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2 hours ago, UncleEarl said:

You guys have bars open?  Only restaurants here, but noticed the same.  While this is a generalization, the under 25 crowd could give a shit. 

Indiana casinos opening the 15th, Ohio the 19th with restrictions.

Limited (50% or 75% maybe) occupancy.

I think the social distancing will be lightly enforced but should be some great

fights  when someone gets within ten feet of a rolling crone in a Li'l Rascal electric scooter.

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The NFL can guard against COVID-19 all it wants, but players still have to tackle each other
What’s tackling but a renunciation of everything we’ve learned about keeping the coronavirus at bay?

 

The NFL really has this pandemic thing figured out, doesn’t it?

 

The latest science-driven protocols will be in place when players return to team facilities in the coming weeks. Testing for COVID-19 will be a regular occurrence. Proper social distancing will be observed. Masks will be mandatory at team meetings. Locker rooms will be cleansed and disinfected so often you might mistake them for operating rooms.

 

We expect that from a league that prides itself on military-like precision.

 

But there’s one little thing that keeps tugging at the sleeve: Eventually, the players are going to have to touch each other. Touching is sort of a necessity when it comes to huddling and blocking and — this is a biggie — hitting, which is the whole point of football.

 

Touching goes against the concept of keeping 6 feet away from the person closest to you. Tackling sneers at social distancing and, further, would blow it up like a defenseless receiver if it could. And what’s gang tackling but a renunciation of everything we’ve learned about keeping the coronavirus at bay?

 

A football game is a buffet table of germs. This virus will be on the menu. There are too many people involved in the NFL for it not to be.

 

At least a few Bears are concerned about their safety, which, in itself, is interesting. They don’t worry about paralysis or brain trauma, or if they do, they’ve learned to stuff it away in a corner. They know those dangers are a possible price of doing business. But now they’re worried about a virus they can’t see, one that infectious-disease experts have very little knowledge of and one that doesn’t yet have a vaccine.

 

Hard to blame them.

 

If the NFL allows fans in the stands this season, they will be required to socially distance from one another. It’s the responsible thing to do. Meanwhile, the people entertaining them will be look like a glob of humanity on every play. You can understand why some players feel like a piece of meat. Or a specimen on a microscope slide.

 

“I’ll say this, it is scary,” Bears defensive lineman Akiem Hicks said recently. “It’s scary to think that most of my job is physical contact with other players. And so, boy, I don’t know. I don’t know. I want to be safe, and I’m sure they’re going to do their best to make sure we’re in the best possible situation in order to be able to play this game and do it, right? But it’s scary.”

 

Would it be logical to think that sweating and grunting linemen who are holding on to each other every play are at a higher risk of contracting the virus than, say, people at a protest? Or at the grocery store? Did I mention that, as of right now, the only mask the players would be wearing during games is a metal one attached to their helmets? The league reportedly is looking into modified masks that might contain surgical material.

 

So this is going to be very, very interesting. If more than a few players on a team test positive for the virus, the league will have a decision to make on how to proceed. It will be a decision with tons of money at stake. If Hicks and others are concerned now about COVID-19, how will they react if a teammate needs to be hospitalized because of the virus? Suddenly, it’s not a hypothetical. It’s a reality, one the players have to bring home to families. To their children.

 

As much as many of us want sports to return, there is nothing easy about this. You can say that the coronavirus usually affects older people with underlying health issues, but try telling that to someone who is being asked to leave his fears at the stadium tunnel and go hit the quarterback.

 

It’s not as easy as saying, “Just play.’’ Well, it is if you’re not the one doing the blocking and the tackling. But if you’re a cornerback being asked to attach yourself to a receiver on every play, you might not be so cavalier about it.

 

Let’s also keep in mind that some of these guys aren’t the nicest people in the world on game day. Or any other day. What’s the over/under on the number of games into the season before a player accuses an opponent of spitting in his face?

 

I’ll go with two.

 

What’s the protocol for that?

