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Reminder: Boston College is the only local school that didn't cancel fall sports
By adamg on Sun, 09/27/2020 - 12:06pm
And at least one Newton city councilor is pretty damned pissed about right now:
As an elected official in #NewtonMA where much of the @BostonCollege campus is located, this video upsets me. @BCFootball players do not live in a bubble. #COVID19 is real and deadly but clearly no one here cares about that. @NewtonMAMayor @NewtonHealth https://t.co/AXXCrbZPKH
— Councilor Alicia Bowman (@aliciafornewton) September 27, 2020
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Comments
Cry me a rivah
Cry me a rivah
Nope - No War on BC by Newton City Officials- Nope. None At All
What's next from the Garden City towards the Heights? A blockade?
Does anyone have video of more than two mask less people congregating at Lasalle, Newton South, or the world's most expensive high school; Newton North?
I'll pay a small honorarium for it.
come on snowflake
Oh come on snowflake, you're really claiming anti christian bias in elected officials reprimanding BC for an outbreak and being the only school not to cancel athletics? You and plenty others have no problem screaming about other private schools, complaining about rich kids at BU or Harvard, but when its rich kids at a low caliber school like BC , conservatives claim anti christian bias because its from Newton officials, who dont even have the courtesy to be christian like you?!
Point of order
As much as it pains me- with my two degrees from BU- to say this, Boston College is not a low caliber school.
BC is ranked in the top 40 schools in the country, has an excellent academic program and liberal and generous financial aid.
Focus on the fact that BC has the highest rate of backward white hat wearing, Proud Boy wanna be, date raping schmucks in the city, and that it absolutely should have cancelled sports this year.
Sure, BC is the douchier older cousin to the Covington HS klan kids, but it's by no means a low caliber institution.
As a grad of both BC and BU
BU would kill to have the application of that (now financially secure) Covington kid. He’s that secure because people like you slandered him about being in the Klan. Only on UH would this be considered acceptable. Sheesh.
Got the
skinny envelope from BC, eh? Check the rankings. Low caliber? LOL. Newton is still pissed that they had to take part of the BC property by eminent domaine.
Alleged "war on B.C."
It doesn't matter if there is or is not an alleged "war on BC by Newton City Officials". The behavior of BC football players in this video is unacceptable during a pandemic and a clear violation of NCAA guidelines
As far as other videos, paid for by J. Costello, if they show the same thing, it's also unacceptable.
Newton South and North are both remote
So no, there are no videos of maskless people congregating at small schools.
Reminder - BC is the school that had an outbreak of COVID-19, has students upset at how cavalier they're being with their inadequate testing protocols, who lied to dorm RAs about how often they'd get tested, and in general has the least responsible COVID-19 protocol of all the local schools. If they were taking it as seriously as BU or NU, no one in Newton or Boston (which is also upset with them) would be complaining.
Remote - Yes
Students congregating? Of course they are.
You would have to be one of the most unaware people on the planet concerning the social lives of teens and college age people to think that they are not congregating indoors without masks.
Are you in a cloistered abbey in the hills of Vermont posting this comment?
Allston, Brookline, JP yesterday, packed with people many without masks on.
Where'd they go?
Where did those goalposts go? They used to be "congregating at Lasalle, Newton South, or the world's most expensive high school; Newton North." Now, they're apparently anyplace that teenagers meet indoors. Or maybe they're at a cloistered abbey in VT, or Allston, Brookline, or JP.
Tres shifty.
Triggered much?
Maybe, as a Catholic, you were raised to believe that nobody dare question anything the church, its heirarchy, or attached operations does.
That's fine if part of practicing your religion means never questioning your heirarchy. That's entirely your thing. But many or most do not adhere to your religion, and questioning decisions and actions that impact the surrounding community is entirely legitimate, absolutely within the purview of local officials, and 100% necessary for public safety.
Glad To See We Finally Get To See Your Portrait
I was leaning towards Dopey based on your commentary but this one is applicable just as much.
damn dog
you really took us back to the playground with this one
Someone Uses A Child's Movie Meme And I Am The Playground One?
Sure thing. Yup.
Do you not know how memes work?
Responding with a gif to show your reaction to a comment (the gif can be from any media) is standard discourse in this current age of the internet.
Your response was most definitely playground league.
Welcome to the internet. Let me know if you need more tips.
Anti catholic much?
Yikes, showing your bias vs Catholics? Substitute ANY other religion or any race and you might realize how bigoted your comment is. Fair comment by JC that Newton residents might look around before making BC the evil empire.
