NORTH AMERICAN SPORTS WALKING ON A TIGHTROPE
In recent days, Auston Matthews, one of the best players in hockey; Nikola Jokic, one of the great young stars of basketball, and Charlie Blackmon, the perennial baseball all-star, have all tested positive for COVID-19.
And they are not alone.
A bevy of Toronto Blue Jays, as first reported by Sportsnet on Wednesday — both players and staff — have tested positive for the virus from their spring training home in Florida, which has been shut down. And all across America, college football players, especially in the states in which the virus has not been properly prevented, are testing positive in rather large numbers.
And to think, professional sports essentially began its shutdown more than 100 days ago when Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz was identified as the first North American pro athlete to test positive. The test came, the NBA stopped playing, and very quickly all of pro sports followed.
One positive test essentially brought pro sports to its knees.
And now there are positive tests everywhere — those we know about, those we don’t know about — and sports are planning to return next month. Money aside, it’s hard to understand why.
The majority of our professional sports entertainment comes from the United States, the most Covid-ravaged country in the world. Canada has one team in the NBA, one team in Major League Baseball, and just seven teams in the NHL.
That’s nine of 91 teams in the big four of major league sports in North America. So much of Canada is now under reasonable control from COVID-19, although there is daily need for masks and social distancing and not being foolish in the process. But the same can’t be said of the U.S.
The Blue Jays were originally planning to hold a training camp in Dunedin, where they normally train, and then begin their season in Florida as well. This week, everything changed. Who knows what next week brings? That’s one of the difficulties in all of this. COVID-19 is a moving target.
The Jays have asked the federal government here for special clearance, allowing them to stay home and play at Rogers Centre while allowing MLB teams to enter the country without having to quarantine themselves, which current rules insist upon.
This is where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Doug Ford need to be heard. They need to say no. This isn’t like being a hub city for the NHL. This isn’t a bubble situation. These are travelling teams, coming, going, staying in hotels, eating in restaurants, being around town for three or four days and then leaving.
Maybe leaving the virus behind. It’s best to keep the borders closed and the quarantine rules in place.
What makes more sense for the Blue Jays: playing the season in Buffalo, where their triple-a farm team is based. It’s not like Florida. It’s relatively safe. The key word being relatively. Tomorrow can tell a different story.
The Raptors are already in Florida for their training camp in Fort Myers leading up to the apparent return of the NBA. The plan was made before the state was ravaged by the virus. No question, the players are being isolated and kept safe and certainly being tested, as are staff, but it’s not exactly where you want to be right now.
In a bubble of sorts before the NBA begins its bubble at Orlando, later in July, a return to play is still under all kinds of questions.
Every day, the complications for return seem more and more.
Some NBA players have already opted out for a variety of reasons, from health to supporting Black Lives Matter to family and future free agency. They are given the right not play. Avery Bradley is a significant player with the Los Angeles Lakers. They are certainly contenders to win this year, again, if there is a this year.
Bradley has chosen not to play. “I can’t imagine making any decision that might put my family’s health and well being at even the slightest risk,” he told ESPN’S Adrian Wojnarowski. There will be more players making similar announcements.
Those of us who care — those who are invested in sports personally, emotionally or both — want our games back. This has been a long 100 days. I’ve read too much, watched too much TV, eaten too much, and I’m ready now for sports. I’m over ready.
I’m still trying to comprehend an August with Maple Leafs and Raptors playoff games at night, with the Blue Jays on another channel. Early games, late games, It could be all consuming. It could be unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.
And it could fall apart. There’s nothing easy about this.
This is a tightrope walk for the NHL, the NBA and MLB. North American sports is wobbling. This is a balancing act they may not be able to pull off.