Losing The Best
Well, the Carona just got Greenberg from Let it Ride. When you start fucking with some of the character actors from my favorite movie of all time, that’s going too far. I’ve had it up to *here* with this virus and I’m waving my hand over my head right now…..
Can someone explain Trump’s new delusion of voter fraud to me? I get a ballot in the mail, I fill it out, I send it back. If I wanted to commit voter fraud I suppose I could fill it out with the names of someone other than who I’m voting for. I don’t see how that changes an election. How could I sit at my house and fill out tens of thousands of ballots? Does any of this make sense? What am I missing here about voter fraud?
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
It is a long-running republican ploy. They always try to suppress voting numbers (larger turnout usually equated to more democrat voters voting based on what I have read), and make it harder for folks to vote..in the name of “voter security.” I call bullshit on it…our elected officials should do everything in their power to make it EASIER for ALL eligible Americans to vote. Fuck, the SCOTUS even got into the fray re: Wisconsin.
Well said.
Trump himself said a few days ago that when more people vote it’s better for the Democrats. So, for the GOP, voter suppression is one of their key tactics. It goes against the principles of democracy, but the GOP just desperately wants to retain power.
What Chi said . . . This virus has essentially put the last nail in the coffin for his re-election chances. Economy is and will be in recession months after he is gone. No president has ever been given a pass on a shit economy . . . See Carter, Hoover, etc.
This is how shit for brains reconciles his fraud claim and his ability to vote by mail . . .
If you need another instance that shows what a hipocrite trump is, well, he himself voted by mail.
well, Dems were often accused of manipulating voting especially in big cities they controlled like Mayor Dailey’s Chicago. Regularly accused of having dead people casting votes, and I’m sure it happened in NYC and other places too.
But yes the current flap over it reminds me of ’60s stuff done to suppress black vote in south, poll tax yada yada that eventually was struck down. I’d really like to see all mail in, or make elections national holiday. Like too many things nowadays, other countries do much better job of it.
That was a travesty and a crime that people in Wisconsin had to risk their lives to vote yesterday, when voting by mail could be set up for all 50 states. There has been voting by mail for decades in certain states.
I read a very good book last year called “Everything Trump Touches Dies.” The book title is more poignant now.
It may have been 2 years ago I read it.
They’re used to it, Zum.
Ever sit out at Lambeau in January?
I have done a mail-in ballot for years. It is ludicrous that this is not instituted nationally.
Rick Wilson is an absolute must-follow on Twitter.
Thanks guys but I still don’t understand what the accusations are about voter fraud. That all the Dems are sitting in a room with thousands of ballots they’re illegally filling out? That makes no sense. What exactly is the accusation?
It’s gaslighting. A tactic made famous by fascists.
Ludicrous lies are repeated over and over until the public gets so weary of the lies that they give up, and some people even question their own memories.
Trump’s lies are easily disproven, but when the lies are coming in an onslaught, it wears down the public’s resistance to the lies. And he just needs enough support from the public to win the November election in the Electoral College again.
yes, I know what they’re trying to do. What are they SUGGESTING is happening with voter fraud? That I’m sitting in my house with thousands of ballots and filling them out on behalf of other people? WHAT EXACTLY IS THE ACCUSATION? Do any of you guys know? I won’t bother you anymore with it if you don’t know
I have to give “Let It Ride” another try.
I didn’t like it the couple of times I tried to watch it.
It’s never on TV 📺 here for some reason…
i watched it in the theater back in ’89 with my best friend and fellow horse racing fan. We both loved it and have watched it many, many times over the years (especially before big race trips we’ve gone on). It’s pretty dated but the characters are fantastic. Lots of little things that make it great.
and it’s never going to be on tv. You can find it at google play, amazon, etc.
Isn’t it baffling when people don’t like a movie you love?
not really. As I said, you have to watch it a bunch of times to really appreciate the nuances and the subtleties that great character actors deliver.
