SPORTS BYKE!
March 11, 2020 a day that will live in infamy. This is the day that the NBA postponed the Utah Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder games indefinitely and became the catalyst to a 4 month drought in North American sports. Once the NBA postponed their season due to multiple positive COVID-19 tests the rest of the sports leagues followed suit. Baseball sent everyone home from their spring training camps, the NHL packed it up, even the NCAA decided to cancel the March Madness tournament….very reluctantly may I add as the NCAA tournament is like Christmas and the Fourth Of July wrapped in one for the evil cabal that governs college athletics, but nonetheless they did the right thing.
The plan was simple when it came to commissioners like Adam Silver “The block is too hot right now, let's fall back until the coast is clear”. In March we didn’t know anything about this disease, and that is the fault of our government; they did not take it seriously when it first popped up on the radar and did not take the necessary precautions to ensure our safety. When all the leagues shut down every commissioner had the same sentiments “We are taking every precaution and are working with healthcare professionals to make sure when we return, we return safely”. This wasn't a contract that needed to be signed by the commissioners and the fans but it was more of an understanding. Our job was to stay at home as much as we could, stay away from others and trust that the commissioners will bring us our sports back once it is safe to do so as they work with the government. That's it, that was the social contract that we had with each other.
The thing is none of us held up our part of the bargain, and our government was dealing in bad faith. People did not stay home, they still met in large groups, and went to secret bars like we’re still in Prohibition all around the country. States like Florida, Georgia and Texas never really fully shut down and now COVID-19 is high stepping like Primetime in the lungs of great people of those states and many more. Now the sports leagues are left holding the bag full of blue dye after a botched heist. We as a country are in the same place that we were four months ago, the only difference is that people have come to terms that they may very well die from this disease and are desperate enough to risk it for some sense of normalcy.
That sense of normalcy comes from having sports back on the schedule. My question is at what cost? Listen I understand I love sports and this has probably been the longest I’ve gone in my life without watching live sports, but is it worth it if it gets shut down again. The commissioners told us “we’ll be back once it’s safe again” and that in reality turned into “we’ll be back once we figure out how to make it safe for MOST people”. The “safety measures” being implemented are laughable as players are already testing positive, if we get any competitive postseason play from both the NBA and MLB it’ll be short of a miracle in my opinion. As we are in no better place than we were in March when it comes to fighting this disease I wouldn't be surprised if things get postponed again. I understand that the leagues still need try and salvage as much money as possible but as a biased fan of Lebron and The New York Yankees if they do not win their respective titles in this shortened season it was all for nothing and I will yell to anyone that will listen until my dying day that this year means nothing, sports should’ve been cancelled and those championships are not valid.
Any decisions that these players make I am totally behind, if they choose to play or not it is up to them and their family. This is a disease that can either have no effect or a deadly one so
I understand anyone that wants to be cautious, man life is fragile these past 6 months have taught me that. I’d love to have sports back but we as a country have done nothing in the last four months to deserve an escape from reality. To all the commissioners, one last thing please remember that: All Money Ain’t Good Money.