Strange times have taken things, given us others

I can’t boast much in the way of Irish heritage, so St. Patrick’s Day at the Sugiura home was on the tame side. My wife Robyn and our three children — Emi (10), Mika (8) and Kai (6) — idled away a supremely pleasant evening marking up the driveway with chalk. (In truth, most everything my family does is safely on the tame side. We go to one of those churches where there’s a tangible unease when people start to clap in time with the music.)

For me, the night might have reached its high point when I drew an outline of the state of Nevada and marked it with the state’s 16 counties. It was a request from my son, who has an affinity for the 50 states. (Two Halloweens ago, he was Utah.)

Earlier that day, I had written a story about the ACC’s decision to cancel all athletic activities for the remainder of the school year and another about the reaction of Georgia Tech golf coach Bruce Heppler, whose perennially elite team’s aspirations to win the school’s first-ever NCAA title in the sport had been dashed. Heppler had share, “I fully believe we were going to (win the NCAA title).”

In a noncoronavirus world, I might have been helping ready Mika and Kai for bed, keeping an eye on the clock to pick up Emi from gymnastics and perhaps planning to start on another story about Tech’s spring practice during the school’s spring break.

But in the three-plus weeks since coverage plans for the Tech beat officially veered onto an uncharted course, March 17 might have been a fairly accurate representation of what life has actually been like. That is, figuring out stories to write about Georgia Tech’s athletic department and sports in Atlanta while also enjoying the gift that the quarantining directives have dropped in the laps of many: more time with family than I’ve ever enjoyed.

Of the former, writing about sports with no games or practices to cover or even anticipate has offered a healthy challenge to my creativity; not a bad thing. It has also given me the time to invest more in stories I might not have otherwise pursued, such as an interview with the mother and sister of late Tech football player Brandon Adams as the one-year anniversary of his death approached.

I caught up with members of Tech’s 1990 Final Four team, a story that I wouldn’t have had time (and probably reason) to tell if not for the cancellation of the Final Four in Atlanta. This unprecedented hiatus has also nudged me away from my Tech beat, leading me to a story about how Georgia Southern conducted a search for a men’s basketball coach by video conference (while its new athletic director, Jared Benko, had yet to officially start).

I wrote another this past week about the women’s basketball team at Division III Oglethorpe University in Brookhaven after the Stormy Petrels’ season was cruelly halted at 29-1, with a spot in the Sweet 16.

I’m looking forward to producing stories in days to come about Tech football strength coach Lewis Caralla’s efforts to keep the home-bound Yellow Jackets motivated and suitably muscled via text messages and Twitter, and how the athletic department’s academic support staff has overhauled its operations in order to serve athletes now scattered as far away as Finland and Italy and taking classes online.

Personally, though, the biggest difference has been the time I’ve been afforded to be with my family. The reality of the job is that it often takes me away from home on weekends and for games. Even at home it often occupies me well into the evening. (Not complaining, mind you.)

But, with no games or practices, and in-person interviews generally to be avoided, I’ve done just about all of my work at home. I reach sources on the phone and keep fairly normal hours for the most part. That has granted me precious time to eat three meals a day with Robyn and our children and be free most of the time on the weekend.

It’s far from my norm, and it has been a treat.

I was there to help my son learn to ride his bike. We’ve ended the day playing Uno and Clue. Otis, our rescue pit bull mix, is cutting a sharp figure after all of his walks. We’ve also efficiently cycled through daily round robins of getting on each others’ nerves. But I’ll take it.

“Just being a dad right now is No. 1,” Caralla told me recently in a phone interview. “It’s been great.”

I completely agree. There is a tension I feel as I play catch with Mika and Emi, or stock up at Publix. Simultaneously, so many are suffering due to job reduction or loss (including friends in my field), financial stress, isolation and the coronavirus itself. I know how absolutely blessed and lucky my family is.

We are so, so grateful to the health care and essential workers putting their lives on the line to serve during the pandemic, and have tried to help meet needs where we can.

Like everyone who loves college sports, and football in particular, I’m hopeful that we’ll have games to play, watch and cover this fall, but I also know enough to not make any predictions.

Until then, I’ll be camped out at the kitchen table, hacking away on the laptop and anticipating the next game of Uno.

CONTRIBUTED BY KAI SUGIURA At the behest of his son, Georgia Tech beat writer Ken Sugiura draws a chalk map of Nevada, detailed with its 16 counties, on the family’s driveway.