The term “gaslighting” came into existence after a movie in which a man tries to make his wife lose her mind by messing with her. He would move things in the house and then say he hadn’t moved them, he would mess with the lights by manipulating the gas lines (the film is set in the 1800s) and then say he didn’t see anything wrong with the lights, and just continually falsely correct her on her memory of things. He wanted to get her committed to an asylum so he could claim her wealthy assets that he didn’t have access to otherwise.
Joe Cotton won the Derby in 1885…
This is an excellent book about gaslighting. by Amanda Carpenter, a Republican (like McKee) who is not a Trump supporter.
Another great recent book on the overall topic is “Fascism: a warning,” by Madeline Albright.
I meant Wilson instead of McKee.
Rick McKee is a political cartoonist, and probably is a Trump supporter.
To McKee’s credit, he did do this excellent political cartoon. It is possible, I guess, he is a conservative who is not a Trump supporter. McKee usually bashes the Democrats.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EUd6x8MWkAEbW98?format=jpg&name=large
Sanders out. About time. Biden needs to be very circumspect on selecting a competent, dynamic Vice President candidate . . .
Even though I was an ardent support of Sanders in 2016 and again this year, I agree on both points: it was time for Bernie to bow-out, and Biden MUST nail-it on his VP nomination.
So if I’m reading the comments here correctly nobody has been able to accurately define what the voter fraud accusations are supposed to look like. Ok, I’ll stop asking about it
I know a lot of the concern for them is the undocumented citizen votes, mostly mexican.
Colonel Sanders drops out of the presidential race..
BF, Trump’s gross lie regarding mail in ballots is an age-old ploy by conservatives to restrict voting. They fought motor-voter laws and every attempt to increase it. It has been going on forever. They see the demographic shift to more citizens of color and are terrified “those-guys” will get in power and take away what they have via (gasp) taxes and “handouts to the poor”. Can’t have that.
BF, you’re not understanding how gaslighting works. There’s not going to be a specific accusation by Trump on this. It’s just stuff to muddy the water, mess with people’s minds, and use psychological manipulation. No one particular lie is important to the gaslighter. It’s the cumulative affect. It’s how sociopaths work. It’s not going to work on us Flappers here, but there’s a lot of folks out there who are known as “low information voters,” to put it kindly.
Flavor can speak for himself but I’m pretty sure he knows what gaslighting is. It’s not what he’s asking about.
zumiee I know what gaslighting is. You aren’t reading my question or possibly you aren’t understanding it
Flav, I think it has to do with being able to certify who is legally registered to vote in what county and who is not. In the infamous Georgia election Kemp was able to remove or purge large number of voters from the rolls who had either died or moved. And there were also issues with those who showed up to vote were denied because their IDs did not meet qualifications under Georgia laws.
with a mail in absentee ballot there would be no way to verify who filled it out is technically a legal registered voter I guess would be the argument.
Haven’t voted in years at regular polling place but do remember there was a crosscheck done as to who I was and where I lived. .
Some of you Bay Area Flappers, probably don’t interact with as many Trump supporters as I do in the Central Valley. He has a cult-like hold on a lot of those folks. It’s unlike anything I’ve seen in my lifetime.
To bad you can’t sell em some beach front property in Tuskedeha Nebraska.
Most of My Uncles and Cousins are supporters. There’s really no talking to them about it.
Any of you guys remember one of the original HBO tv show “Dream On”? It was way ahead of it times.Fantastic writers, actors, a comedy with racy sexy scenes about a kid who was originally plopped down in front of a tv everyday while his mom would clean the house, he would have flashbacks as an adult just interacting with people from old tv ads/commercials, the show aired from 1990-1996 winning many awards for creativity..
OK, so now let’s hope Bern, who isn’t a registered Dem himself, is able to convince his followers of the need to support the Dem candidate, unlike 2016. My problem with he and Ocasio (and the SF progressive wing) who said that in no other country of the world would she and Biden be in the same party, is their unwillingness to try and bridge gaps and work with others to achieve their goals. There is a common enemy and use what you have behind you to defeat them instead of squabbling enough is not being done in direction that pleases you.
