How Long Could the World be Without Sports?

It could be quite a while before sports fans get an influx of live game-action again.

A pennant race, a playoff chase, a shootout, an extra innings affair, sudden-death overtime, the green-white-checkered finish, these are all things that we’ve already been missing as a nation and as a world for only about three weeks now. How long can we actually go without sports?

When the remainder of spring training was cancelled on February 12, major league baseball joined a lot of other sports organizations around the world in preventing large gatherings where the increasingly deadly COVID-19 strain of Coronavirus could be more easily spread. Social distancing is the order of the day, and most of us will comply.

The sad fact is that there are plenty of people, in the United States of America and worldwide, who refuse to take this whole thing seriously. Coronavirus spreads like a weed, and I see people in my Southern Alabama community going about their business as if nothing is wrong. I’m the only dude in the supermarket with a mask & gloves, and they all look at me as if I’m not “quite” right in the head. It drives me crazy, and not because I’m embarrassed — I’m not, if anything I’m proud of my decision to wear these items — it’s more that I’M THE ONLY DUDE IN THE SUPERMARKET WITH A MASK AND GLOVES.

HUESCA, SPAIN – MARCH 31: An emergency nurse (ICU) dressed in garbage bags and a protective mask loaned altruistically by a private company at the emergency entrance door of the San Jorge hospital on March 31, 2020 in Huesca, Spain. Health personnel denounce the lack of sanitary approved material by the Spanish government to protect themselves from COVID-19. Spain ordered all non-essential workers to stay home for two weeks to help slow the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which has killed more than 6,000 people in the country. (Photo by Álvaro Calvo / Getty Images) /

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Social distancing could work, if everybody gets on board — but if just one person in 1000 is not on board, it won’t work. A fool-proof way to get over this is if everyone everyone EVERYONE EVERYONE just stays home for 16 days. Those who have it will have it, and those who don’t will not get it. But I’m positive that’s going to be too hard for us — infringing on our freedoms and all that.

We’re going to get to a point here soon where the curve will start to point more downward than up, and everyone is going to rejoice that “we beat it!” — but I don’t think that we’re going to beat this without a much longer sacrifice than eight weeks of baseball.

A very small bit of good news was publicized today when it was revealed that minor leaguers will continue to get paid during the work stoppage. Cold comfort, indeed, when you realize that a lot of minor leaguers make far less than minimum wage — but it’s better than nothing, however slightly.

How long are MLB, the NBA, the NHL, the NFL, NASCAR, and other major sporting leagues around the world willing to go without live sports — and the cash influx that live sporting events provide? If it comes down to it, are we ready to do without major league baseball for a full year? Only time will tell. In the meantime, tell me what you’re thinking, in the comments below. Thanks for reading.

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