As this period without sports, indeed any semblance of normal life, drags on, I’ve drawn some conclusions about the emotional effect of the coronavirus pandemic.
It’s depressing not to have the option of playing or even watching sports, of going to a restaurant, bar or the movies or even hanging out with a group of friends … if you have more than 10.
We all take that so much for granted, when it’s removed we’re lost.
But there’s one element that makes it worse.
Uncertainty.
My fraternity roommate in college often told me, “Chuck, you’ve got to take some time to enjoy your life … you’re in such a hurry to move on to the next thing you don’t really appreciate where you are.”
Hard as it was for me to admit, he was right.
Sports was partially to blame, though, at least in my mind.
The appeal of a new season is that it’s a clean slate every year. Come training camp, preseason practice or spring training it’s a license for unbridled optimism … a championship campaign, new players or coaching staffs, a compelling schedule. And if none of those play out as expected, there’s always next year … always, that is, except in 2020.
Sports fans, invariably, are creatures of looking ahead … “Yeah, we were lousy this season, but just you wait until a year from now.”
That’s the problem as we ease through spring … we don’t know when our sports clock resets. There’s no date when we get back to “normal.”
When is opening day?
After the National Football League, March Madness is the country’s second most popular sports distraction, but it was proactively canceled by the NCAA.
College and high school spring sports were long ago victims, even as it took excessive time to be announced by the latter. Pro soccer and lacrosse plus the XFL have declared their seasons over. And while the NBA and NHL still hope to conduct their playoffs, will at least some of the remainder of the regular season precede them?
Major league baseball is conjuring all manner of “what ifs” to complete at least part of a season … even with no fans and entirely in Arizona.
There will be no Wimbledon tennis nor British Open golf and the Kentucky Derby is reset for September with the Masters to be played in November. There are even concerns that the NFL and college football schedules will start on time.
The uncertainty is maddening right down to the local level.
High school basketball state championships were never completed leaving unrequited seasons for the Olean High boys and Coudersport girls.
As soon as schools closed in New York and Pennsylvania midway through March, the Big 30 Senior Basketball Classic was history, though it wasn’t officially canceled until last Friday.
Founders Kris Linderman and Dave Talbot have to be anguishing over the New York/Pennsylvania Corporate Cup Soccer Showcase which was scheduled for Sunday, May 17 at Pitt-Bradford. Given that groups above 10 individuals are banned and practice time is quickly slipping away — the games are slated less than five weeks from now — the question is whether the Showcase can be postponed into late spring or early summer especially since the four boys and girls rosters have a significant representation of seniors.
However, that’s just the earliest local event at COVID-19 scheduling risk.
The New York Collegiate Baseball League season is supposed to begin June 1 with the Olean Oilers’ campaign commencing a day later. But how can there be a season with the NCAA having canceled spring sports, including baseball from which the myriad summer collegiate leagues get their players?
There’s a seeming message of longshot hope on the NYCBL’s website, yet it’s hard to imagine a scenario where potential players could be whipped into shape in a week or two. And, for that matter, it’s difficult to believe their college coaches would even permit them to participate in such a concentrated conditioning regimen.
Next up, of course, would be the Big 30 Charities Classic, slated for Aug. 1. Practices for the high school all-star football game begin July 16. That’s three months away, but also about the time various experts see as reasonable for everyday life to return to some degree of normal.
On Wednesday after the Charities Classic, the 84th annual Southwestern New York-Northwestern Pennsylvania Men’s Amateur is booked for its five-day run (Aug. 5-9) at Bartlett Country Club. Right now there’s no golf in the Twin Tiers on either side of the border and though it will likely return before the calendar turns to summer, that’s also up to the coronavirus.
And it’s that sort of uncertainty which gives sports fans little to look forward to.
(Chuck Pollock, a Times Herald senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)
