NFL union president Tretter offers suggestions for 2021
FILE - In this Dec. 8, 2019, file photo, Cleveland Browns center and NFLPA president JC Tretter walks off the field after an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals in Cleveland. Playing through the COVID-19 pandemic has yielded countless lessons for a league that was born in the shadows of the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. Commissioner Roger Goodell said the league will confer with the players union after the Super Bowl to discuss what measures might make sense keeping once the crisis subsides.(AP Photo/David Richard, File)
NFL Players Association President JC Tretter is calling for the significant reductions in offseason work forced by the pandemic to continue in future years.
The Cleveland Browns center posted his thoughts on the union's website Thursday. He cited changes in the collective bargaining agreement reached early in 2020, and the subsequent COVID-19 alterations.
"The COVID CBA forced significant changes, and it has shown us another way players and teams can successfully prepare for and play in the NFL," Tretter wrote. "This year has brought less time at practice than ever before. We had no offseason practices, fewer training camp practices and no preseason games. While some feared that those changes would lead to a sloppy 2020 NFL season, our collective level of play across the league has actually never been higher.
"I believe the changes implemented this season have demonstrated that we can put an entertaining product out on the field while further reducing wear and tear on our players' bodies."
Tretter emphasized the need to reduce all offseason programs, which typically begin in early spring and last through mid-June, including organized team activities and mandatory minicamps.
"We are the only major sports league with an offseason program," he added. "The most physically demanding sport is the only league that brings their players back for extra practices outside of the season. The argument in favor of these offseason practices is based on the assumption that players need reps during OTAs to develop and learn while teams need the practices to (jell). Yet, the lack of OTAs this year demonstrated that those theories aren't substantiated. New and first-year head coaches had success. Newly assembled teams had success. Rookies stepped in and played at a high level all across the league."
Tretter reasons that NFL players are professionals and know how to remain in shape and cognizant of the playbook throughout the offseason: "We do not need to be brought in during April-June to practice against each other - it's simply unnecessary."
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has said that some of the procedures adapted in 2020 would make sense to carry into the future. He specifically mentioned remote learnings during the pandemic.
"Our experience with the offseason training and doing that virtually, I think our clubs got comfortable with a lot of that," Goodell said. "And I think you'll see more of that, which I think will be productive."
Relief workers struggled Tuesday to clear the rubble of collapsed buildings on an Indonesian island where a strong earthquake killed at least 90 people and left thousands homeless. The 6.2 magnitude earthquake on Friday was one of a series of recent disasters to hit Indonesia. President Joko Widodo, who traveled to a flood-hit region of Borneo island on Monday, visited the quake-hit areas of West Sulawesi province on Tuesday to reassure people that the government's response is reaching those in need.
The charges say he was one of the first to enter the building, through a door that was opened by a small group that got in by breaking a window.
Ivermectin, a cheap and "generic" antiparasitic drug "used all over the world," may significantly reduce the risk of death in patients suffering from moderate to severe cases of COVID-19, researchers have found.The University of Liverpool's Andrew Hill and others carried out a meta-analytical breakdown of 18 studies that showed the drug — which is off-patent and commonly used to treat lice and scabies, as well as some more serious parasites — appears to reduce inflammation and eliminate the coronavirus swiftly, the Financial Times reports. In six of those trials, the mortality risk was cut by 75 percent in patients with more serious COVID-19 infections. The research team has also theorized the drug could also make it harder for infected people to transmit the virus.Hill said he's encouraged by the findings, but further studies are needed, especially since several of those in the analysis were not peer-reviewed. FT also notes that meta-analyses, which look at many studies at once, can be prone to errors. Read more at the Financial Times.More stories from theweek.com Bernie Sanders steals the inauguration with his grumpy chic outfit Harris swears in 3 new Democratic senators A lone man knelt at Beau Biden's grave as President Biden gave his inauguration speech
Taiwan military stages drill aimed at repelling China attack
Taiwanese troops using tanks, mortars and small arms staged a drill Tuesday aimed at repelling an attack from China, which has increased its threats to reclaim the island and its own displays of military might. "No matter what is happening around the Taiwan Strait, our determination to guard our homeland will never change," said Maj. Gen. Chen Chong-ji said, director of the department of political warfare, about the exercise at Hukou Army Base south of the capital Taipei. Chen said the exercise was intended as a show of Taiwan's determination to maintain peace between the sides through a show of force.
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