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Cast your vote in this tournament bracket
NCAA Tournament & COVID-19
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I don't necessarily disagree with your thought process Wasp, but it ignores one level that we haven't touched on much yet.
We've discussed this from a health and from an economic standpoint. What we haven't discussed is from a political standpoint.
The process you described is basically what the UK was planning to do until this past Monday. Then when it got out what the models said that would mean from a mortality standpoint it was decided just letting it run its course was not a politically feasible solution.
If the Government had been prepared and ready to test from the get go so they would have a chance of getting in front of it before community spread got out of control - similar to what happened in Taiwan and South Korea, we wouldn't necessarily even be having this discussion. Now we are in a phase were politicians are going to have to make really ugly decisions that look bad no matter which way you decide.
I suspect politicians would rather not see alot of people dying in the short term due to the virus running fast and furious and overwhelming health care than dealing with the effects of it causing a recession or even depression. It's harder to see the mortality toll of the latter than the former.
On the plus side both Kroger and Amazon are looking to hire at least 10,000 each right now.
We've discussed this from a health and from an economic standpoint. What we haven't discussed is from a political standpoint.
The process you described is basically what the UK was planning to do until this past Monday. Then when it got out what the models said that would mean from a mortality standpoint it was decided just letting it run its course was not a politically feasible solution.
If the Government had been prepared and ready to test from the get go so they would have a chance of getting in front of it before community spread got out of control - similar to what happened in Taiwan and South Korea, we wouldn't necessarily even be having this discussion. Now we are in a phase were politicians are going to have to make really ugly decisions that look bad no matter which way you decide.
I suspect politicians would rather not see alot of people dying in the short term due to the virus running fast and furious and overwhelming health care than dealing with the effects of it causing a recession or even depression. It's harder to see the mortality toll of the latter than the former.
On the plus side both Kroger and Amazon are looking to hire at least 10,000 each right now.
MtnWasp
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We live in the post-truth era where people do not trust authority, whether it be political or scientific or mass media. We are experiencing first hand the consequences in a age where people are inundated with information and we have no means to decipher what is fact, what is opinion what is sage wisdom or charismatic B.S selling this or that agenda. In this age, people have fallen-back to trusting their sentiments and choosing a side.
So in the face of crisis, what we have is a mob. Fortunately it is a fractured, disorganized, distracted mob. If there was leadership to begin with, they would have certainly put their resources into preventing their citizenry from becoming frightened and panicked. People responding to the news by hording toilet paper, buying ammo to protect their toilet paper and staring compulsively at their TVs for hours and hours, learning nothing but becoming more frightened and agitated by the day is the crisis. This is a sensational FAILURE of a media that has lost its mission and only knows how to sell hypnotizing spectacle. It is an equal failure of leadership. Most of what I see as hot topics for discussion are startlingly irrelevant.
People don't trust the leaders so the leaders must placate the mob because they will not follow the leaders. Is placating the mob following the wisest course of action? Certainly not. The elite fear NOTHING as much as the mob. As far as I know, the only authorities that have ever discovered means by which to effectively handle a mob are the totalitarian states of the last century. Leadership is about preventing the social conditions that promotes the formation of mobs. At this point, the government could do as much good by amassing placebos and telling the country that we are stockpiling the magic Covid-19 pill for them if they need it because the fearful mob is more dangerous than the virus, especially if are going to throw huge swaths of able bodied working people out of work and tell them that they can't support their families.
The idea of our republic was to have a citizenry that was engaged enough and literate enough to handle social issues in a rational manner. Citizens not only need information that accurately reflects reality (if available, they don't trust it, or can't separate wheat from chaff, or don't look for it) they need to be able to process it. Clearly, that little choo-choo has left the tracks. Journalism was sold out to entertainment interests and critical thought taxes a deteriorated attention span of a citizenry addicted to entertainments.
The politicians are in the mode of covering their own booties, falling over themselves to avoid taking a bite of the this big Feces Sandwich. Federal officials are there to feed the monkey and not deal with actual crises that require acumen, integrity and character. The time when sensible leadership might have made a difference has come and gone, if politics does that anymore. Now it is all finger pointing and damage control. The government is, for the average Joe, just a symbolic object of wrath. Defend your side, blame the other side.
As soon as the 0.1% gets a little spooked, they always do the same thing, throw working people under the bus to protect themselves.
If we see any deployment of a police state with paramilitary units, and then they hang around, then we know the end is nigh and the vision of our founding fathers is, finally, dead.
So in the face of crisis, what we have is a mob. Fortunately it is a fractured, disorganized, distracted mob. If there was leadership to begin with, they would have certainly put their resources into preventing their citizenry from becoming frightened and panicked. People responding to the news by hording toilet paper, buying ammo to protect their toilet paper and staring compulsively at their TVs for hours and hours, learning nothing but becoming more frightened and agitated by the day is the crisis. This is a sensational FAILURE of a media that has lost its mission and only knows how to sell hypnotizing spectacle. It is an equal failure of leadership. Most of what I see as hot topics for discussion are startlingly irrelevant.