Compromise is the only way our govt will work, at any level. Give up some ground on your position in order to achieve ultimate greater good for all.
Flav, the Republicans have been crowing about illegal voter registration for 50 years. There have been 4 confirmed cases of people illegally voting this way, and 3 of them were Republicans.
They don’t CARE that the new claims of illegal mail fraud are stupid and wildly unrealistic in the real world. Repeat the lie long enough and people WILL believe it. The the claims the that the right is the fiscally responsible party when the numbers show otherwise.
The only cure for all this political bullshit is for the young voters to take things seriously. We old folks have fucked things up for too long already.
What Zum said @ 8:40am or this . . .
Flavor, voter registration fraud and voting fraud are often conflated but my understanding is the “concern” relates to suspicion around improper collection and possible tampering with mail in ballots. In the example linked below, “the alleged ringleader in a scheme instructing his co-conspirators to sign certifications that falsely stated they had seen a voter vote by absentee ballot, and improperly mailing in absentee ballots for someone who had not mailed it themselves”
On a personal note, my mom has worked as a poll worker for something like 30 years and I think I’ve mentioned here before that I was involved in local politics at one time. It’s not all fancy like the national level but I’ve worked on campaigns and done the day to day lifting of registering, going door to door, phone banking, etc. My point is that I’ve talked and thought about this a bit and imo the scale of effort involved to sway an election even one percent is such that it doesn’t take place in any meaningful way. Crying “voter fraud” is a straw-man argument for disenfranchising voters.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article233308957.html
I want to point out that I really don’t care that this was a republican operative. I linked the article because it is relatively recent and came to mind.
Dirt and WillieD–thank you. You gave me two specific examples of what republicans are saying is happening with voter fraud. So the accusation isn’t that Big Flavor is sitting in his house with a bunch of voting cards and submitting them all after I filled them out illegally. It has been like pulling teeth to find out what this is referring to and I’m not talking about just here, I’ve listened closely to Trump’s comments and he doesn’t say exactly what he thinks is happening nor can I find anything helpful on the internet about the specifics of what is being accused
I think we’re on the same page, BF. You’re just more curious about the original rotten seed of his lie than I am, admittedly, that’s all.
Here was a key statement from you:
“he doesn’t say exactly what he thinks is happening”
Exactly! He’s not smart, and he’s incompetent, but he does have the sociopath’s innate feel for effective manipulation. He knows he doesn’t have to be specific, and that also leaves him some room for deniability.
For example, how many Trump supporters could tell someone exactly what the “Benghazi scandal” is all about? Probably a very small percentage know that it’s talking about a U.S. embassy in Libya. All the specifics don’t matter to the Trump supporters. What was important to them was that it was a piece of propaganda to go after Hillary. All Trump had to say was “I’ve heard some things….” The Trump supporters are never going to care about specifics with Trump’s lies and false accusations. My hope is that Trump hasn’t been winning over NEW supporters in the last 3 1/2 years, and I don’t think he has. I don’t know, personally, of a single person who was against Trump before and is now for him. That’s anecdotal evidence; but from what I’ve read, it’s pretty much a widespread description of things. Trump got a slight bump for a while in his job approval rating, as a “rally around the flag” kind of thing regarding the virus; but the polls show that Trump vs. Biden in the election still have Biden with a strong lead. That hasn’t changed. It’s still a long way to November, though, so we’ll see what happens.
In the Abrams Georgia election Kemp was able to purge from rolls 400.000 voters. What I read, no more than 60 thou or so were legit (people who had died or moved) but under his authority he removed everyone. I’ll try and find link to what I read.
Right- the big irony is that, by far, the Republicans are the ones doing serious election fraud..
the guardian.com November 10 2018 Textbook Voter Suppression
46 years ago today
“there’s a new home run champion of all time and it’s Henry Aaron.” love the milo Hamilton call. And the Dodger at 2b that high fives him as he goes around bases. Great pic of the Hammer there too. I think Dusty Baker and Ralph Garr just called him “Ham.”
It was embarrassing to Mays that Aaron passed him while he was still active.
