As the calendar flips from July to August and teams open camps, in many ways Illinois’ four FCS programs are no closer to answers than when spring arrived and then turned into summer.

The two biggest questions remain: Will there be a season? If so, what does that season look like?

As of now, seven of the 13 FCS conferences are still trying to have a fall season. Two of those seven are the Missouri Valley Football Conference  — which Illinois State, Southern Illinois and Western Illinois are members  —  and the Ohio Valley Conference, which includes Eastern Illinois.

As Stats Perform FCS Senior Editor Craig Haley wrote recently, “Anxious feelings, though, overwhelm optimistic vibes. The pandemic has led to more than 1,800 games being canceled or postponed across all three NCAA divisions. Junior colleges won’t play until the spring semester, provided conditions are safe.”

The four Illinois FCS programs have already lost or will soon lose their games against FBS opponents that provide much needed money to the athletic departments as a whole. Those losses range from $450,000 to $500,000.

Week 0 games?

SIU recently announced it had secured a game with the University of Kansas, tentatively set for Aug. 29. Such games, approved by the NCAA, are labeled Week O contests. SIU would receive $300,000 after losing a $500,000 payday when its Wisconsin game was cancelled. 

“We appreciate our administration finding another game and giving us this opportunity,” said SIU head coach Nick Hill in a release. “I was excited when I got the news. It gave us a shot in the arm that we needed, because it gives you something on the calendar to shoot for, plan for.”

Yet, that game — along with Western’s Sept. 19 contest at Oklahoma State — hinges on an upcoming FBS decision. Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby told ESPN on Wednesday the league will present four to five different scheduling plans to league administrators at the meeting Monday.

According to 247sports.com, “The leading candidate, at least in Bowlsby’s eyes, is a full 12-game schedule. He has long seen it as the first option, with anything below a 12-game schedule as a fallback for the conference.”

Forging ahead

The Salukis began fall camp Friday and have four weeks to prepare for the contest. Players have been returning to campus in recent weeks through a gating procedure to screen for Covid-19. No players have tested positive to date. Players, coaches and staff will follow safety protocols throughout the return to football.

“I’m all on-board with getting back to football, as long as our doctors and health officials tell us it’s safe for us to play,” Hill said.

Meanwhile, Illinois State announced that two of its football players tested positive last week.

According to a story in The Pantagraph by Randy Reinhardt, ISU director of athletics Larry Lyons said, “We’re still planning as if we’re playing football this season. That’s always been our goal to plan to play. I don’t think there is any question everyone is looking forward to getting to the point where we can play football and play safely.

“I think it will be more clear in the next couple weeks. The NCAA Board of Governors has a meeting coming up. We need to be patient.”

Lyons also indicated that ISU is seeking a game to replace the cancelled Sept. 4 game at the University of Illinois. That game would have netted ISU $450,000. If a replacement game cannot be arranged, the Redbirds will open their season Sept. 12, hosting rival Eastern Illinois in the annual Mid-America Classic game.

EIU, meanwhile, is also waiting on a decision by its league’s presidents.

In last week’s media conference, OVC commissioner Beth DeBauche said that the league’s board of presidents is scheduled to meet virtually Wednesday and indicated that a decision may be forthcoming.

Eastern is scheduled to host Indiana State for its Sept. 3 season opener. The Panthers were scheduled to play Oct. 10 at the University of Kentucky of the SEC. However, the SEC presidents have reportedly adopted a plan for a 10-game, conference-only season. EIU was to receive a $500,000 guarantee for the game against Kentucky

Like Eastern, WIU is slated to kick off its season with a Sept. 3 home game. The Leathernecks would host North Alabama.

To date, however, Alabama is on a list of states identified as those that have a positive COVID-19 test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents or have a 10% or higher positivity rate over a seven-day rolling average.

As Haley noted recently, “As July advances into August, the unpopular decision to shut down the FCS season feels inevitable.”

Most societies are burdened with a lunatic fringe or two.  America, I’m afraid, suffers several more than that.  And the biggest one–the size and  disposition of an armed force– I fear is on it its way.

Recent surveys cough up anywhere from 18% to 49% (the latter  one heard on NPR) of Americans asserting that they will refuse to take a  Covid-19 vaccination, no matter how safe and effective  medical science ordains it is.

Let’s explore the survey findings least disquieting (18%), shall we?  It extrapolates  to about 50 million irrationally unyielding troglodytes. Most of them will thunder out the quarrel that a federally-mandated vaccination program would amount to a draconian trampling of their Founding-Father Freedoms. Piffle, I riposte.Some others –blinkered by doddering ancient superstitions–would whine that vaccinations are against their religion.  Freedom of religion, they will cry.  Freedom from religion, I would argue.   Still other  dolts might look upon the vaccination as an invention of an ultra leftwing conspiratorial cabal, a kind of  Lunatic Syringe, if you will ,(Sorry, I don’t seem able to resist insinuating at least one   wordplay into my blogs).  Tosh, I say.

Get woke, I demand of the dangerous dimwits.  Submitting to a simple injection is no more liberty-shackling than submitting to a driver’s license test, or paying your taxes, or accepting the zoning laws that forbid your next-door neighbors from opening up a cassowary petting zoo in his rumpus room. Plainly, regulatory edicts are in place to protect citizens’ freedoms, rather than hobble them.

So now that we’ve discarded all the insane piffle and tosh into the trash bin of selfish ignorance,  let’s charge on with a plan to bring the obstinate vaccine opponents to heel.

The answer:  Incentivize  the Resistance away from resisting. With what?  Why, with  the lure of irresistible  financial bribery, of course.  There’s nothing more potent in corroding  ironclad principles.  Following are just some ideas.  I leave it to the strategical savvy of legislators for others,

.  Withhold unemployment checks from those who sidestep vaccination when it becomes available them

.  Have the IRS issue  a 10%, maybe 15%,  tax  discount for  vaccinated individuals.

. Any religion ordering their congregants   to opt out of the program will have their tax-exemption status scuttled.*

.  The imbeciles  who have backed away from vaccination opportunities and who  have contracted Covid-19 will be denied healthcare insurance coverage.

Harsh, you say? Such actions as these are far less uncaring than the  indifference that willingly poses  existential menace to one’s fellow citizens.

Bear this in mind: If near all of us aren’t vaccinated, near all of us are in mortal danger.

*Frankly, I hold that no religion should enjoy the privilege of tax exemption.  Separation of church and state, you know.  What’s more, I hardly want my taxes to effectively finance  schools teaching kids that Earth is just 6,000 years old, or some badass schmuck named Satan actually tempts you to sin, or that one Messiah or another is packing his bags for a trip to this, one of billions upon billions of planets, or…well, you get my drift.

They call it “remote work” but if you look up “remote” in the dictionary, here’s what you’ll generally find:

remote
[ ri-moht ] – far apart;
– distant in location;
– distant in time;
– distant in relationship or connection;

Why is this important? Because this is the way most of us are working right now. And even though, many times, as they say, “absence makes the heart grow fonder,” it can also make that same heart a heck of a lot lonelier.

And, yes, social media can help. After all, you’re reading my words right now on social media. But it’s not the same as overhearing the quick laughter of a colleague from down the hall, or the beep-beep-beep of the office coffeemaker telling everyone the coffee’s done so what are they waiting for?!

So, if you’ve got a spare minute today (and, really, who doesn’t unless you’re the leader of a country or developing the next International Space Station), reach out to a colleague. Send a meme or a pun. Or, better yet, actually use the phone to — wait for it — call them (yep, I know, crazy).

Because though absence makes the heart grow fonder, it can also cause “distance in relationship or connection.”

And, we all know that we don’t need any more distance among us.

Especially now.

Photo by Stefan Spassov on Unsplash

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Contact me at [email protected]. Learn more about my writing, speaking and music at jameswarda.com.

Comments Note: All comments are reviewed. Any that are considered to be a personal attack or hate speech will be removed. In my blog, I always try to be respectful. I expect the same from my readers, both in responses to me, and about or to each other. And, again, thank you for reading.

@2001-2020, James R. Warda. All rights reserved.

In Toledo, Ohio a generous businessman made a huge impact on the lives of about 75 students graduating from Scott High School, in a neighborhood filled with dreams but lacking the wherewithal to make them come to fruition.  That’s why you need a dream-maker like Pete Kadens who decided to take a substantial amount of his self-made fortune and give it back to those in need.

One of the students who accepted Kaden’s offer will go to a university in Ohio and study criminal justice.  The young African American man is very much aware of the current social injustice that we all witnessed on Memorial Day when a Minneapolis police officer put his knee on the neck of George Floyd for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. serving as not only Judge and Jury but also Executioner.

That investment by Mr. Kadens will pay off in dividends as those students, who wanted to secure post-secondary education but didn’t have a path to do that due to economic disparity, will I’m sure pay it forward someday.

If we truly want peace and prosperity for this country, we need more individuals that have the spirit of Pete Kadens even if they don’t have the man’s finances.  We all can do something for those in need, even if it’s as simple as supplying a transit pass for a student wanting to make a difference.

During a 2020 that has been full of gloom, let’s celebrate those who GO DO GOOD, whether they’re the benefactor who makes life better or the recipient who holds the promise of doing the same in the near future.

If you’d like to see more about this incredible story then check out a story by Steve Hartman who has a knack for finding that which will make you cry with joy.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/free-college-tuition-scott-high-school-toledo-ohio-students-parents/

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A blast from the past this week finding Kingmaker’s “Really Scrape The Sky” in my Release Radar. Why are they returning, you ask, after all these years? Great question! To give us a brilliant new 5-disc boxset. I might have to find some money, as this package has everything! SOLD! I just became Cherry Red Records’ latest customer.

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Travis Barker is now the hardest working man in showbiz, collaborating with everyone from Machinegun Kelly to RTJ. This single has a solid Barker beat and it’s always nice to hear Mike and El run verses.

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Marilyn Manson has put together a string of solid songs this last year, including a killer cover of Johnny Cash’s “God’s Gonna Cut You Down.” “We Are Chaos” is another great tune, reminding us all that even evil rockers have to grow up.

!!! has released another single from their latest EP, Certified Heavy Kats, in which they try to mention every “goddamn city” that’s “walking it off.” I’m sure that phrase is code for Fun Cities To Play, but look, Nic Offer and Meah Pace (damn she’s hot) “Can’t say every goddamn city, now can I, Tokyo!”

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Whoa, Local H gives us a monstrosity of an instrumental jam session. If you’ve got the time, they have the distortion.

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I can’t forget this Hall & Oates demo, “Back In Love Again.” My wife and I can agree that Yacht Rock is great summer fun, and these two dudes make the best of it.

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What an interesting piece of rock from Graham Coxon (of Blur fame) and Bastille (of Bastille fame:). There’s a hint of Blur and a dose of Bastille, and I’m happy with the outcome. It’s 2:11 of fun. “Make me paranoid/Love me, hate me fill the void.”

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Everything Everything is really pushing the envelope lately. “Violent Sun” could be my favorite song this week, it has the intensity that many bands lack.

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Wait, what? Did Weezer release something worthy of two spins? You be the judge.

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Jack Jezzro has been in my Radar a lot these days, and for good reason. “Emily” is another beautiful piece of jazz that you’ll want to play on repeat.

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Namaste.

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