This article was written for the sole purpose of getting sympathy from you, just FYI. I have tried again and again to process the emotions that I am feeling but, in the end, it doesn’t even matter (s/o LP). People are dying, plain and simple. Sometimes, world events are indeed bigger than what you love the most and society has to make sacrifices for the greater good. As a result, everything is canceled or postponed indefinitely. NBA, NCAA tourney, MLB, NHL, Wrestlemania, Spring Break, your local bar, Disney World, movies, international travel, the world. This current period in time will go down in history books for not only the canceled events listed above but for a reflection on how the world responded to a highly contagious pneumonia/flu-like illness that attacks the lungs and is considered deadly for the elderly and those who have pre-existing conditions. But for now, let’s talk about me and what I’m missing out on…

On March 11th, the NBA decided to postpone their season indefinitely. They were well into their season with most, if not all, teams having less than 20 regular season games left to play. Now, many executives believe that the season will not resume until June barring any setbacks with the outbreak. Depending on when in June they start this could push the Finals to sometime late-August and even into September. This could obviously create problems as the 2020-2021 season is scheduled to start in late-October, giving teams and players only about a month to rest and complete off-season transactions. It is highly possible that they will push back the start of the 2020-2021 season and make the new start date the norm for rest of time.

NCAA has canceled all end-of-year tournaments for every active sport, not just basketball. It goes without saying that NCAA will suffer tremendous losses in revenue (boo-hoo) but the real loss comes from the fact that seniors will not be able to experience their final game as a collegiate athlete. Teams that were expected to go far in the tourneys will never know if their hard work will have ever paid off. A vast majority of athletes around the country may have played their final game in a competitive atmosphere much earlier than they anticipated. They have been robbed of their Senior Day that they’ve seen their teammates before them experience. I would even go as far as saying that there are players out there that may not get drafted in their respective sport due to the missed opportunities to succeed and get noticed by scouts. That’s the real story in the sports world.

Then there are sports like MLB, where their season hasn’t even started yet (Opening Day was supposed to be March 26) and now the league is left to come up with a way to make up as many games as possible while avoiding playing the World Series on Thanksgiving. There have been many crazy ideas and theories to come out of the woodwork since MLB announced the delay of the season until further notice. One includes playing all 162 games, which would push the playoffs deep into the fall and even winter, and then play at neutral locations like Miami or somewhere in California when the weather gets too cold. This one I hate the most because it screws with home-field advantage (no incentive to play after securing the division), shortens the off season, and pulls eyes away from the game since NFL will be well into their season. Another idea is to cancel most of the inter-league games, have as many Sunday double-headers as possible, and skip the All-Star game. In this scenario, division games hold even more weight than they usually do, the playoffs will still be held around the same time, and players will not wear down as much towards the end of the season. Regardless of what ideas people are coming up with now, the schedule cannot be set in stone until there is an official ruling on when the season can begin. At this point in time, there’s no telling if we will see 162 games, 100 games, or even 80 games.

Last but certainly not least, we discovered that Vince McMahon has a heart after all. Shortly after pulling the plug on the XFL, McMahon and WWE have decided to take Wrestlemania 36 from Raymond James Stadium that has a seating capacity of over 65,000 people, to WWE’s training facility in Orlando that will seat 0. WWE has been airing their Monday Night Raw and Friday Night Smackdown shows at the training facility for a couple weeks now but has yet to host a major pay-per-view event. Many fans have been intrigued by the recent shows and how the wrestlers adjust to not having live audience feedback, an essential part to their performance. There is a lot of doubt surrounding how good Wrestlemania can actually be now since it is supposed to be the grandest stage of all in professional wrestling. Do you want to know the saddest part of all this? I had fucking tickets to Wrestlemania. Feel sorry for me, NOW!

Listen up. The sooner people stop going out, the more people wash their hands, and the less toilet paper people buy, the sooner we get sports back. So cut the shit and help one another. Also, stop buying all the chicken and beef, I just want to make myself some dinner.