Let’s get right to it, shall we? This blog is ostensibly about the Cleveland Browns, and this would normally be the time of the year to start breaking down preseason games, analyzing Baker Mayfield’s facial hair, and once again trying to figure out about a new management/coaching regime in Cleveland. However, we can’t talk about the Browns (or sports in general) without talking about COVID-19. I haven’t been in the United States in person in over a year, so I cannot (from first hand experience) describe the shambolic shit show that’s happening across the country right now. However, I can take the pulse of different parts of the country thanks to a widespread group of people that I am lucky enough to call my friends. From Boston, Atlanta, New York, Southern California, Montana, the Hawaiian Islands, and many points in between , I think I’ve gleaned a perspective on what is happening in large cities as well as small towns. That’s in addition to inhaling information from news outlets (across the political spectrum) and of course from some snarky figures like John Oliver and Stephen Colbert.
At the time of writing, there are 183,653 families in the United States mourning a loss. Let’s not think about this as a statistic, it is far more than a simple tally of the number dead. That’s 183,653 funerals. That’s 183,653 people who loved, and were loved by countless others. The 183,653 people that had talents and dreams, and now there are 183,653 holes ripped in the lives of those who surrounded each person. For each of those 183,653 people, there is a group of people that attended each one of those deaths, and had to take that home at the end of their shift. For those people who like to point out that only a small percentage of people actually have COVID, or try to argue that the death rates are quite low, I suggest they think about what 183,653 graves look like. Or maybe they can talk to doctors and nurses who work in overcrowded hospitals on a daily basis, and get a sense of what that’s like.*
I understand that everybody desperately wants the world to return to “normal”, to have schools open with all the accoutrements, to be able to travel freely, and to go back to attending baseball and football games in person. But trying to convince yourself that COVID-19 is just a bad version of the flu is not the way to do it. (Here’s a great video from Vox that explains exactly why COVID is so much worse than the flu) The hard truth is that “normal” life cannot happen in the near future, especially in the United States. Yes, a vaccine could be around the corner, but what about production, distribution and so forth? Long story short, this is the situation for the foreseeable future in the United States, and most likely in many other parts of the world as well. If you don’t work for a biotech firm or you’re not an epidemiologist, your ability to positively impact the situation is limited to maintaining your composure, doing the easy things to keep yourself and others safe (like wearing a mask, not hanging out with 1500 people at a pool party) and being mature enough to put some activities on the shelf for a while.
For me, the activities on the shelf for a while include live music, flying, movies, and attending soccer games in person here in Prague.** Believe it or not, a baseball player had quite a profound comment on the intersection of the pandemic and sports. Sean Doolittle from the Washington Nationals said “Sports are like the reward of a functional society…” I have never really thought about sports in that way, but it’s true. It’s pretty tough to rationalize all of the resources consumed by a sports league when over one thousand people are dying each day from COVID-19. If your kitchen was on fire, I’m not sure the best use of your time would be picking out new furniture for the living room. I think you’d put the fire out, rebuild the kitchen, and see what’s leftover to spend on a couch. We need to just hit pause wherever possible, and direct our attention to minimizing infection rates and deaths from COVID-19. If that means you can’t go to the movies, or see an Indians game, so be it. That’s a small (temporary) price to pay in order to contribute to the greater good.
Full disclosure: I have watched a lot of sports since the leagues in North America and Europe started coming back. But it’s weird, and definitely a hollow feeling. Not because of the empty stadiums and the lack of championship parades (Liverpool), but because these nations are paralyzed in many cases, and grappling with social policies that will drastically affect the quality of life for everyone. I can kind of see the push to finish a season that was mostly finished (NBA and NHL) but the notion of starting new seasons is pretty crazy to me. (Baseball, NFL, college football). The NFL will reportedly require well over 200,000 COVID tests during the season, but wouldn’t those tests and lab time be better directed to help quantify and model the spread of a deadly disease in the general public and not just among football teams? Anybody that knows me can tell you that I love sports. I’ll go to games in the worst weather imaginable, I regularly watch games with 2 AM starts, and right or wrong, I’ll make plans specifically around big games. So more than most people, I’d like nothing more than sports (and life) to return to normal. However, I can recognize that’s simply not going to be the case for a while. I want our society to become functional once again, and when that’s accomplished, let’s go to work picking out the new furniture in the living room.
*The New York Times crunched the data from the CDC, and it appears that we may be undercounting the number dead from COVID-19. The real toll could be upwards of 200,000 people.
**To be fair, those activities would’ve been on the shelf for me anyway as the newest member of the staff of 4338 came on board in May. Bringing him up to speed on the procedures and workflow around here has consumed a lot of time, and many activities would have been on the shelf anyway. Except live music. There is always time for live music.
