THE NEW FACE OF SPORTS
A year ago, we were on our way to masked players, cardboard fans and a strange way of life
It has been a full year now since Rudy Gobert rubbed every microphone in the house at Oklahoma City, like the world’s biggest jerk, and it is both astonishing and sad how we have become accustomed to the Bizarro World of sports in the COVID era.
Fake crowd noise? It is such a part of the broadcasts, we hardly hear it anymore.
Cardboard cutouts in the stands? Just another picture of a dog, or B-list celebrity.
Zoom interviews with no follow-up questions? What’s the difference? These athletes never said anything, anyway.
We’ve seen it, heard it, not heard it, and are numb to all of it. Postseason bubbles… Sixty-game baseball seasons… Dr. Anthony Fauci throwing the worst, first pitch ever on Opening Day… Coaches screaming through masks, or over masks, that droop down to their chins… Kevin Durant getting yanked in the middle of a game for a precautionary quarantine, because somebody else tested positive… Play-in games for playoff games, which now seem to be a permanent thing…
Bring it on, all of it. We can handle anything, as long as somebody wins, somebody loses, and we can bet on the outcome.
But it certainly would be better with fans.
All the fans. A full, fun house. The Bleacher Creatures in the Bronx, and the Viking Army at Red Bull Arena. Not just 15% capacity, or 25%, or James Dolan sitting grumpily courtside, alone, watching his guys fight, finally, for a .500 season.
When will that happen?
“So it probably will be well into the end of the summer before you can really feel comfortable — if a lot of people get vaccinated,” Dr. Fauci said. “I don’t think we’re going to be that normal in July. I think it probably would be by the end of the summer.”
World Series time. Football kickoff time. U.S. Open tennis time. We’ve waited this long, we can probably wait a few months longer. We don’t have to go all Texas or Mississippi on this thing.
Actually, the absence of big crowds has turned into an interesting lab experiment of sorts. The 2020 seasons offer perfect control groups. We can finally see how much the fans influence the outcome of games, statistically speaking. It turns out, they are a big factor in the NBA, not so much in the NFL.
In 2018-19, the last uninterrupted NBA season, home teams went 729-501, for a winning percentage of .592. This season, going into Wednesday night’s games, home teams were just 285-248, or .535. NBA teams got a significant pop from their crowds — whether that came from the adrenaline rush for players, or from more favorable calls from officials who were alerted to fouls by outraged spectators. The homecourt edge in basketball amounts to more than merely a short commute for teammates or familiarity with arena sightlines.
In the NFL, the home-field advantage, that so-called 12th man, has always been exaggerated. In 2019, with the stands full, home teams were 132-123-1 during the regular season, for a slim winning percentage of .518. During the COVID season, home teams were 127-128-1, or .498. By the slightest of margin, they posted a losing season. Big, noisy crowds may be a benefit to home teams. Just not as much as advertised by most commentators.
We can go back now and remember what it was like when things fell apart 12 months ago. It was the Ivy League that first threw in the towel, canceling its basketball tournament on March 10. Most sports fans back then thought the Ivies were just being the Ivies, overreacting in nerdish fashion. But then two of Gobert’s teammates on the Utah Jazz tested positive the next day, and it was more than an Ivory Tower problem. The NBA suspended its season.
Nothing has been the same since — except, of course, Tom Brady. March Madness was canceled. Blue Jays and Raptors played their home games in Florida. An all-Canadian conference was formed in the NHL, in order to avoid international travel. Scheduled games came to a screeching halt in every league whenever another outbreak struck, whether they involved the Florida Marlins or New Jersey Devils.
It feels like we’re still waiting for that game to be played between the Ravens and Steelers.
Rules changed, too. Reporters were not allowed in locker rooms anymore. Some of them had to be tested to enter arenas. Winter and spring college athletes were given an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA. Wisconsin’s basketball team already had a starting five older than the Chicago Bulls. Now, some of the seniors may come back next season as graduate students.
It’s been one full year of this nonsense now, yet we persist. Brighter days ahead, we tell ourselves. Meanwhile, somebody wins, somebody loses on television. Unless it’s soccer. Then we get draws.
We put up with those draws, with the fake noise. We get vaccinated, and wait. Maybe, just maybe, they’ll let us buy their overpriced ticket by autumn.
Take us out to the ballgame.