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It’s All Cancelled Until August. Yesterday, the NCAA decided to cancel all remaining spring and winter NCAA Championships. That was the decision by the NCAA yesterday:
Today, NCAA President Mark Emmert and the Board of Governors canceled the Division I men’s and women’s 2020 basketball tournaments, as well as all remaining winter and spring NCAA championships. This decision is based on the evolving COVID-19 public health threat, our ability to ensure the events do not contribute to spread of the pandemic, and the impracticality of hosting such events at any time during this academic year given ongoing decisions by other entities.
That means that there’s no collegiate sports for the next five months and we’re all supposed to figure out what we’re supposed to do with our hands (other than not to touch our faces).
Where does this leave us and this dumb blog? I unintentionally started a firestorm when I said that I hope that we lean on scientists and science to get us out of this mess. That was never meant to be a political statement. I certainly did not need a window into anyone’s soul and that’s the problem with making presumptions about what I intended (could have asked and gotten the answer).
What I meant was that it was going to be people like this guy, David A. Ostrov, who could help solve the problem.
Scientists who spend more times in labs than in their home and essentially their entire lives trying to figure out problems is what I’m talking about. I’m not talking about people who have become experts after two weeks of this virus being in the news. Yeah, that’s a dig at anyone who is a talking head have the “solutions” to the problem. I mentioned in the comments yesterday that my wife doesn’t have spleen so I think she’s more at risk (she does not because she is pretty well fearless). I also have parents who are in their 70’s so if there’s a chance that reduced social interaction reduces the spread of this virus, then yeah, I’m all for it. And yes, I realize the death rate is still small, but it is much larger for people like my wife and parents (who are in good health otherwise) where if pneumonia sets in, it could be the end. My only concern is for people to be safe and that I hope scientists kick the shit out of COVID-19 before it’s all said and done. That doesn’t seem like an outrageous thought.
Regardless as to whether or not you think that sports and organizations and governments are overreacting, this is what’s happening. It’s the reality that we’re currently living in and arguing about whether it is the right thing to do is akin to yelling into the wind. I’m not here to make anyone angry or derive any sort of emotion from you other than inevitable heartbreak from losses and ridiculous highs from wins for Texas Tech.
The part for us is to figure out what we’re going to do and whether or not I can keep this site “alive” for the next five months. I somewhat joked last night that Staking The Plains would be come a food and drank, FoodNetwork, hot taeks, collegiate log, and uniform blog until August. Yeah, we’re actually going to do some of this. You bet your bottom dollar we will.
But then there’s other part that we’ll also continue do do the same thing we’ve always done, which is think about, write about, and hope for that best possible scenario. Sports will be back, probably sooner rather than later.
I especially feel terrible for the student-athletes who have had their spring seasons cancelled. The baseball team was one that was expected to be one of the best ever. The track and field student-athletes were preparing for Indoor National Championships. A softball team that looked like it was on their way to another NCAA berth. A basketball team that was on the edge of making the NCAA Tournament. A women’s basketball team that had the mantra all season “Movement to March” with the hope of making some sort of post-season play.
There’s more (namely tennis and golf as far as spring sports I think), but that’s all gone. I feel terrible for the seniors that have worked their entire lives to be on that stage. I don’t have any idea what happens moving forward. The situation is, hopefully, fluid.
I’ll do my best to stay Texas Tech-centric. That’s why you’re here. There’s a lot to figure out and we’re just going to have to do this together.