Tag: Kevin Warren

Big Ten releases statement on Midwest political state leaders’ letter

On Wednesday, the Big Ten released a statement in response to a letter sent to the conference from Midwest state political leaders.

On Tuesday, state political leaders from across the Midwest sent a letter to the Big Ten Conference expressing concern over the decision to postpone the fall football season and asking it to reconsider. It was yet another pressure point to the conference’s decision that many have been extremely critical of. Not because of why it was done, but because of how the process was handled and the lack of transparency then through today.

Despite all of the questions and secrecy involved, Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren and the conference have been relatively quiet in response to most of the critiquing and sideways glances.

In this case though, the B1G actually released a statement in response to the letter, and thanks to ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg, we’re able to share it with you if you haven’t already seen it.

Basically, all this statement does is acknowledge that the letter was received and noticed. We’ll continue to wait and see what other drama surfaces over the next few days, and if there is indeed some sort of re-vote that occurs this weekend or early next as has been reported (again).

 

Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes and opinion.

We have a forum and message board now. Get in on the conversation about Ohio State athletics by joining the Buckeyes Wire Forum.

Big Ten update: Dan Patrick losing optimism of playing in fall based on source

Dan Patrick provided an update via his source on Big Ten football, and it appears as though things are not trending in the right direction.

Before we get into this, I want to make it abundantly clear that nobody in the media seems to know what’s going on any longer with Big Ten football’s potential return to play. Originally it was a locked-in proposition that nothing was going to happen until the spring.

Then, all the protests, letters, and criticism hit the proverbial fan up by Lake Michigan and we started hearing what seemed like very good sourced reports that we could see the conference try to get its act together sometime in the fall. Thanksgiving weekend was the first target date, then we started hearing things about October dates.

Some of those reports have come from NBC Sports radio host Dan Patrick. He seems to have a very good inside source to what’s going on in the conference and has been providing updates along the way. He has cautioned though that it is a very fluid situation.

Last week, Patrick expressed optimism that the Big Ten would get back on the football field in early October. But according to his latest report today using the same source, there is much less optimistic abounding.

Patrick said that there are several teams in the conference and many within the medical community therein that are balking at playing in the fall.

“There’s still a push back from the medical community in the Big Ten to not play,” said Patrick on his radio show. “I was told they simply don’t have enough teams to play. I was told that the Michigan teams — not going to play, Illinois teams, that’s Illinois and Northwestern — not going to play, Maryland’s not going to play, and Rutgers probably won’t play. That doesn’t leave you with much if you’re able to pull this off.”

Patrick goes on to say that the medical experts are now pushing back closer to the Thanksgiving date and not the October 10 date that was reported last week.

“And now, I’m told the medical community in the Big Ten is trying to push to November now,” continued Patrick. “It was October 10, that was the target date so they could get in a ten-game schedule and qualify for the postseason. I don’t think that’s gonna happen.”

[lawrence-related id=36718]

[lawrence-related id=36668]

So, where optimism was out there for many last week that the Big Ten would reverse course, Patrick says that has now given way to the opposite.

“I was told that January is a legitimate landing date for the Big Ten,” Patrick said. “Like, that can still happen, just that isn’t anywhere near the consensus. And I don’t think you can get enough teams that are going to be able to pull this together to be able to play fall football. And I was a little more optimistic a week ago… There are polar opposites in viewing this in the Big Ten.”

Well now. That doesn’t sound encouraging at all. We must remember that just like there was extreme optimism that went by without resolution last week, the same could be said on the flip side. It doesn’t sound good, but with any situation that is in flux, we’ll just have to wait and see.

However, we are running out of time for anything to happen in the fall. That we do know. Or so we think.

[vertical-gallery id=35983]

 

Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes and opinion.

We have a forum and message board now. Get in on the conversation about Ohio State athletics by joining the Buckeyes Wire Forum.

State political leaders write letter to Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren asking to reconsider fall sports

State Midwest leaders have penned a letter to Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren asking the league to reconsider fall sports postponement.

By now I’ve lost count of all the letters Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren has received. In fact, he and Santa Claus might be waging a U.S. Postal Service arms race by the end of the year.

There have been parent letters, open letters, virtual letters, and more that we’ll likely never know about. And now, we’ve got one more very important one to add to that list.

According to several reports, state political leaders from around the great Midwest have sent a letter to the commish asking him and the Big Ten to reconsider their decision to postpone fall sports, including college football.

Thanks to Lee Chatfield, speaker of the Michigan House, we get a peek at the full context of the letter below in a tweet he shared on Tuesday morning. It is signed by state leaders from Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Ohio.

We have the full context of the letter on the next page in the event you can’t get into the Twitter link below.

In it, the state leaders applaud the testing and monitoring in place in the Big Ten and ask that their student-athletes not suffer while many others across the country are playing.

[lawrence-related id=36668]

[lawrence-related id=36633]

Next … Full transcript of Midwest leaders’ letter to Kevin Warren

Pages: Page 1, Page 2

Multiple reports have surfaced that there is no Big Ten revote Friday. Meanwhile, crickets from the Big Ten.

There appears to be no re-vote taking place on Friday for the return of Big Ten football. Meanwhile, conference officials remain mum. Hello?

Bigfoot, the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, and mermaids might be easier to locate than discerning what the Big Ten is doing these days. It’s been a bumbling, fumbling mess from the get-go, and somehow the league refuses to learn any lessons from the shenanigans of the past and allows each step to be handled as the calendar continues to flip more towards the abyss.

We don’t know if actual reports of a rumored Friday re-vote on the potential of the Big Ten playing football in the fall was a real thing or not, but it came from some historically reputable sources and outlets. There’s usually legs on a story when that happens.

But as we let the sands of the hourglass continue to sift through the day Friday, there’s been no word on that much-anticipated re-vote as the college football world watches.

On the contrary, there have been a couple of reports that lend credence to no meeting, and therefore no casting of a vote that would emancipate teams, coaches, and players sitting on the sideline waiting on next steps.

This morning, Kaleb Henry, sports director at Lincoln’s KLIN radio, reported that Nebraska President Ted Carter and Chancellor Ronnie Green both said there was not a Big Ten meeting today at all. It came from a panel discussion already on the books.

Okay?

One report is one thing, but then we witnessed a couple of more flares sent up. One came from Clay Hall from the ABC affiliate in Columbus citing unnamed sources confirming they were not aware of any vote taking place today either.

[lawrence-related id=36549]

[lawrence-related id=36542]

And, finally, Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez told the athletic board that medical officials are still piecing things together to even prepare to put a proposal together for the league’s Presidents and Chancellors to vote on.

At this point, it sounds like we’re where we were before the day started, and before the date of August 11. There is no Big Ten football announcement seemingly pending today to allow for football in the fall, or even this weekend as it sounds. Unless that is, you think proposals built on medical advice and data can be put together faster than a weekend trip to your local theme park.

But where is the Big Ten in all of this? With all these rumors circulating, and with speculation and criticism abounding, why does league Commissioner Kevin Warren and other officials continue to remain silent?

Simply ignoring rumors and so-called leaked messaging has only tarnished the Big Ten’s brand so far, and continuing to sit idly by while the big elephant in the room thrashes about and breaks all the China isn’t going to do anything to pull that back.

Leadership often means speaking up when you don’t want to so that you can get a desirable outcome — rumors or not. It’s almost never the right move to sit back and watch chaos unfold like what we’ve seen since the decision was made, criticized, protested, and more.

But alas, that seems to be the Big Ten’s way in the midst of a global pandemic when everyone yearns for answers because of the impact it has on so many. Instead, we get more silence.

So, we’ll continue to wait while there’s no plan being put forth, no real communication that means anything, and only infighting and quotes from administrators and officials that clearly aren’t on the same page. We’re not making the news, we’re just reporting on it.

Meanwhile, it sounds like there’s more waiting to do as the conference continues to burn.

 

Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes and opinion.

We have a forum and message board now. Get in on the conversation about Ohio State athletics by joining the Buckeyes Wire Forum.

