The Whole Nine Yards So, Now What?
It’s a question I found myself asking a lot this past week as shoe after shoe dropped in the sports and entertainment world due to Covid-19 concerns.
“Now what?”
As a journalist working primarily in prep sports, and in my off hours just as much of a sports fan, it pains me to know the end of the great sporting lull between the Super Bowl and March Madness is now indefinite.
League after league has suspended games, delayed the start of seasons or held games without fans. The NBA got its patient zero in Utah Jazz player Rudy Gobert, who two days prior had been jokingly touching reporters’ microphones when he was unknowingly already infected.
Closer to home for many Trempealeau County sports fans, busloads of Arcadia fans had to turn around midway through the morning of their Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association girls basketball Division Three semifinal after last-minute fan restrictions were made by the WIAA board. Family, friends and the players and coaches themselves were cheated out of the true state experience by recent precautionary measures, which is a memory that can never be replaced.
None of us like this, but it is important to remember these decisions are not made easily. Owners and commissioners are sacrificing profits and have hundreds of hourly workers who depend on the income made from these games.
What we need to collectively realize as fans though is that these decisions are also made in our collective best interest. As bad as things already feel, avoiding the insurmountable burden to our healthcare system that comes from having too many sick at one time is the only way to get past this. We all play a part in that by protecting ourselves for our own sake as well as the health of those we love. As a healthy young adult, I acknowledge my risk is low, but I’m not the only one on my mind. I think of the loved ones I could spread this to, including those of higher risk who could suffer if I were to pass it on to them.
That is why it is imperative to approach this virus with the responsibility it requires. That doesn’t mean going to the nearest grocery store and buying two cartloads of toilet paper like I saw some doing last week, but it does mean washing your hands thoroughly. It also means exercising responsibility with your health and staying home if you feel you may be a risk to others. It may even take a degree of care for others over our own needs seldom seen in this day and age.
We all share the burden of spreading reliable information in the social media era as well. Do not share the first thing that pops into your Facebook feed just because it affirms your pre-existing fear or lack thereof. Fact check, and consult reliable CDC and World Health Organization sources directly. The Trempealeau County Times will do our part to keep readers in tune with the suggestions of area health officials, and on the sports end we will continue to attend games as long as we can get access.
As for what now entertainment-wise, maybe it’s best we take a few weeks off to sort out the things that matter most anyway.
