while electing Biden (though not a saint or panacea) will turn us away from that path, give us a chance at resetting our values, send a message about what we do NOT want, and more than anything de-stress our over-stressed society. Biden, love him or hate him, will allow us all to take a step back and breath. Not make us feel that we are under tweet assault, anger on the streets, subject to the constant barrage of ever-amplifying 24 hour news cycle. FOX will try to depict the Biden presidency as just as much of an "emergency" and threat to Democracy, but it won't be. And it won't feel that way culturally. Maybe we can get back to living our lives a little more, and not feeling the tension on the street...or in the stands.

So, I know this is long, meandering, and ironic (six paragraphs on people talking AT other people on the internet), but I hope that the other side of this election and pandemic starts to feel a lot more like real freedom, and not people screaming about freedom. And if this is virtue signaling, so be it. Signal your virtue too.

Play football in the spring and let's get back to a "socialism" that means being part of a society, caring for all, and our actual American values. Go Bears and thanks Mike for your thought-provoking video and all the memories you provided to, those who are now, Old Blues like me.

I appreciate your passion and commitment. You make interesting distinctions between individualism and liberty and how much our society is sacrificing one to protect the other, ironically. I see similar things. I believe we are in the fall of Rome. I don't share the hope about the Biden presidency. The hostility will get worse due to the frustrations of the minority now having no voice in Washington. I imagine the Biden presidency, like the Obama years, will be marred by a forced defensiveness and the result will be treading water, at best. Remember that Trump is just a symptom. The new civil war had already begun. Folks on the extreme right believe these are the end times and they are collecting guns in preparation. Our only hope is local activism to contain the spread. Ironically, in the end, the black lives matter movement and the cops are going to need each other in order to achieve a lasting civil order into the future. I agree though that Trump would be worse. At least Biden will restore true political professionalism and statehood to the institutions of Federal governance. And he will not be as corrupt.

I also relate to the Pawlawski years as some of the most inspirational ever. Those years really represented what Cal football could be. Under Pawlawski/Snyder, Cal finished with the highest final ranking in their history #8 (9?) after clobbering Clemson in the Citrus bowl. And they were clearly the 2nd best team in the conference. The famous 2004 Bears were ranked higher at #4 at the end of the regular season but finished below that after getting handled by Texas Tech in the bowl game. Fortunately I think the current coaching staff has the capacity to eventually bring Cal back to a similar level.

As a program, they are still well behind Oregon and USC, but they have closed the gap on Furd and have gone 3-2 against Washington over the past 5 seasons and 2-1 on the road. I think they are at least on par with ASU overall as a program, despite the disappointing home loss last season and the extraordinary hype that surrounds ASU seemingly every season. And I don't think Utah is outside their range despite the fact that Utah is probably tougher in the trenches. But I don't think Utah can out-coach Cal any more and I think Cal can develop talent on par with Utah.

So, first goal is to become 2nd best in the north and then we should be able to start recruiting enough to push for a division title. Right now Christobal and Helton are recruiting on a whole other level than most of the rest of the conference. Washington and Furd sometimes get in range but in general it is not even close. Right now those two programs are recruiting at a national championship level, along with Clemson, Alabama, Ohio St., LSU and Georgia.
smh
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> I see similar things. I believe we are in the fall of Rome. I don't share the hope about the Biden presidency..

"The Second Coming" by WB Yeats <-- 101 years ago
Quote:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
cliff notes swiped from wikiwiki..
Quote:

The poem was written in 1919 in the aftermath of the First World War and the beginning of the Irish War of Independence that followed the Easter Rising, at a time before the British Government decided to send in the Black and Tans to Ireland. Yeats used the phrase "the second birth" instead of "the Second Coming" in his first drafts.

The poem is also connected to the 1918-1919 flu pandemic. In the weeks preceding Yeats' writing of the poem, his pregnant wife Georgie Hyde-Lees caught the virus and was very close to death. The highest death rates of the pandemic were among pregnant women, in some areas, they had up to a 70 percent death rate. While his wife was convalescing, he wrote "The Second Coming".
muting ~250 handles, turnaround is fair play
71Bear
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smh said:

> I see similar things. I believe we are in the fall of Rome. I don't share the hope about the Biden presidency..

"The Second Coming" by WB Yeats [101 years ago, during a pandemic?]
Quote:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
cliff notes swiped from wikiwiki..
Quote:

The poem was written in 1919 in the aftermath of the First World War and the beginning of the Irish War of Independence that followed the Easter Rising, at a time before the British Government decided to send in the Black and Tans to Ireland. Yeats used the phrase "the second birth" instead of "the Second Coming" in his first drafts.
The poem is also connected to the 19181919 flu pandemic. In the weeks preceding Yeats' writing of the poem, his pregnant wife Georgie Hyde-Lees caught the virus and was very close to death. The highest death rates of the pandemic were among pregnant womenin some areas, they had up to a 70 percent death rate. While his wife was convalescing, he wrote "The Second Coming".[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Second_Coming_(poem)#cite_note-grdn-1][/url]
[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Second_Coming_(poem)#cite_note-grdn-1][/url]
Cast a cold eye
On life, on death.
Horseman, pass by!

2701RidgeRoad
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I came to Cal on a football scholarship 1970. My freshman English classes were taught by Seamus Heaney who infected us with Yeats. Today the English Department has a scholarship that sends two or three Cal students to the Yeats International Summer School held in Sligo, Ireland, close to Drumcliff churchyard.

Under bare Ben Bulben's head
In Drumcliff churchyard Yeats is laid.
An ancestor was rector there
Long years ago, a church stands near,
By the road an ancient cross.
No marble, no conventional phrase;
On limestone quarried near the spot
By his command these words are cut:
Cast a cold eye
On life, on death.
Horseman, pass by!

Some of us split our donations to Cal, offering support to Cal athletics and some gifts to support Cal students who study literature in Ireland.

Fiat Lux



smh
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2701RidgeRoad said:

Some of us split our donations to Cal, offering support to Cal athletics and some gifts to support Cal students who study literature in Ireland.
Fiat Lux
Go 70s CyBears # no tuition & no scholie -> no problemo
signed, 2527RidgeRoad (stebbins co-op)
muting ~250 handles, turnaround is fair play
mbBear
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BearGreg said:

Balancing the "Right to do what I want" with "Doing the right thing"


The idea that the "right to do what I want" was even in play is such a national embarrassment. As a weather scientist said to me recently: "The reaction people are having to COVID is actually a nice(sarcasm here) reinforcement that it's not that our science of climate change is flawed, its that some people only want to believe in change for things they feel directly impacted by."
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