 

https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears/2020/6/10/21286821/nfl-can-guard-against-covid-19-but-players-still-have-to-tackle-each-other-bears-akiem-hicks

 

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8 hours ago, westside bengal said:

Part of me likes the mask thing.  I don't shave as often and if I have to run into town I do not give a crap if my shirt is clean or not.  With a mask on I am incognito.  It also makes it easier to rob a place.  They don’t expect a  thing until you’re right on top of them.

 

Fixed.  😎

 

 

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Coronavirus: Ravens coach Harbaugh calls NFL's COVID-19 guidelines 'impossible'

 

Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh had strong comments for the NFL after the league's latest memo outlining how franchises should continue going about reopening their facilities amid the coronavirus pandemic.

 

The league's rules require physical distancing in the locker, meeting and weight rooms and even cafeterias.

 

Harbaugh expressed frustrations with those guidelines in an interview with 105.7 The Fan on Thursday. 

 

"I've seen all the memos on that, and to be quire honest with you, it's impossible what they're asking to do. Humanly impossible," he said.

 

"We're going to do everything we can do. We're going to space, we're going to have masks. But, you know, it's a communication sport. We have to be able to communicate with each other in person. We have to practice."

 

Harbaugh expressed difficulty understanding how the rules would play out in practice, specifically noting players will not stay six feet apart in huddles and wondering if players can only shower one at a time.

 

"I think good people, smart people are involved in this," Harbaugh said. "But the way I'm reading these memos right now, you throw your hands up and you go, 'What the heck? There's no way this can be right'."

 

Training camps are scheduled to start in late July and the first preseason game is the Dallas Cowboys against the Pittsburgh Stealers in the Hall of Fame game on August 6.

 

https://sports.yahoo.com/coronavirus-ravens-coach-harbaugh-calls-023248198.html

 

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15 hours ago, Le Tigre said:

All I can say is the social distancing rules in most places in Ohio have been tossed to the curb.  Menards and my dentist and docs office are about the only places I see it actually being practiced still. 

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1 hour ago, SF2 said:

All I can say is the social distancing rules in most places in Ohio have been tossed to the curb.  Menards and my dentist and docs office are about the only places I see it actually being practiced still. 

Same in Florida. Distancing and masks are still sort of around, but the majority of folks have moved on like this whole isn’t still happening. With numbers down here surging it’s more than a bit troubling to me.

 

Crazy thing is, one month ago people were clamoring and raging that shelter-in-place be lifted and “rights” and “liberties” be restored, now that they have it they can’t exercise common decency by simply wearing a mask in public.

 

Insane. Lots of extremely selfish people out there.

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REPORT: EZEKIEL ELLIOTT AMONG NFL PLAYERS TO TEST POSITIVE FOR COVID-19

According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, several players for the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans have tested positive.
 
Author: 10TV Web Staff
Published: 12:46 PM EDT June 15, 2020

Former Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott is reportedly one of the NFL players in Texas who has tested positive for COVID-19.

 

Rapoport said Elliott's agent confirmed that the running back was one of the players and that Elliott is feeling good.

 

None of the players were believed to have been in their team facilities, according to Rapoport. 

 

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6 hours ago, thezerawkid said:

Same in Florida. Distancing and masks are still sort of around, but the majority of folks have moved on like this whole isn’t still happening. With numbers down here surging it’s more than a bit troubling to me.

 

Crazy thing is, one month ago people were clamoring and raging that shelter-in-place be lifted and “rights” and “liberties” be restored, now that they have it they can’t exercise common decency by simply wearing a mask in public.

 

Insane. Lots of extremely selfish people out there.

Wearing a mask has unfortunately become a political statement.

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Ezekiel Elliott upset about COVID-19 diagnosis going public

Jason Owens

Shortly after news broke that members of the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans tested positive for COVID-19, Ezekiel Elliott’s agent confirmed that he had contracted the coronavirus.

Elliott is upset about that news going public.

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport broke both pieces of news Monday morning, first reporting that players had tested positive without identifying anybody.
 

Elliott’s agent confirmed his diagnosis

Around 30 minutes later, Rapoport reported that Elliott’s agent, Rocky Arceneaux, confirmed to him that Elliott had tested positive and that he “is feeling good.”
 

The Cowboys declined to comment, citing privacy laws. But Elliott’s own camp was the first to publicly acknowledge that he tested positive, so Rapoport reported it.

