My local brew pub just sent out a thank you email to the members of the mug club- we get a free growler a month with our annual membership, plus some other bennies.

Just a thank you for supporting them over the years and continuing to do so with take out orders now- and they are giving each of us another free growler this month

A nice way to remind us to try to support our local businesses in uncertain times

Best explanation I have read about the corona virus: Feeling confused as to why Coronavirus is a bigger deal than Seasonal flu? Here it is in a nutshell. I hope this helps. Feel free to share this to others who don’t understand...

It has to do with RNA sequencing.... I.e. genetics.

Seasonal flu is an “all human virus”. The DNA/RNA chains that make up the virus are recognized by the human immune system. This means that your body has some immunity to it before it comes around each year... you get immunity two ways...through exposure to a virus, or by getting a flu shot.

Novel viruses, come from animals.... the WHO tracks novel viruses in animals, (sometimes for years watching for mutations). Usually these viruses only transfer from animal to animal (pigs in the case of H1N1) (birds in the case of the Spanish flu). But once, one of these animal viruses mutates, and starts to transfer from animals to humans... then it’s a problem, Why? Because we have no natural or acquired immunity.. the RNA sequencing of the genes inside the virus isn’t human, and the human immune system doesn’t recognize it so, we can’t fight it off.

Now.... sometimes, the mutation only allows transfer from animal to human, for years it’s only transmission is from an infected animal to a human before it finally mutates so that it can now transfer human to human... once that happens..we have a new contagion phase. And depending on the fashion of this new mutation, thats what decides how contagious, or how deadly it’s gonna be..

H1N1 was deadly....but it did not mutate in a way that was as deadly as the Spanish flu. It’s RNA was slower to mutate and it attacked its host differently, too.

Fast forward.

Now, here comes this Coronavirus... it existed in animals only, for nobody knows how long...but one day, at an animal market, in Wuhan China, in December 2019, it mutated and made the jump from animal to people. At first, only animals could give it to a person... But here is the scary part.... in just TWO WEEKS it mutated again and gained the ability to jump from human to human. Scientists call this quick ability, “slippery”

This Coronavirus, not being in any form a “human” virus (whereas we would all have some natural or acquired immunity). Took off like a rocket. And this was because, Humans have no known immunity...doctors have no known medicines for it.

And it just so happens that this particular mutated animal virus, changed itself in such a way the way that it causes great damage to human lungs..

That’s why Coronavirus is different from seasonal flu, or H1N1 or any other type of influenza.... this one is slippery AF. And it’s a lung eater...And, it’s already mutated AGAIN, so that we now have two strains to deal with, strain s, and strain L....which makes it twice as hard to develop a vaccine.

We really have no tools in our shed, with this. History has shown that fast and immediate closings of public places has helped in the past pandemics. Philadelphia and Baltimore were reluctant to close events in 1918 and they were the hardest hit in the US during the Spanish Flu.

Factoid: Henry VIII stayed in his room and allowed no one near him, till the Black Plague passed...(honestly...I understand him so much better now). Just like us, he had no tools in his shed, except social isolation...

And let me end by saying....right now it’s hitting older folks harder... but this genome is so slippery...if it mutates again (and it will). Who is to say, what it will do next.

Be smart folks... acting like you’re unafraid is so not sexy right now.

#flattenthecurve. Stay home folks... and share this to those that just are not catching on.

From the WSJ

In mid February a 38 year old man from Codogno Italy, just outside of Milan, is believed to be the first person infected in Italy. The 50,000 residents went on lock down, people stayed in their homes and the city was sealed from the rest of Italy.

Three weeks later the town is almost free of the virus recording only a few new cases a day, down from 50-100.

This could be a model for future pandemics. If the State of Washington had been locked down with the first patient, this contagion may have had a different path.

It will be interesting to see what protocol will develop for the next time.

I'm setting this up in advance, I had planned to be around to follow the B1G tournament, and provide PBP. Alas, something came up that I have to attend to, so I'm pretty much out for the tournament. I might be able to jump in during the Semis, or possibly during the finals, but my schedule isn't set enough for me to be able to say for sure in advance. Hopefully, several of you will step forward, and provide PBP. As always, I remind folks to please post scores of matches. As this is a tournament, mat assignments, when a PSU wrestler is on deck or in the hole, etc., are also helpful.

I'll be reading this thread occasionally, to see what's happening in the tournament.

In previous B1G tournaments, I've set up separate Session I, Session II, etc. threads. I'll leave it to one of you to take on that chore. I believe that Session I is the opening round and the quarters, Session II is the semis on Saturday evening, Session III is the consolation semis on Sunday at noon, and Session IV is the finals at 3:30 on Sunday.

To the details:

When:
March 7, 10 am EST

Where:
The RAC, @ Rutgers

TV:
none, until the finals, on March 8th

Video Streaming:
The action will be streamed via BTN+, or via FloPro, for those that have subscriptions to those services

Audio Streaming:
Ironhead's radio PBP will be streamed for free, via GoPSUsports.com. The pre-session show starts at 9:40 am EST, and the action starts at 10:00 am EST. You can access the audio stream at:

https://gopsusports.com/watch/?Live=740&type=Live

Have fun following the action, and discussing it in this thread. Go PSU!

at least one death. All stores except grocery and pharmacies closing for three weeks in seven county area. People told to shelter in place, meaning stay at home, unless they are 'essential workers'.

What are everyone's thoughts? Will this season count towards eligibility?

I am watching The Old Man and the Sea on TCM, pretentious as hell, it is. Anyway, got me to thinking. Faulkner’s big three (TSARF, As I lay Dying, Light in August) makes him the best overall, in my opinion, but only because I consider USA to be one book. My vote for the best single book is USA.

COVID 19 Prevention Tip:

Wash your hands like you just touched a Duke shirt.

OL

Ugh

From Johns Hopkins.

The sad thing is there is a category listed with the country data called "Cruise Ships"

https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

Nfm

NFM

For those saying this is nothing or just like the flu, he seems to take a different approach. The medical community seems like it will be strained here in a few weeks. The email from the Doc in Milan is pretty telling. I’m glad they are canceling all of these events after listening to the first 20 minutes.

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Are cancelled until further notice. Assume this will be announced university wide soon.

~

Fellow Wrestling Fans,

The long off-season feels like it is over now with the publishing of the long-anticipated 2019-20 schedule!!

So that folks do not panic this year and send poor Roar Lion on a rescue mission to find me, I thought I would get this season's initial post out early, even though I will need to do several updates as most of the media deals have not been made public. (That should not surprise us given the schedule has only just come out )

Punchline first, below is the link to this year's spreadsheet on video & audio streaming opportunities. I have also combined in a second tab the six-year rotation schedule for easy access:

==> Click Here <==

Now with that said, there are a few big changes already known as some of you may have discovered in following Lion Football.

1. The former BTN2Go link/app that used to provide access to both live/replay BTN events & BTN+ subscription events has changed.

2. BTN Live & Replays are now only available at FoxSports.com or the FoxSports App. As in past years, you will need to have BTN on your current cable subscription/sports package and use that ID & Password when logging into FoxSports.

3. BTN+ remains the subscription service of BTN and is now found at BTNplus.com and the BTN+ App (formerly known as BTN2Go). At this point in time I do not know how these changes may or may not have effected the BTN+ & FloPro relationship. Hopefully Flo or B1G will make that clearer as we get closer.

4. Lehigh I would expect will be on the Patriot League Network (PLN) via the WatchStadium.com or Stadium app. In the past this was free, but that was two years ago.

5. We also have ASU on the schedule this year, and I anticipate the PAC-12 network to cover this. PAC-12 Networks (plural since each school seems to have one) works similarly to the B1G network in that if you have it included in your existing cable/sports package extra, you should have access to this via PAC-12.com or PAC-12 Now App.

