Have to admit I didn't know I was clarifying anything. ...just wanted to add the "official" conference press release. Six months into this thing and today's postponements could very well beomce tomorrow's cancellations...."or we could just wake up one morning and like a miracle it will be gone."

https://pac-12.com/article/2020/08/11/pac-12-conference-postpones-all-sport-competitions-through-end-calendar-year

We certainly don't have as many as other schools. USC water polo, Sac State tennis...are a couple of examples.

The BIg Ten becomes the first Power 5 conference to postpone fall sports, including football. https://bigten.org/news/2020/8/11/general-big-ten-statement-on-2020-21-fall-season.aspx

As one of our members* points out, water polo (and tennis) seem to be overloaded with foreign born players. That presents further issues with the pandemic and the current administration's immigration policies.

(*Davisbear? 69Aggie? With my memory every day is an Easter egg hunt.)

FIeld hockey is on life support if that. America East has postponed all fall sports. UC, UCD and Stanford (the defending champion) extended their associate membership agreement through 2020, but that means little with the postponement. Stanford is dropping the sport after the 2020 season, so it is effectively dead. Cal has struggled to keep its program, not even having a home field one season. I think Fiat Lux is correct that field hockey will be cut and probably replaced by rowing to keep women's sports in compliance with Title IX.

The Western Water Polo Ass'n has not announced plans for the forthcoming season. While the UCD men's water polo team has had success in the past few seasons, we have to admit that they are playing in a less competitive league. Most Big West schools play in the Golden Coast Conference and the Ags would probably be a middle of the conference team there with a tougher path to the NCAA tourney. Being endowed helps their chances of survival.

Mountain West follows MAC and postpones all fall sports:
https://themw.com/news/2020/8/10/general-mountain-west-postpones-2020-fall-sports.aspx

Big Ten may follow:
https://www.freep.com/story/sports/college/2020/08/10/big-ten-football-cancels-season-michigan-michigan-state/3332277001/

Or, maybe not:
https://247sports.com/Article/Big-Ten-refutes-report-of-canceled-football-season-college-COVID-19-pandemic-150086770/

I looked at last year's equestrian schedule. They had a few dates where they travelled to Fresno and had more than one match. (A lot of sports do this, it is not unique to equestrian.) It gives the California teams a couple of matches and helps justify the travel for the team from the east or midwest. In that situation would Fresno provide horses for both the out-of-state team and for Davis?

Equestrian is much like field hockey in that there is little if any competition in California. I think the only other California school with an equestrian team is Fresno State. After that it's Texas. If you drop field hockey and equestrian, you probably have to pick up something like rowing.

Sad to see this happening in 2020. I am by birth and family heritage an Iowa Hawkeye fan. They have been rocked by accusations of racism by team and athletic department people. Strength coach has "retired." I thought the head coach was a stand-up guy, but among those accused of racist behavior is his son, who is an assistant. You would think that athletics (and the arts) would be more appreciative of diversity. But I'm an old white guy, what do I know? (As my kids remind me...)

Re: work on campus: A neighbor of mine is a contractor and doing work at Sac State this summer. Easier with the campus nearly vacant. Powers that be told friend to get the job done while the money is still approved. Also know someone who, thanks to seniority rules, is on the margin at Davis. His return will depend upon how many students come back and live in the dorms. Hopeful. Now we need the students and others to respect the guidelines. Dorms and college with masks and social distance are not fun, but have to be more fun than another year with mom & dad.

As long as they never touch the ground.....whatever the color, finish, logo....

And then there's that school in South Bend, IN.....the one that copied the Aggie uniform color scheme.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/notre-dame-football-fools_b_10963806

...as a friend says, 'no question goes unanswered in the age of smart phones and google."

Helmets are typically "reconditioned" at least every two years and should be replaced at least every ten years.

More info on costs and repainting:

https://blogs.usafootball.com/blog/819/helmet-reconditioning-is-critical-to-proper-equipment-maintenance

My nominal involvement with a (successful) HS football program, purely as a parent, led me to believe that the schools send helmets to manufacturers or some testing service frequently, like every other year or maybe even every year. I suppose I could google this, but.....

As I have said once or twice I am retired and married and staying at home is right in my skill set. The people I really feel for are the young singles. We have two 30-something single children. One has been laid off but hopes to go back to work in a month, the other is preparing to move cross-country for a new job. Neither was seeing anyone when this thing started and meeting and dating is hard enough in good times but so much harder now. We have neighbors with teen age daughters. One finished her senior year in high school - no commencement, no prom, still not sure if she is going away to college or going to continue at home and take online classes. Another turned 16 last month and had to wait until last week to get an appointment with DMV to get a driver’s license. Very cute girls, but no social life to speak of. I should probably be happy about that because I am not dealing with boys driving by at all hours of the night. So much of being in high school and college is learning to socialize. I remember every stupid thing I did around girls, or all the dumb things I did after a few drinks, but fifty years down the road I have yet to use the quadratic formula in my life.

Hang in there, “this too shall pass.”

I actually saw a Steelheads' game at the Nut Tree. All I remember was that one of the "promos" was a drawing that let the winner sit in a couch in the front row of the seats on the first base side. It was an independent league and I went with a family member who knew a guy who was on his last days as a player. He'd made it to AAA, but the writing was on the wall. He soon gave up playing, but I think is now a hitting coach in the bigs.

Really need to pick up on the exercise. I live close to the American River Bike Trail in Sacramento, which is nice though not as nice as it once was with the growing homeless population. Weather is always a factor in the central valley in mid-summer.

Also one child is a currently unemployed chef, who from time to time now cooks meals for the family. Only problem is that "child" is used to cooking for large numbers of people, so we have large quantities of well prepared food, and that leads to "Really need to pick up on the exercise," which is where I started this note.

Have been retired for 5 years, so staying home is kind of what I do best. Wife is now working from home so I tiptoe around the house and do chores and honey-dos. I have not figured out how a shopping list of five items can take four different stores.

Kind of like Dr. Mike, but yard work and gardening for me is digging holes where my wife tells me to. She's the one with the green thumb. Don't have the wherewithal to do major projects but do little fix-it things. Exercise has been reduced to walking the dog...frequently. Slowly trying to de-clutter a house and lifestyle that has all the accumulated stuff of a retirement, and all the things we acquired from parents and parents-in-law.

No second home. No grandkids. Trying to catch up on reading.

Re mortality rate of flu vs COVID-19: https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-death-rate-us-compared-to-flu-by-age-2020-6