Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
DeSantis trolling with sports plan
When I read Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis quote, my world brightened. I sent it to sports fans everywhere. It said we’ve entered a new, victorious stage of the coronavirus pandemic, at least in our one-fiftieth of the country.
In case you missed it, here was the quote: “What I’d tell the commissioners of leagues is if you have a team in an area where they just won’t let ‘em operate, we’ll find a place for you in Florida because we think it’s important and we know it can be done safely.”
DeSantis later told FOX News he’d talked with, “some of our colleges like the like the University of Florida. They’ve got a great football stadium, The Swamp, that’s not used on Sunday. If an NFL team needs a place to land, we could work that out, too.”
No one asked him if The Swamp will be used on Saturday this fall.
But, come on, is this a great state or what?
The only way it could be any better is if DeSantis wasn’t a politician trolling locked down states like California. If he wasn’t using the hope of sports’ return to further some partisan agenda. If everyone was certain about operating an actual sports game, “safely” in this environment.
Here’s how odd this time has become: The pro sports leagues, the ones whose seasons are broken and are bleeding billions, sound more diligent about safety than the elected leaders.
The NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball are trying to figure how to resume their seasons. The NFL’s season is off on the horizon so it’s acting like a vaccine is coming over the horizon and life will run exactly as its three-hour scheduling show said.
But what if December is the new September? What if thousands of daily tests aren’t available for sports? What if seasons are canceled altogether (and do the Dolphins get the fifth pick overall next year? Because they’d be nuts to pass up on University of Miami defensive end Greg Rousseau)?
The NBA plans to decide in two to four weeks whether to resume play in two cities, maybe Orlando and Las Vegas (which one would you rather visit in a pandemic?). A primary issue is testing. Not just administering tests. What do they do if someone tests positive?
If a player testing positive would, “shut us down,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said on a conference call
“What I’d tell the commissioners of leagues is if you have a team in an area where they just won’t let ‘em operate, we’ll find a place for you in Florida because we think it’s important and we know it can be done safely.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
with players recently, then the league shouldn’t return at all. That becomes a players union issue.
Baseball, meanwhile, hopes to return July 14th to an abbreviated season. That date is close enough to seem real, but far enough on the horizon to be an artificial idea. A prime baseball concern is understandable, too: Money. How to split it?
The NHL is planning to play in a handful of sites and jump right to the playoffs. This would crush the Florida Panthers, for whom a bad season would turn dark. They’d be done. Not that they’re part of the big picture in all this.
The given for each league is there will be no fans. That would have seemed inconceivable two months ago. Now it’s our world. We’ll take sports as they are right now, if just to distract us from real life issues.
Who cares, too, if leagues pump artificial noise into stadiums to enhance the empty atmosphere?
Let them tape lifesize pictures of season-ticket holders to seats if it helps.
The bottom-line to all this is that these plans are just plans as of now. The virus can change them next week or make them irrelevant in a month. More difficult than pro sports, who have a central voice, are what colleges sports will decide. Do you expect them to unite on a plan to return to school, much less resume sports?
University of Minnesota regent Ken Powell said recently, “I think the odds are we are not gonna be back to school in the fall, in person. And that may mean that sports is not gonna be happening, at least in the beginning.”
West Virginia president Gordon Gee said Wednesday: “We are going to play football in the fall, even if I have to suit up.”
How to resume right now is a discussion, not a decision. But send us your poor, your tired, your huddling teams yearning to play, America. Florida is ready. Our governor said The Swamp is open Sundays. But Saturdays? We’ll see.