March Madness turns into sadness
Coronavirus puts an end to the tournament
FORT WORTH, Texas — Just as soon as we arrived in Fort Worth, we weren't sure why we were in Fort Worth.
This was before I walked into an empty arena and instantly felt regret. This was before the American Athletic Conference canceled its men's basketball tournament, before most every other conference did the same and before the NCAA Tournament was called off. This was Wednesday night, when the coronavirus grabbed sports fans' attention like never before.
Donald and Sarah Taddia were sitting in the next row up on Southwest flight 310 from Memphis. They were Tigers basketball season-ticket holders coming to Texas to watch the Tigers basketball team play in the American
Athletic Conference Tournament.
But when we landed at Dallas Love Field airport, we all checked our cellphones and found out the world was changing.
There was the statement from AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco announcing that the Taddias wouldn't be able to attend the AAC Tournament, just like no fans would be able to attend conference tournaments this year.
There was the televised statement from President Donald Trump restricting all travel to Europe, and the statement from actor Tom Hanks alerting the world that he and his wife had been diagnosed with the coronavirus.
Soon, there would be a statement from the NBA announcing the suspension of its season after Utah Jazz star Rudy Gobert was diagnosed with the coronavirus.
All of this news spread as fast and as uncontrollably as the virus itself. But that wasn't the worst of it for the Taddias. While all that was happening, while the world seemed to change every time we refreshed social media, they also received a message from family just as soon as that plane landed.
The New Orleans assisted living facility where a relative lives was now dealing with multiple cases of the coronavirus.
“A lot of this gets put in perspective,” Donald Taddia said. “As much of a fan as we are of Memphis basketball, it's too hard to be too upset about it.”
After a wild 24 hours in which the coronavirus outbreak rocked the American sports world, no college basketball
games were played at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, on Thursday. The AAC canceled its conference tournament a little more than an hour before it was set to begin, right as it appeared almost every other league in the country decided to do the same.
A few hours later, the NCAA Tournament was canceled as well.
“There was no way we could defend playing the games," Aresco said.
March Madness has turned into March sadness. Tip-offs have been replaced by a tipping point.
The second year of the Penny Hardaway era – a season that's been filled with drama, a season he described Thursday as "a big roller coaster," a season that already felt incomplete because of James Wiseman's departure – will not be completed.
It's about the only time this season Wiseman's absence felt like a blessing. At least Memphis basketball wasn't some juggernaut this season that had its national championship aspirations derailed by COVID-19.
“We're very disappointed," Hardaway said, "but we understand what's going on is bigger than basketball."
Sitting here in Fort Worth, in an otherwise empty press row in a mostly empty arena with a sea of unused gray seats, it all felt so uncomfortable. Minutes before the AAC announced its tournament cancellation, the Central Florida men's basketball team walked through the bowels of the building looking for its locker room.
Seeing those players only reinforced the question: Why were we here? Why take the risk?
We can't play basketball right now. We can't play any sports right now. We can't have another athlete contract the coronavirus like Gobert did, if we can avoid it. So we should at least be doing everything we can to avoid it.
Salvaging events or games that could worsen, not lessen, the effects of this pandemic is foolhardy. It's a relief most of the decision makers in major professional and college sports are finally reaching that conclusion, too.
Sports are usually a refuge or a distraction or an escape in times of crisis. Heck, the NCAA has held a men's basketball tournament every year since 1939, including each season during World War II. Canceling it this season is unprecedented.
But right now, during this crisis, sports are part of the problem. They are distracting us from what's developing in front of us. This isn't a time to be reactive. It's a moment that calls for preventive measures, that calls for us to heed the warnings the world's top health officials have been sounding for a while now.
"We're shutting down. What's the next level of this, though?" Hardaway said. "Is everyone going to have to stay at home for a while until they figure it out and not go on the streets?”
So yes, we can all live without sports for a few weeks, or even a few months if it comes to that. That includes sports columnists. Because whether it's Tom Hanks, or a relative in assisted living, or the teams we love, we all now know someone affected by the coronavirus outbreak. We all need to do everything we can to stop it, so sports can become a sanctuary again.
You can reach Commercial Appeal columnist Mark Giannotto via email at mgiannotto@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter: @mgiannotto