Matthew Ventura ’22
Baseball, Volleyball, Track, Tennis, Golf, and Handball: all of these are Spring sports that bring abundant amounts of joy to all of the people that play them. Unfortunately, it seems that this year’s Spring sports may take a turn for the worst–as the dangers of the corona pandemic continue to rise, the million dollar question that comes to mind by the student body and coaches are “will sports resume? If they even manage to get clearance, when?” I, Matthew Ventura of the Salesian Spectator, will help you get the answers you very well deserve and want to hear.
The United States government, as well as President Donald J. Trump, has announced that the social distancing standards will be in effect until April 30th. Therefore, it is fair to speculate that school’s won’t be in session until after that date. For Spring sports to resume, it seems like a very dramatic change in COVID-19 cases must be required.
Sadly, this is an extremely doubtful hope, the trend of this virus and the amount of people it has affected continues to be on a steady rise showing no signs of relief. If that is not enough, statistics have shown that late April going on to May will be the peak of the virus and the only way we may combat the high point of the virus is by using “social distancing,” which is a clear problem for those wishing to play the sports.
As for deadlines and return dates for major US sports, (MLB, NHL, NFL, NBA) are varying very much as the pandemic begins to get worse with each coming day. For the MLB, the opening to the season was scheduled to commence on March 26. Unfortunately, this has been updated to an indefinite open to the season and administrators in high offices at the MLB are not sure when to start looking for a date.
As for the NBA and NHL, despite many misconceptions and rumors going around about cancelling the season, this for certain is NOT true. Both leagues will do anything to keep their finals for the season open considering the fact that playoffs bring in a large sum of revenue to the organization. Sadly, this is going to affect how the playoff brackets would be conducted. Would more teams be accepted to the finals, or less? Longer playoff rounds, or shorter? Nevertheless, many can now sleep much better at night knowing the seasons will not get cancelled. The NFL, however, states that it has no worries about the season being delayed and all will be well by the time their season rolls around.
As fans of these amazing sports and whether or not we are players as well, we must remember one thing: sports will be back! As discouraging as this setback is, we must learn to rebound (no pun intended) and stay focused on the main point of staying home and sanitizing regularly. As fans we will all get through this and we can enjoy being at the stadium and watching our favorite teams in no time.
The Salesian Spectator 