Pac-12 to implement daily COVID-19 testing that ‘is a major step toward the safe return of sport competition’

Yesterday the Pac-12 conference announced that it has entered an agreement with healthcare manufacturer Quidel “to implement…

Yesterday the Pac-12 conference announced that it has entered an agreement with healthcare manufacturer Quidel “to implement up to daily testing for COVID-19 with student-athletes across all of its campuses for all close-contact sports.”

Constant and rapid testing being one of the main roadblocks towards the Big Ten and Pac-12 returning to play football, this news is massive for each conference’s return to sports and other athletic activity.

Big picture this situation also allows businesses, schools and more to see what happens when testing like this is done to a large asymptomatic group like a football team and then implement similar practices in their respective domains.

Everything about this sheds positive light on the path forward both in college athletics and in our country.

After the announcement yesterday Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott held a press conference and discussed what this breakthrough means for the conference and what the timeline towards playing looks like.

Here are some quotes that stuck out:

 

On the breakthrough being a major step towards playing:

 

On the overall importance:

 

Quidel president on what this “study” can do for the rest of the country:

 

A look forward at the timeline of when the conference will return to competition:

 

And, finally, Scott’s comment that the conference is trying to align their football season with the Big Ten:

 

Let’s focus on the last quote for a second and recognize the difference between the Big Ten and the Pac-12.

The Pac-12 found a testing breakthrough and held a press conference during which the commissioner was open, honest and clear about what it means and the path forward.

The Big Ten needed a lawsuit to force information out that there was indeed a vote between the presidents to postpone the season.

Notice the difference?

Anyway, the two conferences aligning their seasons makes sense at this point as it is looking increasingly unlikely that either will suit up this fall. It isn’t ideal, but a spring Rose Bowl game wouldn’t be the worst consolation prize.

Overall, though, this is tremendous news for the return of Big Ten and Pac-12 athletics as well as for our country as a whole. Maybe they still won’t play until the 2021 calendar year, but it’s clear they’re at least on the right track.

 

Stay tuned to BadgersWire as we follow everything surrounding the Big Ten’s plan and process towards returning to play football.

Report: Big Ten could vote as soon as Friday on fall football fate

According to a new report, the Big Ten might be voting on a fall college football start date as soon as Friday.

[jwplayer kHQWEZ2p]

It seems like, just as soon as the Big Ten passed the decision to postpone the fall college football season, rumors started swirling that this decision could be overturned. According to Dave Biddle of Bucknuts, that decisions could come sooner rather than later, with a potential vote happening as soon as Friday.

This news comes a few days after the Dan Patrick Show reported that the Big Ten Football season could start as soon as October 10th, as long as the conference can pass new safety guidelines and regulations.

This would be a pretty major u-turn for the Big Ten, which would certainly not help the confusion we have seen around the COVID-19 virus in this country and would certainly be a decision largely made around money, but I wouldn’t exactly complain to have Big Ten sports back.

[vertical-gallery id=29281]

Cavalcade of Whimsy College Football Season Debut: Oh That Wacky Big Ten

College football during a global pandemic, the wacky Big Ten, and the craziest off-season ever in the 2020 debut of the Cavalcade of Whimsy.

What I think, know and believe about the college football world during a global pandemic, the wacky Big Ten, and the craziest offseason ever in the 2020 debut of the Cavalcade of Whimsy.

– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak
– Check out all the past Cavalcades

Sorry if this column sucks, it’s not my fault …

It’s those fear-porn peddling sports media people, with all of their fancy schmancy facts based on things being told to them by experts and specialists.

Pinkos.

[jwplayer PkCtjTd4-boEY74VG]

– The Wacky Big Ten Offseason
– The Players Should Be Demanding …
– 5 Footballey Opinions
– Sure-Thing Picks of the Century

Think, Know, Believe, Eat, Pray Love, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Little, Yellow, Different, Better, Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV …

After all of whatever that was over the last seven months, we kickoff the 2020 Cavalcade with the pretentiousness pedal pushed to the floor.

Welcome to the debut of a new segment: I Think, I Know, I Believe.

I Think: You desperately need and deserve a break from the real world, and you need college football – issues and all – as an escape.

