Years of watching talking heads declare their opinions as fact, I found it most refreshing recently when a professor that was introduced with a litany of educational accomplishments and high positions held gave a definite answer.
“I can positively state without any fear of repudiation that after studying all the evidence I can unequivocally state I have no idea.”
This week, Major League Baseball opened play for a 60 game season and playoff field with 16 teams, eight from both the American and National Leagues. In a typical season, teams would play 162 games and in the process whittle the playoff field to ten teams, five from each league.
On Friday, the National Basketball League will tip off a continuation of their 2019-2020 season, more than a month after they would have already decided the league championship in a typical campaign. My money would have been on the Milwaukee Bucks over the Los Angeles Lakers in five games. Maybe now we will see if what I thought was going to happen before the season was sidelined with the virus, will be confirmed in real time.
The National Football League has cancelled their preseason schedule in increments. First the Hall of Fame Game scheduled for early August, then the first two full weeks of preseason games, and now the entire preseason. Yet, while cancelling the preseason games, they are starting summer training camps on schedule.
Having been through a number of summer camps, I can tell you that the weekly games are a huge relief after a few weeks of banging on your teammates. With no preseason games scheduled, and training camps not paired back, are the teams going to have an opportunity to scrimmage against opponents? If not, how do they get “game ready” for a season?
Now, you can hope the NFL season is going to start on schedule, that’s what they are contending today. But, know this is the league that has cancelled everything leading up to opening day, and an organization that to show their active battle against the virus have forbid players from exchanging uniform gear at the end of a game.
In recent years, it has become a show of sportsmanship and goodwill between a small group of players to trade jerseys at the end of a game to acknowledge perhaps a college teammate or respected foe. If this is what the NFL is concerned with, if this is how they are going to avert the spread of Covid-19, banning this practice, I have some serious doubts about their judgement. Consider this, they are employing men to bang on each other all afternoon, and yet somehow the trading of a jersey is going to be what transfers the virus?
This is how management demonstrates their concern for the health of their players?
At least tell the truth, that you are willing to risk the health of well conditioned athletes for the chance of bringing back one of our country’s true passions, sports. The players are taking a chance too, some didn’t, and the current state of affairs made it perfectly acceptable for an athlete to opt out of the major sports experiment.
I would love to see this all work. That the baseball season went without further interruptions and we crowned a major league World Series winner before Christmas. I hope the NBA avoids what appears the most vulnerable to passing the virus from one player to another. I hope we get to see Milwaukee get their championship, and then see who replaces the Kansas City Chiefs as Super Bowl Champions.
While I have my doubts any of this is going to end well in the near future, and only flickering hopes that the NFL season will be played as scheduled, I am buoyed by one undeniable fact.
I have no idea.