With the coronavirus out of control again and the president cutting back on testing ("I don't kid," he says), today the Schloss-Blog is talking sports. Not the most opportune time to do that, what with the virus setting new daily record high counts and states pausing their reopenings, but sports is part of this, a huge part.
And it's in limbo, delay, a sort of purgatory of "booth review," if you will.
We need sports now like we needed it after 9/11, except this a pandemic out of control with no expiration date.
But look around.
The NFL, rolling around like nothing is wrong, just admitted something is wrong - it canceled its Hall-of-Fame ceremony in Canton and the accompanying football game that goes with it to kick off the exhibition - uh, "pre" season. It specifically cited the coronavirus.
Players and front-office personnel in all sports set to resume or get going are reporting to training facilities having tested positive.
This week alone, NBA stars Buddy Hield and Nikola Jokic reported having tested positive, Jokic still in Europe (isn't there a ban on travel from Europe?).
Tennis star Novak Djokovic is positive, almost deliberately, after hosting an exhibition tournament with many other stars and not requiring any protective equipment for players or fans. Four other players tested positive and "Joker" has since apologized for his actions and pleaded with attendees to get tested. Too late though.
(Stick with me, this is a long list and these sports have yet to get underway or have just barely gotten underway.)
Quick time out - was Trump spotted wearing a mask? No, Just denying he knew anything about Russia putting bounties out on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. OK, back to sports.
Speaking of America's first golfer, who cheats as much at that as he does everything else, the PGA's Nick Watney had to drop out of the RBC Heritage tournament because he tested positive - halfway through. He is the first on the tour to test positive, a place where social distancing is possible. Well, on the course, at least.
There isn't even a grand-slam to be had in golf this year, with The (British) Open canceled. There will be no champion golfer this year holding up the Claret Jug. And now, at the Travelers this weekend, three prominent players withdrew due to COVID considerations and the tour is looking at further precautionary measures, perhaps cancellations.
Just goes to show, these leagues and associations can take all the safety measures they want and scrub their facilities germ-free - but they can't control the participants off the court, the field or the course. And it's showing.
The Phillies, the Blue Jays, the Giants and the Rangers all shut down and scrubbed their facilities top to bottom (good luck with that), prompting a sport-wide scrubbing. We'll see how long that contains a virus that will likely be carried into those facilities almost every day, no matter where those facilities are. It's not like they kept steroid out of the game.
So we're asking, are you ready to go to a game if they start allowing fans? Are you?
Avery Bradley isn't. The Lakers star, a veteran along the lines that LeBron likes to have on his rosters (GM and Coach LeBron, that is), isn't going to play in the league's makeshift tournament to first determine who scrambles into the final playoff spots in both conferences and then who gets to waste their time playing the Lakers and Bucks, respectively, in the first round. Bradley is concerned about the virus, period.
And it's all in Orlando, where the players and their loved ones are being carefully sequestered so as not to be exposed when they go about America's theme-park playground headquarters. Good luck NBA, in keeping the virus out of the fan-free arena where 22 teams will eventually play over three months.
What do you do, NBA, when three players on one team and four on another test positive on a game day, leaving their rosters compromised for competition? Or coaches? Or GMs?
Same goes for you NHL. How many cities want to be hubs for your makeshift tournament with the coronavirus out of control again because too many (Republican) governors in too many (Red) states reopened ahead of the guidelines set down by the CDC?
Horse racing, auto racing, golf, tennis (singles) and cornhole tournaments (yeah, corn holing, yikes!) are about the only sports that can possibly be played with less risk than other team sports.
Even high schools are not exempt. In Illinois and Arizona, where I split my time, state guidelines for reopening schools specifically cite avoidance of sports activities that require close guarding or physical contact. Players are reporting having tested positive and you know many more will, despite their best efforts dedicated to social distancing and other protective measures.
And so we face a fall without major sports. The Olympics were already postponed until next summer, but will we even have a secure, tested, approved vaccine by then? Will the anti-vaccine crowd even bother to get it? Will the Lakers get it first, ahead of everyone else?
Meanwhile, the president is cutting funding for testing across the country. He's dead set, literally, on getting those test numbers suppressed so his poll numbers go up.
Right now, he's got 125,000 dead reasons to want to do that, likely to be 200,000 by Election Day.
Anyway, good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson.
More on my Radio Free Phoenix show on Sunday night.
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