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Wednesday, December 2, 2020

Positive tests show how precarious season will be for W’s

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Tuesday afternoon, after breaking news that the start of training camp had been pushed back a day because two players tested positive for the coronavirus, Warriors general manager Bob Myers fielded numerous variations of the same question: How will Covid-19 affect the season?

Midway through that 25-minute video call with reporters, Myers finally said, “The truth is nobody has answers to these questions.”

It is the type of quote that has become commonplace in 2020, a year defined by a pandemic that is forcing people throughout the world to adjust how they approach day-to-day life. The most basic of endeavors, from attending school to working in an office to attending a movie, have been re-envisioned to curtail the spread of the coronavirus.

Like Major League Baseball, the NFL and college athletics before it, the NBA is trying to figure out how to play a season outside of a bubble environment. This is especially new territory for the Warriors, who, because of a league-worst record, were one of the eight teams not invited to the Orlando bubble that completed last season.

In the nearly nine months since Golden State last played a game, it has convened for group workouts only once, at a two-week offseason minicamp that ended in early October. But that was a bubble-like environment, with players limited to the team hotel, the team bus and Chase Center.

Such a setup realistically can’t be maintained for an entire 72-game regular season, which is why the NBA sent a comprehensive health and safety protocol to all 30 teams last week. The 134-page document contains a detailed rules system for what will happen when someone tests positive for the coronavirus.

The most efficient way for a player to return is by recording at least two consecutive negative PCR tests from samples at least 24 hours apart. A league source confirmed to The Chronicle that the Warriors already have dealt with this type of setback, with a player testing positive at the facility during summer workouts.

Golden State, which has been testing every close-contact employee since Saturday, delayed the start of training camp Tuesday as soon as two unidentified players tested positive for the coronavirus. It will begin holding individual workouts for players at Chase Center on Wednesday. If all goes according to plan, the Warriors

See W’s, Page B2

The slogan attached to Stanford football’s official Twitter account is: “Whatever it takes.”

The program is putting that into practice, announcing Tuesday morning that, in light of the Santa Clara County Public Health Department’s emergency directive, the team will move to Seattle on Tuesday and Corvallis, Ore., next week to continue its season amid the local bans.

Santa Clara County on Saturday banned contact sports for at least three weeks and issued a 14-day quarantine for those SECTION B Paul Farmer . Sports Editor . 427.6926

December in the desert: 49ers will stay, practice and play in Arizona

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The 49ers will decamp to the desert for much of December.

On Tuesday, a day after the team announced it would be playing its next two “home” games at the Arizona Cardinals’ stadium, head coach Kyle Shanahan revealed the team also wold practice and stay near State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.

The 49ers will practice on fields adjacent to the stadium, PFARMER@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET FAIRFIELD — An already delayed start to the high school sports year hit another roadblock when the California Interscholastic Federation announced it was putting off a return to full practice and competition until after Jan. 1 – at the earliest – because of Covid-19 concerns in a Tuesday media release. The CIF also announced that all regional and state championships for Season 1 sports – football, cross country, girls volleyball, water polo and badminton – were being canceled. Boys volleyball was pushed back to Season 2. traveling into the area from 150 miles away. Stanford is scheduled to play at Washington on Saturday and against Oregon State next weekend.

The Pac-12 announced Tuesday that the StanfordOregon State game, previously scheduled to be played in Palo Alto, would now be played in Corvallis.

“This decision was made consistent with the Pac-12’s commitment to adherence to all state and local public health orders and directives, and prioritization of the health and safety of our which is where Arizona holds its training camp. They will stay at the Renaissance Hotel, which is a half-mile from the stadium.

The 49ers will fly to Arizona on Wednesday afternoon and hold their first practice Thursday in advance of their game Monday night against Buffalo at their temporary home.

The 49ers will remain in the state until at least Dec. 19, the day they will travel to Texas to play the Cowboys on Dec. 20.

“Due to the continued surge in Covid-19 infections, the California Department of Public Health has postponed the issuance of its updated youth sports guidance,” the CIF said in the release. “The California Interscholastic Federation does not expect the CDPH will issue any guidance allowing for schools to return to full practice and competition until after January 1, 2021, at the earliest. Thus, all full practice and competition start dates are officially on hold until updated guidance is issued.”

