"Sports are like the reward of a functioning society."
This blog, and Sean Doolittle's above quote, are completely on the money. Heck, it applies to my thinking; before the NBA shut down in March, I equated COVID-19 on the same scale as swine flu, ebola, etc. Dangerous diseases that had run rampant in years past, and we had people get sick and die, but it wouldn't be on the scale of the 1919 flu epidemic or anything.
Then the games got canceled (and Tom Hanks got sick the same day) and my dumb brain started to think "Oh hey, maybe this is actually something I should be concerned about!" Now I do all the things you're supposed to (minimize going out, WASH YOUR HANDS, wear a mask, social distancing), but it's scary how many people don't and how many more are preaching that you shouldn't.
First of all, super excited about Defector! Nice to see the Crew getting together & if I had $25K, I would send it their way.
MLB & NFL should be cancelled. Any league forcing a player to play should be cancelled. Any league where players aren't being paid (I'm looking at you, college sports) should have been cancelled years ago. NBA being in the middle of Fucking DeSantisTown should be cancelled. But the NHL (which is in Edmonton & Toronto)? It's in Canada, where the infection rate is low and the risks of players spreading the virus in their bubble is substantially lower.
So yeah, cancel sports in America until people can fucking learn (which will unfortunately be never). Canada though? I'll raise a cup of Timmy Horton's to that, eh?
I honestly don't see how the NFL season lasts more than 3 weeks after it starts. They're already skipping pre-season. So the first test will be week one. It's gonna be an absolute shit-show.
If the NFL is involved, I would expect nothing less than an absolute shit show and will be disappointed if it is not on major clusterfuck level by day 1.
But calling the leagues' action "immediate" is being generous. Several leagues ignored for days the initial recommendations to shut down. The NBA packed stadiums (with "attend at your own risk" warnings) even after local officials — and then Fauci — publicly urged them against it. HBO Real Sports did a couple good segments on this.
(The NBA also wasted a bunch of tests on healthy players and staff when tests were scarce.)
Sports remain a microcosm for American society. That's great when it reflects our highest ideals; it's shit when it mirrors our selfishness, disregard for each other, or lust for money at the expense of all else. Sure, I'd love to see the Orioles get the every-loving piss beat out of them, or Ja Morant dunk over ALL the tall men.
But I just can't justify this to myself anymore. These billionaire owners and their bag men won't rest until they've ground every participant under their heels to extract the last dollr. A devolution into chaos and insolvency is what we deserve...maybe what we need.
Counterpoint, no they shouldn't be cancelled. We're never going the Rapture we need if the world doesn't descend into chaos and the anti-Christ can then arise and walk the Earth.
Can we just pick some simulation program to run all major sports seasons and agree to treat the results as real? That way we can still argue whether virtual Aaron Rodgers is past his prime (he is) and whether the virtual refs suck (they do) while not spreading a contagious virus. Win win.
The MLB could have done it. Early on, they could have been the one US sport when everyone was at home hoping for something, ANYTHING, moderately normal. They could have taken more risk-reduction measures like limiting travel to a few hub cities only and clumping series together. Stronger mask requirements, crew/player isolation, and contact tracing. Instead we get a poorly-designed season destined to be halted midway, unsatisfying games and broadcasts, and a players association and ownership group both more irritated than ever before.
Oh yeah, and players/coaches/staff/families getting sick and dying. Was all that worth it for like a month's worth of subpar baseball?
nothing but hypocrisy,that's what this blm movement has turned into.by sports and athletes not saying that ALL black lives matter is the stark proof that it is just a political stunt.i have been a sports player and enthusiast my entire life ,but honestly if this is what they are going to turn it into i will take up another hobby.what about blacks killing blacks every day? don't hear athletes or the rappers complaining about that. why not? does not fit their narrative, thats why. listen all lives matter period.is there racism in this country? yes of course there is, it is in every country,but it is going to be fixed by talking it out in meaningful discussion,not riots.go ahead and loot and burn the cities down,but then who will come to watch your sporting events? exactly,no one.
Each of these leagues goes to great lengths to explain their testing regimen. My wife is an OB/GYN. Her hospital has been out of the materials necessary to perform rapid testing, and now has to send all tests to a lab the next city over. Results that were less than 24 hours are now 72+ hours.
