Listen to this episode of The GIST of IT here.

Ellen: What is up GISTers? Welcome to The GIST of It, I'm Ellen Hyslop.

Steph: And I'm Steph Rotz,

Ellen: And we're just two old pals and gals here to give you the gist of what's going on in the sports world. Let's get to it.

Ellen: Ok, Steph, so we're coming out of the Labor Day long weekend, and there's a lot of things that have gone on, but something that just happened before we recorded this podcast was that Keeping Up with the Kardashians is going to be no longer after 2021. And I know that that's not sports related, but I just felt like it's kind of sports adjacent, considering Caitlyn Jenner and considering all of the athletes that the Kardashians dated. And so I just wanted to throw that out there that I'm kind of shocked that that's finally coming to an end.

Steph: Ok, I'm not saying this is a holier than thou instance because I love pop culture, but I thought it was already over. I didn't actually know it was still happening. So this is great news for me. I'm staying plugged, staying informed. Thank you for keeping me hip to the jive, Ellen.

Ellen: Yes, you've got it. That's what I'm here for. I'm actually the hippest one of my friend group, and I just keep everyone informed on pop culture. I actually found this from one of my favorite people to follow with respect to pop culture. Her name is Alexandra and Insta handle is @lexniko, and she took Kim Kardashian's Instagram story and then tweeted it saying, "There goes the Last Great American Dynasty," and that is fucking comedy gold. Absolute genius, especially considering all the back and forth between Taylor and the Kardashians. Lex, there you fucking go. Just go right into it.

Steph: I'm literally screaming, wow 

Ellen: Anyway, back to proper sports, as opposed to sports adjacent, but I felt like that was big news that we need to talk about 

Steph: Breaking.

Ellen: Yes, Steph. It was breaking. But outside of this Kardashian news, I spent a lot of my long weekend watching the US Open as well as the NBA playoffs. And I'm super struck by two things. One, that the Toronto Raptors came back to tie the Eastern Conference semifinals with the Boston Celtics 2 - 2, only to lose a horrible, horrible, horrible game on Monday night to the Boston Celtics to go down 3 - 2 in that series. They play in Game Six tonight, and they better freaking bring the heat because my anxiety levels are incredibly high.

Steph: I am so out of the loop. I didn't know that was tonight either. Dear God, I need to be near your computer more often.

Ellen: Yes, it's tonight. And then second, Serena Williams became the first player to win one hundred matches at Arthur Ashe Stadium, which is the prestigious stadium that hosts the US Open every year. And how cool is that? That you could win one hundred matches at one stadium? To me, it shows how dominant she has been for literally ever.

Steph: It's like one of those things where you're like, oh, I've had a friend for ten years. You didn't know you've been around this long enough to have that many wins. That's amazing. That says so much about how much of a fulsome career she's having, how she's truly the greatest of all time. So shout out as always to Serena Williams. And you know what? Speaking of everything that I don't remember and I'm out of the know with, Ellen, throughout all of these playoffs and all of this information that you're telling me, I legit forgot about the NFL season, that it was starting on Thursday. I texted you this morning"WTF, Ellen, football is starting." I am so out of the loop. There's so many sports going on. My brain can only have so many tabs open at once. Also, because the NFL didn't have a preseason, because of the pandemic, my brain was not primed. I was not ready for a season start date. It's happening so fast. So today let's go through everything that we need to know and dug up about the upcoming NFL season because the season hasn't started yet, and it's already a little weird.

Ellen: Ok, I absolutely love NFL football. I would probably not marry it, but I'd seriously be in a long term relationship with NFL football. That's how much I love it. And I'm so excited for the season to start. So before we get into the nitty gritty of the season, I think we should take a moment and set the stage a little bit and give the gist of everything with the NFL. So there are 32 teams in the NFL which are divided into two conferences, the National Football Conference, which you'll hear as NFC and the American Football Conference, which you'll hear as AFC and each of those conferences are further split up into four divisions, the North, South, East and West. So each of those 32 teams plays 16 regular season games from September to the end of the year, and games are mostly played on Thursdays, Sundays and Mondays. There are a ton of big changes in this season, which we'll get to in a hot second. But in terms of format, this season's playoffs are going to be looking very different because of the league's newly signed collective bargaining agreement, often called a CBA, which we talked about last week a lot when we were talking about college sports unionizing. But anyway, the playoff format this year is going to be expanded from 12 to 14 teams. And there's also going to be a third wildcard team in each conference, which is accounting for that 13th team in the 14th team. And each conference's top seed will receive a first round bye. So previously there were only two wildcard teams that made it through, and the top two teams in each conference would receive a bye. So that's how it's a little bit different this year. It all ends on February 7th in Tampa Bay in Florida who are playing host to the Super Bowl. And fun fact, no team that's hosted the Super Bowl has actually made it to the final game. So the Buccaneers could potentially be shitting themselves right now.

