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This was not a good week for sports. Suffice it to say, we have not experienced a good week in quite awhile.
Just when there seemed to be very dim light at the end of a very long tunnel with the beginning of MLB and NBA games and professional hockey and what appears to be a somewhat successful start to professional golf, the outlook quickly looks dismal again.
The MLB season is already in jeopardy after just one week of play. Six teams were forced to postpone games this week and one wonders if the trend can be stopped. It appears, if the stories are true, that some players for the Miami Marlins partied in Atlanta before coming to Philadelphia. They did so without much regard to safety protocols and are paying the price with infections now in the twenties and no current plan to continue their scheduled games. The St. Louis Cardinals had games postponed due to staff and player positive tests. On Sunday, it appears the Reds may also have a player with the virus.
If you have watched any of the games, you have seen that players continue to high-five, sit too close together in the dugout, and continue to spit. These are all protocol violations. If the season is to continue, the players must act smarter. That may be too much to wish for.
The NBA and NHL are each playing in a bubble and may have the best chance to succeed. The players and games are confined to three cities and no fans are allowed. This may become the blueprint for all sports.
The NFL expects to play throughout the country. Do you see any chance of that working? I do not.
More and more college conferences continue to tweak their sports schedules as more and more colleges are leaning to full-time virtual learning. Each tweak eliminates some games and, rest assured, many are not done being tweaked.
Closer to home, what about fall high school sports? Just this week in the Lehigh Valley, non-contact sports – girls’ tennis, golf and cross-country were given the go-ahead, while football, field hockey, and volleyball were delayed a month.
Each day, school districts come out with a plan to either have attendance as usual; a hybrid plan which consists of days in school, days out of school with virtual learning at almost every level. If a district is not comfortable bringing their students into the building, how will they be comfortable having their students practice sports where social distancing is not even possible?
Each day brings some more bad news about the virus and about the sports world. Right now, I’m afraid the dominoes are falling. At what point can the tiles be picked up and the game begins again? Right now, that answer is conjecture only.
ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)
1. As of August 1, 31 NFL players have opted out of the 2020-21 season due to virus concerns. If a player is considered high-risk for COVID-19, he will earn $350,000 and get credit for the season. Players without risk will receive $150,000 for the year.
2. Fourteen MLB players have opted out of the season, many because of family concerns with many having babies and/or small children at home. Some have pre-existing health concerns, like diabetes.
3. The Flyers got off to a great start in the round robin tournament. They beat the Boston Bruins 4-1 in game one of the Round Robin tournament for seeding purposes. The Bruins were the only team to acquire 100 points and were the best regular-season team. The Flyers are in the next round no matter what and with a win over Washington and Tampa Bay could jump to the #1 seed in the playoffs.
4. The Sixers could be a real sleeper in the NBA playoffs. If (and it’s a big if) Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons can remain healthy and play together and new starting point guard Shake Milton can literally “shake” things up, could this be a championship year? Milton has great 3-point accuracy (45%) and can play more than solid defense. The pieces might just be there.
5. Local high school baseball seniors and their teammates will get one final chance to exhibit their talents. A local non-affiliated tournament will take place from August 3-10 with 32 teams participating. Nine sites will be utilized as the teams were broken down into eight, four-team divisions. The top two teams in each division advance to the 16-team single elimination round. Forty-five-year baseball coach (36 as a head coach at Bethlehem Catholic) Mike Grasso will be honored on championship day as he retired this past season without being able to coach a game due to COVID-19.
