The Morning Stake | 2020.05.19

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Dallas Morning News’ Chuck Carlton gets into some of the Big 12 issues, namely that Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said that a decision hasn’t been made yet:

“It could be earlier in June, it could be mid-June, it could be late June or early July,” Bowlsby said, noting that SEC schools were fairly evenly split on those three options. “We have some work to do to come up with a recommendation for our CEOs as well. We’re still in midstream. We have to get back by sometime around the middle of July because otherwise, we’ll have to push the season back.”

With some of the announcements made yesterday, like New York is opened to pro sports here shortly and sports with no fans in Texas can return at the end of the month. Things are trending that way.

One other side story has been Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley saying that to come back by June 1st is, “one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard.” Meanwhile, I think that Texas and Tom Herman want to return to campus at the beginning of the month. I think that it would be good to get staff returning to the team facilities, but I’m sort of in agreement with Riley in that the more days we can give these players so that some processes can be figured out would be beneficial to all of these student athletes.

Speaking of coming back, The Ringer has a nice detail of what MLB is proposing those processes are going to be for players and I think you’ll see pro sports implement these things and then you’ll see colleges mimic and hopefully improve those measures:

The 67-page illustrated manual reportedly focuses on the health and safety measures necessary for a return to play. According to the proposal, those include players, coaches, and other on-field personnel undergoing coronavirus tests multiple times a week, and front office personnel being subjected to monthly blood screenings for antibodies. Players would receive daily temperature checks both at home and at the ballpark, and anyone who reports a body temperature of 100 degrees or higher would be put into isolation. The manual also includes diagrams indicating where coaches and players would be allowed to sit in the dugout, and guidelines on how far apart they’d have to stand for the pregame national anthem and the seventh-inning rendition of “God Bless America.” (For some reason, we’d still be playing music between innings in front of empty stands.)

SI’s Ross Dellenger delves into what college programs are doing to prepare for the new normal, including contact-free facilities, outdoor weight rooms, fog machines and all of the like. This could be a significant investment for these programs.

Coaches and staff members in masks and gloves. Temperature tests at the front door. Hand sanitizing stations around every corner. Weight room squat racks 20 feet apart. Stairwells with one-way movement, a set for going up and another for going down. Elevators with a maximum occupancy of two. Nutrition stations offering only packaged snacks.

At least in the beginning, some schools won’t allow access to showers. There will be no passing a football back and forth either, at least early on.

No sharing towels or water bottles. No hugging, no high-fiving and no weight-training exercises that require assistance from a spotter. “It will be the new norm,” says Tory Lindley, president of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association and an associate athletic director at Northwestern. “It will be the best we can do. We’re all hoping to put forward the safest environment for our student-athletes.

Another transfer guard? Well, according to Jon Rothstein, Texas Tech has made it to the final four options for Air Force guard A.J. Walker (6-2/190), who averaged about 3.5 rebounds, and 3 assists for the Air Force Falcons. Walker was just a sophomore, so I don’t know if he would have to sit out a year (most likelY) or be immediately eligible. I had no idea that Beard was continuing to turn over the roster, but here we are.

Here are some tweets.

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