What a year. What a time. Who in their right mind when the calendar struck Jan. 1, 2020 would have ever in a million years imagined a year like the one we just encountered? I’m eagerly awaiting the day when my grandson asks me 45 years from now how I possibly got through it? What a story I will have to tell.
The craziest part is 2020 wasted no time. On New Year’s Day, David Stern, arguably the greatest sports commissioner of all-time died at the age of 77. That should have been a sign. Then 25 days later, what I had no doubt would be the sports story of the year took place. Kobe Bryant, one of the most iconic basketball players ever was killed in a helicopter crash in California while attempting to fly to his daughter’s basketball game. He was 41. The night prior, LeBron James passed him on the all-time scoring list and he even tweeted about the moment shortly after it happened. Who could have ever guessed that would be the final tweet ever from Kobe? It still doesn’t feel real.
Fast forward to March 11th. That’s when things really started to spiral out of control. That night, Rudy Gobert, who has since been rewarded with a $200 million contract despite averaging just over 11 points-per-game, became the first player in the four major sports to test positive for COVID-19 in the moments leading up to a Utah Jazz game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The game was subsequently canceled and later that night, a true bombshell. Commissioner Adam Silver announced the NBA would be suspending their season indefinitely. It was one of the most shocking things I had ever seen. A sports league just pausing? Stop the madness. Little did I know what March 12th had in store for me.
March 12, 2020 is a day that will go down in history as probably the craziest day of anyone from my generation’s lifetime. Obviously that morning the ripple effects from Adam Silver’s decision were still being felt. But if it was just Gobert, we should have been fine and the games would continue right? Wrong. Very wrong.
I will never forget it. I was watching Creighton against St. John’s in the Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden. There were fans in the stands, the first half was played as normal, but there was no second half. The game was called off at halftime. Then the avalanche of cancellations came pouring through. The NCAA tournament, done. The Major League Baseball season, put on pause. Hockey, suspending play. Within the span of 24 hours, life as we knew it changed forever.
Heck, restaurants were shut down, as were gyms and basically every public place you could possibly think of besides grocery stores and pharmacies. You couldn’t go out in public without a mask. Come again, what?? If there was ever a true sign of the apocalypse, that was it.
The next four months were straight out of a horror movie, including my rift with my downstairs neighbor as I attempted to keep up my amazing physique.
Aside from “The Last Dance” giving people something to look forward to for a 5-week span, literally nothing was happening. The biggest topic of conversation was my “COVID-19 DAILY” blog posts along with when would sports come back and what would they look like? I remember in April seeing an article about how Disney World was equipped to host a “bubble” type environment for the NBA. When I first saw it, I thought it was the most brilliant thing I’d ever heard.
But what about the other sports? Major League Baseball nearly canceled their season because of pure greed. The powers that be eventually settled on a 60-game regular season and on July 23, 2020, American sports returned with the Yankees facing the Nationals in Washington D.C. It was truly a sight to see. Giancarlo Stanton homered. Everyone thought he was going to lead the Yankees back to the World Series, but of course he couldn’t and they ended up losing the the little engine that could Rays team in the ALDS. But I digress.
After 3.5 months of planning, the NBA followed suit setting up shop at you guessed it, Disney World where the Lakers would take home their 17th NBA championship tying the Boston Celtics on the all-time list in front of a grand total of count ’em zero fans. Sorry Boston. You had a great run at the top.
The NHL created their own bubble in Toronto and someway, somehow, we were able to crown champions. As for the NFL, they scoffed at the bubble idea and proceeded as normal, just without fans for the most part and despite dealing with daily COVID-19 positives, got through their regular season on time in truly miraculous fashion.
As 2020 gets set to come to an end, the new NBA and college basketball seasons are well underway and the NFL postseason set to begin, there are still too many unknowns. Is this our new normal having to wear masks everywhere, sports teams either having no fans or having to drastically limit the number of people allowed in the building? We do finally have a COVID-19 vaccine, but I just want to know when I can put this pandemic in the rear view mirror because it doesn’t feel like that’s happening any time soon. That’s my one wish for 2021, normalcy (along with championships for the Yankees, Jets and Nets, I’m not going to bother with the Devils because there’s no hope) and I don’t think it’s too much to ask.
Good riddance 2020. Onto 2021.
Lucas Frankel Sports 