One problem, though: Your ears will itch, from burying your head so deeply in the sand.
It's becoming obvious that Houston, Phoenix, Atlanta, Miami and Tampa are in no position to launch a baseball season in their virus-stricken cities. Several states, with ice cream/morgue trucks now idling outside of overwhelmed hospitals, are on the verge of reordering full-scale lock-downs. At the same time, second waves are on the verge of hitting Chicago, LA, Detroit, Philadelphia - everywhere there are people - and, yes, they will crash into New York, too.
It's sad to say, but America rolled over. We have no national strategy, no national leadership, no national discipline or willingness to follow scientific advice - (dear God, when did we reach the center ring of Hell where a President is actually BRAGGING that he passed a cognitive test?) - and soon, I fear we will have no baseball.
Today's national case-count has hit 68,000, according to the Times. Not long ago, it was half that number. College football is teetering toward a lost year. Start players - Buster Posey the latest - are puling out. Infections are starting to hit pro football camps. Even the NBA, with tiny rosters and a tournament setting, is facing a tough slog.
In a way, it's heroic to see our Yankees go about their business, talking up the new season, as if it's really here. And yes, it soothes my soul to sit here and conjure up a half-hour of discourse on whether Mean Chad Green should start or relieve. It's a half-hour when I don't have to think about death and dying, and I love all the Yankee blogs and sites who continue to offer us shelter from reality.
But today, I cannot fool myself.
At the way things are going, there can be no baseball season in 2020. I love that we are trying. I love that we are striving. But the pandemic is out of control. And today, that is the only sports story in America.
The news tell me that the US has essentially no control over the virus. Sports are about to tell me the same thing. There will be no baseball, no football, no basketball. (There may be hockey, but it will be in a country I cannot travel to).
ReplyDeleteOur country is now the shithole everyone laughs at and builds walls against.
It's the bottom of the 5th and the Virus is winning. For some reason, Mitch McConnell, manager of the Americans, refuses to replace starting pitcher "DJ" Trump, who has been dismal at figuring out the Virus hitters. At times, it seems like he's not really pitching at all, just roaming around the mound, pointing to planes flying overhead. Meanwhile, the Virus offense continues to pile up the runs. The Americans' defense has been run ragged and while some players look to be trying, others just drop the ball repeatedly.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't look good. And it's a good thing there are no fans in the stadium to see this. Unless you count the bodies piled up in the bullpen.
As you know, Duque, I have long believed there will be no baseball season in 2020.
ReplyDeleteEven 60 days of " let's pretend." won't happen.
But it solves the second base problem we have worried about, since Dj tested positive. No one will play there so anyone can play there.
I am told DJ still has no symptoms, so he is in perfect shape to return to the locker room. Asymptomatic humans are the greatest.
Unless, of course, DJ's case is another instance where the test results were misleading, wrong, false, unreadable or never returned.
In the midst of chaos, do we really know anything?
So there are now… what? Three important Yankee players who have tested positive? And the cities and teams you mentioned where the pandemic is still spiking seem unlikely to be ready to start play in a few days. I have a terrible feeling about all of this, just as I did when I read that Disneyland sold out its opening days.
ReplyDeleteAfter two months where our national rate of new infections remained in low double-digits (even single digits, as low as two or four), we suddenly have had five days with up to 115 in the last week. The new cases are attributed to a meat-processing plant and religious sects in or near the city of Linz in the state of Oberösterreich (Upper Austria). Being a vegan atheist who lives in Wien (Vienna), I am not that concerned, and our mayor has said there are no plans to reinstate restrictions here, but to not take anything for granted. Even though they are not required, I still wear a mask and maintain a distance of about two meters when in the supermarket (masks remain mandatory in public transportation), as do most of the other customers.
JM’s remarks seem particularly on target.
Österreich Fan, can you put in a good word so at least New Yorkers are allowed to visit? I promise to buy (and consume) my weight in speck in Austria, then sneak over the border and do the same for weissbier in Bavaria
ReplyDelete
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