The Great American Sports Machine has stopped
Picture from Twitter
It’s Friday March 13th 2020, under normal circumstances I should be getting ready for a game against the Toronto Marlies.
Even though I went back to second shift, there should be plenty of excitement in the air as the Bears tend to make a playoff push toward the legendary Silver Chalice, The Calder Cup
The NCAA Conference tournament in men’s and women’s basketball should be wrapping up tonight, at least the early ones. The Big Ten, Big 12, sec, Pac-12 would all head into the weekend with dreams of moving out of the bubble or solidifying their #1 seeds.
It should be just another night in the association, LeBron and the Lakers are heading toward their eventual Showdown against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Major League Baseball spring training continues, and even though we get caught up in the doldrums of Florida or Arizona baseball. The crack of the bat, the pounding of leather, and the Eternal yell of Play Ball fills us with help as spring approaches.
The Washington Capitals and their great leader Alexander Ovechkin, continues to request for the second Holy Grail. Ovie marches toward 50 goals, John Carlson continues is Quest for the Norris Trophy. And we continue to argue over who is better Ilya Samsonov or Brendan holtby getting a contract extension.
Other Niche Sports such as NASCAR and IndyCar, Outlaws or dirt racing, are getting their seasons underway and are just waiting for their time in the limelight, come April and May.
Sadly none of that is going to happen, the coronavirus and the safety of everyone has made sure of that.
This is not sour grapes on my part, I understand the scope of the situation. Well I could list my reasons or opinions about the coronavirus, this is neither the time nor the place.
As an observer I’ve watched the Great American Sports Machine come to a grinding halt within the past 48 Hours. Debates of plane games in a empty Arena or simply postponing seasons we’re just clickbait articles and morning sport talk banter.
But then came Wednesday night, and Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz after touching a lot of things after a press conference, had tested positive for said virus.
And that was the piece that caused the Jenga shock to collapse, that’s all the NBA needed to shut everything down. It wasn’t long before others for quickly followed suit the NHL the next morning or afternoon I should say, announced they were suspending the season, the AHL has followed suit and the ECHL may not even restart the season whenever that is.
Even smaller sports events, conventions of all types, even local dirt track races have all stopped. Schools have closed for weeks, and as a nation we’re just trying to find answers.
In the short-term and probable long-term this is the right decision to make. We are all trying to understand the effects of this virus and don’t want it to spread. While it may only affect the elderly, all it takes is the wrong person to get infected at the wrong time, and things in this country could get a lot worse, and maybe quickly.
As we head into this weekend, it is a weekend without Sports, I typically say August is the toughest Sports month but at least then we have other sports to help tide us over. The dog days of Major League Baseball, preseason NFL, the Little League World Series and other niche sports helped fill the void in the dog days of summer.
This time there is no such thing, one of the busiest sports months of the year outside of October and September has gone silent: silent arenas, quiet ballparks, and empty race tracks.
Maybe this is a time for all of us to reconnect with one another, safely I mean. And some parts of the country get out and enjoy the weather, check on that elderly loved one of yours. Or maybe try to ReDiscover the long lost art of in-person conversation.
For now the Great American Sports machine has come to a halt and stopped.
It will start up again, like a diesel engine it will take time for it to get going. We will be back to checking on clickbait articles, wondering how bad the Orioles are going to be this season, who will win position battles at Ravens training camp, and the Washington Capitals trying to rediscover that Stanley Cup Magic.
But for now, all is quiet.
That’s my opinion.
You can follow me on Twitter @RBloss64 for hockey updates, wrestling and some weird stuff too.
