MISSING SPORTS: THOUGHTS ON LOSING OUR GAMES

CORONAVIRUS DISRUPTS SPORTS

March is a big sports month in the United States. Except, this year, it wasn’t.  As the postseason swung into high gear, the plug got

pulled on college basketball because of the coronavirus. A few conference tournaments got played, a few others got started before cancellation, and the NCAA scrubbed March Madness altogether. The National Basketball Association shut down, as did Major League Baseball, college baseball, track and field, the golf tours, and virtually everything else. A few horse races have been run without fans, but that’s about it.

Horse race with no fans at Golden Gate Field

The NFL off-season, with news of trades, free agent signings, and draft preparation, continues unabated on the assumption, perhaps unfounded, the pro football season will happen this fall. College teams don’t know if they’ll have spring practices or even a season.

Sports on television? You can watch a “classic” game almost anytime and plenty of old ones that weren’t. ESPN repeats documentary programs on its various platforms and promotes a mythical, bracket-based popularity contest for determining the best college basketball player of all time.

As dedicated, life-long sports fans, each of us reacts to the loss of live and televised sports in his own way:

Woodson: Sports is Out of Season

“To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the heaven.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

The coronavirus pandemic has quelled my interest in sports. In high school, I loved

playing basketball, fall through spring. I foundeach sport a welcome relief from rigorous farm work. My high school ended its football program my sophomore year, so I didn't take an interest in football until college. By then, I was engrossed in student government, making sports secondary.

 

My appetite for college basketball developed while I attended law school at the University of Minnesota 1971-74. Minnesota had a national championship-caliber basketball

team with athletes like Dave Winfield, who went on to a Hall of Fame Major League Baseball career with the New York Yankees and five other teams. The Golden Gophers provided me with a needed emotional outlet, given the rigors of law school.

Between 1990 and 2006 I was involved in

WBA ArchAngels

basketball as an AAU sponsor, coach, and owner of a semi-pro team. I enjoyed the comradery, travel, coaching, and learning the intricacies of basketball.

So, sports have played a prominent role in my life. Right now, though, not being able to watch them because of the pandemic engenders no sense of loss.

I have sons, daughters, and grandchildren in

New York, New Jersey, and Maryland – ground zero states in the pandemic. I now focus on them, and others similarly situated. Sports may become a priority again later. Now is not that season.   

Henry:  Missing the Competition

For me, it’s the love of sports competition. I

start with this declaration because it’s personal. As a child, I somehow internalized the notion that, because of a foot problem, doctors predicted I could never wear tennis shoes or effectively compete in sports.

Whether my doctors actually made such a stark pronouncement, I used my interpretation as motivation for competing, despite significant foot pain.

In some ways, this behavior is strange. Because of what my parents taught me, I have almost always done my best in whatever I attempted. Sports, however, seem different. I don’t feel the same competitive urge in other

parts of my life. As a senior in high school, for example, I ignored academic and citizenship honors. My only goal was representing our baseball team by accepting the state championship trophy we’d won. I don’t remember the academic awards I received.  Perhaps I found proving something to MYSELF necessary in no other arena.

With that background, my love of sports grew beyond participation. I came to love watching sports competitions. I watched my sons play

soccer, baseball, and basketball. I’ve watched, and still watch, my grandkids play many sports. During my working years, I enjoyed at least

limited baseball, football, and basketball television watching. In retirement, my viewing time increased dramatically. I’ve added golf, tennis, and other sports I won’t mention.

I miss the competition. 

 

Rob: It’s the Intensity, stupid!

With all I have going on, I’ve limited my sports fandom some in the last few years. Once upon a time, I couldn’t miss any game or golf or tennis tournament. Starting in the early part of the 2010s, however, I focused on a few

things – college football, women’s college basketball, and golf. I kept an eye on Major League Baseball and the NFL while assuming casual fan status toward former passions

track and field, tennis, and the NBA. I watched and read about their major events like the Olympics and World Championships, the tennis majors, and the NBA playoffs, but I didn’t obsess about them day-to-day.  Now, I even miss that.

 

All this, I suppose, could produce deep

philosophical questions about why I find sports so important as I work at keeping my law practice going and transitioning into a writing career. Couldn’t I do without sports? Now that we’re all without them, isn’t this a good time for chunking them?

No. I miss the intensity that goes with high-level sports competition, whether live or televised. Life isn’t as much fun without the tension and struggle accompanying the battle

in a college basketball game or the final holes of a PGA tournament. Despite practical reasons for just going on with life, I’m having a hard time without that regular intensity. I can’t even yell at officials. Everybody who knows me knows I must do that.