In the Sac-Joaquin Section, football and cross country practices were set to begin Dec. 7, water polo, girls volleyball and

In rankings oddly devoid of oddity, the top seven teams held steady from last week in the College Football Playoff chart issued Tuesday night. Those not budging began with No. 1 Alabama (8-0), No. 2 Notre Dame (9-0), No. 3 Clemson (8-1) and No. 4 Ohio State (4-0). That’s even after the 13-member selection committee spent its usual two-day huddle in a North Texas hotel meeting room running the incongruous numbers of a misshapen season.

Ohio State held onto No. 4 despite the cancellation of Santa Clara County’s threeweek ban on contact sports and a 14-day quarantine for those traveling into the area from 150 miles away ends Dec. 21, but the directives could be extended based on the spread of the coronavirus.

It’s an unprecedented situation for an NFL team, but Shanahan noted it won’t be completely foreign. Last year, the 49ers practiced in Youngstown, Ohio, in September and Sarasota, Fla., in December for a badminton Dec. 14.

First competitions for cross country could’ve begun on Dec. 21, water polo and badminton on Dec. 28, girls volleyball on Dec. 29 and football on Jan. 8.

While most area coaches and officials weren’t surprised by the move, its implementation was nonetheless disappointing.

“It’s a real head-shaker,” said Fred Jones, an athletic director and assistant football coach at Vacaville High. “This the kids. It is so hard for them to gear up and then have to wait another month to get started.”

“My immediate thoughts are with our student-athletes that desperately want to play, its game at Illinois on Saturday after positive tests within its program for a coronavirus that has broadsided the autumn schedule. The Buckeyes held off No. 5 Texas A&M (6-1), No. 6 Florida (7-1) and No. 7 Cincinnati (8-0) after a weekend on which the Aggies beat LSU, 20-7, at home; the Gators beat Kentucky, 34-10, at home; and the Bearcats saw their match with Temple canceled as well.

The idea of flipping Texas A&M and Ohio State did come up and stir some chitchat in the committee room, as chairman Gary Barta, the athletic director at Iowa, said on ESPN. He also acknowledged the harder work week between back-toback road games that ended in Cincinnati and New Orleans, respectively. This season, the team stayed in West Virgina between its back-to-back September games against the Jets and Giants.

Shanahan acknowledged this pandemic-inspired trip will come with unknowns such as Covid-19 protocols regarding family members who want to visit or stay in Glendale.

Courtesy photo/Rachel Wurzbach file (2019) Vacaville High’s Daniel Hernandez competes in the CIF State Cross championship events and delaying the start of practice for Season Country Championships at Fresno’s Woodward Park, Nov. 30, 2019. 1 sports, which include cross country, football, water polo, girls The CIF announced, Tuesday, that it is canceling regional and state volleyball and badminton, because of Covid-19 concerns. CIF delays start of sports, cancels some regional, state championships

PAul FArmer

is going to test the resiliency of

See 49ers, Page B2 and with our coaches that are willing to take the necessary steps to provide those opportunities for our kids,” said Eddie Wilson, Fairfield High athletic director and boys basketball coach. “I wish there was something I could do to make things right for them. But, it is the responsibility of administrators to ensure the safety of our athletes, our coaches, our families and our community. Postponement is the responsible decision at this moment, and the elimination of regional and state championships seems reasonable given the postponement.”

“The announcement was

Stanford football relocates to Northwest to continue season away from Covid-19 bans

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Same four teams stay at top of College Football Playoff rankings

The WAshingTon PosT

See CIF, Page B2 calculus of ranking teams with such wide discrepancies in games played - a quirk that, in Ohio State’s case, stems from the Big Ten’s public-health caution in starting its season six weeks after the starts of teams such as Notre Dame and Clemson.

The committee also didn’t transpose Alabama and Notre Dame at the top, even as it took Notre Dame’s most recent victim, North Carolina (6-3), and accorded it the respect of an upgrade from No. 19 to No. 17.

Yet the top 10, rigid as it was, did manage to welcome a new member: Iowa State, led