The NBA, NHL and NFL are also cobbling together plans for made-for-TV seasons, without fans in the seats. Then there is the group with the most to lose - the NCAA - whose main job over the years has been to bank the billions of dollars grifted from the sweat of unpaid athletes in football factories. Somehow, the NCAA must convince another matriculating class of freshmen to put their bodies on the line for "the old college spirit" and little more.
Today's Times studies the issues faced by college football, including these words from Big 10 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby:
“It isn’t a matter of when we’re going to have outbreaks, it’s a matter of how big they are and how we go about triaging.”
Of course, he's right. There isn't enough hand sanitizer in Larry Kudlow's bourbon bunker to keep 125 Division I football rosters infection-free for five months. How many tests can a school run on its jocks, before it draws down community resources from essential workers or at-risk seniors? And what happens when a player dies... because simple math tells us that some surely will.
Before the kickoff, will the public address announcer call for a moment of silence to remember the 20-year-old who just gave his life for the Buckeyes or the Scarlet Knights?
Without fans, that moment of silence will last the game.
Sorry to be so pessimistic. I really do hope MLB can somehow play a season, or something like one. But what has happened in America is catastrophic, and 2020 must be the year that sports fundamentally change. We may yearn to return to the way things were. That's not an option.
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Sports are big business.
Big business is losing money.
Losing money is unacceptable.
Losing lives is preferable.
Business is business.
I disagree with the notion of salvaging a season. And NOT b/c of health concerns.
I am a baseball fan. I stopped following football and basketball decades ago. I never actually understood why you'd watch a hockey game; it's kind of like NASCAR (to me).
However, baseball -- I tell myself -- I understand. There is something in the idea that you have to last a looooooong season. Maybe 162 games isn't a magic number, but the idea that these guys are, over a significant period of time, DAILY pursuing something or other (wins, strikeouts, HRs, SBs - or, in the case of GStanton, ultimate misery) -- resonates with me.
I come from a family where working for a living, working hard, was NOT something to piss on. Maybe your boss was an asshole, but you - somehow - liked the guy (yes, they were guys only for a long time, most of my life). WHY like that a-hole? Because he hired you. Because he gave you a chance to work hard and earn money.
Baseball seemed like that. It's one of the reasons a lot of us went nuts for Shane Spencer (for a very short time). He stayed after it and, for that short while, he made headlines.
So a short season will mean not less, but . . . nothing. Playing 40 games, then doing the playoffs (for the TV $$$, of course) -- and crowning a World Series champeen based on playoffs . . . . seems ludicrous to me.
Sorry to have such a strong, garlic-flavored opinion.
You mentioned Shane Spencer.
There's a part of me that still believes if he came back and got a decent chance, he'd hit.
One other little fact worth mentioning; testing in this country is incoherent and in a shambles.
The CDC announced the other day that even the serology tests are wrong 50% of the time.
So, baseball can test the players every hour and still be wrong. Will they put on masks when there is a runner on first and the First baseman has to " hold him on?"
And with no fans, we'll finally learn the correct answer to the old saw " if a tree falls in the forest, and there is no one nearby to hear it fall, does it still make a sound?"
Duque?
And with no fans, we'll finally learn the correct answer to the old saw " if a tree falls in the forest, and there is no one nearby to hear it fall, does it still make a sound?"
Here's how I would answer the question:
If Boston were to win the 2020 World Series following a 40-game season, we Yankee fans would all say, "Yeah. Right. You're World Champs with a big fat fucking asterisk. Party like mad, you stupid Boston assholes."
If the Yankees were to win a World Series following a 40-game season, people in Boston would say, "Great. You won a freakin' two-bit consolation prize of a World Series trophy.
Why don't you spend some big New York dollars and throw a parade down your stupid Canyon of Heroes? Here. We'll even loan you a couple of duck boats. At least you didn't buy the championship this year, like you do every other year."
If Milwaukee or San Diego or Miami or Seattle or almost anyone else were to win a World Series following a 40-game season, we Yankee fans would all say, "Ahhh, who cares? The whole thing was ridiculous anyway."
In other words, if a tree falls in a forest not in New York or Boston, it wouldn't make a sound. If the tree fell in New York OR Boston, you'd hear the sounds of derision from the other side ... and little else.
I'm not sure what that means.
On one level, I would like to see some sort of season—maybe 80 games?—because I don't think this Yankees team will ever be together again, or in this position again to win anything.
I admit, if they had had to play a full season, the way their injuries went, they probably wouldn't have won, either.
But now that it's half a year...well, I would consider it fair payment from the JuJu gods for the potential 1994 championship we were robbed of, or the 1981 postseason where nothing was ever quite right, or half-a-dozen other slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.
And I would just like to SEE them. Because after 2020, I doubt if we'll see LeMahieu again, and I don't know if the likes of Tanaka, Sanchez, or even Judge can hold up for another full season. I don't know what will happen to AnDUjar with TWO whole seasons off.
I think after this season it could easily be that I won't see another Yankees' championship in my lifetime, considering how the team is run, and what the priorities of the Steinbrenners are.
I fear all that. But.
BUT...
I gotta say, our Peerless Leader, El Duque, is right.
The logistics of playing are too difficult. And even if they were not, it would be too selfish.
I don't want anyone to die for my entertainment pleasure. I don't live in ancient Rome, and these aren't the gladiatorial games.
And even if no one dies, I don't want baseball using up valuable resources that are in short supply.
I think it would be best to let this summer go. And maybe next summer, too, if we have to.
That would be a terrible loss, I agree. Not so terrible as a single player, grounds crew guy, or broadcaster dying because we insisted on this.
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