Steph: Hmm. For a second I thought, oh, my God, Florida again, but then remembered last year with Miami and that the basketball bubbles are in Florida. My brain's all over the place.

Ellen: It is Florida again. Tampa is Florida. Miami is Florida, dear.

Steph: Holy moly. What city is it going to be in?

Ellen:  Tampa Bay.

Steph: Oh, shit.

Ellen: That's OK. Geography sometimes, you know.

Steph: Oh, gosh, OK. I know my 10 provinces and three territories, so at least I have that going for me. Before getting into more of the team and the personnel changes that are going on this year with the NFL, I do want to get into the COVID-19 protocols because the NFL is up to some wacky shit this year. There are no bubbles, there's no regionalized travel schedules. They're going to be traveling and hosting teams at their own stadiums as normal. With football being played only once a week, we can see how they might be able to get away with this. But it does seem a little bit sketchy, a little bit risky. So that's the first thing going on with COVID-19. Second is the NFL has left it up to each team as to whether or not they want to have fans attend their home games. We know that some MLS clubs have started to do this and some NWSL teams in the fall series might as well. The fall series did start this past weekend, by the way. So tune into that. But as someone who just went to the hair salon for the first time this past weekend during the pandemic, this just seems like a little bit too much too fast for me. In the NFL, the decisions among the 32 teams are wildly inconsistent as to whether or not to have fans attend their games. So I'm going to break this down from most cautious to perhaps least cautious in the NFL. So we have ten teams that have said no fans at their home games for the entire season. We have one team, the Seattle Seahawks, who said no fans for the first three home games, followed by nine teams who have said no fans for at least the first two home games of the season. Followed by five teams that have said no fans for at least their home opener, and then in in Ohio, Cincinnati Bengals and the Cleveland Browns are allowed to have 6K fans at their first two home games, and then they're going to step back and reassess as to whether or not that's working for them. And then four teams will have their stadiums with between 15 percent, up to 25 percent capacity starting at the beginning of the season. So we have four teams going up to 15 to 25 percent capacity, and then lastly, we're missing one number here. If you've been keeping track and if you love math, you I know we're only at thirty one teams. So that 32nd team is the Dallas Cowboys who will allow fans into the stadium with distancing guidelines, but they've been extremely vague as to what that's going to look like for them this season.

Ellen: Yes, it's all over the place, and if I may be so bold, Steph, this strategy just seriously pisses me off. And I think that it's wildly unfair for some teams to have fans and not others. Of any sport, fans in football make the most difference. So basically the goal of fans when they're at games is to be as loud as possible when the opposing team is on offense. So this makes it super hard for the opposing team to speak in their huddle or for a quarterback to call an audible or to pay attention to the time on the clock before the play expires. The fans are so impactful when their home teams on defense that they're often referred to as the 12th man, so literally acting as an additional player to the 11 that are already on the field. And so the fact that some teams will have no fans, other teams will have 25 percent, and then the Dallas Cowboys, with those social distancing guidelines, could have potentially up to 50 percent. It's just absolutely ridiculous to me. I just don't see how this is fair and the game of football when fans make such a big impact. That said, to fact check myself and bring myself back in a little bit after I just went on this rant, the league has said that it will supply prerecorded audio to all 32 teams to be pumped into the stadiums and pumped into the broadcast streams and that the curated audio must be played in all stadiums that do not admit fans. And they will reevaluate this audio as the season progresses. But still how is audio going to replace the atmosphere of actually having fans in the stands that are rooting for you? I am just struggling with this 

Steph: This is a tough one to wrap your head around, too, because football stadiums are huge as coming from the hockey world. I have to take a step back and remember that, too. I haven't really been missing fans from a viewer's perspective in the NHL and the NBA bubbles. But I do really like how they've been using that sound to recreate the feeling of the game and the energy of the game in that home-like atmosphere. So I'm interested to see how they're going to translate this into such a different venue, being a football stadium 

