Overall Breakdown
With all of the hoopla surrounding this pandemic worldwide and the drastic effects its had on the sports world, I would be insane not to talk about the Coronavirus. It supposedly started in late December in 2019 when someone in China consumed part of a bat that had the virus. Unfortunately, due to the high level of contagiousness, it started spreading like wildfires! This lead to the building of a hospital in the place where it was most prevalent and spreading the quickest (Wuhan, China) in just ten days. Throughout the next few months it started spreading around the world due as travelers were going to different countries, not knowing how easily the virus can spread. There are currently over a thousand cases in the United States. This may not seem like a huge number but it’s scary when just a couple weeks ago there were only a handful.
The Sports World
Celebrities like actor Tom Hanks and basketball players Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell tested positive for the coronavirus. March 11th, 2020 was a day for the history books! In the afternoon, the NCAA announced that their games will not feature a crowd at all besides the families of the players and essential staff. As a sports fan, I was devastated by this news! Now the fans don’t get to enjoy the wonderful game of college hoops. However, I was extremely intrigued by how this would translate to the television watching experience. Would it be awkward not hearing the crowd react to anything that’s happening besides the couple voices from the family? I thought it would be much more authentic being able to hear the ball bouncing and the players talking trash to one another. Unfortunately, we don’t get to find out what it will be like as the NCAA cancelled the tournament and all Power 5 games. The entire rest of the NBA season was also cancelled without promise of a rescheduling of the playoffs! I was really upset by this news since the Bucks are having the best year they’ve ever had, only to get ruined by a virus. It’s easy to tell our country is very apprehensive about the virus! Never before have sports seasons been outright cancelled because of a worldwide pandemic and the accompanying public paranoia has been enough to say that 2020 is off to a rocky start. Entire NBA teams that recently played the Utah Jazz (the team with Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell) had to self-quarantine and the Jazz had to wait days before they could return to Salt Lake City after Rudy tested positive.
Outlook
I’m hopeful that we’ll get better at controlling the virus and make progress in preventing its further unfurling. Scientists are working on vaccines for it so maybe we’ll have better protection from it in the coming weeks when it gets tested and people are more informed on the perils. When I first heard about the virus a couple months ago, I never thought it would reach the heights it has and didn’t even know there was a circumstance possible that could shut down all sports with such rapidity.
Nick Pauli 