Friday, April 03, 2020
Empty Houses
March is
certainly an important month, south of our border, as the American
nation gears up for the college basketball championships. March
Madness, they call it. Games are played in arenas throughout the
United States with teams travelling across the nation, hoping to gain
a spot in “The Final Four”.
It is also a
time when the basketball and hockey seasons wind down, filling stadia
with fans, teams hoping to capture a playoff spot. The tennis and
golf seasons are well under way. The men will be golfing at Augusta
soon for the first of the main golf tournaments this year. The first
important tennis tournament in the United Staes is played at Indian
Wells. Sorry, not this year,
It has been
cancelled, as have many other tournaments and championships around
the world. The Corona Virus continues to play havoc with all of the
world's activities, including those in the sports world. Following
its early detection in China, it has spread quickly to every
continent. It has proven to be a nasty, deadly, highly infectious
disease.
The upcoming
world hockey championship for women, which was to be held in Halifax,
has been cancelled. Many soccer contests slated to be played in
Europe are taking place in front of empty stands. There are fears
that the disease could spread like wildfire in public areas, where
sports are played.
For many of
the sports, players must travel by plane to get to the venue.
Naturally, players would travel through public areas, and on public
transportation. League management does not intend to expose the
players to any situations where the possibility exists that athletes
might come in contact with the virus.
So far,
there have been no reports of transmission of the disease at Spring
Training sites in Florida and Arizona. Those of us in the north have
enjoyed the teams, via television, as they work through the spring
season. Most teams will begin regular season play in about three
weeks. Hopefully, they will not have to play under the shadow of the
virus.
The media
are no longer welcome in the dressing rooms of many of the major
sports organizations. (Many media were not very welcome at any time
in many dressing rooms.) Post game interviews will be held in the
hallways. There will be other restrictions placed on the media as
well, in the coming days.
Major League
baseball players have been instructed not to touch any fans. No more
“high fives”, or “fist pumps”, and certainly no handshakes!
Players are not to touch any articles that fans have to sign: balls,
bats, photos, shirts, etc. I am sure the same will apply to all other
sports, shortly.
All of this
will remove a bit of the personal element from the games. This is a
fairly desperate time for baseball in particular, as many fans are
upset with the cheating done by the Houston Astros. Fans are calling
for the team to return the World Series trophy they won two years
ago. All of this resulted from stealing signs. It has gone on for
years. But the Astros took it to a higher level, and got caught.
Sports fans
hope that the virus will be contained, quickly, and that citizens of
the world can soon return to their daily lives. I am sure that is a
hope that we all have.
James Hurst
March 9,
2020.
# posted by James Hurst @ 7:41 PM 
