The Coronavirus has hit a uniquely American seam of culture, enthusiasm, family life, athleticism, and sports. This past week, one after another, the iconic games of spring were cancelled or postponed. The initial thunderclap was the decision by the NBA to “postpone” their season. Postpone in this situation is most likely a rolling-ultimate-cancellation of the remainder of the season. Then one after another, big, tradtional, seasonal favorites started to drop. First, regional basketball tournaments, the ones leading to the biggest collegiate sports even of all, March Madness. Then, just days later, March Madness itself. The 12 Hours of Sebring, for the first time in it’s history, was moved to a date in the fall. The Masters, golf’s first major of the year and a tradition like no other, announced it would be postponed to a later date. The Master! If CVcould get The Masters, it could get any event. All NCAA spring sports tournaments were cancelled. The big European bicycle races that lead to the Tour de France were shut down. The Japanese are considering cancelling/moving/postponing the 2020 Summer Olympics. Even the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo was turned off, cancelled, ended, in the first week of a three week run. The rodeo is a key event for Houston–it brings everyone in the city together–but it also pays the heavy lifting at NRG stadium and is the reason the stadium was built (do the math-28 straightdays of rental vs. the 8 or 9 days a year the Texans use the stadium).
Is this time out going to be good for America or is it going to be a wakeup call to the potential, invisible, deadly diseases waiting those who are carefless and reckless with personal hygene. Probably a bit of both, but whatever and however it shakes out, the sports world will never be the same, in America or anyplace else in the world. After exposing the inadaquacies of those, theoretically, in government who know how to handle these types of things (and have come up mortally short), will we trust out leaders again in times of crisis, when we see them puff out their chests and fail–life and in person–on network television, more worried about their image and approval rating than righting the country and saving lives. Sooner or later it will all get sorted out, but what’s left after the storm is going to be causing issues for years.
To set the record straight, here’s the most recent list from the New York Times of the major sporting events cancelled because of the CV.
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