What’s next: Coronavirus shuts down professional and collegiate sports

COVID-19 seems to be the only thing in the news, and may be for an indefinite amount of time. If you’re like me, this virus isn’t too major because it hasn’t affected anybody around me, and hopefully it stays that way. But the coronavirus is affecting more than just people’s health; it’s obstructing their finances, and robbing people of their passion.

That passion I’m talking about is sports, obviously.

From the NBA, MLS, NASCAR, ATP, MLB, NHL, to the NCAA; they’ve all been postponed or cancelled one way or another. For some players, like Vince Carter of the Atlanta Hawks, they may have played the last game of their career unknowingly.

But, a NBA icon like Vince Carter shouldn’t be too worried about it, at least I don’t think he will be. He’s shined in high school, college, and the NBA for 22 years; sounds like a complete career.

So what about the NCAA softball players in their final season? Well, it seems that they’ve played their final collegiate game; along with NCAA basketball, baseball, hockey, and lacrosse players.

Might not sound too bad from the outside looking in. I mean, it’s just sports right?

But imagine being a senior pitcher in the NCAA, your season last year ended early from injury and you’ve been rehabbing relentlessly so you can be ready for this season. After all that hard work, you come back, and you’re cleared! Ready to suit up and play your senior season with your team.

Then boom! About half-way through your season, the coronavirus situation escalated so quickly that the NCAA season is cancelled with almost no warning at all. Done, finito, no more baseball. Your college career is over, and you’re not going to the league, so that was your last game of baseball.

That scenario is a reality for many student athletes around the nation. Some players transferred elsewhere to play; some had chances to win it all, now it’s over.

But it doesn’t stop there. Now the COVID-19 frenzy is working its way to high schools.

Some schools around the nation have shut down for weeks, and recently Georgia High School Association (GHSA) postponed their State Literary competitions and recommended that all schools suspend their sports activities until further notice.

In the GHSA press release, Executive Director of the GHSA, Dr.Robin Hines, said this:

“The regular season belongs to the schools themselves. We can only recommend that they suspend playing. The final decision will rest with the local school systems, but we hope they heed the Governor’s and the GHSA’s recommendations.”

It wasn’t declared that the seasons are over, but I feel like once a couple of schools pull out, the rest will follow.

It’s senseless to even risk it, given that there are over 30 cases of the coronavirus in the state of Georgia.

Sports are one of the few things that can bring thousands of people together to enjoy the same thing. But with that comes more risk, when it comes to pros, they travel all the time, so do the fans, and the media. Same goes for college, especially Power 5 schools.

To me, it makes sense to suspend the seasons. But that’s not logical; it’s tough enough for colleges to postpone their seasons, so I don’t think high schools will find a way to do so. That means cancelling the rest of the season, and that won’t be fun for me or the rest of high school athletes.

There’s a price those student athletes are paying. Not only are seniors missing out on their final season, players are missing out on collegiate exposure, and the chance to do what they love.

Athletes, fans, and family have essentially been robbed of a season; and there’s no telling when it’ll stop. Yes, health is superior to playing the game and at the same time; there are tons of athletes willing to keep playing despite the risk of getting sick.

This outbreak is almost something out of a movie or a book. Who would’ve guessed that a virus would not only change the world of sports, but affect the world as we know it.

As fans, which most of us are, what are we going to do?

Watch the news? Maybe cut on some ESPN Classics and watch some old games. But that’s not the same, I mean the NBA season hasn’t been this entertaining in years.

I know it’s all precautionary, but for it to happen like this just seems unfair and I could only imagine how a college or high school athlete feels as some may have played their final game.

Usually that moment is bittersweet, now it’s just sour, and still almost hard to believe.

It’s gotten so bad that Esports, the competitive video game league, has postponed their NBA 2K League.

All of the news coming in has been erratic and not much good is coming out of it. This whole series of unprecedented events has people, including myself, asking… what’s next?

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