Local stores had enough competition from Amazon, et. al, before the pandemic. I have always tried to support the local merchant, then the big chain's local branch, before going online. The lockdown has made this all even more difficult. Local stores may not be open, you may have to make an appointment, or stand in line in midsummer valley heat, or the store may be low on inventory. Amazon is there during this mess.

"Sweden seems to have made the right choice."
Sweden has a higher mortality rate, and herd immunity remains elusive. https://fortune.com/2020/07/16/sweden-covid-strategy-herd-immunity-elusive/

"...a mortality rate below the standard flu for people under 70."
Assuming your claim is true - (Authorities would be helpful.)
What is an acceptable number of deaths for you?
At what age do you feel people become expendable?

Yet another FCS conference, the MEAC (Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) is cancelling all fall sports.
https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/29474752/meac-suspends-all-fall-sports-indefinite-period

The MEAC is comprised of mostly HBCU schools and is experiencing problems in addition to the effects of the pandemic, or perhaps as a side effect of the economic issues brought on by the pandemic. A few teams have recently left the conference other conferences, and I think a couple are moving back to D-II.

My point exactly. I used to volunteer to eat at the kiddie's table.

(Some may argue that the debates are better suited for the kiddies' table.)

I'd rather spend a holiday dinner with my in-laws.

The Onion!!

https://sports.theonion.com/washington-redskins-change-their-name-to-the-d-c-redsk-1819575691

And I have not heard of farmers being upset with the name "Aggies."

(I will apologize in advance to anyone offended by the language below. Used strictly to make a point.)

However, we have come a long way since businesses posted signs that read "Irish need not apply." There is a fundamental difference in the way Irish are treated in the US today and in the way Native Americans continue to be treated. Also there is a difference in characterizing people by an expansive name, such as Irish, or even Indians, and characterizing them by a physical feature such as the color of their skin or some stereotypical attribute. And let's be honest, the skin of Native Americans is not red. Redskins is a derisive name from the backpages of our history.

SI did an article decades ago that included logos and nicknames for other teams that might compare with the nicknames on existing teams. The one I recall in the fading recesses of my mind was a gold and black logo for the Pittsburgh Negroes. There may have been a team called the Jews. Suddenly it becomes a little less like a harmless characterization. Nobody calls themselves the Fighting Mexicans, or the Brownskins. We'd be shocked to hear of a team called the Blackskins, or the Nappyheads....Long past time for the name Redskins to be retired to the basement warehouse of history.

I remember way back when DQU somehow had an IM flag football team at UCD. I assume enough of the members were taking classes at Davis as well. (The statue of limitation on such violations from when I went to Davis ran a LONG, LONG time ago.) They were a tough physical team. I still have bruises.

I think some guy in DC may still have a protected interest in the name Generals for a professional football team...and still has Herschel Walker under contract.

Back when Stanford decided to drop the Indians nickname a fan favorite was "Robber Barons." They decided to call themselves the Cardinal...not the bird, but the color, kind of like the Harvard Crimson.

Friend of mine, (a varsity athlete for the 'furd,) 1) liked the Robber Barons, and 2) joked that they didn't even pick a color, they picked a "hue."

Pundits (on BOTH sides) could have a field day with names for a team in Washington. I guess "Stable Geniuses" (Genii??) is taken. Those on the other side might suggest "Sleepy Joes" or "Lyin' Hillaries."

The Foggy Bottoms? If you prefer the singular over the plural, a la the Utah Jazz, the Portland Storm (RIP), the Sacramento Surge (also RIP)....there's the Washington Swamp.

Miami University of Ohio went from Redskins to Red Hawks.

According to an ESPN article the current favorite for the pro-team is Red Tails. Wait until someone discovers that's the name of a craft brewed ale.

"The man is in love with a cow for Pete's sake !"

Pretty soon we won't be able to make jokes about that.

And a line from Tom Lehrer: "I majored in animal husbandry in college...until they caught me at it."

Add the New England Small College Athletic Conference to the list of conferences cancelling all fall sports. https://www.boston.com/sports/college-sports/2020/07/10/nescac-cancels-all-fall-sports

Tough day for fans of the Williams College Fighting Ephs and their mascot, a Purple Cow.

D-III President's Athletic Conference going to conference games only schedule.
http://pacathletics.org/news/2020/7/7/general-pac-to-adjust-scheduling-format-for-fall.aspx

I'm sure we had field hockey for gender equity/TItle IX and because someone on the west coast really pushed the sport. It is a big girls' HS sport in the south bay and Monterey area.

My question was not so much the gender issue as why field hockey. It simply is not a college sport west of the Mississippi River. (Other than Iowa and I think one school in Missouri.)

One of the reasons given at UCD for dropping wrestling was that it was not a west coast sport....yet we picked up field hockey. Why not rowing? The expense for boats compared to transporting a field hockey team to the Midwest and Atlantic Coast for matches two or three times a season?

Won't affect Davis now, but Pac-12 wrestling must be on life support. With Stanford dropping the sport the only two true Pac-12 schools with wrestling are Arizona State and Oregon State. Davis used to be an associate member for wrestling. I think the current associates are CSU Bakersfield, Cal Poly and Arkansas-Little Rock.

I would guess small sports will suffer wherever they are. At Davis for men that could be golf, cross country, track & field, water polo, tennis....


I wonder if the NCAA will relax rules during the pandemic. Conferences may not need X number of teams in some sport for automatic qualifiers...Conferences may cut some slack for a season....

Then again, this may all be for naught if organized sports are just put on the shelf for another year.

(Then again, we might just wake up one morning and it will be gone.....)

Separate from the pandemic, I have always wondered why we have field hockey at UCD. For a while there were four schools in California with field hockey; UCD, Cal, Stanford and U.O.P. Now there are, at least until I hit "send," only two - UCD and Cal. And Cal's team was on the edge a couple of season ago. They had no place to play so all of their games were on the road. So do we play each other home and away 6 times for our season? Keep in mind the next closest school with field hockey is Iowa. I bet the Ags and Bears drop the sport now, and then we are back to Title IX issues.

And foreign students, even without in-person classes, tend to increase dorm occupancy. Just another revenue and employment source that has suffered when many students remain at home and take only on-line classes.

(And water polo...)

I bet colleges all across the US will be coming up with mandatory in-person classes for foreign student-athletes.

Especially tough on the small college programs, but I would be very surprised to see much in the way of organized athletics at any level very soon. As people may have seen, the Bucks and Kings closed down their practice facilities this weekend after positive test results.

Small colleges likely to follow Morehouse's decision to drop fall sports:
https://www.si.com/college/2020/06/30/morehouse-college-canceled-season-hbcu-coronavirus

D-III Bowdoin cancels fall sports including football:
https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/division-iii-bowdoin-college-cancels-football-and-rest-of-sports-this-fall-due-to-covid-19-pandemic/

Just the cost of testing will push some programs to closure:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/07/03/unable-afford-coronavirus-testing-some-colleges-are-canceling-football-season/

Happy Independence Day fellow Ags. A lot of people gave a lot of themselves so that we can expound, and from time to time snipe at each other, on forums like this.

Aggie alumna Kimberly Guilfoyle, (UCD ’91??,) part of the trump entourage and currently dating Donald Trump, Jr., apparently forgot to take her hydroxychloroquine and disinfectant injections.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/03/politics/kimberly-guilfoyle-positive-coronavirus-test/index.html

But, I digress….