What a year
It was a year ago today that the sports world stopped.
On this day 2020 the NBA and the Utah Jazz that night. The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic.
It's been a year. Sometimes it feels like it started last week. Sometimes it feels like the COVID is as old as my teenage son.
It was also the day after Joe Biden grabbed a commanding lead in the race to be the Democrat nominee with primary wins in Idaho, Michigan, Missouri and Mississippi. It was, as NPR reminded me, the day Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison for rape and sexual abuse. The stock market dropped 1,200 points.
It was also the day that Tom Hanks revealed that he and his wife Rita Wilson had the coronavirus.
Even with Dr. Anthony Fauci accurately telling Congress on this day last year that "Bottom line, it's going to get worse" and with Hanks' famous face giving an image to the invisible virus, sports for a lot of us made it real.
The postponement of an NBA game was the first domino. It quickly moved to conference basketball tournaments. March Madness was silenced. The ripple effects reached every sport across the world.
The costs in terms of lost revenue may never truly be calculated, all things considered.
But it's amazing that it was a year ago today that sports made it seem real.
And in a lot of ways opened the eyes of a lot of us to the dangers of this virus. Because after sports were halted, it was two days later that school was called here in Hamilton County.
What a year, huh?
It launched video-game racing and sports-betting on table tennis. It made cardboard fans seem commonplace and the sound of sneakers in bubbled NBA venues sound oddly comfortable.
We missed sports, and then we didn't as TV numbers declined in part because we found other things to watch and stream. (Tiger King anyone?)
We got reconnected with MJ, and a lot of folks learned how he was a better player and a much worse person than any of us remembered.
We celebrated when baseball started and we crossed our fingers as far too many national sports folks preached and tried to shame us for wanting to try to play football.
We prayed for the sick and cried for those who died.
And it still feels like it's a new normal that has been here for as long as any of us can remember.
What a year.
Good news Braves fans
Fried at last, Fried at last.
That's Fried, as in Max Fried friends, not fried as in chicken.
(Side question: Speaking of fried, what's your favorite fried food that's not chicken? Discuss.)
OK, the spring is the spring, and never has it been more spring-fully meaningless in terms of wins and losses than this year as managers and teams cancel innings, bat in the bottom of the ninth with a lead or just call a game after 8.
And that's fine.
But progress and form are paramount as the Braves prep for the start of the season. (Side question: How awesome is it that the Braves open the season three weeks from today? How awesome is it that there's a real chance we'll have crowds for the Braves this spring and summer?)
And the news on the progress and form fronts Wednesday were overwhelmingly positive.
Since we are three weeks from the opener at Philadelphia, we'll discuss the progress of the Braves every Thursday until the opener. Deal? Deal.
Today, it's Max Fried, who made his spring debut Wednesday after missing the first part of camp because of COVID protocols.
The Braves lefty will be counted on to be one of the rotation leaders, and his stuff Wednesday was every bit the arsenal of aces. Check the numbers: Four innings, three hits, a lone run, three Ks and no walks.
The Braves' biggest question marks are in the rotation. They can do nothing but wait for Mike Soroka's return from the Achilles' tear he suffered last year. The deals to bring in Charlie Morton and Drew Smyly look good on paper, but so did other stop-gap additions in previous years that didn't pan out. Ian Anderson is young, as is Kyle Wright and Bryse Wilson.
The surest thing in that rotation is Fried, and he sure looked the part Wednesday.
Biden's 'win'
As some will quickly point out, it's the system in which we live in and applies to both aisles on each side of the middle.
But the headline "Congress OKs $1.9 trillion virus relief bill in win for Biden, Democrats" screams volumes to me. Not a win for the American people. A win for the Democrats. So for all the hubbub about the previous regime politicizing the virus - and it was fair and disgusting, and more than anything else, COVID cost Donald Trump the White House - this is more of the same just with a different letter behind the politicians in charge.
Before I get too deep into this, I must tip the visor in terms of big-picture leadership to Joe Biden. When you make both sides mad about something you likely are making better decisions than many realize.
That's true in terms of the relief plan. Do I think it is too big? Bleep YES! But that some of the far left are unhappy they did not get absolutely everything their socialist hearts' desired means there was at least some rational thought and even potentially some - GASP - negotiation. And negotiation is the D.C. version of Andy Dufrense's hope - it is the best of things.
But the headline, especially the 'win for Biden, Democrats' said it all.
Because the headline is 100% accurate and 100% the problem.
The divide that most of us who tilt toward the middle - be it middle America, be it middle class, be it middle-of-the-road politics - continually cuss, behooves the extremes of the two-party system.
That's how Bernie and a former bartender with three names from NYC can become every bit as powerful as President Biden and the far-right extreme are bound and determined that dusting off the red hats and 'Trump 2024' is a good idea.
That divide splits all of us and makes us choose. It ignores negotiation and diplomacy. It feeds off hatred. It profits on the extremes while marginalizing and even decreasing the majority in the middle.
And if you're wondering how that's possible, well, that middle majority can't get candidates nominated in this two-party system, as folks who are fit and ready for the gig are not able to swing a majority of their base.
Oh, my profession is not innocent in this, at least not the entirety of those under the umbrella of my profession. In a time when real journalism - like folks at the TFP - has never been under a bigger threat and never needed more, partisan cable news outlets are popping up like spring daffodils.
Coincidence? Not on your life.
This and that
- Speaking of the $1.9 trillion stimulus/handout bill, did you see the little-discussed loophole that Democrats snuck into the bill that raises taxes on wealthy Americans and corporations? Sorry, Intern Scott. You and the rest of the big money folks are going to have to pony up some more taxes.
- While the NASCAR TV numbers for the Roval at Daytona and a couple other events were viewed as improvements from the same events in 2020, that's a little too rosy of an outlook on the NASCAR TV performances. Each race, compared to its week last year, is down in numbers. Significantly. Last Sunday's Vegas race drew a 2.6 rating and 4.36 million viewers, making it the lowest rated in Vegas since the race debuted in 1998. That's down about 20 percent from last year's Vegas' numbers when it was right after the season-opening Daytona 500.
- Speaking of TV and sports, want to guess what the top-watched sporting event of the weekend was? For the first time this season, it was not NASCAR. It was the NBA All-Star game. Seriously. The NBA event on TBS and TNT drew a 3.1 rating and 5.94 million viewers. The final round of the Arnold Palmer was third over the weekend at 2.4 and 3.86 million.
- One more TV and sports tidbit. UNC-Duke over the weekend was the least-watched installment of that rivalry since at least 2007 as it drew a 1.0 rating and averaged 1.87 million viewers. It was not even the most-watched college hoops game of the weekend, as more folks watched Michigan State upset Michigan.
- Speaking of college hoops, the full tournament slate will get rolling today, which is a sneaky excellent Thursday for sports viewing. The Players is in full swing. (I got Bryson DeChambeau finishing in the top-20 at +150. Hey, I don't like the guy, but getting those kind of odds for a player this much in the zone is too good to pass up friends.) Wall-to-wall college hoops. (I like Tech to win the ACC tournament and Arkansas to win the SEC draw.)
Today's questions
We mentioned earlier this week that with the signing of Dak Prescott, ESPN proper is going to have to find a new go-to topic as Prescott had become the fallback for its river of gabfests. Well, as Wells used to always joke, the Pete Rose Hall of Fame debate has always been a fall-back topic. It got some rerun when Rose did a radio spot earlier this week and said the steroid users will get into the Hall before he does.
Do you think the Bonds-Clemens-Sosa crew will get into the Hall before Rose?
And remember the favorite fried food question, too.
As for today, beyond the COVID-related review, Anthony Davis is 28 today.
AD is in Space Jame: A New Legacy with LeBron.
Does the original Space Jam make the Rushmore of basketball movies? What is the Rushmore of basketball movies?
Go and remember the mailbag.