Then the Cowboys posted a story on their website about Elliott having COVID-19, citing Rapoport’s report.

Elliott then sent out this tweet.

HIPAA ??

— Ezekiel Elliott (@EzekielElliott) June 15, 2020

Elliott is referring to the privacy law that the Cowboys appeared to cite to initially deny comment. HIPAA stands for Health Insurance 

 

Elliott is referring to the privacy law that the Cowboys appeared to cite to initially deny comment. HIPAA stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, a federal lawthat prevents health care professionals from revealing sensitive patient information publicly without the patient’s consent or knowledge.

Elliott appears to have an issue with the media in this case reporting the news, which is not a HIPAA violation.

 

My agent only confirmed. The story was already written. Reporters had been called my agent all morning.

— Ezekiel Elliott (@EzekielElliott) June 15, 2020

 
 

My agent didn’t break the story to the media

— Ezekiel Elliott (@EzekielElliott) June 15, 2020

Again, it was Arceneaux who made Elliott’s diagnosis public. The story did not go public until Elliott’s representative told a reporter that he had contracted the coronavirus.

 

https://sports.yahoo.com/ezekiel-elliott-upset-about-covid-19-diagnosis-going-public-184043731.html

 

 

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NFL plans to test players for COVID-19 three times per week, isolate positive cases

Teams aren't set to return to facilities for training camp until sometime in July

 

As the NFL works to finalize protocol for returning to team facilities amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the league intends to test players for the coronavirus about three times per week, then isolate any players who test positive for the respiratory disease. That's according to NFL Players Association medical director Thom Mayer, who announced the tentative plan Monday on a conference call with agents, per NFL Network's Tom Pelissero.

 

Mayer added that there's a 90 percent chance the NFL will have reliable saliva testing available before players return to facilities sometime in July. DeMaurice Smith, the NFLPA's executive director, noted on the call, per Pelissero, that his organization "expects to make headway on overall protocols" over the next month or so, with most teams not expected to report for summer training camp until late next month.

 

This comes in the wake of several Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans reportedly testing positive for COVID-19.

 

The NFL and NFLPA jointly released their first overview of COVID-19 protocols in a memo sent to teams earlier this month. Guidelines included rearranging locker rooms to ensure six feet of physical separation between staff and players, limiting group strength and conditioning workouts to no more than 15 people and conducting meetings virtually, when possible.

 

The league has already cancelled all in-person June minicamps and allowed teams to extend virtual offseason programs while prohibiting players from physically visiting team facilities. Only players already on a rehabilitation program can currently go to the facilities, along with a select number of coaches and front office personnel.

 

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nfl-plans-to-test-players-for-covid-19-three-times-per-week-isolate-positive-cases/

 

 

 

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Cowboys’ and Texans’ positive coronavirus tests a reminder that NFL season could be compromised, too
Pat Leonard
By PAT LEONARD
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
JUN 15, 2020 | 7:25 PM

 

In March, the NFL was the one professional sports league that appeared to have time on its side facing the coronavirus pandemic.

 

Football did not have to shut down midseason like the NBA and NHL. It did not have to postpone its spring start and then greedily jeopardize its entire 2020 season like Major League Baseball.

 

The NFL had the luxury of needing only to push its draft and offseason minicamps to a virtual format and maintain that the 2020 season remained on schedule.

 

That was in March, however. And now it is June. And training camp is scheduled to start in about six weeks and on Monday Ezekiel Elliott was among “several” Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans who have tested positive for the virus, per NFL Network.

 

And while these players are not the first in the NFL to test positive (i.e. Saints coach Sean Payton, Broncos edge Von Miller), Monday’s news was different because of its proximity to the start of football’s scheduled season and because it marks several players on multiple teams testing positive.

 

For now, these players aren’t together inside their team facilities yet, but once they are, even with all of the new social distancing protocols in place, a report like Monday’s could absolutely rock the sport.

 

As the NFL Players Association’s medical director Dr. Thom Mayer said on the Adam Schefter Podcast in mid-May: “Frankly, if we get people in camps at the club facilities and the virus begins to propagate quickly, we’re probably close to game over because of the spread of the virus. So we want to avoid that, number one to keep the players safe, but also to avoid a situation where we’ve got complete clubs out and issues like that.”