Lasell is testing students regularly
Unlike BC, Lasell is working with the Broad Institute and testing on-campus students 2x/week and commuting students 1-2x/week depending on how frequently they are on campus.
BC is the only large local school that I'm aware of that's not doing at least weekly testing of students.
They are doing weekly tests
But sounds like they are focusing the testing on those who are symptomatic and those who have been identified through contact tracing. And everyone was tested regularly the first two weeks on campus. Number positive and percent positive are updated every week for all to see. Sounds pretty solid as a strategy:
https://www.bc.edu/content/bc-web/bcnews/campus-community/announcements/...
as someone at-risk who lives
as someone at-risk who lives a block away from the Hotel Boston, i do feel that BC has endangered me and the neighborhood i live in
BOSTON COVID Near Senior Housing
At least Newton elected officials speak up.
Boston's Mayor and City Council are allowing BC to house their sic COVID19 students at Boston Hotel behind two buildings in Brighton of senior and handicapped residents! Improvisational hospital compliments of Brian Golden's Boston Planning and Redevelopment Agency (never saw an institution's request they didn't like!)
Boston College paid 10% of their payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) to the city of Boston. Ten per cent.
Of course, none of the silent city paid leaders live in the Brighton neighborhood where B.C. (Boston COVID) puts their sic.
The best part of that Twitter thread
is the mope threatening to have Fr. Leahy arrested and fired.
After the problems in early September, the number of infections and positivity rate are down.
AFAIK, the football team/staff have had very few positive results, would have to doublecheck.
As of 9/21
The football team reported one positive since June.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/09/21/sports/boston-college-football-te...
The school reported 26 cases last week, with a positivity rate of 0.33%. The previous week, it was 17 cases with a 0.37%.
https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/sites/reopening-boston-college.html
For those who don't want to read the Globe article:
"Atlantic Coast Conference protocols require teams to test three times per week — once within three days of competition, another the day before game day administered by a third party, and a final round within 48 hours of the end of the game. The Eagles have conducted more than 2,500 tests since returning to campus in June for voluntary workouts with just one positive result."
They're also the only D1 school
Of course they didn't end completely, and yeah, locker rooms are going to look like this.
Are the sports programs testing enough? I don't know. If I were a coach, given the number of kids not playing on other teams (VTech had like 20 players not play yesterday due to COVID), I'd want more mask wearing.
But come on. I promise you not one player, student worker, or coach hangs out in the same places non-students who live in Newton hang out. During the season, D1 college athletes live in a pretty tight bubble. They live with teammates, dine with teammates, study with teammates, practice with teammates, view film with teammates. When they do hang out with the ladies, it isn't the Chestnut Hill Garden Club.
Not quite
There are 4 schools that play Division 1 sports within the City of Boston. Only 2 have football programs, and the other is in the lower tier of Division 1. That said, three out of four currently are not participating in competitions.
That said, griping about the most highly tested people in the city celebrating for a few minutes after a victory is pretty trifling. The councilor would be better served by driving around and checking out places in her city where similar sized crowds are gathering without the benefit of constant testing.
This is in the context of football
They're the only D1 football school. I presumed that folks who saw that video understood they weren't on the swimming and diving team.
Study college sports
Read what I wrote. There are 2 division 1 football schools in Boston. It’s a fact.
two?
Are you counting Harvard because the stadium is in Allston??
Yes
And I did debate the whole "4 schools" thing because Northeastern has facilities in Brookline, but their indoor sports programs have always been in Boston, and I believe that they have facilities on the other side of the tracks for outdoor sports.
But yes, the athletic facilities of Harvard College are in Boston, as are the athletic facilities for Boston College, along with the dormitories for the Boston College athletes.
When they do hang out with
...and I assume everybody the athletes and student assistants party with also exclusively lives, dines, and studies with the football team, reducing the odds that they'll act as a contagion link between the team and the rest of the community, right? You see the problem here? I'm sure you do.
In other words
They are not really college students. They are unpaid volunteers in a semi-professional sports racket.
We can’t blame them for doing what they are told by the people who hold their future compensation by the short hairs. And we can’t hold them to the same standards as we do real college students.
"Real" College Students?
Like all the kids at BU, Suffolk, and NU majoring in Living In Boston for 4 Years Because They Are Paying Full Freight college students?
Settle down & re-read
What was written was not a dig at the students but rather an indictment of the machine that takes advantage of these young people to make millions of dollars on them and their health and safety ... and future earnings/compensation.