I Know: I do.

I Believe: After this week, I’ll keep it about college football as much as possible throughout this season. Welcome to the bubble. Clean up after yourselves.

I Think: “Your” a moron if you believe the college football media doesn’t want college football.

I Know: The college football media doesn’t have the slimmest sliver of power and influence you think it has.

I Believe: I don’t even have power or influence over the kid at Chipotle to give me an honest serving of barbacoa in my bowl.

I Think: In the time of a global pandemic, colleges have absolutely zero clue how to run school as we normally know it.

I Know: Regular class life is or will be disrupted all across the country.

I Believe: College football isn’t regular college.

I Think: Optics are in the eye of the beholder.

I Know: The optics of college football being played if regular students aren’t on campus are awful.

I Believe: Optics my ass to 99% of college football fans once the ball is kicked off.

I Think: Compared to the rest of the normal student population, during the season, college football players at least have the structure, constant medical attention and supervision, and the focused-mindset goal to not do something stupid.

I Know: College students gonna go college students.

I Believe: You can’t negotiate with a virus, or college students with a taste of freedom.

I Think: It’s really, really gross and disgusting to use the COVID-19 nightmare to analyze the potential of wins and losses.

I Know: The team that keeps its car on the track and can finish the race without a slew of in-season infections will be the most successful when it comes to wins and losses.

I Believe: Everyone will have to use the COVID-19 nightmare to analyze the potential of wins and losses, and it’s going to be icky.

I Think: You can’t socially distance and play football. All the rules for mask-wearing and all the other protocols on the field are ridiculous.

I Know: College football isn’t inherently doable now just because no one on Central Arkansas or Austin Peay passed out from the virus during the game.

I Believe: Twitter needs to flag those who thought they were original by posting how FCS teams played college football while the Big Ten can’t figure it out.

I Think: Almost all college-age students and football players who get the virus will turn out to be just fine. If they get it, they’ll quarantine, get past it, and will be out there doing what they do a few weeks later.

I Know: “Almost” isn’t everyone. Way too many people – especially a certain creepy sports sect that pushes false equivalency schtick – are way, way, WAY too cost-of-doing-business-cool with the death of almost 200,000 Americans.

I Believe: Those who think this is no big whoop don’t know the people I do – of various age groups – who can’t shake it from their systems several months after getting sick. They’re not going to die from it, but between the debilitating headaches, the side effects leading to hospital trips, and/or simply not being able to function, pray you don’t ever know what that’s like.

I Think: We’re this close to having a super-fast, cheap, and reliable test that on a mass scale that will change everything.

I Know: College football will get back something close to normal once the tests becomes an easy part of the routine,

I Believe: SEC commissioner Greg Sankey is banking on those tests being ready by late September. The Big Ten could save face and pivot in a hurry if these tests really are in place over the next month or so.

I Think: The SEC isn’t quite the 100% sure-thing to play that y’all might think it is. It’s being careful, and it’s being smart by waiting until late September.

I Know: The Big Ten got dunked on by the ACC, SEC and Big 12.

I Believe: All of the Power Five conferences came to the same conclusion, but the instant the Big Ten announced it was postponing the season, everything changed because, like everything else, this fell along partisan lines.

I Think: Justin Fields really does want to play.

I Know: He’s the starting quarterback for any team but Clemson if he chooses to transfer.

I Believe: If all the people who signed Fields’ petition gave him $500, that’s not even close to what he’ll make in career earnings if he just spends the next several months staying safe and healthy.

I Think: The 2020 college football season is going to finish as scheduled.

I Know: The 2020 college football season is going to start as scheduled.

I Believe: The 2020 college football season is going to be a flaming hot mess in between.

I Think: I believe the 2021 college football season will be almost back to normal.

I Know: I think the 2021 college football season will be almost back to normal.

I Believe: I know the 2021 college football season will be almost back to normal.

– The Wacky Big Ten Offseason
– The Players Should Be Demanding …
– 5 Footballey Opinions
– Sure-Thing Picks of the Century

NEXT: Oh that wacky Big Ten …

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5

Big Ten ordered to provide discovery on vote to postpone season in expedited manner

On Wednesday, the Big Ten was ordered by a Lancaster County Nebraska judge to provide documents detailing the fall football postponement.

