It's only been a month. It's been one of the longest months of our lives. At this point, days feel like weeks, weeks feel like months and months feel like years, so it's tough to know how long it's actually been. But it was a mere month ago that Rudy Gobert got bit by the karma bug big time and became the first pro athlete to test positive for coronavirus.
Back in early March, everything was still quasi-normal. The NBA and NHL regular seasons were winding down, Spring Training games were in full-swing, and March Madness was on the horizon. There were some precautions being taken, and they were planning on playing games without fans in some cities. Then Gobert tested positive and all hell broke loose.
Within the next 24 hours, the NBA and NHL had suspended their seasons indefinitely and MLB shut down Spring Training and delayed the start of the season. Instead of revving up, college basketball conference tournaments were outright cancelled, then the NCAA did the unthinkable and cancelled March Madness entirely...as well as all Spring sports! The PGA finished its round that day, then, they too, halted the season. So did NASCAR, IndyCar, tennis and any other sport you can think of. Suddenly, just like that, there were no sports being played anywhere in America.
For the first time any of us can remember, sports are gone. And who knows when they're coming back? Sports, the very fabric of our society, won't be a part of it for the foreseeable future at a time when we need them the most. We're in uncharted waters here. Because we've never seen anything like this before.
Of course, outside events have gotten in the way of the 24-7-365 sports cycle before. Events went years without taking place during World War II, and natural disasters or national tragedies have also had impacted sports seasons throughout history. We've even had a Stanley Cup Final called after five games because of an epidemic before.
So, no. This isn't the first time sports have seemed so trivial in the grand scheme of things, either. After 9/11, the country was terrified and sports rightfully stepped aside. However, it was only a week before baseball and football returned to help the nation heal. Same thing with the Saints' return to New Orleans a year after Hurricane Katrina decimated the city.
Something like this, though. This has never happened. People want and need their sports at a time when they can't have them. And, as a result, we're struggling to fill the entertainment void.
That, to me, is the biggest difference between this shutdown and any extended sports stoppages that have occurred before is just that. In the past, sports were a nice distraction, but weren't a national obsession like they are now. There are how many 24-hour sports channels and websites that suddenly don't have live events to cover? And how many hours had the broadcast networks allotted for sports coverage that they now need to replace?
Fortunately, they all have a vast library of classic games at their disposal. CBS showed old NCAA Tournament games on the weekends that were supposed to be for this year's NCAA Tournament. This week they were supposed to have the Masters, so they're showing old Masters coverage instead. NBC and NBCSN should be showing playoff hockey right now, so they're giving us Stanley Cup clinchers and classic Olympic moments.
The sports cable networks have it much tougher, obviously. They have to figure out 24 hours of programming to figure out without live games. And, for the most part, they're making use of those archives. They're going way back, too. Those games from the 80s and early 90s that you otherwise would only be able to find on YouTube are suddenly on TV. And, I've gotta admit, watching these classics has been kinda fun!
ESPN may have it the toughest, though. Because SportsCenter is still on like 12 hours a day even though there's no sports! And I have no idea what they talk about on all those shows where "experts" argue with each other over various sports topics. Although, I have to say I've enjoyed their turning ESPN2 into ESPN Classic and the Ocho, and it was a stroke of genius to air old Wrestlemanias!
You know how desperate everyone is getting for live sports, any type of live sports, that athletes playing the video-game version of their sport is being aired in prime time! And if ESPN can finalize details for that NBA HORSE thing they want to try, it'll be very highly watched. I'd bet the ratings for the NFL Draft, which usually draws a good number of viewers anyway, will be through the roof this year, too. Especially with a captive audience that has literally nothing else to do!
Sports will eventually come back, of course. The leagues are all trying to figure out when and how, even though the future is just as uncertain now as it was when this all started. Even if fans physically can't go to the games, that won't even matter. Most of us watch the games on TV anyway. And you know the networks are eager to have some original programming to show!
Hopefully that day will be soon. And when it comes, we'll be on sports overload! Because everything that's being postponed now has been rescheduled for later in the summer and early fall. So, once we get through this, we'll get our reward. Our lives will be normal again and our sports will be back. All of them.
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