By Nicholas Williams ’21
Photo courtesy of Nicholas Williams ’21 | COVID-19 has put all sports on hold for the time being
Some sports more are being heavily affected by COVID-19 than others. The sport making the most buzz and seems to be getting affected the most is basketball.
March Madness has been canceled, and the professional basketball season has, for now, been postponed.
There have been many National Basketball Association players that have tested positive for COVID-19, including Kevin Durant, Donavan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert, Marcus Smart and many more whose names have not been released to the public.
“I was in shock when the NBA got canceled so suddenly and started to wonder what it was going to be like with no sports. Also, I was shocked at the severity of COVID-19. I wasn’t really expecting it to shut down major leagues in the country and the world,” said Brophy basketball player Quentin Cibulka ’21.
It seems as if the sports world has suddenly stopped entirely and everyone is looking to others for answers.
Cibulka then went on to say, “Instead of watching sports I have tried to fill in the huge gap with other activities, trying to learn an instrument like the ukulele, going on bike rides and runs, really anything that will take up the time that I would use to watch sports.
“I also have been watching old historic games on the NBA network, like the 2016 NBA finals, Devin Booker’s 70 point performance, and Game 6 of 2012 Eastern Conference Finals of Heat Celtics,” Cibulka said.
The first person to postpone/cancel any sort of sporting event as a result of the Coronavirus was Adam Silver, NBA commissioner, on March 11th.
This news shocked the world and left everybody, including Silver, with questions of the future.
“As for the NBA, I hope they start the season where it left off originally and restart in July or August or whenever it is safe to do so. The season will run long, and the draft and free agency will have to be pushed back,” said Michael Crossley ’21.
“Once the finals are over, I think the following season should be shortened to like 60 games or something to keep the season following that to be on track with a normal NBA season schedule,” Crossley said.
When Silver made the decision to postpone the NBA season, the National Collegiate Athletic Association then followed him in canceling March Madness the next day.
The NCAA had a really great response to the pandemic as they didn’t wait for anybody on the court or on the staff to test positive and pass it to others.
March Madness is arguably one of the biggest sporting events in America in which all people, basketball fans or not, are invested in watching games.
What makes this tournament so fun and unique is that there is always a large number of upsets that nobody saw coming.
Everyone around the world has been wondering what the NCAA will do regarding seniors, who got one of the most important parts of their last season stripped away from them.
Will they get another year of eligibility? The NCAA has already granted spring-sports athletes another year play, and they are currently looking into winter sports.
“As for seniors, I do not think they should get another year of eligibility. Some teams played a full season and lost in their conference playoffs. Their seasons were completely over. I do not think it’s fair to reinstate all seniors, because they all played 90-100% of their season,” Crossley said.
