In V Sports
By Rudshun Atkins
In this week’s edition of V Sports we’re going to take a look at the return of the NFL, NBA, and MLB leagues and how they are operating functionally in the midst of a pandemic and the United States being a breeding ground for the COVID-19 virus.
The NFL reached an agreement on July 24 with the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) to get training camp and the NFL season underway. Training camps opened later that week. In the deal that was struck between the players and league, there is an opt out clause for players who deem playing too risky. Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, a starting guard for the Super Bowl winning Kansas City Chiefs and a MD, is the first NFL player to utilize the opt out clause stating”I must follow my convictions and do what I believe is right for me personally.”He will receive a $150,000 stipend instead of his $2.75 million base salary which equates to about $162,000 every week for 17 weeks during the NFL season. If a player decides to opt out, they receive the $150,000 and their contract tolls to the following year. The NFL has also fronted the bill to the tune of $80 million dollars for daily COVID-19 testing in its plan to keep the season afloat.
The NBA reconvened in Orlando, Fl at Walt Disney World in what is being deemed “The Bubble.” A total of 22 NBA teams are scrimmaging against each other in The Bubble. The regular season resumed July 30 with the Lakers, Clippers, Bucks, and Raptors being mentioned as favorites to win the shortened 19–20 NBA season due to COVID-19.
The first round of the NBA playoffs have began and we as fans have been treated to some epic playoff bubble performances with Luka Doncic’s bang-bang three at the buzzer triple double performance to beat the Clippers and tie the series at 2–2. The NBA playoffs then came to resounding halt due to player protest against systemic racism. Police in Kenosha, Wisconsin shot Jacob Blake, an African American civilian in the back seven times in front of his children at a traffic stop. Blake was unarmed. This followed the killing of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor due to police brutality, which has spurred worldwide protests. The Milwaukee Brewers sat out Game 5 of the series, and The Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions canceled training camp practices as well. It’s very well worth it to monitor what course of action the NBA players take with the playoffs, because the NFL regular season is slated to start in less than two weeks. Since, the majority of the athletes in football and basketball are BLACK, its interesting to see how it will affect our sports.
I close out this weeks’ edition of V Sports wondering who will be the victor of the upcoming Mike Tyson Roy Jones Exhibition match in November. The fanboy in me says Iron Mike, but a little known fact is that Roy Jones Jr. was a heavyweight champion at one point, being the only boxer in history to start at junior middleweight and become heavyweight champ. He’s also won titles at middleweight, super middleweight, and light heavyweight along the way. Rudatkins@gmail.com
This article originally appeared in the Sept. 3, 2020 print issue of Villij News.
