Humbled

Sports are an extension of us but Nature, not so much.  If it were, we wouldn’t be dealing with this avalanche of cancellations and postponements.

 

NCAA March Madness is history, along with the Illinois high school equivalent.  College spring sports have been shut down, along with the current NBA and NHL seasons. Spring training looks to be over, and MLB Opening Day delayed at least two weeks.  Major League Soccer also has postponed the start of its season.

 

This may say more about me than I want, but the cancellation of the men’s NCAA tournament bothers me the least of all.  March Madness has always struck me as a corrupt bargain involving players; schools; broadcast networks; and the NCAA.  Student-athletes?  According to the NCAA website, March Madness—the men’s D-I basketball tournament for the uninitiated—generates $867.5 million in television and marketing revenue.  Lord Acton said something about power corrupting, yes?  Well, money is power with dollar signs attached.

 

For those college basketball players and coaches who do embody the ideal of amateur athletics, qualifying and not going to the tournament this year is rotten luck; for everyone else involved, oh well.  It’s the spring-sport athletes I really feel for.  My daughter used to be one of them.

 

The “one and done” phenomenon of college basketball isn’t a factor in college baseball; “three and done,” maybe, but I’m not aware of baseball players doing anything remotely close to the one season of college basketball followed by entry in the NBA draft.  As for college softball, the draft is something players get when they leave a dorm window open at night.

 

What matters for a good 95-97 percent of college softball players is making the most of those four years of eligibility they have.  Clare put it to me this way the other day, “If someone had told me I couldn’t play my senior year, we’d both need counseling.”  Notice she used the plural “we.”  She’s right.

 

Clare suggested an extra year of eligibility for seniors whose teams/conferences cancel entire seasons.  I’d go so far as to say anyone on a college baseball or softball roster on March 1, 2020, should be extended an extra year of eligibility, regardless their year in school.  Freshmen don’t want to miss out on a year of playing any more than seniors do.

 

For college athletes, that would help lessen the blow from the loss of a season.  But if high schools start canceling baseball and softball seasons, that extra year of eligibility won’t be an option, and a whole lot of people will need counseling.     

 

I know I would.