By Matt Noonan 

It’s Thursday – how are we doing, everyone?

As usual, we hope these posts find everyone – that means our fans and friends of the site – doing well, staying safe and healthy, but also happy, too.

Let’s all have a wonderful day – it is almost the weekend! – and continue to think optimistically about the road ahead.

Noontime’s Headlines for Thursday, July 2, 2020 

• Yesterday – Wednesday, July 1, to be exact – we learned that both Amherst College and Mount Holyoke College will not be playing fall sports this year, but both hope to provide their respective student-athletes with an opportunity to compete during the spring semester.

  Amherst and Mount Holyoke join a growing list of local schools, as well as a few others around the country that plan to not field fall sports teams this upcoming school year. More announcements are expected over the next few days and weeks as schools

• We also learned yesterday that UMass Dartmouth has decided to discontinue eight of its varsity athletic programs, including men’s lacrosse. The announcement was made by Robert E. Johnson, who is the school’s chancellor.

  In a statement to the school’s faculty, staff, and students yesterday, Johnson explained that “this decision in no way reflects their tremendous contribution to our University.”

  For more on yesterday’s announcement, CLICK HERE for the quick facts.

•  Thoughts of moving college football from the fall to spring continue to be discussed, but according to  Sandy Barbour, who is the Penn State athletic director, it would be the “last resort” for her school’s football program.
• Speaking of spring football – again, we are unsure if this will happen or not – but according to Forbes, it seems like it is a possibility for the eight Ivy League schools.
• As we continue to inch closer to August and September, the thought on many minds these days is should we really play football this fall? Billy Witz of the New York Times weighs in on this topic, which highlights two schools – Clemson University and Morehouse College – which have two different views on this topic and yes, question, too.
• Finally, thoughts of high school football during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic continue to be discussed. Will there be a season, especially here in Massachusetts? Will other states play games this fall?

  There are a lot of unknowns at this time, but luckily it is only July and we still have a few more weeks until training camps would start for local high school football programs.