6. The tournament at West Point has not had an arrangement announced, I am assuming it could be either FloPro or ESPN+, but we'll have to wait. (While Army is covered by PLN, I do not expect that they will run an all day tournament)

So it is early with a lot of questions... but if I have reduced any of your anxieties or concerns over my long off-season hibernation & absence than I am contented.

More to come as more is known.

WE ARE.....

Are any Penn State wrestlers going? Just see a bunch of Lock Haven and Maryland guys so far.

Not healthy but what is your choice

A question that UFF can answer for you. I got the modifications to WrestleSim done so now I can lock in certain results and simulate the rest, pretty cool stuff! After each round I will be able to give you the updated probabilities for the rest of the tournament. It will need a heavy spoiler alert in the title. Anyway I was following the Kerk discussions and wanted to give you some quantitative input. I have no idea how good he is but people seem pretty pumped about him.

Base simulation (intermat rankings as of now used as seeds): Iowa 96%, PSU 4%
Base with Kerk as a #3: Iowa 85%, PSU 15%
Base with Kerk as a #1: Iowa 78%, PSU 22%

Now I looked at what if PSU has a good BT tourney (Hall gets #1, Brooks wins and moves to #3) and Iowa has a 'meh' BT tourney.

Post BT: Iowa 72%, PSU 28%
Post BT with Kerk as #3: Iowa 43%, PSU 57%

It isn't going to take much to make PSU the favorite.

Fun fact: Alex Marinelli has 11 career losses, 10 of them are in tournaments.

I received an email as part of a former athletes’ distribution that 38-year (1968-2006) PSU track coach Harry Groves passed away last evening. I think he would have been 89. He was a very sarcastically funny guy, and coached dozens of All America athletes, particularly middle distance. R.I.P., Coach Groves.

Here is a release around his retirement.

https://news.psu.edu/story/203664/2...y-and-track-and-field-coach-groves-set-retire

Oh man . . . "Manimal Nick Lee is tearing up his opponents this year. He seems to have upped his game to the next level with additional ferocity, tenacity, and consistency on his feet and with top tier technique (turns and punishing rides) a la predecessor Zain.

In the US Open, he took out both Eierman and Molinaro handily to finish 3rd and qualify for the Olympic Trials.

He is undefeated.

He has a bonus rate this year of 93.3%, having only failed to bonus in one match that he won 11-5 easily and early in the year.

He leads the team in tech falls, dual points, dual majors, dual takedowns, and dual near falls.

He ravaged and "rag-dolled" #6 Chad Red and #4 Tristan Moran, two top ten guys.

In terms of PSU team records, he is now 7th in career tech falls. With one more, he will be tied for 7th in career majors.

He is 6th in career bonus percentage at nearly 70%, behind only Zain, Ruth, Nickal, Nolf, and Taylor (pretty good company I would say).

Today, he gets #5 McKee and then #1 Pletcher this coming Friday.

Keep it going "Honey Badger" Nick.

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So obviously with the Facundo and Kibe commitments ( though verbal, we’ll assume for now they’re on board ), the upper weights are taken care of for years to come. So “what’s left”?

Once again we need a 125. Figs and Stevo come to mind first. Hopefully one of them end up in Happy Valley and that will take care of that. Howard and Bartlett coming in help the situation but are they career 25 and 33. I don’t believe so.

Moving to middle weights, the big pickups are gonna be Van Ness and Crookham. I’d like to see a commitment by a combo from one of the lightweights mentioned and one of the middle weights. ( Id love to see all 4 but not sure it’s realistic ).

I have definitely learned to never doubt Cael, but bringing in Facundo and Kibe really raises questions. To have that many great wrestlers in the upper weights, is it even possible to refill the lower/middle weight area. It’ll be great to watch everything unfold. We Are!

Really have only tried the Freschetta brand. I think that brand is very good. I was very surprised with the quality. What brands have you folks tried and how would you rate them?