People don't trust the leaders so the leaders must placate the mob because they will not follow the leaders. Is placating the mob following the wisest course of action? Certainly not. The elite fear NOTHING as much as the mob. As far as I know, the only authorities that have ever discovered means by which to effectively handle a mob are the totalitarian states of the last century. Leadership is about preventing the social conditions that promotes the formation of mobs. At this point, the government could do as much good by amassing placebos and telling the country that we are stockpiling the magic Covid-19 pill for them if they need it because the fearful mob is more dangerous than the virus, especially if are going to throw huge swaths of able bodied working people out of work and tell them that they can't support their families.
The idea of our republic was to have a citizenry that was engaged enough and literate enough to handle social issues in a rational manner. Citizens not only need information that accurately reflects reality (if available, they don't trust it, or can't separate wheat from chaff, or don't look for it) they need to be able to process it. Clearly, that little choo-choo has left the tracks. Journalism was sold out to entertainment interests and critical thought taxes a deteriorated attention span of a citizenry addicted to entertainments.
The politicians are in the mode of covering their own booties, falling over themselves to avoid taking a bite of the this big Feces Sandwich. Federal officials are there to feed the monkey and not deal with actual crises that require acumen, integrity and character. The time when sensible leadership might have made a difference has come and gone, if politics does that anymore. Now it is all finger pointing and damage control. The government is, for the average Joe, just a symbolic object of wrath. Defend your side, blame the other side.
As soon as the 0.1% gets a little spooked, they always do the same thing, throw working people under the bus to protect themselves.
If we see any deployment of a police state with paramilitary units, and then they hang around, then we know the end is nigh and the vision of our founding fathers is, finally, dead.
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The most loyal voters are the most vulnerable to this virus. That is the bottom line politically.
D-man44
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Mark Price being a 9 seed vs 8 seed Shane Larkin??? Is wild
684Bee
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MWBATL
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Good question. We kill something like 50,000 Americans every year on our highways....eyt we still choose to drive and not ban private driving....why? The answer is that in modern society, we accept a certain level of mortality in order to enjoy our comforts and level of society. Otherwise, we'd ban driving, which not only kills more Americans, it kills those mostly in the prime of their lives.
So...you tell me...how many deaths have to occur before we as a society say "no"? And are willing to wreck our economy to avoid it?
MWBATL
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Thank you for a thoughtful and intelligent post.
I also think a huge factor is that we simply do not know things like the mortality rate yet.
I fear the economic damage. We are devastating 330 million to make sure we do not overwhelm our medical system, and thus make things worse. But there is indeed an argument that ...at some point...the pain we may cause for 330 million people may be much larger than the pain caused by the epidemic itself.
It is not a pleasant thought to raise, I know...but there is something there to think about....
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This discussion is not going to result in agreement.
Supersizethatorder-mutt
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There was an article in today's Augusta paper about one couple facing the same thing you are. They decided to go ahead and have a private ceremony so they could be married but delay a formal ceremony and reception until August.
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FWIW, the NCAA is reportedly leaning against approving an extra year for SR of winter sports.
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I have mixed feelings about this. A part of me says that sports are not the primary reason for college and seniors should move into adulthood. The other part of me would love to see Banks back for another season.
cyclejacket
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This is what one of our friends son and fiance did. My son was married in Austin, TX on Feb 15 before all of this it. Of course, he returned from honeymoon to find out SXSW was canceled. That and the other closings are wrecking his business.
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One of my favorite memories, 24 years ago today
lv20gt
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This is one of those things where I'm fine either way. I certainly wouldn't be opposed with getting another year from Banks, and the seniors were denied their last chance at playing for titles, conference and national. On the other hand they did play the season and it would open up a can of worms.
mstranahan
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I can't see how they would justify giving them another year because most of them missed one or two more games. Banks, FWIW, didn't miss out on any games due to the ban
LibertyTurns
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Duh, move everybody a year.
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It is hard to believe that it was just two weeks ago that the NCAA canceled March Madness. When I started this thread I and several other posters hoped this would pass without this deep effect. Little did we know that we might be looking at canceling a lot more stuff deeper into 2020.
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First look at how the loss of the tournament is going to affect revenue.
https://www.cbssports.com/college-b...illion-down-from-expected-nearly-600-million/
NCAA is going to dole out $225M. Before the cancellation of the Tournament it was expected to send out about $600M.
$53.6M will be given evenly to the 32 conferences ($1.675M - basically 1 unit). How the other 171M+ will be divied up has not been announced).
But same to say it is going to be a hit for the next half a decade as the units are payed out over 6 years.
https://www.cbssports.com/college-b...illion-down-from-expected-nearly-600-million/
NCAA is going to dole out $225M. Before the cancellation of the Tournament it was expected to send out about $600M.
$53.6M will be given evenly to the 32 conferences ($1.675M - basically 1 unit). How the other 171M+ will be divied up has not been announced).
But same to say it is going to be a hit for the next half a decade as the units are payed out over 6 years.
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