Brutal week in the world

First of all, Phil and I haven’t been putting up much content lately, but ideally we’re going to change that. With that being said, thanks to the pandemic striking Earth I’m not sure what we’re going to talk about. These last couple days have been insane in the media. While soccer games overseas were being played without fans, I think the majority of America had that feeling of “it won’t happen to us”. Some cases came out in Washington, but even still, it wasn’t a big deal. Then Golden State said they wouldn’t play with fans, and then it hit the fan from there. When the college basketball conference tournaments started getting shut down I think everyone knew it was the beginning of the end for sports for awhile, but the NBA suspending their season was the final blow. I don’t think anyone thought after last night there was any chance March Madness would get played out, but damn did it still suck when they announced it was canceled. I’m not going to write about what I think about the virus itself or how awful things may get or anything like that because I have no clue about anything remotely related to medical matters. I get a sore tooth and think I must have brain cancer, so I’m not really the expert here. What I am writing about is how much this just sucks. I’ve had buddies make jokes today about how much money I’ll save over the next month (or however long until things calm down) without sports to gamble on, but gambling isn’t why I love sports. I’ve loved sports since before I started gambling, and if I never were to gamble again I’d love them just as much. I loved playing sports, I love watching sports, my major is in sport management. I would say 95% of the TV I watch is sports-related. Also, I know I’m not the only sports fan in the world, so I know this sucks just as much for a lot of people. This year's March Madness was going to be great. There weren’t many teams seeded 5 and up (or projected to be) that you could argue had no chance to win it all. Yes you could say there’s some 3 or 4 seeds every year that have a shot, but I’m talking 20+ teams of the 68 that could do it and nobody would really question it or be surprised. As I’m writing this the WIAA (Wisconsin’s high school sports association) just canceled the State boys and girls basketball tournaments. Saturday was going to be the state finals for girls and a week from Saturday was going to be the final for boys. I can’t imagine how much that sucks for the teams still competing, and for the seniors whose season ended out of the blue. It also sucks for the collegiate athletes who are going in to their senior year of their spring sport, and won’t get to play in it at all. Even if the NCAA did something like give them another year of eligibility, a lot of students will probably have to graduate and start working and can’t afford another year of school unless they’re on scholarship or getting a lot of aid. Plus, there’s no chance the NCAA does something like that. NASCAR Is still on for this Sunday, and I’m begging anybody that will listen to at least give us that. I know a lot of people think it’s boring as hell, and it’s not my favorite sport, but it’s something isn’t it? Between motor sports and darts I’d rather watch someone go 200MPH around a track 10/10 (although watching darts can be electric). Golf seemed like it was going to hang on, but even that’s being shut down. ESPN is just going to have 24/7 Sportscenter, but what are they even going to talk about? Pro Days for college football are getting canceled. Players are being told not to go to their team facilities. Owners are having staff stay home. There’s nothing at all going on. If anyone has some good ideas for new hobbies to try for awhile let us know, because these next weeks/months are going to just suck. Here’s to hoping this all ends sooner rather than later, for society, and of course, for sports.