It is both sad and good to see that the Little League World Series and the Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies have been canceled. Two rites of summer destroyed by the ravaging COVID-19. For good reason—imagine the masses descending on Williamsport for the LLWS? A more massive throng would have ventured to Cooperstown to cheer on Derek Jeter. Yankees fans would have shattered the 82,000 record for Cal Ripken, Jr.’s induction.
These are prudent measures given the place the U.S. is at with its fight versus the coronavirus. I salute California Governor Gavin Newsom for closing the public beaches in Orange County after hordes of people congregated along the Pacific Ocean last weekend seeking relief from the Southern California heat.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy faces enormous pressure to reopen New Jersey. He has started the process by allowing golf courses to open and for people to enter New Jersey State Parks, albeit without available lavatory facilities. He has warned that if social distancing isn’t properly applied, he will shut the parks down and close the golf courses.
The biggest pressure on Governor Murphy comes from the Jersey Shore. When it comes to New Jersey economics, the beaches and the revenue derived from rentals, amusements, food, etc. is huge, especially with the State in a budgetary deficit as a result of the pandemic.
But what about the lives at stake here? How many asymptomatic individuals from New Jersey and other states will travel to the Jersey Shore? Will beachgoers eschew masks for the even tan on their faces?
It is a delicate balance for Governor Murphy to achieve—the safety of the people against the economic reality that much of the seasonal Jersey Shore industries—hotels, rentals, amusements, restaurants, etc.—may not survive if shuttered this summer.
Governor Murphy is not the only one with such a headache. All governors with shorelines, lakes or scenic locals face the same questions and search for the right formula to make the summer happen without a raging recurrence of the pandemic. For the alternative is stark—we sit home and continue to self-isolate until a vaccine is developed.
We see how professional sports keeps inching back to competition. NASCAR is going to conduct races in May without spectators. I thought that a big part of the event was to go and party, suffer a horrible sunburn and root for your favorite driver. I guess the economics of auto racing is such that the crowds who attend the races can be kept away for a year without too much financial peril.
The NBA keeps floating ideas about competition and opening practice facilities. An idea to house everyone at Disney World where there would be no spectators while the teams play out the season/playoffs is the latest hot rumor. Meanwhile, where it is appropriate, team facilities would be opened to players and personnel for non-team functions.
I have a few thoughts on that. First, how is social distancing going to be enforced? I went to physical therapy today for the first time in a week for my balky back and ankle. It was just me and my therapist for 40 minutes, with plenty of hand sanitizer and cleaning solution. And I will only go once a week under those conditions, instituting a home program due to my vulnerable age.
Second, will the teams invest in antibody testing as well as other comprehensive measures to ensure that there is no further spread of the virus? I can only imagine the number of players eager to get back to the gym and use the weights, training staff, etc. Who knows who they might come into contact with?
Thirdly, this puts teams in less infected areas way ahead of those teams such as the Celtics, Knicks, Nets, Warriors, Lakers, Clippers, Kings, Trail Blazers, Sixers, Wizards, Pistons, Pelicans and Bulls. Of course, there are governors like Georgia’s Brian Kemp, who should have no problems with players form the Hawks heading to the gym given his opening of all gyms in his state. Same in Texas, where the Mavericks, Rockets and Spurs will likely have full access to their facilities. Florida would be another likely locale, giving the Heat and Magic an advantage.
I have said it before and it bears repeating—the economics are so enormous that the professional sports are certain they cannot afford a shut down. ESPN published an article projecting collective losses to be over $12 billion.
Do not feel sorry for Roger Goodell not taking his salary. He has had enough $30 million years for a while. It is other NFL executives and team personnel who will take a huge financial hit with their salary reductions. Remember, the NFL still has the mindset that the games will be played this fall—even if it is without fans in the stands. The 2020 schedule will be coming out next week.
NHL teams have started to call back their players in anticipation of workouts for teams which would be at least playoff-bound. Of course, the NHL would be faced with the same questions and logistics that the NBA faces.
Baseball now has a new approach. Three 10 team leagues to cut down on travel. With games in the geographical areas to start at 7:00 local time. For the fans’ convenience. If they still have the money for cable TV.
Travel? Are you kidding me? This places an enormous strain on the infrastructure and places so many personnel at risk because the player are coming into contact with many people as they journey to away sites as well as arrive in their home airports. Ask the flight attendants who are screaming about mandatory masks for people flying and eliminating leisure travel.
Maybe the executives at MLB haven’t read about how many TSA officers have been felled by COVID-19, or what it has done to first responders such as the police, firefighters and EMT personnel. Take a look at how the Orthodox Jewish worshipers congregate in Williamsburg and Lakewood, needlessly exposing the officers by not social distancing.
I miss baseball. A lot. But why go through all of this when the risks are so high for so many people who work in and around the game and players to protect their safety? To say that America is strong and has not given into the virus? Or to help the economy, which is in tatters right now, with lines for free food abundant in so many states? It makes no sense to me.
I will abandon my COVID soapbox to discuss a few other things. As a result of the airings of four parts of The Last Dance, old hatred between the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons has resurfaced. Detroit was a bunch of thugs who physically intimidated teams en route to two NBA crowns. The Bulls finally took the Pistons down when they won their first of six NBA crowns.
Michael Jordan dislikes the Pistons. Isiah Thomas and Bill Laimbeer are not his favorite people. Thomas does not rate Jordan as the the G.O.A.T. Jordan was accused of not wanting Thomas on the 1992 U.S. Olympic “Dream” Team. Which is not true—at least 9 of the 12 team members didn’t want Thomas with them, despite the desires of Chuck Daly, the Pistons Head Coach who was also the Head Coach of the Dream Team. Daly learned that the collective harmony of his bunch of superstars could not be sacrificed for one individual.
This renewed Pistons-Bulls rivalry will run its course with the end of the documentary. In this entertainment and sports-starved world, this became big news.
Finally, I read on Friday about a freshman TE coming to Rutgers, and his mother. His father works in an essential business and lives in part of the house. His mother, who has been a respiratory therapist at Hackensack University Hospital for 17 years, is on the front lines of the pandemic, working 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. She resides upstairs.
Her son lives with family 20 minutes away and gets to see his mother periodically, employing social distancing measures. He calls her multiple times a day.
When you recognize what truly is at stake, this mother is a hero, as her son who is strong and supportive. It puts all of the rest of the machinations by the sporting world, along with the decisions that governors have to make to protect people who obviously don’t see the inherent dangers in their actions, into perspective.
Such are the COVID-19 dilemmas.
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