It has now been over a month since we witnessed the beginning of the temporary end of live sports. On Tuesday evening, March 10th Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz tested positive for COVID-19 shortly before the Jazz and Thunder tipped off. This was of course after he fondled all the microphones at a press conference earlier that week. The NBA cancelled the game and sent fans home. All upcoming games were also now suspended. The NHL, MLB, and every other major sports organization would soon follow suit. The following day the NCAA conference basketball tournaments continued but leagues announced that games would be played with no crowds starting that Thursday.
It seemed bizarre to imagine the empty arenas, especially in a tournament setting. Being able to hear Izzo screaming at his players live would have at least been entertaining. I turned on the B10 tournament to witness the first empty arena game and then the announcement was dropped that the tourney was cancelled. The Rutgers and Michigan players stopped warming up and left the court. Shit had just got real. It got even more real a few hours later when the NCAA Tournament was cancelled. Not delayed or postponed. Straight up cancelled.
So here we are over a month later with no real predictable timeline on sports resuming again and left with nothing but marble racing on ESPN 8, The Ocho.
And when sports do return, what will that look like? Will teams play in front of crowds? Doubtful. Will they even play in there normal stadiums/arenas? Also doubtful. Most likely we're looking at isolating leagues to a couple locations to reduce travel and human interaction. Who knows how things will shake out for college athletics. For whatever changes take place, it will be a weird adjustment but we'll take it. Anything to ensure NBA players playing H-O-R-S-E and video games is never on ESPN again.
I like the creativity and effort to keep some live sports entertainment chugging along but it's not quite drawing me in. I'd rather watch re-runs of Jeopardy. Unfortunately people will think quarantine has got the best of me if I send a group text asking if anyone could believe Seth Wilson won 12 straight episodes in 2016.
Sports isn't just about the games. It's the whole experience of watching with friends and family and providing each other with our "expert" opinions and commentary. It's about having an excuse to drink on weeknights and eat bar food (News alert: There is currently a massive chicken wings surplus). Sports makes up a lot of the small talk we have daily. The quarantine banter is getting old and reaching the level of talking about the weather... "Getting used to the new normal"... blah blah blah...
Sports is not just watching the live events. It's recapping what just happened, arguing with rival fans, and re-living the moments while they're fresh. It's watching/listening to the talk shows the day after no matter how annoying they can be. It's reading the newspapers, blogs, and social media posts.
Without games to report on, the daily news is becoming a stretch for material. I still check the news-feed just in case because I'm an addict and need my fix but relying on NFL draft coverage is getting old. Will the Lions trade the 3rd pick? Will they get Tua? Will they get Okudah? Will they trade all of their picks to New England for their special teams coach?
While life and sports may never be exactly as it was pre-pandemic I am optimistic and confident that it will get back to close-enough to "normal" sometime later this year. In the grand scheme of things this experience will be a blip in our lives but definitely not something we will ever forget. Us fans will be ready and salivating for live action when it returns. We will be more passionate, dedicated, and appreciative then ever before. We'll still be assholes and complain about everything because that's what we do. Sometimes you don't truly appreciate things until they're gone. And the thought of that ever even being a possibility with sports never crossed anyone's mind. We should have seen it coming as this virus continued spreading worldwide but figured not even a full blown zombie apocalypse would cancel the lucrative world of athletics.
Until more exciting things happen, it may be time to turn my focus to some other topics consuming more of my daily life at the present time which includes a heavy amount of whisky and beer sampling, refining my culinary skills, and embarking on year two of dad life.
Cheers