Hapless Bills Fan

I hear you. I am Deeply Mired in the Quagmire of a "Hapless Bills Fan" right now, saying "Why can't we have Nice Things?" I see no Lies. Vaccination: their choice by contractual agreement. Covid Protocols: NFL rules they also agreed to follow as part of their contractual agreement.

It kind of made sense to me. Perhaps you perceive people who disagree with you as "too emotional"? The point is, if the employer's rule says "wear a mask" and you don't x2 and are now at risk of a 4 game suspension for a next violation, you're hurting the team if you continue down this path. "The best availability is availability"

I agree (this was discussed a lot yesterday in a thread that eventually went off the rails), but they Are what they Are. I've said before that I think the protocols will change, but perhaps not before a dumpster or two lights up.

The math was done yesterday in the "Bills may be one of the lowest teams" thread. The flea in the above ointment is that the unvaccinated players may be unevenly distributed between likely starters, and fringe guys. So currently 16 unvaccinated players out of 80 if we're ~80% vaccinated per Beane's press conference yesterday. (1-0.8) * 80 = 16 Question is, are those all guys who make the 53? If we are, then we're (53-16)/53*100 = 69.8% after the cut.

It depends upon the details of the CBA and the contract. I think you could safely Bet the Rent here.

I didn't hear about testing. He said the team was focused on winning and he didn't care if they were vaccinated or unvaccinated, they were going to follow their own club rules to minimize risk: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/32084225/bruce-arians-implementing-own-covid-19-rules-tampa-bay-buccaneers-road-trips

I think he means it. But I also think he means it when he says something to the effect of ,we need to get focused on why we're here, and that's #1, to maintain a safe building and stay safe, and #2, to win football games. And if there's a correlation between people who are unvaccinated and people who aren't willing or able to be focused on those things, well, It Is how It Is.

We agree to disagree. He said appropriate words that were as strong as they could be but his posture and face looked awful IMO. All good, we just see it differently.

I was actually left a little confused by what McDermott said, it sounded to me as though he said the starters would play after the half. Did anyone else catch that?

Agreed. He looked like a man whose pillow was full of rocks last night.

We've done this Over. and Over. and Over. again. Where there is a union, there is collective bargaining. NFLPA. The NFL can not impose a mandate upon the players.

Watch the presser. McD is getting hammered with questions about McKenzie's tweets and Beasley and the unvaccinated players who are out as close contacts, just like Beane did. Sal finally asked him a football question and McD cracked a smile and thanked him.

He looks like Beane, like a beaten dog on this

I'm sorry guys, we really should be able to discuss this, but too many of you are not abiding by the Pinned Post requesting no covid-19 discussion, limit to football. I don't have time to baby-sit this, so it locks.

I'm sorry, guys, but too many of you are failing to abide by the Pinned Post requesting No General Covid Discussion I don't have time to nip it in the bud. We really should be able to discuss this, but the reports are stacking up.

This is fine. I think you're right. (Injury settlement is you and the player agree on the weeks needed to recover from the injury and the player receives salary and treatment/rehab funds for that period of time. He can't re-sign with the team for 6 weeks) Jerry Hughes said it: "we all have rules at work". There are usually channels to follow to try to get rules changed, but while they're in place: rules are rules. I have to admit, I saw it differently when I was a Young Sprout O' Science and willing to Argue for Days with the EHS folks about why Acetic Acid didn't belong in the Flammables cabinet (how many acetic acid fires have you heard of? and it doesn't meet the OSHA definition of a flammable, just the DOT). When I became a lab head and had to try to persuade the people who worked for me to follow the rules, my perspective changed.

Beasley has publicly stated willingness to "play for free"

Kumerow. McKenzie says he is vaxxed (maybe he wasn't fully at the time of the fines)

I agree with @ScottLaw, End of the World predicted, News at 11

Everyone is entitled to their opinions and to express them freely (but not to express them everywhere, All Take Note) I feel 100% confident that Beasley believes he is team-first according to his perspective. Most of us have blind spots. The ability to see where the intersection of the NFL Covid protocols with his personal beliefs about vaccination AND his willingness to be publically vocal about them on social media may work against the team seems to be his. PS I personally wondered if an unhobbled McKenzie might have been more effective than a hobbled Cole, but apparently McKenzie was hobbled too.

The only way that I know is to have someone, and it has to be someone they trust - a family member or close friend who went into medicine, a minister, a trusted physician - who has time to sit down with them and say "There's a lot of stuff out there. I'm not gonna try to sell you, but it would Rock My World to know your personal choice is based on accurate and complete info. If you're willing to run through what you've heard, I promise I'll look at it carefully and tell you what I think about it - what's true, what's not, and why. I'll tell you why I made the personal choice I did". It takes hella time. You got to go watch the Youtube videos they watch and listen to the podcasts they listen to and take notes and come back with references or with basic principles that show why the specific things that have caught their attention aren't square (or where they're true, and where they're skewed). I know this because I've filled this role for some family and friends who are vaxxed now. It has to start from a place of respect. It has to start from a place of love. And you have to genuinely have deep knowledge so that you can spot the flaws in what's out there, because much of it sounds very scienc-y to a non expert. And it has to proceed from a place of 100% genuinely trying to understand the other person's POV and then share what you know. Then leave it. Walk away, and hope that you've left the door open and maybe the next thing they see they'll come and ask you. Like water dripping on a rock. Sometimes it wears a little indentation but just runs off, over time drip to drip, the indentation gets deep enough to hold water. But it has to start with mutual respect, or it won't go. And it has to be genuinely open, you can't start from "you need to be vaxxed or you're dumb". I expect the reason the WFT has turned from one of the least vaccinated teams in the NFL to 94.5% vaccinated, is because they have a respected veteran QB in Ryan Fitzpatrick who is reputed to be able to talk to anyone about anything, and who is vaccinated as is his wife and all of their kids who are old enough, and who can sit down with anyone who approaches him and say "this is how I see it". Having a respected coach who is himself a cancer survivor and immune compromised may also sway some players to protect their coach. We don't have that on the Bills AFAIK.

He just tweeted a letter from the NFL fining him for not wearing a mask although he is unvaccinated

The source is Brandon Beane in his press conference announcing the situation and the 5-day quarantine for Bease, Davis, Butler, and Lotulelei We all have an accurate idea because we listened to Brandon Beane, who has been staying on top of this all spring and summer.

Thad Brown gets the same math: