COVID Sports Daily: Pac-12 decision looms, MLB looking into bubble playoffs, neck gaiters questioned in study
The Pac-12 and Big Ten are expected to announce Tuesday any alterations to their planned football schedules, set to start next month.
Even in the context of a sport as wild as college football, Monday was as strange as days come.
Just after midnight, star athletes from across the sport began posting tweets using the hashtag #WeWantToPlay. The message was clear and concise, but it left enough unsaid that players pushing to play this fall could share the same words as those who argue it’s safest to wait til spring.
Even the president retweeted Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence, whose tweet advocated for nationwide health and safety mandates among college football — in contrast to President Trump’s choice to leave any coronavirus mandates in the hands of state and local officials.
Big Ten, Pac-12 could pull plug on fall football
Two of the Power 5 conferences are expected to make some sort of determination Tuesday about their fall football seasons. The Big Ten’s football campaign is set to start in early September, while the Pac-12’s is scheduled for a Sept. 26 kickoff.
It’s not clear whether the conferences will delay their schedules a few weeks to buy more time, push their schedules all the way to spring semester, or do something else. But any decision they make will likely have ripple effects across major college football in the SEC, ACC and Big 12.
Pressure is mounting on the Power 5 after the Mountain West joined the MAC Monday in moving fall sports to the spring. An ESPN report published Monday on a heart condition linked to the virus may have increased the concern about pushing ahead with play, even as some schools like Nebraska hint at leaving their conference to play in the fall.
MLB looking into bubble playoffs
Coronavirus outbreaks within the St. Louis Cardinals and Miami Marlins have left Major League Baseball’s no-bubble regular-season plan looking unsafe.
MLB officials are looking into holding the 2020 playoffs in a bubble or a pair of hubs similar to the NBA’s or NHL’s current plan, according to an ESPN report.
Metro areas with multiple MLB stadiums appear to be the best candidates for hosting the playoffs, and the report cites that with 16 teams involved in the expanded playoffs, three hub cities would likely be needed to complete the first round.
ESPN mentioned Southern California, Chicago and New York as possible areas. The Bay Area certainly would also qualify, though hosting a number of playoff games at the aging (and aged) Oakland Coliseum may cause MLB to balk at the region.
Gaiters may be counterproductive in fighting virus spread
A new study shows that gaiters, the neck warmer style mask seen on the faces of many MLB players so far in this strange season, could actually increase the odds of transmitting the coronavirus, rather than cutting down risk as intended.
A Duke scientist says the gaiters may actually be breaking up large particles into smaller particles, making them more likely to hang in the air. Bandanas and knitted masks may also do more harm than good, according to the study.