Newspapers, television, social media, and everybody else is asking, when will sports come back? There have been reports that things could start up in as little as three weeks, and as long as mid August. The reality is that nobody really knows.
Well, nobody except me that is.
All sports fans, including yours truly, would like to see things resume sooner rather than later. We've already written about how much we miss baseball, and as the LPGA ANA Inspiration, The Masters, the Stanley Cup, and other top tier sporting events are cancelled, it really makes you miss sports even more.
The unfortunate reality, for life right now, is that the Covid-19 virus is wreaking havoc on lives in far greater numbers than we could have imagined three months ago. With daily infections and deaths steadily climbing, it makes it all the more unlikely that life, forgetting sports, will get back to whatever the new normal will become anytime soon.
From my vantage point, I just don't see how it is going to be possible to start sports back up in 2020. I look for the NHL and NBA to cancel the rest of the season in the next few weeks. Stadium availability will not be the issue, the cutting into next season will be more of their problem.
MLB will hold out hope that they might be able to get an abbreviated season of 100 or so games in for another thirty or forty days, but they will eventually come to the conclusion that it just will not work, and the 2020 campaign will be gone too.
Fall college sports won't even start talking about resuming since most schools won't be in session. Both golf tours will hold out hope for a little bit longer before they figure out the season is done. Same for Indy Cars, NASCAR, tennis, and soccer.
The NFL is hoping an August resumption will save them, but they will see the same things the other sports are seeing and call it a season too.
Here are the two main reason why I think sports is done for 2020. First, and this is 80% of the issue, is that we are going to see a strong return of the infections come fall. Leading health and science people are saying don't be fooled if things slow down for a bit this summer, this virus will be back in force once again.
Leagues can't take the chance of starting back up and then having one, or more, of their athletes get sick. Think lawsuits. What if, for example, Patrick Mahomes catches the virus two weeks into the season and is not only gone for a month, but infects eight others on the team. The Chiefs season would be over and teams, and fans, would be screaming bloody murder.
Secondly, and for some this would be an even bigger reason to not restart, is the fact that once the American public starts to see numbers like 100,000 to 240,000, or god forbid, much more, of their friends, neighbors, and family dying, are they really going to feel comfortable sitting shoulder to shoulder with someone for 2-4 hours? Not this guy.
Until they find an actual vaccine I just don't see how any responsible commissioner, governor, or mayor is going to let sports start up, no matter how much the idiot in chief wants things to begin next month. At some point the right thing to do is bite the bullet and just shut everything down. We can live without sports, but we have to live first.
Take the advice of those that know. Stay inside. Wear a mask if you must go out. Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze. And...
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