And the drama surrounding the Big Ten’s decision to postpone the fall football season marches on.

On Wednesday, Mike Flood, the lead attorney for the eight Nebraska players that filed a lawsuit against the Big Ten’s decision-making process to suspend the season, announced a win for his clients. Included in the statement is the revelation that Lancaster County District Court judge Susan Strong has “ordered the Big Ten conference to produce more information and documents regarding the ‘vote,’ as well as the governing documents related to the decision-making process.”

This appears to be a big setback for the Big Ten. It filed its own brief late last week asking that the lawsuit be dismissed, but at the least, it looks like the conference will have to produce proof of its assertions made in the brief — notably the 11-3 vote and details surrounding medical advice it used to come to a determination to shelve the season.

Many thought that the creative nature of the lawsuit against the Big Ten would run up against an issue because it is unprecedented in its scope and use of some of the legal avenues that can be taken, but that does not appear to be the case.

And that’s not all. Because of the sensitive and time-driven nature of the request, the Big Ten has been given until September 12 to produce all documents surrounding whether an official vote was taken on the decision, as well as the final tally. It does not have to provide specifics on what schools voted which way.

The Big Ten also has to submit its entire bylaws. What was originally provided had the majority of the 13 pages redacted.

So start the clock. It’s just ten days and counting before we get an answer one way or another on what vote — if any — were taken, and what type of medical advice and studies were used to make such an earth-shattering decision.

Basically, folks are finally going to see what should have likely been provided all along.

[lawrence-related id=36427]

[lawrence-related id=36366]

 

Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes and opinion.

We have a forum and message board now. Get in on the conversation about Ohio State athletics by joining the Buckeyes Wire Forum.

Report: Iowa one of three schools to not vote to postpone the Big Ten football season

The circus-like back-and-forth about the Big Ten presidents’ vote and whether it happened was a sight to see. Finally two days ago it was…

The circus-like back-and-forth about the Big Ten presidents’ vote and whether it happened was a sight to see.

Finally two days ago it was cleared up in a Big Ten statement that said the presidents “voted to postpone the fall sports season” and “reached an 11-3 decision which far exceeds the 60% threshold required by the Big Ten By-Laws.”

ESPN senior college football writer Adam Rittenberg followed this statement with a report that three schools voted to not postpone the season: Iowa, Ohio State and Nebraska.

If you’ve been following the story at all this news doesn’t come as much of a surprise, as all three schools listed above have been adamant since the decision was made that the conference should be playing football.

Related: Opinion: What the NCAA can do to fix the structure of college football and save the sport

The information coming out now, though, is valuable for everyone who has followed the story. But it still doesn’t make much sense why this wasn’t reported when the decision first came down.

There were media reports saying there was a vote, then reports that there wasn’t, then was, and so on. Being transparent during a process like this, one which led to a verdict that has far-reaching implications, is necessary for the health of the sport from top to bottom.

Again it’s good the information was finally released. It just shouldn’t have taken a lawsuit to get it out.

More will come out in the coming days about the Big Ten’s plan forward and their process of postponing. We can only hope, then, that the conference and those involved are transparent during this process and work together to reach the best way forward.

Dan Patrick: Big Ten could start football season October 10th

According to sources and information given to Dan Patrick, the Big Ten is possibly looking at an October 10th football season start date.

[jwplayer MUDssucI]

Well, are you getting dizzy yet from all the rumors and speculation? On a day where a certain political figure tweeted out that he wants the Big Ten Football season to be played this fall, it looks like things have been set in motion to where that might actually happen.

The Dan Patrick Show account just tweeted out a report from a source that the Big Ten Conference is currently looking at October 10th as a start date for the football season if they can pass updated safety measures.

Big Ten commissioner did assert a few weeks back that the Big Ten would not be revisiting the decision to postpone football past the fall, but there were also reports today that Kevin Warren spoke with president Donald Trump regarding the postponement and the talk was “productive.”

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]