Ellen: I miss the fans. In hockey and in the NBA. Oh, my God, I totally miss the fans. I feel like they add just a complete other element to the game, especially in playoffs when you're thinking about home court advantage or even home ice advantage. If you think about even the Raptors when they're shooting free throws. Right now, they just have a bunch of virtual fans trying to spook out the Celtics that's doing shit all, you know what I mean? And then there's also players who actually just so thrive off the energy of fans. And also, I just love being there too. I'm sure there's a lot of people that miss that, but I think that it adds a full extra element to a sporting event. I think that as a purist, I still enjoy the sport. But I love having the fans there. I think it's so much fun and I love the energy. 

Steph: Ok, I totally wish I was at a game, but just more so from a sitting on my couch perspective. I'm curious as to how people are actually going to be able to get into these games. Who's going to get these tickets? I just have so many questions. 

Ellen: And hopefully they'll have their masks on. Hygiene and get your clear bags ready.

Steph: Speaking of COVID-19 concerns, it is worth mentioning that players were able to opt out of playing this season in the NFL and almost 70 players opted to do that, which as a note, is only about four percent of the league. Just as an FYI. The first player to opt out was Canadian and Kansas City guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif. He is a doctor who actually worked on the front lines when the pandemic started. And to me, that's very telling. So he was the first player to opt out and he opted out as a medical professional. Otherwise, the most notable player to opt out is New England Patriot Dont'a Hightower and eight other Patriots also opted out of the season 

Ellen: Speaking of the Patriots, the poor, poor Patriots, let's quickly chat about the major changes to teams this offseason. The biggest is obviously the changes to the New England Patriots and to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after spending his entire career and winning a countless number of Super Bowls with the Patriots, quarterback Tom Brady, who's also one of my beloved, moved to Tampa this offseason, garnering the new nickname Tampa Tom, which I love. And yes, Steph that is in Florida. And coming out of retirement to join him in Tampa is tight end Rob Gronkowski. So cool that he's coming out of retirement because Tom's like, "hey, buddy, why don't you move to Tampa, home of the retirees anyway." So he is actually so funny and so hilarious. I'm excited to see the two of them together again. So on the flip side, to fill the hole that is Tom Brady, the Patriots filled that with former NFL MVP and former Carolina Panther Cam Newton. And I bring up the Patriots because I'm really struggling. I would say I am or I was a Patriots fan. I'm not too sure. But here's the thing, Cam Newton drives me up the wall, mostly because at a press conference, three or four years ago, a woman asked him a question about routes and what he thought about different players running different routes. And his response was him laughing and then saying, it's funny to hear a woman speak about routes. And the minute he said that, I was like, no, Cam Newton, you're basically canceled to me. I'm absolutely over this. It was twenty seventeen or twenty sixteen. You know better at that point. There's been so many women working the NFL at that point, and for you to degrade her on national TV and say something like that is just absolutely ridiculous. So because of those incredibly sexist remarks, I just can't be a Cam Newton fan, which means I have a really hard time being a Patriots fan now too 

Steph: Oh, I didn't know that that was that guy, because that is burned into my memory, I will never forget that press conference ever 

Ellen: No, it's so bad. And, of course, there's so many other moves over the course of this offseason. Obviously, I'm biased against the Patriots and with Cam Newton because I have a fiery passion about both of them, but apparently not anymore. But otherwise, a big move that we should note is that former L.A. Charger and dad of nine, Philip Rivers, signed with the Indianapolis Colts this offseason with a one year deal, which is kind of meh in comparison to Tampa's moves 

