Pandemic Sports by Cameron Moore (7th)
Five years ago, we experienced a shocking day for not just the sports world, but humanity in general. March 11, 2020; the day that Rudy Gobert, then playing for the Utah Jazz, was scratched from a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Then, the game was postponed “temporarily” right before tip-off.
The very next day, the Athletic’s Shams Charania posted this on Twitter:
March 12, 2020, 9:27 PM Eastern:
“Utah Jazz All-Star Rudy Gobert has tested positive for coronavirus, sources tell”
Then, former ESPN reporter Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted this four minutes later:
March 12, 2020, 9:31 PM Eastern
“The NBA has suspended the season.”
This was the moment that the sports world (and 8-year old me) went insane. Suddenly, those closest to the Jazz felt themselves in trouble. The internet was blowing up, Donovan Mitchell tested positive and everyone feared the worst in the Jazz organization, and the world closed its borders.
Here’s a video from that Thunder-Jazz game (or lack thereof). No one knew what was going on.
Obviously, this wasn’t all that was going on. But, I can argue that this was the beginning of the world that we know as pandemic sports.
The peak of the coronavirus pandemic was, undoubtedly, one of the most monumental events in history, and will forever be the “event of my life” sort-of thing for us kids and our adults. It was also a big time for sports like baseball. MLB had to stop spring training early and a one-of-a-kind 60-game season was put into place.
The NHL implemented their “Return to Play Plan”. Here are some of the details from the NHL:
“24 teams return to play in two "hub" cities beginning in the summer. Plan includes an outline for the return of NHL players to their Club training facilities (Phase 2) and formal training camp (Phase 3).”
The season would stretch all the way to late September, delaying the start of the 2020-21 season.
However, the pandemic didn’t also affect the structure of these leagues’ seasons. It also affected fans, including those in the stadium--or lack thereof. Games with zero fans in the stands occurred for the first time, which forced many TV networks to pump crowd noise into their broadcasts. This helped, but the eyes of fans didn’t help with the eerie atmosphere that empty stadiums brought. Eventually, some teams allowed limited fans back in the stands, but they still faced heavy COVID protocols, and most teams still kept the stands empty for safety reasons.
It truly was such a unique time in sports history that us fans will never forget, and I just wanted to pay an homage to it, five years later. It’s incredible how far we’ve come in the twisted world of pandemic sports.
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