{"id":83705,"date":"2020-05-18T17:11:51","date_gmt":"2020-05-18T17:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandbox.web.rcn.net\/rcntv\/?p=83705"},"modified":"2023-04-13T15:24:07","modified_gmt":"2023-04-13T15:24:07","slug":"question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/question\/","title":{"rendered":"That Is The Question\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>The views expressed in this blog are<\/em> <em>those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo be or not to be, that is the question\u201d is the phrase uttered by Prince Hamlet when he is contemplating suicide instead of dealing with a life that seems so unfair.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo play or not to play\u201d is the question facing school boards, administrators, and athletic directors as they contemplate the upcoming start of a new school year.\u00a0 Both colleges and high schools across the nation have yet to determine what to do.\u00a0 The decision is, one would think, certainly not as dire as the one facing Hamlet, although, for too many perhaps, it IS a matter of \u201clife or death\u201d.\u00a0 Sports can affect people that way.<\/p>\n<p>You have heard the phrase uttered by Dr. Fauci quite often and this is the dilemma facing the decision makers \u2013 \u201cYou don\u2019t make the timeline; the virus determines the timeline\u201d.\u00a0 Although many across the nation are now protesting the conclusion of that statement, it is as true today as when it was spoken on March 25.\u00a0 And, if we still agree with the science, then the decision to not only play sports, but to even open up high schools and college campuses across the country is still being determined by the virus.<\/p>\n<p>With that said, there are contingency plans, obviously.\u00a0 Here are some thoughts being bantered about:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>No classes; no sports<\/li>\n<li>Start the season as scheduled in September (or actually late August)<\/li>\n<li>Start the season in late September and end in December<\/li>\n<li>Start the season in September or October and play only league games<\/li>\n<li>Start the season in January or February, knowing classes will resume (works for colleges; not for high schools)<\/li>\n<li>Play, but with no fans, or hope there is a solution to maintaining \u201csocial distancing\u201d (easier in high school; not so for colleges)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Almost all of these ideas have merit at the college level, but some would be very difficult to incorporate into the high school scenario.\u00a0 College athletes primarily play just one sport.\u00a0 Athletes at the high school level play many sports all year round.\u00a0 A winter or spring coach certainly would argue against a fall season that conflicts with his\/her roster and season.\u00a0 One would think that fall sports at the high school level, at least, must occur in the fall or not at all.<\/p>\n<p><u>Hamlet<\/u> was Shakespeare\u2019s longest play and one of his most tragic.<\/p>\n<p>It appears that Co-Vid 19 will be here for a long time and it is certainly one of the most tragic historical events ever.<\/p>\n<p>Shakespeare not only wrote \u201cTo be or not to be\u201d for <u>Hamlet<\/u>. \u00a0In the same play, Shakespeare also penned, \u201cThe play\u2019s the thing\u201d.\u00a0 Now it is up to administrators at every level to decide within the next month or so whether \u201cTo play is the thing\u201d. \u00a0Stay tuned.\u00a0 Let the arguments begin.<strong><u>\u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><u>ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Speaking of contingency plans, major league baseball was in the news this week as they appear to be moving closer to having a shortened season (82 games). The problem now appears to be getting the players to play for a lot less money than their contracts demand.\u00a0 That issue may be the hardest to overcome.\u00a0 Most, if not all, revenue would come from television.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li>It was April 6, 1973, when baseball\u2019s American League sent the first designated hitter (DH) to the plate. It has been an American staple ever since, but not in the National League.\u00a0 It appears that with a shortened season and different divisional alignments, the DH will be used this year in the National League.\u00a0 Will it stay after Corona remains to be seen.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li>The national rules committee for high school sports, once again, turned down a shot clock for high school basketball. The late Coach Dick Tracy of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehallcoplay.org\/Domain\/12\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Whitehall<\/a> is happy.\u00a0 No one used the absence of a shot clock better than he did.\u00a0 For me, I would like to see a shot clock incorporated into the high school game.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hometeamsonline.com\/teams\/Default.asp?u=THEBLUEMOUNTAINLEAGUE&amp;s=baseball\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Blue Mountain League<\/a> regular season has been cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic.\u00a0 However, they are tentatively planning a tournament style short season starting in mid to late July.\u00a0 This season will culminate in a final game to be played sometime during the second weekend of August.\u00a0 RCN-TV hopes to bring you some of those games, should they be played.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol start=\"5\">\n<li>Keep enjoying our look back of some of the memorable broadcasts of this past year. We will be back eventually, hopefully, sooner and safer than ever.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company. \u201cTo be or not to be, that is the question\u201d is the phrase uttered by Prince Hamlet when he is contemplating suicide instead of&#8230;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"Yoast SEO Relevanssi index exclude","inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-behind-the-mic"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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