Suspending campaign decision nears

masks

Closely following the political campaign of the past year or so was a fascinating exercise.

Roughly 23 folks threw their hats into the ring and each dropped out by “suspending” campaigns until the last two guys were left and we have one on one side vs. the one on the other side.


Each school and conference
will be free to decide how
to safely resume athletic
operations, the council said

Suspending meant ending in all of the cases.

Plenty of factors involved in those decisions but two were key ones: Money and time.

Now we’re waiting on college football.

If college football was going to suspend its campaign, it will be between now and, say, June 1 and that happens to be the day the NCAA has permitted athletes to have individual unsupervised workouts.

In the above story the key graph is this:

“The NCAA Division I Council says college athletes can take part in “voluntary athletics activities” such as workouts in less than two weeks, as long as they can also follow any local restrictions meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus, such as limits on building capacities and physical distancing. Each school and conference will be free to decide how to safely resume athletic operations, the council said.

I can see them running out of time to do it for this fall.

The options seem to be these:

  • Have fans attend as usual wearing masks as they did in 1918.
  • Have fans attend wearing masks and limit the size of crowds to where there can be at least a seat or two in between.
  • Play in an empty stadium with no fans.
  • Play next spring when there (hopefully) will be a vaccine.

Either way, it’s time to bleep or get off the pot. Temple is still trying to sell season tickets (as I would imagine every other school is) based on the old model. Fans are balking at buying until some kind of announcement can be made.

That’s the money part. The time part is that fall class schedules have to be determined soon and it’s hard to imagine justifying having college football on the field if there is no college learning at the campuses.

So it’s time to make an announcement: Are we having a season or are we not and what are the limitations around it?

Until then, we’re in a state of limbo and nothing can be done.

It’s time to do something, anything, to end this uncertainty.  Something tells me we will find out within the next two weeks, tops.

If not, this campaign is not being fair to its supporters.

Saturday: Upgrades and Downgrades

Monday: A Game to Mark on the Calendar

 

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14 thoughts on “Suspending campaign decision nears

    • Thanks. MI is a swing state, so the presidential election may come down to college football fans. If they cancel the season, I’m voting Libertarian and moving to New Zealand.

  1. Praying that no player, coach, trainer, cheerleader, band member, ref, beer vendor, usher, or fan gets sick. The show must go on. TFF!

  2. My guess is that AAC will not play, BIG 10 will not as well. SEC is 50/50 chance, Their culture may demand it.
    The whole thing is depressing. I was looking forward to the Tulane trip on 10/31. Great excuse to see the Big Easy, so much to see and do. Hopefully next year.

  3. Temple today agreed to a 4-game (2 and 2) with UConn. Am I out of my mind or is the laziest, unimaginative Athletic Department we’ve ever had? Kraft is torpedoing Temple Football.

    • Yeah. Kinda hoping he gets the BC job and the next guy pitches to the BOT that he will only schedule g5 and p5 foes and get Lafayette and Wagner off my schedule.

  4. The only benefit in playing UCONN is decreased travel costs.I would not have thrown them a lifeline. I really would like to get Kraft’s view on scheduling and whether or not he could make deals with P-5 schools for one home game and two road games.

  5. Also, I think he wants 1-1s with P5s and they won’t give it to him. Hard to believe since many G5s have received home and homes with P5 teams. I asked him about Indiana and he said “Indiana won’t play us.” Hmm. That was about 5 years ago. Might want to try again.

  6. How can we be so cynical to entertain the thought where our AD is not doing the best he can to promote temple football and sports overall ?
    Only 3 possible conclusions here :
    1 -He is doing the best he can; oh my that is a problem.
    2 – He somehow is not doing the best he can; oh my now that’s a problem.
    3 – He has ‘other ‘ motives ; oh my, terrible thought.

    OR the un thinkable, which is why I did not think of this one :
    4 – He’s a paid assassin, a bit far fetched , but still , hmmmh ??? I doubt it.

    • All I can say is that after Rhule, he made two bad hires with Collins and Diaz which stemmed from his being overwhelmed by flash and enthusiasm instead of coaching ability. Collins was a disaster and Diaz would have been worse as exemplified by the horrible job he did with top 15 talent last season. Kraft hired Carey out of desperation and never would have hired him had some young flashy assistant been available. Kraft should have made sure after Rhule quit that whomever he hired was going to continue and play Rhule’s style. He was not happy that Collins threw it all away but did not fire him. which should have been done on the field after the Nova loss. Kraft also made a mistake by not having a national search for a BB coach before hiring McKie.

      • The McKie thing is really puzzling. I could see this guy sticking around for five 16-15 seasons. Nice guy. Do not see the fire in his belly that John Chaney had. That said, I could say the same for Fran. Pitino? He’s got a lot of fire in the belly. I think Iona is going to do better than us.

  7. Back to the season. Money talks most in America so my guess is that the pressure of needing and/or wanting the funds will drive getting a season going maybe sooner than later. Even with fewer fans (wearing masks I’d hope) at the games, the TV contracts will help pay a lot. Just look at how the economic pressures are prematurely opening things up nationwide – will sports be far behind? Whether it should or not from a safety standpoint, I bet the season starts within a month of the normal kickoff date.

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