Is it real? Should we be excited? Are we getting Big Ten football in 2020? According to a lawyer who talked to a sports reporter, it’s possible and that’s all we needed to hear. Ohio State football beat writer for the Columbus Dispatch Bill Rabinowitz said a lawyer is predicting the pressure on the Big Ten will force the conference to reevaluate the idea of playing sports this fall.
An attorney I respect who long worked inside college football programs predicts that the pressure from parents, players and some schools will result in Big Ten reconsidering its cancellation of fall sports. COVID-19 might force re-cancellation but expects a second chance. 1/
— Bill Rabinowitz (@brdispatch) August 18, 2020
After just a few days, Ohio State star quarterback Justin Fields’ #WeWantToPlay petition reached over a quarter of a million signatures. What does that tell us? It tells us college football players and college football fans like college football. I think we already knew that, but recent breakthroughs could change some minds or at the very least continue the destruction of the Big Ten for making such a massive decision so early.
During his press conference right after the Big Ten made its decision to postpone the fall season on Aug. 11, Wisconsin AD Barry Alvarez said a rapid coronavirus saliva test “could be an answer for us,” and he hoped one could be ready for the spring.
Less than a week later, we’ve got one approved by the FDA called SalivaDirect. It sounds gross, but it costs $10 and results could be available within a few hours. Its accuracy rate is 88-94%, which is a percentage I would’ve paid a handsome amount of money for at any point in my academic career.
BREAKING: Great news.
SalivaDirect received approval this morning from the @US_FDA.
This could be one the first major game changers in fighting the pandemic. Rarely am I this enthusiastic. Here’s why.
Follow if interested.
— Andy Slavitt @ ? (@ASlavitt) August 15, 2020
The SEC released its schedule tonight as it looks ahead to the season, which keeps begging the question why the Big Ten thought it needed to make a decision so quickly. We could realistically play an eight-week season starting Oct. 24 through Dec. 12 with the conference title game on Dec. 19, the day before the College Football Playoff is scheduled to make its decision.
The Big Ten made a late October decision in early August. Why?
As far as a potential waiver for players to sign before taking the field, the NCAA already banned this. I’m not a lawyer believe it or not, but how is this possible? We allow 18 year olds to choose whether to fight in a war (shoutout Lou Holtz), smoke cigarettes and live in the dorms during a pandemic but they’re not equipped to make a decision whether or not to play football?
Every medical expert seems to have a different opinion on the virus but over the weekend, Twitter was buzzing about a flawed report that apparently the Big Ten heavily relied on, and it featured a fantastic quote from University of Michigan cardiologist Dr. Venk Murthy.
“I have no idea what a Big Ten is, but it is getting taken in by the nonsensical numbers.”
The Big 10 report on COVID relies heavily on this paper which found rampant abnormalities among normal controls and had many statistic that make no sense.
Time to retract or correct this paper. https://t.co/JY86C3zBBQ
— Venk Murthy (@venkmurthy) August 14, 2020
In the end, is this all false hope? Very possible - and highly likely - but I rely on false hope in every aspect of my life. That’s not going to change here, especially when it involves my favorite thing in the world.
Keep praying for Big Ten football.
Photo courtesy of UWBadgers.com
Keep the conversation going by reaching out to Erik Buchinger on Twitter or email erik@deceptivespeed.com.