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I found this interesting once before, but is has been reaffirmed today.  I know many people do not see much intrinsic value in sports talk shows, radio, etc.  I listen a lot and have for 30 years.  And a lot of times it holds mostly entertainment values expect for die-hard sports fans.  But after 9-11 I noted that virtually all sports talk shows and hosts went very mush to serious news  – the facts only.  No polishing the truth.  They got experts on the air because they were not limited in what they said.  SProtstalk was not the place to be concerned about.

2020- Coronavirus.  SportsTalk has nothing to talk about except the NFL draft now that Tom Brady signed with the Tampa Bay Bucs.  Otherwise nothing.  No sports anywhere to talk about.  No athletes.  No LeBron.  Nothing.  So I have noted that there is an ongoing parade of conversations with experts of pandemics and viruses.  And those people have a very different message than the political one.

So since early March, the experts have been saying Hockey season is over, and the NBA season is unlikely to restart in late summer because it would run into next season.  This is regardless of whether there are people in the stands.  MLS will not restart.  Golf is put on hold until fall.  The peak was at least 8 weeks out (mid-May) if we implemented full lockdown everywhere, in early March, which did not happen.  So they are now saying July.  Or later given we are sill not locked down.  That means no major league baseball given they would need a month or so of training.

Much more serious is the discussion that the NFL season may not start on time.  Training camps starts in late July.  That means all the off-season OTAs and camps would not have happened.  That means teams would be way behind.  Players have not had the benefits of working out, so injuries could be a serious concern.  If the pandemic is ongoing in July, training camp cannot start.  Figure 30 days minimum from being clear to starting games.

Those are professional players who can make a choice of playing or not.  What about college football.  Kirk Herbstreit said the last week of March that unless we get the lockdown together and everyone compliant across the country, college football was unlikely to happen.  High school would also follow.

In other words, if we do not listen tot eh experts and lockdown, THERE WILL BE NO FOOTBALL IN 2020!!!!!!!!!!!! That’s what SportTalk radio is saying.  Maybe since football is a huge part of the economy, we better listen!

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*Gaslighting, if you don’t know the word, is defined as manipulation into doubting your own sanity; as in, Carl made Mary think she was crazy, even though she clearly caught him cheating. He gaslit…
— Read on forge.medium.com/prepare-for-the-ultimate-gaslighting-6a8ce3f0a0e0

Many of you are aware I have been posting ongoing news on the coronavirus pandemic.  Nothing political – just the facts from expects.  Leave the politics (all sides) out of this.  The current crisis however does point out several things.  First – experts matter and when experts are used for pawns to meet a political agenda, or allow themselves to be, it undermines public trust.  In the time of crisis, the reason you have experts is that they have knowledge the general public does not.  That is when you need them.  And why we need to train experts for the future, not belittle their value.

It also points out how over the last 40 years the press have become less about news and more reality television.  This started with Fox – who edged its way into the market by sensationalizing things.  Others have followed suit, at least to a degree (if you have been around a while, you know this to be true – if not talk to someone who has).  That makes it much harder to convey a consistent, correct message to the public in times of crisis.  Hence the differences among states in the actions taken versus the experts’ recommendations.

A recent article in the Atlantic that I posted noted that the southern states are likely to be hit harder, and later with the coronavirus peak because they have not followed expert recommendations, while California and Washington are faring better (time will tell).  The concern then is reinfection of areas where the virus was under control from the “late-blooming” areas of the country.  The south is perhaps less “ready” and has less access to medical facilities that larger states with larger metropolitan areas.  The scale of New York and in the future, Florida, will loom large, but the percentages of people impacts in the south, are projected to be far greater, which will in turn have major economic challenges for an already challenges area of the country.

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Cities Widely Ignore Federal Flood Protection Rules, With Few Penalties
— Read on www-nytimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/climate/fema-flood-insurance.amp.html