Steph: I was expecting you to bring up your babe, Tom Brady. So now that that's out of the way, we can move on for sure. So move along. Let's get to some predictions. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes II, who, by the way, this offseason signed a 10 year contract extension worth a maximum of five hundred and three million dollars. Imagine, five hundred and three million dollars, and his team in Kansas City are the favorites to do it all again. Kansas City are the reigning Super Bowl champs. They defeated the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl last season. And we expect them to make some sort of similar moves this year. Also this season, we are anticipating that players will follow Colin Kaepernick's lead and kneel during the national anthem. The league, including NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, have gone on record to say that they are totally on board with this action and will support a player's decision to kneel during the national anthem. And NFL teams did walk out and pause their practices to support and be a part of the wildcat strikes that happened back in August. So I am looking to see how else the players will be using their platforms and these games to help shift the culture and continue the conversation. So really interested in how that's going to play out this NFL season. And then from a league standpoint, the NFL did announce a commitment to donate two hundred and fifty million dollars over the next decade towards combating racism and social injustice in America. Definitely be tuning in to see how the players interact with the league and how the league tries to walk the walk after being on the wrong side of history with how they dealt with Colin Kaepernick's peaceful protests in the past. So it's good to see these moves in the right direction 

Ellen: Totally. I really hope that the NFL soon and again, maybe within the next decade, will become a socially forward league. And we associate  all the good work that the WNBA is doing, for example, with potentially good work that the NFL is doing. That would be the right trajectory for them to go on is to follow the WNBA's footsteps. So to stay up to date on all things football this season, Steph, I know you're already subscribed, but for anyone listening, subscribe to our free twice weekly newsletter at thegistsports.com. And also starting today, we're going to have a free weekly NFL pick 'em pool where you basically choose what team you think is going to win each matchup. And if you have the most number of correct wins, then you could win some sick prizes. So that pool comes out every Wednesday and your picks are due Thursday before the Thursday night game. And we'll be sure to link to that pick 'em pool in the show notes 

Steph: I love a competition 

Ellen: OK, so that was a lot of football and a lot of fun, and because it was a lot of fun, instead of doing our regular segment where we have been talking about things that put a smile on our face, I think that football put a lot of a lot of smiles on our faces today. So we're going to bring things back to the WTF moment of the week. So talking about things that made us say, "what the fuck?" And for this week's moment, why not lead into some sexism and racism in sports 

Steph: Yes, at the top of the show, El, we mentioned the US Open. So let's bring it back to that. In a fit of rage, Novak Djokovic pegged a lines person with a tennis ball in the throat. Obviously, I don't think he meant to do this and didn't mean to hit her. But obviously, you shouldn't just whack tennis balls. In a New York Post article about the incident, author Mark Berman wrote about how Novak Djokovic's excessive punishment is terrible for the US Open. And the article was accompanied with photos of Novak trying to help the woman that he whacked with a ball moments earlier, showing him tending to her wounds. Flashback two years ago when Serena Williams lost the US Open to Naomi Osaka following a few incredibly sketchy calls from the umpire. The same author wrote about how Serena was a sore loser. And The New York Post chose a photo of Serena pointing and raising her voice to accompany the article 

Ellen: Oh, God, there's obviously so many things that are wrong with this 

Steph: Yes, OK. I can't help but think of this quote from critical race scholar Brittney C. Cooper, which is "White anger is entertaining. Black anger must be contained." The portrayal of the angry black woman, which we've talked about here with Serena Williams. If you've ever read Michelle Obama's book, you would hear about it, too, it's so damaging and it's so infuriating to read articles where white male athletes like Mr. Djokovic are given the benefit of the doubt when we know the same would not be afforded to a black woman 

Ellen: Yeah, no, absolutely. And to add to that Steph, I watched all of Serena's match on Monday afternoon. And as I was watching, I was watching on my computer doing some meal prep at the same time. I actually wanted to throw my computer away because I was getting so frustrated with the calls of this game. Oftentimes, black athletes are called aggressive, powerful, etc. While many white athletes are called smart, thoughtful and tricky. And even in 2020, the amount of times that they called Serena Williams aggressive over how many times her white opponent, who also hammered her serve at one hundred and twenty miles per hour, aggressive, was just absolutely too much. And we need to start recognizing that all of this minor micro aggression in language matters and that we need to be aware of these things. And this type of language needs to be changed when we're talking about black athletes 

Steph: It's time to get some changes in the announcing booth. All right, sports pals that was the gist of it from Ellen and I. Thanks so much for tuning in. If you've got an opinion about what we said, leave us a review. You can tell your pals to subscribe to The GIST of It on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play or Stitcher. 

