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Author Topic: Lessons from 1918: Old pandemic is a murky guide for sports  (Read 725 times)

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Offline jmyrlefuller

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Lessons from 1918: Old pandemic is a murky guide for sports
« on: May 22, 2020, 02:27:07 pm »
The image is striking: Fans watching a college football game in the midst of a pandemic, wearing masks with a smidge of social distance between them on row after row of bleacher seats.

The photo is 102 years old.

The Georgia Tech alumni Twitter feed posted a black-and-white photo of the scene at Grant Field in 1918. Decades before tailgates, prime-time kickoffs and billions in program-supporting TV money, the ethos of the die-hard college football fan was not much different than today: Risks be damned, we’re going to the game. (excerpt)

by Dan Gelston, Associated Press, May 20, 2020
https://apnews.com/d2f2ce156a64c679ce79d926bc98a207
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Offline truth_seeker

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Re: Lessons from 1918: Old pandemic is a murky guide for sports
« Reply #1 on: May 22, 2020, 03:07:18 pm »
Fascinating history @jmyrlefuller
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Offline musiclady

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Re: Lessons from 1918: Old pandemic is a murky guide for sports
« Reply #2 on: May 22, 2020, 03:10:22 pm »
Wow! That IS fascinating!!
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Character still matters.  It always matters.

I wear a mask as an exercise in liberty and love for others.  To see it as an infringement of liberty is to entirely miss the point.  Be kind.

"Sometimes I think the Church would be better off if we would call a moratorium on activity for about six weeks and just wait on God to see what He is waiting to do for us. That's what they did before Pentecost."   - A. W. Tozer

Use the time God is giving us to seek His will and feel His presence.

Offline Neverdul

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Re: Lessons from 1918: Old pandemic is a murky guide for sports
« Reply #3 on: May 22, 2020, 03:14:48 pm »
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Offline musiclady

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Re: Lessons from 1918: Old pandemic is a murky guide for sports
« Reply #4 on: May 22, 2020, 03:18:06 pm »
And somehow the freedom of Americans survived the wearing of masks 102 years ago.

Too bad that some believe that a little piece of cloth is destroying their liberty.    *****rollingeyes*****
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Character still matters.  It always matters.

I wear a mask as an exercise in liberty and love for others.  To see it as an infringement of liberty is to entirely miss the point.  Be kind.

"Sometimes I think the Church would be better off if we would call a moratorium on activity for about six weeks and just wait on God to see what He is waiting to do for us. That's what they did before Pentecost."   - A. W. Tozer

Use the time God is giving us to seek His will and feel His presence.

Offline jmyrlefuller

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Re: Lessons from 1918: Old pandemic is a murky guide for sports
« Reply #5 on: May 22, 2020, 04:00:09 pm »
Quote from: musiclady on May 22, 2020, 03:18:06 pm
And somehow the freedom of Americans survived the wearing of masks 102 years ago.

Too bad that some believe that a little piece of cloth is destroying their liberty.    *****rollingeyes*****
Indeed.

But that's the thing: even 102 years ago, with a flu bug about ten times worse than this virus, with no vaccine available for another 25 years, we still had sports. Football, baseball, hockey—it still went on, and people went out, in the crowds. We didn't shut things down until people got sick. And in 1919, whatever had been scaled back came roaring back... with college football creating a new generation of stars, once they graduated, thus was born the NFL.

I truly think that if the government hadn't been scared into shutting everything down by all those dramatic reports out of Italy, there would have been FAR more cooperation regarding covering one's face, etc. By going straight to the lockdown first, they caused a panic.
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Offline berdie

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Re: Lessons from 1918: Old pandemic is a murky guide for sports
« Reply #6 on: May 22, 2020, 04:59:32 pm »
Quote from: Neverdul on May 22, 2020, 03:14:48 pm




I have always admired athletes' physical stamina (not necessarily their morals however) and this impresses me even more. How in the heck can those guys catch a breath while running bases, etc. I wore a mask (bandana) to the grocery store and was fairly positive I was going to pass out at one point because I couldn't breath.

Which leads me to wonder how soccer will recommence...or basketball...or football...or...
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