Will COVID-19 be the needle that finally bursts the sports bubble?

The last seven posts on here, beginning with DeskGrunt, are perhaps the most insightful in this entire thread. I applaud Batman, TapintoAmerica, Crow, Michael and Baron.

We all love sports. We all love life more. The business of sports has grown so large that just playing or not playing involves millions of people and billions of dollars. But to put people at risk of serious illness or worse seems self-centered at best. We don't have a vaccine. We don't even know if we have an effective treatment. At least experts know more about the transmission of the virus, but because the message has been muddled (no thanks to government), we can't even get a coordinated effort in place to slow it.

Yes, I'm retired but my heart breaks for you who are trying to survive in this crazy climate. This requires patience, and as a country, we've lost that ability to remain patient and do the right thing. Instead, we're making it more likely that team sports return later than sooner.

Much of that comes from the complete lack of leadership at the highest levels. But this is life-changing and all the preparation in the world couldn't predict how upside down our lives would be in the matter of five months. While it just seems like numbers to the majority of us, over 130,000 families are grieving because they've lost someone dear to them.

It's hard to fathom that could be any of us. And when someone like Jimmie Johnson or Freddie Freeman is affected, it should make us even more vigilant.

But I'm always impressed with the intelligence and passion that every once in a while surfaces among the name-calling and baiting and trolling. That's why I missed this place. Thank you.

 

Thank you Maumann. This is a difficult issue, very difficult, on a subject close to our hearts. And I am aware that my own conclusions as to what to do are suboptimal, even in my own opinion. But that's what we've got on our hands, a choice among a number of lousy options. I mean, I believe the NBA's plan for a Disney World prison camp season finale is absurdly unworkable. But I also recognize it as a good faith effort to pursue a different lousy option.

 

I'm not obligated to support something that's immoral. I don't care how "fun" or "vital" it is.

That dipshit who put his hands all over the media table still isn't right from contracting C-19.

We cannot have sports until we know more about this. It seems rather plain.

 

I'd argue that it's the same today, albeit with a different enemy.
Sports has come to provide a normal rhythm to our lives. It's background noise, sure, but you notice it when it's gone. Kind of like when the power goes out in the neighborhood and you suddenly notice that you no longer hear the hum of the electrical lines. It's weird. And we're in a weird time. I think we need sports as a society to help us avoid the same kinds of paranoia and fear that exist during wartime. We need it to bring some sense of normalcy to our lives.

Also, during the 20th century's wars, the sports world was a much smaller place. You really only had three pro leagues of consequence during WWII -- two of which were still small in the followings -- and one during WWI. There might have only been a relative handful of people affected by it and, as harsh as it sounds, a lot of them still had the option of joining the military to get through. Nowadays, as I mentioned earlier, there are a lot more people affected and many of them don't have a similar option.

 

Let's review the evidence we have from the pro sports that have restarted and have been going for a month now, NASCAR and the PGA Tour. Despite their precautions, which are extensive, each sport has already seen one of its biggest stars sidelined by the virus, Jimmie Johnson, who got it, and Brooks Koepka, who's in quarantine due to possible exposure. These are sports where the primary virus risk is travel to different locations, some of which are virus hotspots. Hotels, meals out, and such generate risk. Now think of team sports, where there's of necessity much close quarters group activity. There are already 14 MLB players on the virus IL. The NBA had like five percent of its players test positive. I can't imagine where hockey stands. This is not an optimistic case for the future.

 

Frankly, I don't get why the NBA and NHL are trying to come back either. They've been off for so long that I think they should punt and prepare for getting the 2020-21 season right instead of salvaging the old one. Baseball is very close to the same point, for the same reasons.

My biggest gripe is not with shutting down for this season. Like you said, if you're choosing from among a list of lousy options and that's the best one then that's what should happen. My gripe is with the "burn it all down" argument that leagues MUST shut down until there is a vaccine that might be years away. That's just as absurdly unworkable as the NBA's plan, but a number of people seem eager to ignore that reality for reasons I can't fathom.

 

What else can we not have? What else is immoral? For what does the phrase “we love life more” not apply?

Flower shops? Car washes? School? What?

The inessence of sports seems to be more bound up in political and economic worldviews, than it does anything about public health. Which is funny, because, the people who are going to be most hurt by sports not coming back are going to be the rank-and-file employees. Their mortgages. Their car payments. Their sense of well-being because they don’t have a job to do.

And I know there’s a tidy solution to that: The owners should honor all salaries - and perhaps even all contracts - because wealth gap/capitalism sucks, etc, etc, etc.

If the players want to play - even if they (gasp) don’t necessarily love the idea but see playing as a greater good for the collective well-being of a nation that could really use something other than a pandemic and politics - let em play. The guys who want to sit out, can. The guys who don’t, can play. You test positive, you’re quarantined.

That’s it. That’s all.

 

I think a good question is, "Where did these guys contract it, and would they have gotten it anyway?"
The virus is with us. People are going to get it. Some of them are going to get sick, and some might die. That is going to happen whether we have sports going on or not. So why not come up with a plan, do the best you can with the current information available (which seems to change weekly, BTW), and find a way to make it work?
NASCAR has been back racing for almost two months and has had one driver test positive. They've obviously found a way to do business. I'd say that's more of a success story than a failure.

 

If that NYT story is correct and Covid is airborne, then no indoor sports will be able to be held.

 

You raise a great point about the difference in sports’ cultural significance in WW II vs. today.

Nationally popular sports
1945: MLB, college football.
2020: NFL, college football, NBA, college basketball, MLB. Close second: NASCAR, NHL, golf.

Television Households
1945: 8,000 (0.22%; 1 of every 4,500)
2020: 120,600,000 (96.7% of all)

Franchises in Mountain or Pacific Time Zones
1945: 0
2020: A bunch.

 

Heh. "Lucky" in that our soldiers brought the pandemic to Europe, and so many military were infected that the war's end was hastened. Lucky for some, I guess.

Heck, most had off-season jobs because that's where they really made ends meet.

 

COVID is air-borne. This has been known for some time.

Be safe, everyone!