Ellen: And if you like what you heard today, you have to sign up for our free twice weekly newsletter where every Monday and Thursday morning we give you the gist of what's going on in the sports world. As I mentioned beforehand, you could subscribe at thegistsports.com. Otherwise, Steph and I would love to hear from you. You can get in touch with us over email at pod@thegistsports.com, or DM us on Instagram @thegistnews.ca or @thegistusa. Again, I'm Ellen Hyslop. 

Steph: And I'm Steph Rotz.

Ellen: And this has been The GIST of It. We'll see you next Wednesday.

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The GIST

To start, it’s important to know that football is really only played in North America where there are two main leagues: the National Football League (NFL) played in the U.S. and the Canadian Football League (CFL) played in Canada. Talk about a sport called “football” anywhere else in the world and they’ll for sure assume you’re talking about soccer (or ‘footy’, as it’s affectionately nicknamed).

The NFL

Let’s start by giving you #thegist of the NFL, the most popular football league in the world where the best players aspire to compete.

NFL football is played on a 100-yard field with goal posts (called uprights because the posts face into the sky rather than the ground like soccer) at each end. There are 11 players from each team on the field at once. Through passing or running the football, the point of the game is to score touchdowns and field goals to have the most points at the end of four quarters. Each team has four attempts (called downs) to advance the ball 10 yards before the ball is turned over to the other team. TBH, we know this can be confusing, but stay with us! It’s well worth all the hype.

How’s it organized?

There are 32 teams in the NFL, which is divided into two conferences (NFC and AFC) which are further split up into four divisions (North, South, East and West). There are 16 regular season games leading to the playoffs which culminates with the Super Bowl. From the wildly overpriced commercials, to the star-studded halftime show, to eating until you explode – the Super Bowl is an event like no other.

The best of the best

The best team from the 2019-20 season was the Kansas City Chiefs, who beat the San Francisco 49ers 31–20 marking KC's first Super Bowl title in 50 years. Kansas City was led by their exceptional quarterback (QB), Patrick Mahomes (who recently signed a record-breaking $503 million dollar (!!!) contract). Determining who’s the best player in the NFL is tough because there are so many different positions that require different skills. But it’s pretty undisputed that Tom Brady, who is now a Tampa Bay Buccaneer is, quite literally, the greatest QB of all time with six Super Bowl rings. Other players to know in the league right now are Ciara's husband and Seattle Seahawks QB Russell Wilson, and wide receiver Michael Thomas (New Orleans Saints). You can check out the 2020 top 100 list as voted on by the players here. 

Female footballers

Think football is a man’s sport? Think again! There are actually three full-contact 11-on-11 leagues in the U.S., the biggest being the Women’s Football Alliance (WFA). Formed in 2009, the WFA has continued to expand and now includes 60 teams (!!!) across three divisions, each crowning its own champion at the end of every season.

And for those who dig the game but not the tackling, there’s always flag football — a similar game where players have to stop running when their flag is pulled off their belt rather than when they’re tackled to the ground. 10/10 would recommend.

Ramp up your trivia game

• Only six teams have won a playoff game without scoring a touchdown (aka field goals only).
• Brett Favre (of Green Bay Packers fame) and Tom Brady are the only 40-year-olds to ever win a playoff game, and Brady is the only QB above 40 to win a Super Bowl.
• Just 18 teams played in the NFL’s inaugural season way back in 1922. We’ve come so far!

The CFL

Okay, we know the CFL is seen as the NFL’s less exciting cousin BUT if you really want to impress your friends with your sports knowledge, let’s get into #thegist of it. Here’s what makes the CFL different from the NFL.

• A CFL field is 110 yards long vs. the 100 yard NFL field. It’s also a little bit wider.
• The CFL has 12 players on the field at one time vs. 11 players in the NFL, partially because the field is bigger.
• In the CFL, teams only have three attempts (downs) to advance the ball 10 yards, vs. four attempts in the NFL. This often results in more turnovers (when one team is forced to give up the ball to the other team) and keeps things moving at a brisk pace.

How’s it organized?

There are nine teams in the CFL, which is divided into two divisions: East and West. There are 18 regular season games and then six teams make the postseason for the chance to win the Grey Cup. The season runs from June until the end of November, meaning the playoffs are generally played in sub-zero/snowy weather. Just check out the infamous 1996 Snow Bowl in Hamilton, Ont.!

The best of the best

The reigning Grey Cup champions are the Winnipeg Blue Bombers who beat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 33-12, thus ending the longest Grey Cup drought in the league (29 years!)