It’s often said that if Mays had played in the Braves stadiums instead of the Giants stadiums,
he would’ve been the man to pass Ruth. Probably true…
oh yeah. Mc Covey said that, Candlestick definitely did not favor RH pull hitters and instead winds blew ball left to right. Mays himself noticed it right away. Probably wasn’t a coincidence 4 bomb game occurred in Milwaukee County Stadium. Remember listening to that one on radio and doing scorebook.
Zumiee–you’re correct, still to this day I have never seen an actual person where I live don a Trump hat or a shirt. Not a single one and I’m talking about up and down the peninsula.
When I went to Kentucky in September I probably saw someone on every single block I walked on, usually many more than just one. It was incredible.
Loo– just watched this again. I often watch old RA races and imagine what how it would have unfolded if the great Zenyatta had been in the race. It’s a tragedy those two never faced off. Look at Borel in the stretch here. Literally not moving a muscle. BUt, I’d argue she was facing shit that day. Zenyatta, on the other hand, won a Breeders Cup classic (and it really should have been 2 BB Classics) so you know she beat quality even if it wasn’t every race.
Would’ve been awesome.
Another failure of the sport that it never happened.
Z’s detractors like to say that she was (mostly) kept in California,
but for the right $$$ they’ll ship anywhere…
Zumiee–I understand that Trump just has to throw an accusation out there and his followers will eat it up. But if he’s talking about doing away with mail in voting there has to be more than just tossing out general conspiracy theories. And I’m genuinely interested in what, specifically, he’s arguing is happening. Because without any proof I don’t see how they cancel mail in voting. What, for instance, would handicapped or bedridden voters do? Just not vote? There’s no way we can let that happen
He’s not trying to do away with mail-in voting where it already exists. It mostly exists in blue states he’s not going to win anyway. He just doesn’t want mail-in voting to spread, especially with the virus making more people demand mail-in voting everywhere. The Republican party knows that mail-in voting in all 50 states would be the end of their political power.
Trump has the Justice Dep’t and the SCOTUS in his pocket so he can pretty much do anything. The House of course will resist, but we’ll see how far that goes.
I’m waiting for someone to ask Cuomo where he got the haircut…
How about his brother being sick with the virus and still broadcasting his CNN show from his house? From a pure TV standpoint only, that is TV gold!
The Henry Aaron photo brings a 2-part trivia question to mind – because of Al Downing.
Who was the first National Leaguer to hit a grand slam in the World Series? (Not that difficult)
Who did he hit it off? (Very difficult)
Hint:
The pitcher was not Downing who gave up the second one in history to Ken Boyer in 1964…
I was at an event a couple of years ago, and there happened to be a lot of Trump supporters there, and someone said something in passing that was a negative criticism of Trump and I’ve never seen anything like what happened. A bunch of Trump supporters went from zero to 90 in anger in a split second. Nice women suddenly had blood vessels popping up on their faces in anger. It was an eye-opening and educational moment for me. I had kind of previously thought of conservative anger in an abstract kind of way, more like the liberal anger that I feel about certain injustices. More based on where a person’s activism is focused, kind of more abstract. But what I saw that night was actual redblooded ANGER. Pure anger. Pure “they wish they could round up liberals and …..whatever” anger. It kind of rattled me for a while, I have to say.
Was it last year? Howie Kendrick off of ex Dodger Joe Kelly?
Has to be before 1964.
Incorrect, Kat.
See the hint…
Yeah my bad 🤗
Joe Maddon is such an idiot, he wants baseball to resume as soon as possible and said:Let’s play on the moon if need be lol 😂.
One thing for sure a lot more Homers though with no gravity!
“I know a lot of the concern for them is the undocumented citizen votes, mostly mexican.”
And that’s a conservative myth. It’s not happening. Trump himself had it investigated by a committee after the ’16 election, and a couple of years after that the committee was quietly disbanded without finding evidence.
Of course, the myth is all the conservatives need.
That’s why the virus is so confounding to them. The virus can’t be gaslighted away, although they’re trying. Trump has moved the goalposts so that now if 200,000 people in the U.S. die from the virus that means “he did a good job.”
The Trump gaslighting will never end until he’s out of the White House.
In my experience of observation just like the far-right religious people and most republicans I have encountered all believe they are totally right in what they believe and there is no give and take.
Didn’t someone hit a slam for the Giants in the ’62 Series? Don’t know who.
I do…
C’mon, Mac. Think dammit!
How can you know “someone” did that and not know who?
Then we’ll worry about the pitcher…
Gimme a break, man, I was a week or so away from being born when the Series ended. I’ll take a stab anyway: Chuck Hiller.
Excellent, Mac! It was good old “Dr. No”…
chuck hiller .
can’t remember pitcher though.
props to Mac!
Hint:
He later played for the Mets.
I think he had one really good year pinch hitting for them…
Weirdest thing I’ve noticed about shopping. Nobody talks. Everyone just stands in lines staring straight forward. Eerie and weird.
The stupid mask complicates it…
Wasn’t they’re a pitcher for the Yanks named Bridges are something? Rocky? Marshall? some obscure name..
Marshall Bridges is correct.
Did you remember it?
No, just remembering it coming up on a giants B/R some years ago..
Went to Costco (San Ramon) yesterday, and omg what a breeze. No line to get in, and people were respectful of distancing. The talking was less than usual, but people were still friendly and nice. About 50/50 masks/no masks, but still and all, a pleasant outing. No TP of course, but I have a connection at Trader Joe’s in the Creek.
Hey I might need the TP connection.Im getting close to butt sliding…
Sponge-on-a-stick is just not taking off in popularity.
Reminds me of the old joke, a bear is shitting in the woods, and look over to see a rabbit taking a shit nearby. The bear says to the rabbit, “does the shit ever stick to your fur when you take a dump?” The rabbit says no, so the bear grabs the rabbit and wipes his ass with him.
My little dog is getting nervous . . .
Speaking of Grandslams:
Trivia:Who’s the only pitcher to hit a Grandslam in the World Series?
Was it McNally?
Yes, it was McNally in 1970.
Pretty sure he homered vs. Mets in ’69 as well.
Never thought of him as a good hitting pitcher…
Yeah it was Dave McNally gm3 W/S Grandslam!
Nice job Loo!
Rocky Bridges I remember. Just because it was a cool name. Had a roommate in Colorado named Dusty Case . . . His roommate played in the Giants organization up to AA somewhere when Jack Clark, Johnny Disaster, and Bob Knepper were coming up. He blew out his elbow pitching for Shreveport? Something like that. All I remember is we all called him Jimmy James.
rocky bridges iirc was 1b who became a coach or AAA mgr. later and was renowned for being funny and off beat.
Here’s one.
There are 3 pitchers who have thrown no hitters in both leagues.
Who was last one to join the club? Can you name where it happened?
Did any of you all see some of the Tigers/Cards World Series broadcast on MLB Network this week?
I knew a lot about that Series from having read the really good baseball book “Year of the Tiger.” It’s possibly the first book I ever read about baseball. McLean won 30 games that season, but Lolich won 3 games in that World Series. He rode some kind of motorcycle or scooter to the home games in the Series.
Denny McLain had all the hype going into that W/S with his amazing 31-6 record but it was Mickey Lolich who was “The Man” with 3 wins and a homer to boot as he easily won the MVP..
As was mentioned before, the ’84 Tigers Series was broadcast, too. The players were in those ridiculously tight polyester uniforms of the 1980s. Basketball players were still wearing the short shorts in the 1980s. The NFL uniforms hold up the best over the years. The NFL has always been very strict about their uniforms, but it pays off in how film and video footage of the NFL always looks good.
Gaylord Perry? Anaheim?
no.
As Aaron was circling the bases on that heroic HR, we all remember the two young white guys running out on the field to congratulate him, and for a moment Aaron was worried they meant him harm, Aaron later said; but he never broke his stride. As they congratulated him, it ended up being a moment of racial unity.
