Nothing really compares to this
There is nothing really that compares to this. In my over 30 years of covering athletics in this area, a circumstance has never brought the entire sports community to such a standstill as what COVID-19, or more commonly referred to as the novel coronavirus, is doing.
The NCAA and Southeastern Conference at first on Wednesday announced that postseason tournaments and campus events would be held without fans. That seemed bad enough, then on Thursday, the decision was made to cancel the rest of the SEC Men's Tournament and suspend all campus athletic events until at least March 30.
After Georgia and Arkansas won games at the SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tenn., on Wednesday, the rest of the tournament came to an abrupt stop. I advanced the Bulldogs and Razorbacks in the printed bracket I was keeping at home, but unfortunately, that is as far as I got. Robbie Faulk, who was going to provide coverage on the Mississippi State Bulldogs for The Starkville Daily News, had to return early from Nashville on Thursday.
It's hard to believe that SEC Tournament games were canceled. That's never happened before in modern history.
The last time the SEC Tournament was held without anyone in the arena was when the tornado hit in Atlanta at the 2008 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament. The storm caused damage at the Georgia Dome where the event was being held and officials felt like the tournament could not continue at that venue. It was moved to Georgia Tech with limited access. As tough a time as that was, at least the games did continue.
On the night of the storm, MSU and Alabama played an overtime game and it was a good thing the extra sessions took place. If the action had ended when it was supposed to, there would have hundreds and hundreds of fans on the streets of Atlanta when the tornado came through.
Of course, weather causes outdoor sporting events to be canceled or postponed quite often. In 1990, the SEC Baseball
Tournament was held for the first time in Hoover, Ala. Mississippi State defeated LSU 3-1 to force a second game to determine the title. A major thunderstorm struck the area and made playing another game impossible. The SEC declared the Bulldogs and Tigers co-champions of the SEC Tournament that season.
The 9/11 terrorist attacks took place, ironically 11 years later, on September 11, 2001, and the college football games that were supposed to be played the following weekend were postponed until the end of the season. It was very unusual to see Mississippi State play Brigham Young at home following the 36-28 Thursday night win against Ole Miss.
The Bulldogs hosted the Memphis Tigers on a Monday night September 3 prior to 9/11 and did not play again until South Carolina came to
Starkville on Thursday night September 20. That was a very emotional game when everyone was in a patriotic mood.
People used sports as a way of escape back then to forget about the tragedy that had gripped the heart of the nation.
Right now, the nation is dealing with another crisis and sports is taking a big hit this time. The NCAA canceled the men's and women's tournaments. Other major conferences and professional leagues have taken the same measures over the last couple of days.
It has trickled down to junior college as the Mississippi Association of Community College Commission suspended all community college athletics through March 30 and it may be only a matter of time before high schools do something similar.
As of Thursday afternoon, the Mississippi High School Activities Association was in a wait-and-see mode. The organization issued a statement to say it is following the situation closely and will inform schools if any action is to be taken.
This will be unusual day. One where MSU was supposed to play an SEC Men's Basketball Tournament game and didn't, was supposed to open the SEC baseball schedule and didn't, and other SEC programs were to begin conference play and didn't.
This will be a Friday the 13th that no one will ever forget.
Danny P. Smith is the sports editor of The Starkville Daily News. The opinions in this column are his and not necessarily the views of the SDN or its staff.