News and Notes: Updated between Games

[bleachkit]

Just now, Peoriabird said:

If these guys took the same approach with other industries then no one in their right mind would go back and work in a hospital etc.

Apparently sports can only resume with absolutely zero risk, as if that exists for any business in any industry. Life has to move on at some point.

[High5]

4 minutes ago, bleachkit said:

Most players are itching to come back. Especially sitting in their house for a month getting restless. Ballers want to ball my friend. Feel free not to watch if you're not interested.

I'll watch. I just don't think it's going to happen. 

[Peoriabird]

8 minutes ago, bleachkit said:

Apparently sports can only resume with absolutely zero risk, as if that exists for any business in any industry. Life has to move on at some point.

There is risk everywhere like your grocery store, factory, hospital etc.  If this disease carried 100% death rate then yes, stay at home and hope it goes away but currently the death rate is around 2.5% or 1.5% more than the regular flu.  Young healthy people appear to be unaffected by it especially children.  We are now in the 21 century and technology and safety measures can be put in place so that we can continue our lives.  This is a country with a lot of smart people.  We should be able to figure this out.

[bleachkit]

1 minute ago, High5 said:

I'll watch. I just don't think it's going to happen. 

Care to make an avatar bet on that?

[bleachkit]

1 minute ago, Peoriabird said:

There is risk everywhere like your grocery store, factory, hospital etc.  If this disease carried 100% death rate then yes, stay at home and hope it goes away but currently the death rate is around 2.5% or 1.5% more than the regular flu.  Young healthy people appear to be unaffected by it even children.  We are now in the 21 century and technology and safety measures can be put in place so that we can continue our lives.  This is a country with a lot of smart people.  We should be able to figure this out.

That's not the actual death rate, its well below that. I explained this ad nauseum in the Coronavirus thread.

[High5]

1 minute ago, bleachkit said:

Care to make an avatar bet on that?

No. There are a lot of greedy and stupid people who make these decisions. And it is possible our country looks a lot different in a month or two. But the way things are going right now I don't see it happening. 

[bleachkit]

2 minutes ago, High5 said:

No. There are a lot of greedy and stupid people who make these decisions. And it is possible our country looks a lot different in a month or two. But the way things are going right now I don't see it happening. 

Put the cameraman in a hazmat suit if it makes you feel better. There are practical solutions that can be employed to largely mitigate the spread. 

[Peoriabird]

6 minutes ago, bleachkit said:

Put the cameraman in a hazmat suit if it makes you feel better. There are practical solutions that can be employed to largely mitigate the spread. 

Do you need cameramen?

[AHF]

The players' union will be the primary deciding factor here.  If the players are willing to return under a reasonable protocol it will happen.  If they aren't, then it won't happen regardless of what any of us think is reasonable or not.  I don't think the owners have an appetite to try to force the players to return over the Union's objections.

If they do return, I think it would be great if they could figure out some way to get "crowd" noise involved so the telecast isn't eerily quiet.  Not sure if that is piping in noise or something.  I've found that normally live audience television programming without the crowd misses an important element.

[Peoriabird]

1 minute ago, AHF said:

The players' union will be the primary deciding factor here.  If the players are willing to return under a reasonable protocol it will happen.  If they aren't, then it won't happen regardless of what any of us think is reasonable or not.  I don't think the owners have an appetite to try to force the players to return over the Union's objections.

If they do return, I think it would be great if they could figure out some way to get "crowd" noise involved so the telecast isn't eerily quiet.  Not sure if that is piping in noise or something.  I've found that normally live audience television programming without the crowd misses an important element.

There are plenty of incentive for the players to return...No work...No pay! LOL!

[AHF]

2 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

There are plenty of incentive for the players to return...No work...No pay! LOL!

Right.  I'm not ruling it out that they will want to return but 70% of them wanting to return isn't the same as 100% and it may be that not all players are aligned in which case the Union might fight protect the 30% of them over the majority wanting to return.  We've seen player union fight to protect steroid cheaters over clean players in the past and players concerned about their personal safety or the safety of loved ones in their home is infinitely more compelling than steroid users wanting to cheat the game.

KAT just had his mother die from this illness.  I don't think the players union or NBA wants a situation where he is getting disciplined for refusing to return to work because he fears for his own safety or that of his family.

[AHF]

43 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

No they don't.  You don't even need multiple announcers.  Heck the guy can even announce the game from home with technology

I agree that the announcers can do this remotely or can be on site but even in different rooms, etc.  Announcing is the easy part.