It’s still unnerving, though, to see them run out on the field during that moment in the video footage. Too easy to get on the field in those days. Or maybe it’s still that easy, but MLB has really toughened up on that issue. The person caught running on the field now will spend the night in jail and will be fined.
From wikipedia:
“Assuming you remain clothed and do not physically harm anyone, the most common fine for running on a professional baseball field is a $1,000 fine and one night in jail.
Keep in mind that this is the initial fine. Most states also require a sentencing, which can vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.”
They’d possibly be shot now…
if we somehow get to baseball this year, this is what it might sound like
I remember that happening, but never heard any of the audio.
“You never whack a golf ball.”
What?
Randy Johnson?
against Atlanta?
no Kat he’s not in the no nos in both leagues club
Nolan Ryan, Texas stadium?
he was second. one guy more recently
I remember when Bunning was the only one.
Nolan Ryan probably second.
After that is the question…
Yes Loo.
hint: guy who did it is only one ever to throw one there
Ooops. Posted my answer before I saw Loo’s.
It’s probably some borderline guy. As I’ve said a mllion times, a no-hitter is a BS accomplishment.
Basically a fluke unless you get about 18Ks…
Just a guess….one of those Forsch brothers?
Never knew which was which…
No. Bob was on STL, right? Was he the better one?
I’d have to look it up.
I just remember one of ’em getting a no-no on either the first or last day of the season…
Forsch was before Ryan, right?
Hideki Nomo against Colorado?
Kat is right, Hideo Nomo it is! The second though came April 4 2001 at Baltimore when Nomo was with Red Sox and is first last and only no hitter ever thrown at Camden Yards, which opened 1992.
Loo is right though the only others who have thrown no hitters in both leagues are Jim Bunning and Nolan Ryan.
Way to go, Kat!
Roy Halladay?
Willie, didn’t Johnson throw no-nos for Seattle and AZ?
You’re right: Johnson for the M’s in ’90 vs. Tigers and a perfecto for the D-Backs in ’04 vs. Braves.
Yes that means I hit the daily double!!
Speaking of Nolan Ryan, this date in 1986.
128 comments at 2:19 PM. Not bad, BF. Mix of non-existent sports mixed with very real politics seems to be a good mix in 2020.
Since you guys are into quizzes, how about this one:
What team had four starters averaging 20 wins and lost to the Giants in the WS? Year and 3 of four top pitchers?
OSF
Had to be 1954. Dusty Rhodes series.
I was reading about that in Charles Einstein’s “Willie’s Time.”
Have to think who the SPs were.
1 out of the 4 is not so easy…
A better question is who the Giant SPs were.
Clubber?
Yeah I’m thinking 54 also..
I think I remember Rapid Bob Feller still pitching along with Early Wynn?
Bob Lemon probably is one of the four.
Randy Johnson in 2004 really is correct answer, sorry. LA Times had one of those it happened on this day that I checked in on about Nomo and didn’t mention him at all.
I think one of the SPs had last name Garcia, Mike maybe…not sure without looking it up in Einstein book.
Technically there are really 5 guys who have no hitters in each league counting Johnson Ryan Bunning and Nomo.
Cy Young pitched one for Cleveland spiders who were in the NL in 1897 and later had 2 while in AL.
Had anyone ever done it in an inter league game?
I wonder how that would be counted…
Cone threw a perfect game vs. the Expos when he was with the Yanks.
Excellent, Mac.
So whaddaya think?
Is it an AL or an NL no-hitter?
This is the kind of question that could lead to a barroom brawl in the old days.
Like the one I saw prompted by this stupid question:
Who has more pressure late in a tight game – a punter or a placekicker?
Maybe it should be its own category — interleague no-hitters?
That’ll get you punched…
Just to stir up trouble, my answer would be that Cone gets credit for both leagues…
“Weirdest thing I’ve noticed about shopping. Nobody talks. Everyone just stands in lines staring straight forward. Eerie and weird.” It’s extra protection, just like when you walk through a sketchy neighborhood at night.
maybe but i don’t think this is being consciously done. I think people are just in a collective daze
From Bob Nightengale, regarding another issue about playing a 2020 season:
“The first deal-breaker, before the two sides even start talking about logistical concerns that would fill the Grand Canyon, is money. The players, by agreeing to sacrifice their health and willingness to be away from their families for at least four months, would want to be paid their full salary, at least a pro-rated share of their remaining salary for the games missed.