 

Mayer then told player agents on Monday in an NFLPA call that they should expect players to be tested every three days once they report to camp, per The MMQB, and that “there is a 90% chance reliable saliva testing (will be) available” by the time players report, per NFL Network.

 

“You can’t fit the virus into football, you have to fit football into the virus,” Mayer said, per the MMQB. “This is a bada** virus.”

 

Regular testing capabilities and quick results obviously would be great news for football’s ability to prevent an outbreak by proactively isolating cases.

 

The league also has issued protocols for players’ safe return to facilities that include increased space between lockers, mandatory masks, social distancing, restricted access to various areas of the buildings, and virtual meetings when possible, among many other requirements.

 

But Monday’s news about the Cowboys and Texans players reminded everyone that football will not be immune to the impact of this virus. The NFL simply hasn’t had to face it head-on yet on the field.

 

In fact, for further evidence, note that teams are still waiting on the league and the players’ association for guidance on exact dates and protocols.

 

Want to know what’s allowed and what isn’t, when players are reporting, and how it’s all going to work? So do plenty of team executives and coaches. On many of those issues and questions, they remain in the dark.

 

NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith also reportedly said on Monday’s call with agents that the league and players’ association preliminarily believe a season without fans would have at least a $3 billion impact on revenue, per NFL Network.

This would then require negotiations between the two parties to try and manage that financial shortfall over the course of their new 11-year collective bargaining agreement.

 

But the issue first will be getting games played safely, with fans or not.

 

Unforgettably in early May the NFL announced its regular season schedule as if it were clearly going to start on time without a hitch. The reality of COVID-19’s potential impact on the season was downplayed severely.

And for now, the plan remains to start the 2020 season on time.

Still, as positive virus cases rise again in re-opened states around the country, and uncertainty lingers about the nature of football’s start, and multiple players from multiple teams test positive in mid-June, it’s fair to wonder how capably and safely the NFL will be able to operate when time no longer is on its side.

 

And the clock is ticking.

 

https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/ny-ezekiel-elliott-cowboys-texans-coronavirus-nfl-season-20200615-fwrozywglve3lnr7a5sce2ev7y-story.html

 

 

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As clock ticks to NFL training camps, key COVID-19 issues remain unresolved

By Sam Robinson  |  Last updated 6/18/20
 

Current landscape will create dicey training camps  

 

Eleven NFL teams play in states that are experiencing record numbers for COVID-19 cases. Arizona, California, Florida, Nevada, North Carolina, and Texas were among the states that saw their seven-day average for coronavirus cases hit new peaks over the past week. The disease's U.S. death toll now exceeds 117,000.

 

The positive tests of Elliott, Jackson and the others are warning signs in advance of every team’s roster convening for training camp at team facilities. Despite the NFL mandating masks off the field, capping weight room attendance and suggesting meetings be either virtual or held outside, camps starting within five weeks presents an opening for chaos.

 

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, recommends the NFL adopt an NBA-style bubble format.  "Unless players are essentially in a bubble -- insulated from the community and they are tested nearly every day -- it would be very hard to see how football is able to be played this fall," he said.

 

But the league, the nation’s most contact-centric team sport, has not yet adopted that format. Players, along with their dozens of coaches and additional essential personnel, will venture out into the world after each practice. No known restrictions will be placed on them away from team facilities during the season. 

 

 

A sneaky threat to the NFL season 

 

Fauci recommended this week that baseball not extend its season too late into the fall. Citing cold weather potentially bringing risk of an overlap between a coronavirus second wave and the next flu season, Fauci said he would advise baseball to conclude its season before the weather turns cold. The NFL, which plans to hold games in teams’ usual stadiums, does not have this option.

 

Delaying the season would not exactly help here, obviously, considering the winter weeks that follow the Super Bowl. A recent Japanese study also indicated COVID-19 contraction was 19 times riskier indoors than outdoors, posing a problem for the teams that play in domed stadiums and presenting a possible no-win situation for the NFL. Given the virus’ unpredictability, overreacting now does not make much sense. The NFL may need to revise its 2020 blueprint, however, depending on how the now-likelier-to-occur baseball season unfolds.

