Sports have returned and so have I
The sports world is returning to the “new” normal.
SEC Media Days – albeit virtual – are a few weeks away. The NBA, NHL and MLS have mapped out their plans to return to action. MLB owners and players ended their bickering over finances and signed off on a historic short season. Most colleges have set their fall academic and athletic return dates.
Ahh, the sports world has returned. Live sports coverage will soon blanket television schedules and will again dominate our social media accounts. But sports will never be the same. Not for the players and coaches. Not for the stadium vendors and the parking attendants.
Not for you.
And, certainly, not for me and my family.
Over the past three months, as COVID-19 dominated our lives, we've all been forced to make difficult decisions and choices. This newspaper chose to redirect its sports staff resources toward the pandemic's impact on our community. Your daily print “Sports” section front was replaced by a
“Coping” section.
Effective today, the full print sports section returns. Wearing their protective masks, staff members have been redeployed to their familiar sports duties. And my role is different, too. In March, as COVID-19 was spreading rapidly and the sports world was coming to a screeching halt, I was finishing my first year as the sports director of USA TODAY and Gannett's 260-market sports network. It was my dream job, one that I thought I'd remain in until I retired.
Then the world around us changed. And my priorities changed, too.
My family had remained in Middle Tennessee and was home when tornadoes hit our community, then my parents and my father-in-law each were diagnosed with disabling health conditions and the coronavirus upended schooling for my children. We needed to be together as a family to get through crises.
Thus, I returned to Tennessee where I again will oversee sports coverage for a company that has welcomed me back to my former role. I've also taken on additional responsibilities, too, overseeing our company's sports journalists in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
In the last four months, we've all learned we can live without sports. They are diversions from the things (our family, our religion, our health, our community) that should be most sacred to all of us.
Certainly, I am interested in seeing if Derrick Henry can again lead the Titans to the AFC title game … if the Grizzlies and Predators can win postseason trophies in their abbreviated seasons … if the Tigers, Vols, Commodores and Blue Raiders can play through a season that could be impacted by COVID-19 … if MLS and NASCAR can have an impact in our state.
Going forward, our staff will tell more stories on how sports and athletes influence our daily lives.
Yes, sports has returned. And so have
I.
Yet neither the sports, their fans nor I will ever be the same.
Dave Ammenheuser can be reached at dammenheuser@gannett.com and on Twitter @Daveammenheuser.