Sorry — two MLB owners told USA TODAY Sports they would never approve any deal if there are no fans without requiring players to take a significant pay cut – perhaps as much as 40%. They spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the talks. With no fans in the stands, no parking revenue and no concessions, that wipes out about $4 billion of the $10.7 billion in revenue MLB generated last year.”
will clark special on sports channel
After Will Clark’s famous first AB Homerun off of Nolan Ryan he sits down in the dugout and to his left is Chili Davis, and asks him do you think I’ll get drilled my next time up? Chili says Oh Hell Yeah!
Turns out Ryan did brush him back but not hit him, it was just a message Will said..
Damn. I remember the game I was watching, they cut in to show this. Tom Dempsey died of Coronavirus complications. Don Criqui laughs a little as Dempsey trots out there.
Butker made a 77 yarder on Twitter, I think.
Probably had a minor hurricane at his back…
Saw a Denver kicker make a 65 yarder in pre-season.
James, if you’re around, kind of a question for you. I rewatched Moneyball last night, and during Oakland’s 20-game win streak in ’02 or whenever that was, a lot of commentators were saying things like ‘it’s hard to understand or describe what’s going on with this team’, alluding to the concept of stats-driven “moneyball” maybe actually working. It reminded me of commentators in 2010 saying the same thing about the Giants, that band of misfits making it work. I’m thinking that team was not driven by current analytics, but was there, perhaps, some element of it in putting those pieces together on that team? Or just luck? I know how you feel about team chemistry… 🙂
From the KNBR Facebook page:
“As reported by the LA Times’ Rong-Gong Lin, Santa Clara executive officer Jeffrey Smith does not expect, “any sports games until at least Thanksgiving, and we’d be lucky to have them by Thanksgiving. This is not something that’s going to be easy to do.”
That would mean 49ers cannot play games, even in an empty stadium. There is every reason to believe those analyses by Newsom and Smith are actually conservative estimates.
In a phone conversation with Amesh Adalja, M.D., Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security, and member of the NCAA coronavirus panel, Adalja told KNBR that the only thing that can provide certainty of safety for a mass gathering event like a concert, movie, or sporting event, is immunity or a vaccine.
Could that be by September? No.
“We’re not going to have a vaccine at that time,” Adalja said.
Adalja said there are currently at least two vaccines in phase one clinical trials, which is “the quickest we’ve seen that happen in history.” But that doesn’t mean you should expect a viable vaccine any time soon.
Vaccines need to be tested in multiple phases which ensure safety, effectiveness, proper dosages, and testing enough subjects in trials to understand the risks involved. Usually, Adalja said, that takes about a year, “if you went as rapidly as possible and assume that there were no complications in the clinical trials.”
But that doesn’t incorporate the reality of manufacturing this vaccine on a monumental scale. As Adalja said, “with this pandemic, basically the entire world needs to be vaccinated. So, it is going to be a major manufacturing challenge.”
Adalja’s said that an 18-month window of widespread vaccine availability is “probably optimistic and could really only be achieved under the best conditions happening all the way through all the clinical trial data.”
There’s also the problem of the nature of coronaviruses fall and winter. Adalja said that we could experience something of a break in the summer if the virus is altered by our environment, but that coronaviruses have a tendency to flare up in fall and winter months. He reaffirmed that a vaccine is the only way to stop this type of virus, which he said won’t be available for over a year.
“It will likely find the fall and winter months conducive,” Adalja said. “There is no way to stop from from having a reappearance in the fall. That’s just what coronaviruses do. They peak in the fall and winter, and they decrease their transmission in the summer. The only way to stop this virus is with the vaccine.””
Don’t worry. Jared is on this. I mean, he fixed the Middle East, amirite?