 

Will NFL allow players an option to skip the season? 

Major League Baseball has proposed an important stipulation for its COVID-altered season. Players deemed higher risks to develop complications from the virus can opt out of the season and receive their full salary and service time. Players who are not deemed high risk can opt out as well but would not be paid or accrue service time. With football featuring a bit more contact than the sport it usurped to be the nation’s most popular, the NFL must protect players who face greater risks if they contract the virus.

 

Players being transported to emergency rooms -– as the league’s season continues -– because of a virus would present surreal optics. But an opt-out call might be difficult. Over half the NFL's players earn league-minimum salaries. A greater percentage are in danger of losing their jobs for various reasons. Even if a higher-risk player’s 2020 salary is guaranteed, his 2021 job will not be. Potentially facing a rare salary cap decrease come March, teams will not hesitate to rely on rookie-contract players over middle-class veterans. That could put certain higher-risk players to a difficult choice.

 

Would the league green-light a solution to prevent players with pre-existing conditions from being cut if they opt to sit out to protect themselves? While that seems like a difficult plan to enact, such a provision may help the NFL given the dangers for all parties if an at-risk player develops severe complications from COVID.

 

Grim future may be inevitable for many free agents  

The sizable sect of starter- or contributor-caliber players who remain in free agency may be fighting multi-front battles. Free agents remain unable to visit teams, due to COVID-19, and may not be permitted to do so until all teams’ training camps open July 28. These late arrivals will impact their chances of standing out on what will likely be mostly low-paying (non-Jadeveon Clowney division) one-year contracts. Some teams may turn to free agents for experience purposes -– with rookies missing an offseason -– but the future of free agency's middle class may still be bleak. Next year’s second-level free agents may feel the effects of this offseason as well.

In addition to the ongoing NFL-NFLPA negotiations addressing how to bring players back to team facilities, the sides are discussing the financial ramifications COVID could cause. Since the salary cap was introduced in 1994, it has only gone down once –- in 2011. If a fanless season causes the 2021 cap to decrease, more teams will turn to recent draftees on cost-controlled contracts over middle-class free agents.

 

If issues prove unsolvable, which teams will be most affected? 

 

No NFL season has been canceled, and as of now, that occurring remains unlikely. But the myriad big-picture issues the league must navigate will not be easy. If it fails to do so, the NFLPA would fight for players to be granted service time for a lost season. The union succeeding on that front would send players who signed one-year contracts this year back into free agency. Franchise-tagged players would have better chances of hitting the 2021 market -– which may not be especially friendly -– because their tag prices would rise. Certain teams would be more impacted than others, too.

 

The Buccaneers’ Tom Brady plan would absorb a substantial blow if Brady’s age-43 season were nullified. The Saints, who loaded up this offseason to make perhaps one last Drew Brees-guided Super Bowl push, and Stealers -– with a 38-year-old Ben Roethlisberger and several starters due to be 2021 free agents -– would as well. Lamar Jackson becomes extension-eligible next year; the Ravens losing this crucial season when the reigning MVP is on rookie-contract control would be costly.

 
 
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The NFL recently announced it would observe Juneteenth as a league holiday. 

By Jason Marcum@marcum89  Jun 17, 2020, 1:10pm EDT
 
The Bengals have become the latest NFL franchise to establish June 19th — also known as Junteenth — as a paid holiday, according to Tyler Dragon of the Cincinnati Enquirer

Juneteenth marks the anniversary of June 19th, 1865, when Union soldiers landed in Galveston, Texas and proclaimed that slavery in the United States had ended, and that the Civil War was over.

This news comes after NFL commissioner Roger Goodell recently announced that the NFL will observe Juneteenth as a league holiday, and league offices will be closed on Friday. 

“This year, as we work together as a family and in our communities to combat the racial injustices that remain deeply rooted into the fabric of our society, the NFL will observe Juneteenth on Friday, June 19th as a recognized holiday and our league offices will be closed,” Goodell said. “It is a day to reflect on our past, but more importantly, consider how each one of us can continue to show up and band together to work toward a better future.”

 

 

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