Sunday, July 12, 2020


A bad feeling

The pandemic that has created a new normal in the last several months seems to be affecting my thought patterns. No, I haven’t tested positive for COVID-19. In fact, I haven’t been tested at all.

By taking self-quarantining to exaggerated levels, I discovered relatively early that I miss my sports. Shocking, I know. Professional basketball and hockey seasons were interrupted. Major League baseball shut down midway through spring training

The National Football League has thus far escaped what lies ahead due to exquisite timing. It closed down at the onset of the virus after the Super Bowl. More on that situation later.

The loss of sports in my world is what’s messing with the aforementioned thoughts. I worry their attempts to come back will not end well. Color me skeptical that those sports will not reach the finish line. After all, I’ve got a reputation to live up (down?) to.

I’m a glass half empty guy. Have been for as long as I can remember. I do not have a good feeling about this at all.  It’s a feeling I wish I didn’t have.

This enemy is like a ghost. It is stealthy, relentless, virulent and deadly. You cannot see it. At least with the naked eye. It can be seen only when placed under a microscope. And it’s showing no signs of going away anytime soon.

The NBA and NHL, in seeming desperation, will conduct their playoffs in a bubble in an attempt to achieve closure to their respective seasons. They have thrown down the gauntlet to the virus. So, too, have MLB and the NFL.

I believe it will fail on all fronts despite stringent protocols to stave off the inevitable. In baseball, for example, there will be no high fives, no hugs and no spitting.

In the NFL, post-game hugs and jersey trading are prohibited. What’s next? A ban on gang tackling? After playing 60 minutes of in-your-face football, it’s nonsensical to legislate against those traditional post-game activities. Players are mocking the decision.

As for game officials, it’s all but set: NFL officials (average age 53 years old) will wear facemasks in the performance of their duties. It’s anyone’s guess what else is in store.

The amount of work required keeping every team healthy for an extended period of time is more hopeful than anything else. Each team will need to walk a razor-thin line in order to prevent a team outbreak.

All it will take to seriously rethink the situation is one team outbreak of the highly contagious virus. The odds of accomplishing that on a league-wide basis have to be astronomical.

Players in the NBA, NHL and MLB have also been given the option of opting out of the competition, in some cases because they do not want to gamble they will catch the virus. Others are for more personal reasons. Most are veterans who have been well compensated..

The NFL is negotiating with the players association with regard to the opt-out and has yet to come to an agreement. The league has already taken steps to head off possible trouble by cancelling the Hall of Fame game and first and fourth exhibition games.

Players have indicated they would not be unhappy if the entire exhibition slate is scrubbed, preferring to prepare for the regular season with an extended training camp that might include intra-squad scrimmages.

Baseball’s truncated 60-game regular season, scheduled to begin later this month, will provide the earliest indicators as to whether this whole exercise in avoidance will actually work.

Considering the strict protocols set forth by the various sports, I’m having a difficult time believing it will work. This pandemic has wiped out all in its path thus far and shows no signs of relenting. If anything, it is gaining strength,

And here is the worst part. Scientists predict phase two of the virus, a more virulent strain, is inevitable when the weather cools down in the fall, significantly affecting baseball and football. That’s an ominous sign, considering phase one of the pandemic has yet to be tamed.

Social distancing will be the greatest deterrent in all sports. The very nature of basketball, hockey, baseball and football dictate the antithesis. Contact is inevitable. With football, in particular, the idea of social distancing is laughable.

Football is not a contact sport. It is a collision sport. No protocol can cancel out that fact. And because of that, the notion the league actually believes it can squeeze in a 17-week regular season and a postseason is folly.

In order to keep at last six feet apart, will offensive linemen correctly social distance themselves from each other? Can you imagine line splits of seven and eight feet? Right there, social distancing flies out the door.

As we get closer to the start of the NFL season, unforeseen little bumps in the road will emerge that need to be smoothed out. For example, some players are pushing back against the use of vinyl face shields as a deterrent to the virus,

The big difference now is NFL players, quite likely for the first time in their careers, realize they are targets for a deadly virus that is indiscriminate in whom it strikes. The fact it is contagious adds to the fear.

Injuries have always been part of the sports, but much more likely in the NFL. They are a known and accepted hazard to the profession. This virus quite likely will exacerbate the situation.

So will the game be played differently as a result in the NFL? More cautiously, perhaps? Of course not. It wouldn’t be football if they did. That’s what makes this all the more intriguing.

I can’t stop thinking something will go terribly wrong in all four sports in the attempt to pull off the impossible in the face of this pandemic. An outbreak can occur at any time in any of the four sports. All it takes is one to seriously consider a shutdown.

My feeling – and I hope I am wrong about all this in so many ways – is this calendar year, I fear, will go down in history as the year sports surrendered to an unknown enemy and robbed its fans of so much escapist pleasure.

So color me extremely skeptical that by the end of this year, sports fans will have an NBA champion, Stanley Cup champion, World Series winner and an NFL playoff season to look forward to.

The year 2020 is teetering on the brink of becoming the year the sports world was completely brought to its knees by an unseen foe. And there was nothing that could be done to stop it.

1 comment:

  1. the thought that college or pro football will happen this year seems like wishful thinking and for those that actually pay attention to the pandemic experts, has been folly for quite some time.

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