Coronavirus (Sports-Related and General)

[zambonir]

Still kind of wish we had one thread for discussing COVID-related sports news (theories, fantasies) and one for broader discussion of the virus. Even if it's still hard to separate out politics from either.

Wether it’s right or wrong, right now is the biggest opportunity to become popular in the minds of Americans again. We are captive to this virus and we need baseball. Regardless of how you felt about baseball, the opportunity to watch a game now has to be 10x better than watching the same Disney movie again for the 10th time.

I don't disagree but I also don't think we're getting baseball before July or August. At that point the NBA playoffs seem more viable to me (far fewer personnel, better and more popular TV programming even without fans) and the NFL will be in play.

The idea that they could play in May, and these proposals floating around, seem far-fetched to me. And if they did it, I don't think it would ultimately be good for the game. Many things about it would just make MLB look bad (disputes with players who don't want to do it, putting support employees at risk) and then when they have to cancel the season midway through because someone got sick it will make them look worse. The injuries and weird performances in a partial or drastically accelerated/reinvented season would also have lots of negative ramifications for 2021.

[Dirk41]

The more and more it looks like sports for the rest of the year will look drastically different than anything we've ever seen, it's hard to imagine college football in this time. The tailgating, massive stadiums, bar scenes in college town. They are the first organization to suggest a spring start because they have to understand the value of the crowd at everything that surrounds their game. When will college football ever look the same again?

[zambonir]

Moving college football to the spring is itself unthinkable/crazy since it also likely means no winter or spring sports in 2021, but the alternative might be no winter or spring sports for years to come (besides basketball, with baseball/softball radically hollowed out).

I have a friend whose son is a junior in high school, planning to play NCAA soccer. His entire situation - training, recruiting, summer, camps, games for his remaining HS time - is potentially wrecked.

[Dirk41]

Sports are rightfully down on the list of things that matter the most right now, but to think of fall Saturdays without college football would be even more bizarre than no pro sports as most of them have had work stoppages over time.

[phillychuck]

New information on who is most susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 (keep in mind these differences in some cases are pretty small):

Things we knew--smokers rather than non-smokers, older people rather than younger people, and men rather than women are most susceptible

New research is showing that being overweight increases risk (at least in NYC).

In New York, obesity appears to raise COVID-19 risk

Having type A blood increases risk, having type O reduces it (just one preliminary Chinese study on this, and the difference isn't large).

Relationship between the ABO Blood Group and the COVID-19 Susceptibility

There is now some anecdotal evidence that mutations in the ACE2 gene responsible for encoding receptor proteins on cell surfaces may explain some of the anomalous severe illness in younger, healthier people. The ACE2 mutation makes receptor proteins more receptive to the spike proteins on the surface of SARS-CoV-2. This is a very preliminary idea from doctors coordinating work out of the COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative.

Comparative genetic analysis of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV/SARS-CoV-2)...

[zambonir]

WWE to resume live TV matches starting Monday

[Philsmania]

WWE to resume live TV matches starting Monday

Are we that desperate for sports that ESPN is now talking about professional wrestling as if it is actually a sport?

[zambonir]

That ship sailed a long time ago

Why ESPN is featuring WWE on SportsCenter

ESPN's Dan Kaufman says execs "were conflicted" on wrestling coverage

[andyb]

That is a good point. Maybe comparing the number of deaths and the number pneumonia related deaths is a better indicator of how bad CV19 is on its own and how it indirectly affected the mortality rate overall.

The NY Times did this for NYC in the month ending April 4th. There were 5,330 more deaths than expected. Only 3,350 deaths attributed to Covid-19. This suggests that those 2,000 other deaths were either unclassified or perhaps related to the stress in the system with people with other illnesses staying home. It also suggests a greater than 50% undercount in deaths attributed to the virus (which means the current death count is more like 35,000 and that model that predicts 61,000 should probably be predicting close to 100,000).

We'll have better data from more places in the future, but it is really hard to see getting out of this without at least 100,000 total deaths, likely more since the IMHE model was the most optimistic.

Deaths in New York City Are More Than Double the Usual Total

[bigegypt0417]

It may be rehearsed and the outcome predestined, there is no way those men and women aren't athletes and that it isn't at least...sport.

[julio]

It may be rehearsed and the outcome predestined, there is no way those men and women aren't athletes and that it isn't at least...sport.

Interesting.

Is ballet... sport? Chinese dance? Circus acrobatics?

It kind of depends on what your definition is. If competition is a part of the definition, than professional wrestling, as a staged, scripted activity, doesn't fit that definition.

If your definition is simply highly athletic performance/entertainment activity, then professional wrestling qualifies, as do the things I noted above. On the other hand, poker tournaments, esports, etc., then do not qualify.

My suspicion is that, to most observers, the definition is slippery and moving - "sport" is in the eye of the beholder.

[zambonir]

It may be rehearsed and the outcome predestined, there is no way those men and women aren't athletes and that it isn't at least...sport.

Are we talking about wrestling or boxing and MMA?

Pro wrestling is somewhere on a continuum with fixed fights and ice skating/gymnastics (where they are essentially displays of athleticism with no tangible objective way to keep score). I do think it's crazy you can gamble on wrestling, I would think there are just too many holes in that as far as leaks and cheating.

[el-pietro]

I've been having this discussion for half my life I think, and I'm no closer to an answer.

Are esports and motorsports sports just because they have appropriated the word sport? Does sport require an athletic element? Does it require skill?

Personally, I think it has to contain an element of competition at the very least. However, where is the line between chess, darts etc and things we would all agree are sports. Those are competitive, and require some specific skill. Darts is even athletic to a degree. Is a place holder in the NFL an athlete? Its an important and difficult skill but is it athletic? I suppose they have to block at times.

[el-pietro]

You can gamble on the outcome of television shows, I see no difference between that and WWE etc. There were bookies in europe offering betting odds on an episode of the Simpsons "Who Shot Mr. Burns" in the 1990s. Not only was the outcome already decided but the episode in question had already aired in the US months before Ireland and the UK. So anyone with internet access, or who knew anyone in the US was guaranteed to win. The bookies make a profit though so they have no issue taking bets on it. Usually they will limit the stake though.

I have a much bigger issue with bets on non professional athletes such as college sports. That to me is flat out wrong.

[Lawman]

Looks like the Governors of NY, NJ, CT, PA, RI, and DE have put together a panel to examine how to re-open the region.

........the governors said they will name a public health official, an economic official and their respective chiefs of staff to work on the plan.

Northeast governors form group to discuss reopening of region economies

[Philsmania]

They probably should have included the governors of MA, NH, ME, MD & VA.

[Lawman]

Maybe they'll expand on it.

[rpmcmurphy]

The governors of California, Oregon, and Washington have announced a similar regional approach in the west.

[Lawman]

Massachusetts has joined the party.

[Dirk41]

The odds always begin to trend to the eventual winners, even surprises, closer to showtime.