The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
» Bradley: After the world changed, it’s slowly changing back,
So much happened over those 24 hours that you’d think it would defy definition or categorization or simple belief, but somehow you knew. This was something you’d never experienced. You knew you’d remember those 24 hours forever.
You’d gone to Nashville on Wednesday to cover the SEC Tournament, which was supposed to last until Sunday. You were back in Georgia by 5 p.m. Thursday. You had stuff in your car you’d never packed before — a bottle of hand sanitizer, a cannister of Clorox wipes and a bag of disposable gloves. You had learned to wash your hands while humming “Happy Birthday” twice, that being how long a proper washing should take.
You looked at everyone as if he/she was an enemy. The same applied to you. After breakfast Thursday in the Omni’s restaurant, you coughed — once — while walking toward the elevator. A man 30 feet away glared at you. You wanted to say, “I just took my temperature!” Or: “I’m 30 feet away!” Which you had, and you were. But still. One cough could mean COVID-19.
On Wednesday, March 11, the World Health Organization used the word “pandemic” to describe our global state. You got that bulletin on your phone when you stopped for gas an hour south of Nashville. A calendar year later, you’ve bought gas three times since. You haven’t eaten in a restaurant since March 15. Your last proper haircut was 53 weeks ago. You haven’t interviewed anyone in person since the night of the 11th in Bridgestone Arena, when Georgia beat Mississippi in the first — and the nextto-last — game of the tournament.
Those 24 hours remain a vivid blur, if that’s possible. You remember when you were — in the hotel room, dressing for the game — when word came Wednesday that the NCAA planned to play its basketball tournament without fans in attendance. You remember who told you — an SEC higher-up, speaking not for the record — that his conference would soon announce its intention to do the same. You remember where you were — again in the room, writing an installment of the Greatest Final Four series the AJC had planned for the Final Four in Atlanta — when the SEC canceled its tournament via Twitter.
(Editorial note: Even though there was no 2020 Final Four, we ran the series. All 10 parts.)
You wrote something about the SEC cancellation and checked out of the hotel posthaste. For one thing, you didn’t want to get charged for another night. Mostly, though, you wanted to get out of town. The story of the Utah Jazz being quarantined in their locker room in Oklahoma City after Rudy Gobert tested positive the night before was fresh in your mind. If there was going to be a lockdown, you wanted to be locked down at home.
“To call it the most incredible day in the annals of American sports is an understatement,” you wrote. “It was among the more dizzying days in the history of this nation.” And that was before the NCAA got around to its full-blown cancellation, which happened just after you’d crossed the state line. (Whew. No being locked down in Tennessee.) You stopped at Shoney’s in Calhoun to write something about that momentous new development. By then you were numb.
And then you were home, wondering a million things. Might you have been exposed to the virus on your 30-hour trip? Should you isolate yourself in an upstairs bedroom? Oh, and this, too: With sports shuttered, how might a sportswriter earn his keep?
There was so much unknown as of March 12, 2020, but this you knew: What was happening would be the biggest story of your life. We weren’t sure where we were headed, but it was clear we were bound for a place we’d never been.
One year later, you look back in wonder: Was there really a shortage of toilet paper? (Yes.) A political divide over masks? (Oh, yes.) Were there days when you weren’t sure anyone would make it through? (Absolutely.) But here our world sits, having completed a full trip around the sun and developed several vaccines en route, and it’s now possible to envision life after COVID-19. It’s also possible — and fitting — to say a Hail Mary for those 528,000 Americans who’ve died.
The pandemic isn’t over. Grim numbers, however, have become less grim. You still wear two masks when you go out, and you still don’t venture out often. But you’ve been vaccinated, and you’re not as scared as a year ago, when nothing seemed to be working and it was unclear if anything would.
You’ve continued to write about sports, all of which shut down, all of which are up and running again. A year ago, you wouldn’t have characterized sports as an essential industry. Today, you just might. The world is a better place when our diversions actually divert us.
As a society, we began to take the virus seriously March 11 and 12, 2020. When sports began to return — the NBA and NHL in bubbles, baseball without fans, football with a few fans — it seemed the end of a bad beginning. Today the prospect of March Madness reclaiming its hold on the USA heralds the beginning of an end. We might just make it after all.
ONE YEAR LATER
Pro Bowl kicker Younghoe Koo and three other exclusive-rights free agents re-signed with the Falcons, the team announced Thursday.
The other players are defensive end Jacob Tuioti-mariner, wide receiver Christian Blake and cornerback Tyler Hall. Tight end Jaeden Graham is the Falcons’ remaining ERFA.
Exclusive-rights free agents can negotiate only with their current team ahead of the new year. If they are not tendered a contract, they become unrestricted free agents.
The Falcons also have decisions to make on their restricted free agents, offensive lineman Matt Gono and wide receiver/returner Brandon Powell.