Are you so upset because BC is your Alma Mater? Is that why you're making such a fuss?
These students get a full ride in exchange
for agreeing to play football. And they also get good exposure which will help them as they pursue a career in professional sports. Hardly being "taken advantage" of.
Indentured Servants
The NCAA makes over $1 billion a year and the coaches make from five to 10 million per year including endorsements.
The athletes who put their lives and future health on the line to produce those billions get a “full ride” to a school they barely have time to attend. They can’t even make money off their likeness, although the NCAA can.
They are indentured servants, most who will never get within a mile of the pros, stiffed by a corrupt NCAA in collusion with the NFL
Likeness profiteering
Didn't that get banned a few years ago in federal court? Was literally talking about that yesterday.
You're Right
I forgot about the Ed O'Bannon case where they had to settle with the players for a few bucks. It appears instead of allowing players to profit from their own likeliness, the NCAA just stopped licensing the games.
Taken advantage
Fewer than 2% of college players ever play professionally at any level. 64% of Div 1 football players think they are likely to make it to the NFL.
Spoken Like Someone Who Can't Play
I have one child who cycled through high school sports. I have one child cycling through theatre. Both love(d) what they do. I wholeheartedly support both of them and help out as much as I can / could.
No one is being exploited or forced to play football at BC. One of BC's problems is that they actually have pretty high academic standards as compared to other D1 schools. That means they lose a lot of recruits to football programs that have schools attached to them.
As my theatre child would say to you; stop being such a drama queen.
Spoken like someone who's missed the point
If your child was attending a BC theater program that was bringing in millions for the university, I would expect that child to be able to make money for their performance. If their face was being used to sell products, I would expect that child to be able be paid for that. If, on their own, they wanted to make money off their image, I would expect that child to have that option.
Now imagine the college theater was one of the most profitable business' in the world, making so much money that they're paying directors millions, building palaces for their performances, selling sky boxes that cost tens of thousands of dollars per season, TV rights for billions, gaming programs with your child's face on the cover, and then turning around and telling their performers that "sorry, you should be happy for the "exposure" and whatever class you can get to in between rehearsals and performances."
FINALLY, imagine your child is one of the lucky few talented enough to turn professional, but Hollywood has a deal with the colleges that they won't hire your child until they've performed for college theater for a given amount of time, where there's a fair chance that they will suffer a career ending theater injury and the very act of performing puts them at risk of early dementia. Oh, and certainly don't even think about hiring or talking to an agent that might help you make the best choices for your future professional career.
But to you, asking for fair value for your labor is being a "drama queen." Weird. You're being taken advantage of my friend, and you don't even know it.
Kind of the nature of football though.
And nothing is stopping anyone from setting up a semi professional league for 18-22 year olds. If they did, the NCAA wouldn't even care. Alabama football is Alabama football and people watch them because of the name on the helmet, not because of the talent on the field (See XFL or NFL Europe ratings).
BC football also loses money, they only get payouts from conferences who need them for games.
I do think it is getting close for NCAA players to make some money off their names/numbers though. Trying to keep colleges/alumni/boosters from cheating is the big issue. Then there are the Title 9 issues.
But football is unique in that you really can't make that next level paycheck unless you play college football with some rare exceptions. And the money generated is all going to coaches for the most part (with funding to other sports and facilities).
Still in the end no one if forcing anyone to play football anywhere and there are 80 BC players who are getting a free education and should know they aren't making the NFL.
Football is a Business
Respectfully, you've just typed a bunch stuff that doesn't make any sense.
Uh, what? That means they're making money, they get a chunk of the ACC televison money. The ACC invited BC into the conference way back when because they thought it would make the ACC money, not out of the kindness of their hearts. BC has also decided that football is a good marketing tool to bring in donors and boosters, one more job the players aren't getting paid for.
College football right now is a highly profitable enterprise, it's true that some teams do far better than others, but no one's asking a Jacksonville Jaguar to play for free. In any normal business, even the NFL, the players get their fair-ish share of that profit when allowed to negotiate, like every other competitive business. No one says that money has to all go to the coaches and the college athletics slush fund.
If the players were paid, there's no cheating.
They still lose money.
the 30 million (its actually 20-25 I believe) is a payout from all ACC revenues and BC still spends more than that on their athletic department. Since this is a BC discussion we are including them, but in general there are probably 75 d1 schools that do better than BC in terms of spending/losing money from football. And spending is always the big key.
I don't see what being paid and cheating have to do with anything. If you pay players, the system just becomes more of a money issue with kids getting more influenced than they already are. That is the issue the NCAA can't seem to figure out.
