How The Coronavirus is Paving the Road to the Best Sports Summer Yet
Just when we thought sports were out… THEY pull us back in….
The Coronavirus has put the entire sports world on suspension leaving many fans displaced but fear not; the time for optimism is now! Industries across the world are being closed and gatherings disallowed putting all of the sports world on hold. The picture we see as sports fans looks something like this…MLB opening day- delayed. NHL/NBA playoffs? In serious jeopardy as the regular season was postponed indefinitely. With nearly zero live sporting events being showcased, sports fans can dream of watching NBA playoff chases and March Madness buzzer beaters.
The question every sports fan wants to know is when will everything return? We will investigate together as objects in the mirror may be closer than they appear. The largest Supernova in sports history is coming and all we have to do is prepare…
Sports are not as far away as we think.
Mark Cuban said in an interview recently with the Dallas Television Station, “No one has perfect information right now, so all decisions are tough, but if I had to guess based off the people I’ve talked to at the CDC and other places, I would say that the over-under [for a restart] would be June 1, and I’m taking the under.” While this seems optimistic, it does show that there is some confidence out there for the season to be saved (albeit probably without fans). It does not stop with NBA owner Mark Cuban however!
Bill Simmons recently said on his podcast (which was later confirmed in a report by ESPNs Adam Kaufmann) that the date talked about inside NBA front offices is Labor Day Weekend — “Labor Day is the secret looming deadline” -Bill said. He later goes on to explain that the cable networks could not possibly move back certain programs scheduled to run in September forcing this date. He is usually well connected and owns a house near CBS CEO Les Moonves giving reason to believe there are at least some bits of hope to be had not just for the NBA, but all sports. In this scenario, sports would have to be ready to go by late June.
All this means for sports fans across the world is, the NBA and NHL will be on major playoff runs and the MLB on a condensed schedule. With 18 games remaining in the NBA regular season schedule, they would have to reduce it to a handful of games or just cancel them completely. No matter what, playoffs would need to start no later than July 1st. With Labor Day landing on September 7th, this seems to be about on target for the absolute latest that this season could be saved.
Lets turn back the clock about a year (Joker voice), May 13th, 2019, Kawhi Leonard beats a double team, hits a fade-away that bounces on every side of the rim dramatically falling and ending the Philadelphia 76ers hopes of making the run that the Raptors would later complete in route to their first title. NBA and NHL playoffs typically last two months which is the parameter we will go off of until the the leagues announce anything different.
August 6th 2020; the greatest day in sports history.
Five weeks into the 2019 NBA playoffs Kawhi Leonard hit the game winning shot in game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semi Finals. August 6th would be about 5 weeks into the playoff schedule for the NHL and NBA. We can now feast our eyes at the mouthwatering matchup we were promised last summer. The Lakers facing off with the Clippers in the Western Conference Finals to truly “Battle for LA”. But wait there is more… The NFL is finally back as well as the Hall of Fame Game between the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers play simultaneously. NHL will be nearing a conclusion to their Stanley Cup Finals and the MLB playoff races are rounding into form; setting us up for the best summer of sports we have ever seen. Sports nuts like myself will not be able to contain themselves as the sports shortage goes into full blown sports overdose! This cosmic event in sports is coming for us all, so get your playbooks ready, lace up your Kyrie 6s or Steph Curry 7s, and sit on the hanging Curveball we are all ready to knock out of the park in a few short weeks.
For now, our only option is to stay in our homes, avoid public gatherings, and hope our loved ones stay safe as it is no doubt the most odd time to be a sports fan. But we will come out of this better than before if we stick to the plan, as it will make August 6th, 2020 taste even sweeter when it is here.
