Will we have a FB (HS, college or Pro) and BB (ditto) season next year?

I know this is almost unthinkable but my professional (but now retired) scientific opinion is that unless we find a drug to treat Covid-17, a vaccine comes on board quickly, or this virus just disappears, this crisis will NOT be over for the next 6-18 months and may linger even longer but at a much lower but manageable level.

Just because I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express in the last 12 months does not mean I am right and I dearly hope I am not.

What will this do to Universities like KU, which depend on tuition $s to stay open, could be devastating, along with a lot of other other employers.. It will change University life as we have known it. What will it do to cities like Lawrence where the biggest employer is the University?

I am a cup half-full person so this conclusion is not one I take or share lightly. Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope that our health care professionals and scientists can solve this one quickly. BTW, I am sure we will but it will take some time (6-18 months).

Stay well my friends, stay well.

I'm not a scientist, but I'm a marketing guy. In the end, the demand for things like sports are going to be a huge incentive for figuring out a way (not to mention simply getting the economy back on track).

Over the past 2 weeks or so, most of us have sacrificed a lot of freedoms that we take for granted, and it's happened EXTREMELY quickly. My guess is that as things cool off, there will be a "new normal" and that it will be gradual.

For example, it would be extremely stupid after 2 weeks of laying low for people to expect to just "go back to normal". Instead, I think some "freedoms" will be rolled back out gradually. Some examples:

>After the numbers start to turn, perhaps if you've been tested, you'll be allowed to go back to your office if you can prove you haven't been exposed.

>New procedures might be put into place. Want to come into the game? Maybe they scan you to see if you're running a fever. Maybe you need to show evidence that you're "clean" to get in.

>Maybe people will wear rubber gloves and masks in crowded areas.

This all assumes science sits still and our only "defense" is social distancing and starving the virus out. While I don't expect a vaccine or "cure" for at least a year, they could quite quickly find that, like other viruses, that if you've had it and recovered, you've got a high level of natural immunity to it and you can feel free to go out safely. Or maybe this whole malaria drug thing is the real deal.

The point is that our CURRENT situation of hiding in our homes is untenable in the long run. We are naturally social beings and our entire society is built around groups of people working and living together. So there WILL be a return to a more socially/physically connected world, and sports will be part of that. HOW that's accomplished is anyone's guess, but I'm sure we can all expect that it will be very different.

How many people can you fit in to AFH with a 6' space between every fan in the building? Certainly not 16,300. Maybe a "sold out" game will be 3000 people spread out.

One last thought: football typically has spring practices and the players spend the spring and summer prepping for the season. That ain't gonna happen. If FB comes back, it could very well be a shortened season with a later start and a whole lot less (and different) preparation.

Hey marketing guy, time to start a line of surgical masks with Jayhawks on them for fans to wear at games!


RC!

Funny how comedy evolves: 3 weeks ago, we hosted a conference and the keynote speaker came out wearing a surgical mask and it was pretty funny. Probably not so much now. Around the same time, we had an exhibitor at the same conference saying that they wished they had brought hand sanitizer samples with their logo on them rather than the water bottles they were giving away. During that conversation, the idea of surgical masks with a logo on them was also discussed as a humorous topic.

Amazing how quickly things changed. Within a week of what was a fairly normal conference, we cancelled several upcoming events, closed our offices and are all now working from home trying not to spread disease.

I'm sure that some people are going to make a lot of money off of this thing (Amazon seems to be killing it). Crazy times.

My wife is making face masks from material scraps from her quilting and lining them with a filter material. Very cool. She does not have any Jayhawk logo materials but if she does, I will let you know. My 14 day quarantine from a business trip to Tampa is up this Friday. So far so good.

Just enjoyed watching the 1988 semifinal game against Duke. Coach Brown was amazing how he handled the game. Manning was a talent but the rest of team bought in in what Brown wanted. Great defense. I can see where Self gets his emphasis on it. Clint Normore was so important in that game in handling the point guard spot when others needed a break. I also remember the big 3 he made in the final.