She has patients in and out of the hospital before their Covid-19 status is known. If they're in for surgery, it means that everyone in the OR has to assume the patient may be positive and use a higher level of PPE (which is still an issue). Since you can't tell a laboring patient to wait until their results come back, it means that everyone there is also using up more PPE for the safety of all involved.
But tell me again that some of our limited testing capability should go to a second string right fielder.
While I'm really enjoying watching MLB again...and I am really, really enjoying it...the better solution seems to be to shut it all down. Too many players not wearing masks, too many players not social distancing during games, making a decision to play a game via text message among players when it impacts so many others involved (looking at you, Marlins...you aren't the '77 Bad News Bears; they don't have to let you play)...it just demonstrates that MLB isn't ready to do what it takes to protect everyone involved. Also, that situation with Eduardo Rodriguez is scary...not worth the risk.
I'm a competitive fencer -- one meme that went around saying "fencing is ideal because if anyone gets close to you, you stab them! XDDDD" has caused so much damage. If baseball is leading to mass breakouts, then I can't imagine a single sport that's safe. Shut them down now because the optics of doing so are crucial.
I absolutely hate to agree to this, seeing as how staying up until 3am to watch my beloved Cincinnati Reds drop 2 of 3 games over the weekend was a balm for the soul, but it is so hideously clear that this is going to get athletes killed that I don't see a world where anyone looks back and sees this as a good idea. Frankly I'd be surprised if we don't see an uptick in players deciding "hey you know what I'm actually good, bye y'all" in the next couple of weeks.
As for the bubble logic of the NHL, well, the problem with that one is clear - one person gets it, everyone in the bubble gets it. Shit, someone might have gotten it already and it just hasn't shown up yet! But hey, at least... the owners will make a shitload of money?
"Sports are like the reward of a functioning society."
This blog, and Sean Doolittle's above quote, are completely on the money. Heck, it applies to my thinking; before the NBA shut down in March, I equated COVID-19 on the same scale as swine flu, ebola, etc. Dangerous diseases that had run rampant in years past, and we had people get sick and die, but it wouldn't be on the scale of the 1919 flu epidemic or anything.
Then the games got canceled (and Tom Hanks got sick the same day) and my dumb brain started to think "Oh hey, maybe this is actually something I should be concerned about!" Now I do all the things you're supposed to (minimize going out, WASH YOUR HANDS, wear a mask, social distancing), but it's scary how many people don't and how many more are preaching that you shouldn't.
Thanks for writing.
First of all, super excited about Defector! Nice to see the Crew getting together & if I had $25K, I would send it their way.
MLB & NFL should be cancelled. Any league forcing a player to play should be cancelled. Any league where players aren't being paid (I'm looking at you, college sports) should have been cancelled years ago. NBA being in the middle of Fucking DeSantisTown should be cancelled. But the NHL (which is in Edmonton & Toronto)? It's in Canada, where the infection rate is low and the risks of players spreading the virus in their bubble is substantially lower.
So yeah, cancel sports in America until people can fucking learn (which will unfortunately be never). Canada though? I'll raise a cup of Timmy Horton's to that, eh?
I honestly don't see how the NFL season lasts more than 3 weeks after it starts. They're already skipping pre-season. So the first test will be week one. It's gonna be an absolute shit-show.
A sport specifically designed for players to be close to and make contact with one another...I'm sure it'll be fine /s
If the NFL is involved, I would expect nothing less than an absolute shit show and will be disappointed if it is not on major clusterfuck level by day 1.
Agree, shut em all down.
But calling the leagues' action "immediate" is being generous. Several leagues ignored for days the initial recommendations to shut down. The NBA packed stadiums (with "attend at your own risk" warnings) even after local officials — and then Fauci — publicly urged them against it. HBO Real Sports did a couple good segments on this.
(The NBA also wasted a bunch of tests on healthy players and staff when tests were scarce.)
Sports remain a microcosm for American society. That's great when it reflects our highest ideals; it's shit when it mirrors our selfishness, disregard for each other, or lust for money at the expense of all else. Sure, I'd love to see the Orioles get the every-loving piss beat out of them, or Ja Morant dunk over ALL the tall men.