The first Grey Cup was won in 1909 (!!!) by the University of Toronto Varsity Blues, because back then it was awarded only to amateur teams. Today, the Grey Cup is property of the professional CFL, while the Vanier Cup is award to top amateur University teams across the country.

Did you know…

• There used to be some American teams in the CFL. The first team from the U.S., the Sacramento Gold Miners, was admitted to the league in 1993. American teams only played in the CFL for three seasons during the glory days of the early 90s.
• The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have made the most Grey Cup appearances (25), while the Toronto Argonauts have won the most championships (17).

Don't get The GIST’s free twice-weekly newsletter yet? Let's make it inbox official.

NHL: There was only one Stanley Cup playoff game last night, which is actually totally fine because it was a great one. Game 6 between the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars ended with a 4–1 Colorado win to extend the series to a Game 7, and gave us this beauty of a goal from Mikko Rantanen. Goalie never stood a chance.

NBA: Game 7 between the Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz was basically one giant highlight reel for Jamal Murray and Donovan Mitchell. We could’ve watched this series forever...but the Nuggets took it and sent the Jazz packing.

Tennis: So many goodies from the U.S. Open. Our faves? Andy Murray’s comeback from two sets down to win an epic first round match, Serena Williams’ record-breaking 102nd US Open match win, and Naomi Osaka’s victories in the name of social justice.

The GIST: You know what goes great with pumpkin spice lattes? The NWSL’s new Fall Series. And lucky for us all, it starts on Saturday.

What’s the set-up?: Quick refresher: the league’s nine teams will be playing in regionalized “pods” of three (to cut down on travel). Each team will play two home and two away games (against their other pod buddy teams) over the next seven weeks.

• And even though the series begins in just about 48 hours, we only have the first three weeks of the schedule, with Sky Blue FC (FC stands for Football Club) and the Washington Spirit kicking things off on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET.
• All games will be streamed globally (!!!) on Twitch, and CBS will nationally air one NWSL Game of the Week every Saturday, starting with the Sky Blue FC vs. Spirit tilt this week.

Sweet. Are all the big names playing?: Not all. Arguably the biggest name in American soccer, OL Reign star and captain Megan Rapinoe, is sitting this one out, just as she did for the Challenge Cup in July. She hasn’t given a reason, but we’ve seen her floating around the WNBA wubble lately supporting her partner Sue Bird. Couple goals.

• In fact, a pretty significant number of players won’t participate in the Fall Series. Due to the uncertainty of the league’s next steps after the Challenge Cup, over 30 players have been loaned out or transferred to European, Asian or South American clubs, including USWNT and Spirit star Rose Lavelle, who will play out 2020 with Manchester City (whose season starts on Saturday). Oh, bloody hell.

The GIST: Things are getting messier by the day in the college football world. Since mid-August there’s been a petition, a lawsuit, a tweet from president Donald Trump and, of course, a pandemic. And you thought The Bachelorette was dramatic.

What’d I miss?: Back on August 11th, the Big Ten became the first Power Five conference to postpone fall sports. Originally, that meant football would be on hold until at least 2021, but now they’re reportedly eyeing a mid-October start date.

That’s a plot twist: Tell us about it. Last week, eight players from the University of Nebraska filed a lawsuit in hopes of reversing the postponement. On Tuesday, President Trump called Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren to discuss returning to play ASAP. And we can’t forget the potential impact of Ohio State quarterback and QB1 star Justin Fields’ #WeWantToPlay petition, which has garnered over 300,000 signatures since he posted it on August 16th.

• While President Trump might think his outburst outreach would be enough to secure the reversal, it’s actually up to the 14 Big Ten university presidents and chancellors to decide what happens next. Last month they voted 11-3 to postpone the season, so don’t get your hopes up just yet.

Any other news?: After announcing on Monday that they planned to host 25,000 fans for their home opener, Iowa State reversed the decision on Wednesday. The bleachers will (thankfully) be empty when the Cyclones host Louisiana-Lafayette on September 12th.

• Iowa is in the COVID-19 “red zone,” and nearly 30% of those tested from the Iowa State student body had positive results during their second week of classes. Eeep.
   
• Despite these scary numbers, Iowa State is “still committed” to hosting fans for future games and will reassess before their next home game on October 3rd. But why though?