[bleachkit]

4 minutes ago, AHF said:

Right.  I'm not ruling it out that they will want to return but 70% of them wanting to return isn't the same as 100% and it may be that not all players are aligned in which case the Union might fight protect the 30% of them over the majority wanting to return.  We've seen player union fight to protect steroid cheaters over clean players in the past and players concerned about their personal safety or the safety of loved ones in their home is infinitely more compelling than steroid users wanting to cheat the game.

KAT just had his mother die from this illness.  I don't think the players union or NBA wants a situation where he is getting disciplined for refusing to return to work because he fears for his own safety or that of his family.

KAT will be allowed to grieve and not return, as is common when a player has a tragic death in their life. But I suspect it's well north of 70% of players that want to return. Playing NBA2k 8 hours a day does start to get old after awhile. Some players have probably never missed the game more in their life.

[Peoriabird]

13 minutes ago, AHF said:

KAT just had his mother die from this illness.  I don't think the players union or NBA wants a situation where he is getting disciplined for refusing to return to work because he fears for his own safety or that of his family.

Like I said before, there are risk everywhere and the above is a perfect example.  His mother did not die because she contracted the disease from Kat but elsewhere.  My point is there is a lot of money in sport which means that they can invest a lot time, effort and money to come up with a solutions to this problem.  Engineers and problem solvers have been solving problem way more complicated than this for centuries.

[AHF]

You guys seem to skirting around my comment.  What I am saying is that if the NBA Player's Union supports a return to games it will happen.  If the Player's Union opposes it, then it won't.  There are all sorts of economic reasons many of the players may want to return to play in some form and the Union may support it.  Obviously, ticking the box under TV contracts is a big one for both the players and teams.

[AHF]

15 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

Like I said before, there are risk everywhere and the above is a perfect example.  His mother did not die because she contracted the disease from Kat but elsewhere.  My point is there is a lot of money in sport which means that they can invest a lot time, effort and money to come up with a solutions to this problem.  Engineers and problem solvers have been solving problem way more complicated than this for centuries.

Not sure why this is relevant.  What I was saying is that some players may feel the risk is too much for their family members and KAT's mother is a tragic reminder of the potential consequences which would make a public fight on this issue very unappetizing for the NBA.  NBA players can absolutely spread this to their family members and we've already seen instances where NBA players have been positive.  It is foreseeable that some players will worry about the exposure from banging on the court with Rudy Gobert and others and the potential consequences for their family.

Doesn't mean that sports can't come up with or that the NBA won't come up with a solution.  Just that you are dealing with Union members and that can be a tougher process to arrive at an agreement than in a non-union setting where an employer can just implement reasonable steps and tell people they have to comply.

[Peoriabird]

Just now, AHF said:

Not sure why this is relevant. 

Its relevant because nothing of consequence has happened due to sports teams during this pandemic...Not one case has been sports related!  zero, Nada, nothing even though there have been over 26,000 death to date.

[bleachkit]

17 minutes ago, AHF said:

Not sure why this is relevant.  What I was saying is that some players may feel the risk is too much for their family members and KAT's mother is a tragic reminder of the potential consequences which would make a public fight on this issue very unappetizing for the NBA.  NBA players can absolutely spread this to their family members and we've already seen instances where NBA players have been positive.  It is foreseeable that some players will worry about the exposure from banging on the court with Rudy Gobert and others and the potential consequences for their family.

Doesn't mean that sports can't come up with or that the NBA won't come up with a solution.  Just that you are dealing with Union members and that can be a tougher process to arrive at an agreement than in a non-union setting where an employer can just implement reasonable steps and tell people they have to comply.

The majority of the players have said they would like to resume play, of ones that have spoken publicly about it. I have yet to hear one player say the season should be cancelled. LeBron wants number ring 4. Giannis wants ring number 1. Those guys have a lot of sway.

Edited April 15, 2020 by bleachkit

[macdaddy]

29 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

Its relevant because nothing of consequence has happened due to sports teams during this pandemic...Not one case has been sports related!  zero, Nada, nothing even though there have been over 26,000 death to date.

Not one case has been sports related?  How do you figure? Several players got infected and several who were at that same game in Brooklyn.

Not that it matters anyway.  How many infections are restaurant related or playground related?

[Peoriabird]

7 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

Not one case has been sports related?  How do you figure? Several players got infected and several who were at that same game in Brooklyn.

 

I said nothing of consequence like someone being hospitalized or dying from an infection whose origins could be traced back to players or other involving in sports.