A lot of games still shouldn’t be played
This is another opportunity to do the right thing – by doing more with less.
Cancel the 2021 NBA All-Star Game.
Cancel the 2021 Big Ten Conference tournament (and all national conference tourneys) too. Who needs all that right now? Studentathletes need to play the national championship tournament that was denied to so many of them in
2020. Crown a conference champion the old-school way – best regular-season record, as best it can be figured with so many missed games – skip the conference tournament and play the NCAA bracket, hopefully without COVID-19 issues.
The NCAA's priority should be on fewest coronavirus breakouts, better numbers to support in-person learning, and then meaningful sports competition.
It made sense to move the Big Ten tournament from Chicago to Indianapolis, since all the NCAA games will be played in Indiana. There's no guarantee the Big Ten tourney will happen anyway, so it should be called off now.
Use that time to let a school like Michigan, which has played only nine conference games, catch up. The Wolverines, Penn State, Michigan State and Nebraska all have dealt with pauses because of coronavirus issues.
Make the regular season as legitimate as possible by playing as many regular-season games as possible.
And the NBA All-Star Game should not happen in any form or fashion either.
If a workaholic such as Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo says he's not interested, that should be a giant red flag.
“I've got zero energy, zero excitement,” Antetokounmpo said last week. “I don't want to do it. I want to get some break.
“If we have the All-Star Game just to have an All-Star Game and we don't have no fans, then I don't see the point in having an All-Star
Game.”
And it’s not just Antetokounmpo, LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard and others agree.
“Me personally, I don’t see the point,” Bucks guard Jrue Holiday said Saturday. “I think I understand why they’re doing it but I don’t see the point. It’s not like you get to like really enjoy it with your family.
“And you do it for the fans – it’s really for the fans – but most of them will be at home, watching it on TV. And you’re also putting yourself and your family in jeopardy.
“I don’t think it’s the best idea, but who am I, right?”
If you Google search “the NBA AllStar game 2021” you’ll get a lot of different information. It’s not yet canceled, it’s not this Sunday. It shows what a mess this is.
As of today, the voting is ongoing through Feb. 16 and NBA.com has posted no other information.
Media outlets such as SI.com and ESPN have said the All-Star Game is expected to be held in a single-night event March 7 in Atlanta; the league is expected to finalize a deal with the National Basketball Players Association this week, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The NBA All-Star game is usually a mixed bag anyway. Players who are selected try to make it a family event and bring everyone along as a way to celebrate. But it’s not time off to relax or an escape from work and obligations.
Antetokounmpo doesn’t see the value of a 2021 All-Star Game, especially without a crowd of fans? Neither do I. Cut it. This revamped NBA season will drag on to July for the championship contenders, and that’s if the schedule isn’t blown up by COVID.
Of course there’s the argument that athletes get paid exorbitant amounts of money, they should show up and play without complaint.
But let’s look at the bigger issue. The point is some of them are telling us they’re burned out. And who isn’t? From the pandemic, from the fighting, from the risks we take to do our jobs, go to the grocery store, go to regular appointments.
We don’t need an All-Star Game with bloated scores and phantom defenses.
I wish we would use 2021 as a way to cut back everywhere. Sports seasons have become too long and they’ve lost their luster. Coaches rest their best players just to get through it. Everyone is overworked after five-, six- and sevenmonth seasons.
General managers can’t count on having their best players at the end of marathon seasons; they have to fill rosters with insurance policies.
The NFL is making a mistake by expanding to 17 regular-season games. It should be two preseason and 16 regular season (I would prefer 14). That’s it.
In a normal, non-pandemic year, the NBA needs only 70 games. And the NBA Finals should wrap up before Memorial Day weekend.
Major League Baseball also should cut back, in amount of games and time played. February to October is too much.
There are no real seasons anymore. Remember when Brett Favre was at a golf tournament one summer and reporters showed up to ask whether he was going to retire? Favre looked annoyed and said something like: It’s summer. Focus on baseball season.
But we don’t cherish the seasons on the calendar and the seasons of our sports. We sit for four-hour college bowl games and we wait two weeks for a Super Bowl.
Let’s take this opportunity to reset our sports schedules.
It won’t happen, of course. There’s far too much money at stake and fans are too invested in their daily sports entertainment for diversions.
Some of us learned a lot in this pandemic, including that we can live with less. As we fight this pandemic, let’s still try to keep our eye on the ball. Now is not the time to push for more. It’s the time to figure out what’s most important.