Post by Jive36 on Mar 13, 2020 8:14:50 GMT -5
Preface: They made the right/best decision based on the information available. Nothing I write below changes that.
This ended too abruptly and has thrown my entire life off kilter. We are only in the first 36 hours of life with no sports and already I am feeling the emptiness. Let me be clear, I am not one of the hundreds/thousands that make a living/support a family on the back of the entertainment/sports industry. I'm not one of the players that had their one shinning moment ripped away in the span of 24 hours. I'm not even a person that had made plans to go to any of these events and had to make the go no go decision or deal with canceling/getting refunds for those trips.
I am a guy like many others whose life has been centered around the sports calendar. The daily routine of checking box scores, setting fantasy lineups, scrolling twitter/message boards, looking up the Vegas line and maybe getting some action down, (I live in PA where this has become as easy as buying something from Amazon). All those activities have been ripped away and there isn't anything to fill the void. The only thing I can compare this to is the death of a loved one. That might be over dramatic because sports will return whether it be in one month or eight months (ugh), whereas death is final. However, my relationship with sports is one of the longest, most intimate relationships in my life. In particular my relationship basketball.
My earliest memories are being in a high school gym, climbing on the bleachers while my dad tried to coach practice and keep me 3-4 year old me from rolling balls onto the court mid scrimmage or game. Every March there were brackets to be pored over, at the dinner table, in the car, while watching games, and not just the college tournament but the PIAA tournament. My dad, his friends and all the kids would be loaded in to cars and travel all over the western half of the state to watch high school teams from the area. On every one of those trips March Madness was the topic du jour. We would spend hours debating who had the best team, best player or easiest path once the bracket were announced. It was a great joy when I moved back to the area 6 years ago to be able to join them again on those trips.
In the span of 36 hours all of that has been put on hold. That group of guys, myself, and many others are left wondering what now? Now that there are no scores to check, no games to watch, and not just in the US but around the globe. What can we do to fill the void?
My answer: sports is a shared experience keep in touch with those you share sports with. Find something else you can do together, one of my dad's friends lost his mom in February. We are getting together Thursday and Friday next week and instead of spending the day on the couch watching 32 games we are going to help him clean out his mom's house and do some minor repairs. I hope people find a way to fill the void by bringing some good into the world. If you are nervous about COVID-19 and serious about social distancing, take the money you would have "invested" into brackets or gambling and donate it to an organization that means something to you. I'm not saying we wont miss the last second buzzer beaters or a Cinderella run but maybe we can make a positive impact with all the unused energy normally spent keeping up with our favorite teams or story lines. Fill the void by trying to make the world a better place.
This ended too abruptly and has thrown my entire life off kilter. We are only in the first 36 hours of life with no sports and already I am feeling the emptiness. Let me be clear, I am not one of the hundreds/thousands that make a living/support a family on the back of the entertainment/sports industry. I'm not one of the players that had their one shinning moment ripped away in the span of 24 hours. I'm not even a person that had made plans to go to any of these events and had to make the go no go decision or deal with canceling/getting refunds for those trips.
I am a guy like many others whose life has been centered around the sports calendar. The daily routine of checking box scores, setting fantasy lineups, scrolling twitter/message boards, looking up the Vegas line and maybe getting some action down, (I live in PA where this has become as easy as buying something from Amazon). All those activities have been ripped away and there isn't anything to fill the void. The only thing I can compare this to is the death of a loved one. That might be over dramatic because sports will return whether it be in one month or eight months (ugh), whereas death is final. However, my relationship with sports is one of the longest, most intimate relationships in my life. In particular my relationship basketball.
My earliest memories are being in a high school gym, climbing on the bleachers while my dad tried to coach practice and keep me 3-4 year old me from rolling balls onto the court mid scrimmage or game. Every March there were brackets to be pored over, at the dinner table, in the car, while watching games, and not just the college tournament but the PIAA tournament. My dad, his friends and all the kids would be loaded in to cars and travel all over the western half of the state to watch high school teams from the area. On every one of those trips March Madness was the topic du jour. We would spend hours debating who had the best team, best player or easiest path once the bracket were announced. It was a great joy when I moved back to the area 6 years ago to be able to join them again on those trips.
In the span of 36 hours all of that has been put on hold. That group of guys, myself, and many others are left wondering what now? Now that there are no scores to check, no games to watch, and not just in the US but around the globe. What can we do to fill the void?
My answer: sports is a shared experience keep in touch with those you share sports with. Find something else you can do together, one of my dad's friends lost his mom in February. We are getting together Thursday and Friday next week and instead of spending the day on the couch watching 32 games we are going to help him clean out his mom's house and do some minor repairs. I hope people find a way to fill the void by bringing some good into the world. If you are nervous about COVID-19 and serious about social distancing, take the money you would have "invested" into brackets or gambling and donate it to an organization that means something to you. I'm not saying we wont miss the last second buzzer beaters or a Cinderella run but maybe we can make a positive impact with all the unused energy normally spent keeping up with our favorite teams or story lines. Fill the void by trying to make the world a better place.