Since it's really the only thing happening right now, might as well write about the coronavirus, COVID-19. It's been some 24 hours.
Last night I watched the Gophers in the B1G tournament in Indianapolis. There were fans in attendance. Everyone is concerned about the pandemic but they tried to have some normalcy. At halftime of the first game, they announced fans wouldn't be admitted the rest of the tourney. During the second game the Nebraska coach (Hoiberg, someone I've liked since his Wolves days) was obviously sick. He ended up in the hospital and the team was briefly held following the game. Over in the NBA, a players' positive test resulted in a sudden game postponement. Quickly it came down the whole NBA season would go on hold. That alone was wild and I stayed up too late watching Tweetdeck.
Today I went out and picked up some groceries. It wasn't crazy out there, yet. I was careful about wiping down the carts and keeping our hands clean. In case we're stuck at home for a week or longer I got the rest of the supplies for the kitchen backsplash too.
After getting back I learned everything was cancelled. Conference tournaments like the B1G (played this weekend) were cancelled. The NHL was suspending indefinitely. Spring training games were played today but writers said they'd be put on hold tomorrow. An hour later it was announced all MLB operations were suspending and the regular season will be delayed. Now the NCAA 'March Madness' tournaments (played the next few weeks) are cancelled. There's more too. Insert Ron Burgundy meme here.
Baseball is certainly the biggest to me. It's an obsession, consuming April to October. I'm don't know how the blog will go once the season starts, but that's moot for now. Oh right, my fantasy baseball draft is next week and I need to determine how this will impact that too. While it'll definitely be a weird time with no sports, there's always something else. For now I'm just curious about a lot. How will they decide to get started? When will Opening Day actually be? I'm guessing June 1.
I know cancelling big events to stop the spread is the right thing to do, but it's certainly jarring. Locally, Gov. Hogan announced today all schools will be closed starting Monday for two weeks. Talk about impact on everyone with kids. I want to know what shops and restaurants are going to do in this period when no one wants to leave home and many can't. How bad is it going to get? When will we feel confident going out again? Regardless what happens in the coming weeks, I have to think we'll remember this the rest of our lives.
I'm also reminded of Field of Dreams. Even with a break, baseball will be back.
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