We need sports, and we need it bad. If you turn on the news you will see a deadly pandemic, murder hornets, and the city of Minneapolis being burned to the ground. When the country locked down the talking point of ‘athletes and entertainers not being essential’ was being echoed throughout social media. Grocery store workers, health care officials, and other deemed essential workers were being prodded around as the heroes. They definitely should be acknowledged and treated as such. As a country, we have a new appreciation for these folks and that is definitely a positive.
Now that states are beginning to open up, it feels like people are getting anxious. On one side, people are worried that COVID-19 will have a second wave, and could have catastrophic effects; on the other side, people want society to return to normalcy. Sports have often been a unifier, it has also been a distraction. I don’t say distraction as a bad thing. Sometimes we need distractions from life, life can be brutal and relentless. As a society, we need to take a break from the atrocities of real life.
The best example of this was after 9/11 when the Mets played the Braves. The game was in New York. Mike Piazza hit a two-run home run and won the game for the Mets. It was known as the “Healing power of a swing”. It is one of the most memorable regular-season home runs ever. A home run that helped return us to normalcy. Sports are powerful.
Sports and the athletes that play in sports are dynamic. We have athletes that are larger than life, they are almost mythical because of how we portray them. If you have ever witnessed your favorite team win a championship you see what kind of magic it brings. There are reasons why sports have famous moments that are mentioned like, “The Catch”, “The Drive”, or “The Miracle on Ice”.
In real life, we rarely have those types of moments. Nothing can quite emulate the visceral reaction we have to these moments. Athletes seem larger than life. Instead, right now we have politicians that have zero personality regurgitating talking points that their political party told them to say. No wonder people are losing their minds.
Can you think of a more incredible story as the Cleveland Cavaliers being led to its first championship in over 50 years down 3-1 to one of the greatest teams of all time? Do you remember when Steve Gleason blocked that punt for Saints in the first game back to Super Dome after Hurricane Katrina? Or how about the Chicago Cubs winning a World Series for the first time in over 100-years? Sports are the ultimate unifier.
Now that it feels like sports is returning here are a few thoughts I have this week in the world of sports:
NBA’s potential comeback and playoff setup.
The NBA is beginning to open practice facilities and planning on resuming the season. Most of the conversations around resuming the season is starting the playoffs. There have been a lot of interesting scenarios involved in what this year’s playoffs will look like.
An interesting one is a 16-team seeded playoff. There will not be an East vs. West traditional playoff, instead there will be more of an NCAA March Madness feel to it. Players from teams that are not in the playoffs are making it known that if they have no shot of playing in the playoffs they don’t want the season to resume. Damian Lillard has expressed that it would be a waste of time to play a regular-season game if it is meaningless and can be potentially dangerous. Injuries can also be an issue since the players have not played meaningful basketball in over two months. The biggest obstacles are going to be how to get the players ready to play again in a smart and safe way.
Texas to allow outside stadiums to open at 25 percent.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced today that starting this Friday, professional sports will be allowed to open outdoor stadiums at 25 percent. Leagues that plan to open must submit a plan to the Texas Department of State Health Services. There has been no word on what is going to happen with college sports as of this writing.
This is (of course) good news for the sporting world. Barring any setback, it is looking like sports will be back for the Fall. I am willing to predict by September there will be some teams (not all) that will have full stadiums.
Baseball is really fumbling this situation.
While the rest of the sporting world is starting to return to normalcy, the MLB (according to reports) is trying to really screw over its players by trying to cut their salaries in order to bail out their owners. In Oakland, the A’s are reportedly not going to pay their minor league players. The players are obviously not happy about this. Max Scherzer basically said that the MLB can take this deal and shove it up their ass. Or maybe I read his tweet wrong.
The MLB has plans to return in July for a reduced season, but I am having a hard time believing that will happen.
Onside kick rule is tabled.
Instead of creating (maybe) the most exciting play in sports, the NFL decided they were not ready to make that type of change just yet. The owners voted down to create a 4th-and-15 play instead of an onside kick. The onside kick is one of the most impossible plays in all of sports. it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a losing team to get an onside kick. I think that is how the quote goes.
I liked the idea to change the onside kick a little bit to add some drama to the end of games. The rule of an untimed down to create some drama at the end of games would have been really cool. Oh well, I am still going to continue my unhealthy obsession with the NFL.
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