In the end the NCAA isn't going to budge because they know their money schools (power 5 conferences) can pack up and leave at any time and believe me the SEC has 2 or 3 exit plans ready to go if the NCAA makes them pay players.
Poor BC
The NCAA is a successful $1billion+ year industry, of course they're not going to "budge" until forced by the courts or the currently oblivious audience willing to watch modern-day gladiators injure themselves for free amidst million dollar ads for Bud Lite and Cialis.
As a mediocre ACC track athlete myself, I sat in "athlete's council" meetings with the AD where he went over the athletic department budget while we munched on "free" chips and soda. According to his accounting, football often "lost" money, but they always poured money into things like putting the players in off-campus hotels the entire weekend of HOME games to "prevent distractions," upgraded the football and basketball facilities locker rooms every year, traveled via jets to destinations easily accessible by bus, lavished money on boosters, and paid the coaches millions.
They can afford all that, but they can't "afford" to pay players.
Yea not arguing the money isn't there.
I'm just saying it's complicated, and if you were forced to pay players, BC wouldn't be included in that plan anyway. You seem to know the game so I don't need to discuss that aspect of it with you.
But, as a FCS football and lacrosse player myself at a Patriot League school (who also got two masters degrees paid for because of d1 football graduate assistants positions) I can say that the free education is worth it to 90% of the football players who play in the country, and probably 99.9% of all college athletes.
"good exposure"
Oh my, what a tell. Try that one on your artist/photographer/performing artist friends who get asked to do their thing for zero dollars and "good exposure".
That's nonsense
Are there kids who wouldn't have made it in on pure academics? Sure -- but depending on the school you can find legacy kids, theater/music kids, international kids, and more who have the same story. And football kids gave up what, 25y+ hours/week in high school to practice, weights, watching videos, learning the playbook, travel, and games?
Most kids in D1 football graduate, and move on to careers outside the NFL. This is true at BC, University of Alabama, New Mexico State, you name it.
The flippant "they're jocks so they're dumb," as applied to all 85 scholarship student athletes and the walk-ons, is lazy crap.
On paper, sure D1
in reality, they'd have tough games with various southeastern and TX high schools.
Nonsense
The Texas or Florida state champions are not going to hang with an FBS team. Not enough depth and you're putting 17-18 year olds against 20-21 year olds who have the benefit of better weight training and more practices.
That's nice. So if they
That's nice. So if they spread Coronavirus to my corner of Newton am I supposed to feel like it's ok because it came from a D1 football player?
The virus doesn't care that they play football and I dont either. They need to take the same precautions as the rest us.
It doesn't matter if you think locker rooms look like this. Doesn't mean that the school should be promoting behavior that is the opposite of what we need everyone to do to keep the virus down.
I believe they do live in a bubble.
They get tested 3-5 times a week and the athletic department depends on a 30 million dollar check from the ACC conference every year but they need to play football to get that check.
I’m not 100% sure but I believe those guys are in a pretty secure/tight Covid exposure regimen. There is 30 million dollars riding on it.
Meh
I don’t think BC should be playing football, but the post game celebration not going to spark an outbreak that wasn’t going to light anyways.
Alicia Bowman's house
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/19-Chestnut-Ter-Newton-MA-02459/56315...
It's worth $1.7 million. Imagine having that much wealth, and then being angry and picking fights about anything at all. Why is it so hard for so many people to shut the (expletive) up and not bother others?
A Catholic institution doesn't need for me to defend it, and won't get my help ever, but government is always that much worse.
Really unnecessary. That
Really unnecessary. That information didn't need to be there for you to make your point.
This post should be deleted.
HAHAHAHAHA
At an "anon" (big secret who the anon is) coming in and saying that my post, which contains PUBLIC information ON A PUBLIC SERVANT, and which also laments that anyone would pick such a nonsense fight at any wealth level, especially that of a Newton, MA homeowner, completely missing the point by picking a fight with Gaffin to get my comment deleted.
Fun fact about anon posts in this forum: Every single one is reviewed before it's allowed. Gaffin read my post, then read yours, and opted to do nothing about mine.
Either you're the councilwoman herself, or you're some tool simping for someone who lives in a seven-figure home. Get bent.
I Guess Anon Has Never Voted
Doesn't everyone see that if you are a candidate for office, your address appears on the ballot?
Will isn't dropping the names of CIA foreign moles here.
Besides, the councilor seems like a bit of a high twitter poster. It is called Wuitis in some places.