Koo made 37 of 39 fieldgoal attempts (94.9%), including 8 of 8 from at least 50 yards, and 33 extra-point attempts for a career-high 144 points in 15 games last season. He was named to the Pro Bowl for the first time. Koo’s 37 made field goals led the NFL.
Tuioti-mariner played in all 16 games and had 31 tackles and one sack — a big sack-strip in the 43-6 win over the Raiders. He earned NFC defensive player-of-theweek honors after a careerhigh five total tackles (three solo), one sack, one forced fumble, two fumble recoveries and one special-teams tackle against the Raiders.
Blake played in all 16 games, with one start. He had a career-high 13 receptions for 141 yards.
Hall, who played at Wyoming, started on the practice squad. He appeared in two games as a standard practice-squad promotion before he was signed to the active roster in Week 6. He finished with 20 total tackles (15 solo), one sack, four quarterback hits, one forced fumble, two fumble recoveries and a career-high 11 special-teams tackles in 16 games.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLA. — Sergio Garcia rushed to the first tee and raced to the finish line Thursday in The Players Championship.
Most importantly, he avoided the kind of wreck that allowed the TPC Sawgrass to live up to its reputation as the course where anything can happen to anyone at any time.
Garcia thought he had plenty of time to get from the range to the 10th tee to start his round. The sun was in his eyes when he looked at the clock, he wasn’t sure what he saw, jogged the rest of the way and had a minute to spare. Then he fired off a 7-under 65, capped off by a birdie-birdie-eagle finish for a two-shot lead over University of Georgia product Brian Harman.
It was a solid day that became brilliant over the final three holes.
Garcia only had to look next to him to see what kind of damage the Stadium Course inflicted, even on a pristine day of pleasant sunshine and a mild breeze.
Rory Mcilroy, the defending champion, opened with a double bogey from the trees. He hit two in the water on the 18th and made a quadruple-bogey 8. He wound up with a 79, his worst score since his opening round at Royal Portrush in the 2019 British Open.
When darkness brought the first round to a halt — 21 players didn’t finish — there already were 13 scores of 80 or higher. That included Henrik Stenson with an 85, his highest score on the PGA Tour.
There were 22 scores of triple bogey or worse.
Garcia took eight shots to play his final three holes. Byeong Hun An took 11 shots on the par-3 17th hole.
The Spaniard feels comfortable on a course that causes anxiety even in good weather.
“For some reason, it just kind of fits my eye,” said Garcia, who won The Players in 2008 and has twice been runner-up. “I see what I want to do pretty much every hole, and then it’s a matter of doing it.”
Harman played in the afternoon and was hanging around par until he began the back nine with three straight
birdies, shot 31 on the back and wound up with a 67.
British Open champion Shane Lowry took bogey on his final hole for a 68 and was tied with Corey Conners and Matt Fitzpatrick. Bryson Dechambeau, coming off his victory last week at Bay Hill, had to take a little off his driver on the par-5 16th and had 9-iron left, setting up a birdie-birdie-par finish to join the group at 69.
The small number of fans — by Sawgrass standards — saw a little bit of everything.
It started early with Mcilroy, who shot 43 on his opening nine holes.
“The big number on 18 didn’t help and then doubling the first wasn’t helpful, either,” he said. “It’s hard to recover when you just haven’t played good. If you take that 18th hole out, it still wasn’t a very good day.”
Stenson hit into the water on consecutive holes for a double bogey and a triple bogey. He put two more in the water, including one of 18 balls in the water on the island-green 17th.
Three of those belonged to Kevin Na, who made an 8 and then withdrew after signing for an 81.
Ian Poulter (77) sat for lunch with Mcilroy, Stenson and Tyrrell Hatton (76) and posted video of this fearsome foursome that combined to go 29-over par. “Oh, what a bunch of muppets,” Poulter said.
Rickie Fowler had three double bogeys in his round of 77, leaving him in danger of missing the cut and likely missing out on the Dell Match Play in two weeks. Dustin Johnson took double bogey on the par-5 11th and eagle on the par-5 16th in his round of 73. Jordan Spieth missed only two fairways and had to settle for a 70.
Garcia’s lone bogey came after perhaps his best shot. From the pine straw next to a tree left of the first fairway, he hooded an iron that came out low and right to left with enough run that it settled 25 feet away. And then he three-putted.
The most remarkable round might have belonged to Hoge, who managed to get through 18 holes without a bogey.
“It was a good, solid day, kind of what you want here on the Stadium Course,” Hoge said. “I haven’t been hitting it that well coming in here, so I just tried to hit a lot of greens and stay out of trouble for the most part.”
Sebastian Munoz was at 4 under with one hole to play, that being the 18th, and a shot into the water led to a triple bogey for a 71. He tried to take out the positives of five birdies, and that’s what makes this tournament so tough to predict. There are plenty of birdies available. It doesn’t take much to erase all the good work.
“You do have a lot of wedges in your hand,” Munoz said. “Par 5s are reachable. So yeah, we do have a lot more chances than a usual course. But I mean, danger is around the corner on every hole.”