But I just can't justify this to myself anymore. These billionaire owners and their bag men won't rest until they've ground every participant under their heels to extract the last dollr. A devolution into chaos and insolvency is what we deserve...maybe what we need.
Counterpoint, no they shouldn't be cancelled. We're never going the Rapture we need if the world doesn't descend into chaos and the anti-Christ can then arise and walk the Earth.
Ooh, hot take. Let’s see how this one plays out.
Can we just pick some simulation program to run all major sports seasons and agree to treat the results as real? That way we can still argue whether virtual Aaron Rodgers is past his prime (he is) and whether the virtual refs suck (they do) while not spreading a contagious virus. Win win.
Hell yeah defector, take my money.
The MLB could have done it. Early on, they could have been the one US sport when everyone was at home hoping for something, ANYTHING, moderately normal. They could have taken more risk-reduction measures like limiting travel to a few hub cities only and clumping series together. Stronger mask requirements, crew/player isolation, and contact tracing. Instead we get a poorly-designed season destined to be halted midway, unsatisfying games and broadcasts, and a players association and ownership group both more irritated than ever before.
Oh yeah, and players/coaches/staff/families getting sick and dying. Was all that worth it for like a month's worth of subpar baseball?
nothing but hypocrisy,that's what this blm movement has turned into.by sports and athletes not saying that ALL black lives matter is the stark proof that it is just a political stunt.i have been a sports player and enthusiast my entire life ,but honestly if this is what they are going to turn it into i will take up another hobby.what about blacks killing blacks every day? don't hear athletes or the rappers complaining about that. why not? does not fit their narrative, thats why. listen all lives matter period.is there racism in this country? yes of course there is, it is in every country,but it is going to be fixed by talking it out in meaningful discussion,not riots.go ahead and loot and burn the cities down,but then who will come to watch your sporting events? exactly,no one.
Each of these leagues goes to great lengths to explain their testing regimen. My wife is an OB/GYN. Her hospital has been out of the materials necessary to perform rapid testing, and now has to send all tests to a lab the next city over. Results that were less than 24 hours are now 72+ hours.
She has patients in and out of the hospital before their Covid-19 status is known. If they're in for surgery, it means that everyone in the OR has to assume the patient may be positive and use a higher level of PPE (which is still an issue). Since you can't tell a laboring patient to wait until their results come back, it means that everyone there is also using up more PPE for the safety of all involved.
But tell me again that some of our limited testing capability should go to a second string right fielder.
While I'm really enjoying watching MLB again...and I am really, really enjoying it...the better solution seems to be to shut it all down. Too many players not wearing masks, too many players not social distancing during games, making a decision to play a game via text message among players when it impacts so many others involved (looking at you, Marlins...you aren't the '77 Bad News Bears; they don't have to let you play)...it just demonstrates that MLB isn't ready to do what it takes to protect everyone involved. Also, that situation with Eduardo Rodriguez is scary...not worth the risk.
I'm a competitive fencer -- one meme that went around saying "fencing is ideal because if anyone gets close to you, you stab them! XDDDD" has caused so much damage. If baseball is leading to mass breakouts, then I can't imagine a single sport that's safe. Shut them down now because the optics of doing so are crucial.
I so badly want to watch the NBA but also the bubble is going to have so many leaks and they're all going to get sick and that's just not worth it.
I absolutely hate to agree to this, seeing as how staying up until 3am to watch my beloved Cincinnati Reds drop 2 of 3 games over the weekend was a balm for the soul, but it is so hideously clear that this is going to get athletes killed that I don't see a world where anyone looks back and sees this as a good idea. Frankly I'd be surprised if we don't see an uptick in players deciding "hey you know what I'm actually good, bye y'all" in the next couple of weeks.
As for the bubble logic of the NHL, well, the problem with that one is clear - one person gets it, everyone in the bubble gets it. Shit, someone might have gotten it already and it just hasn't shown up yet! But hey, at least... the owners will make a shitload of money?
enjoyed the piece. just wanted to point out that the WNBA’s season has already started.