Welcome back Sports Teaser fans! Sorry about the brief hiatus that the world put us on, but hopefully this will be a restart that won’t be interrupted
again anytime soon! It’s still hard to believe that sports and pretty much of the rest of our normal lives was interrupted on March 12; everything just
stopped and ground to a halt. Currently, with a better handle on how to slow down the COVID-19 virus before we get a vaccine, some sports have
resumed, and others will do so soon with restrictions. Although I don’t have much to recap for the last 3 months (other than the reruns of past sporting
events -- FYI when FOX ran the Falcons Super Bowl debacle a while back, the local channel in Atlanta showed a movie – good move!), we do have
some exciting things to look forward to in the world of sports!
NASCAR has restarted without fans, having about two races every week to get caught up even with a limited schedule. Being the first live sports
event to come back, there are probably a lot of new racin’ fans simply because it was the only thing on. It seems like the Daytona 500 and that horrible
wreck that Ryan Newman essentially walked away from, was a long long time ago.
As you know, I’m a fairly rabid golf fan and the PGA tour is restarting the middle of June with a limited schedule for the rest of the season. The first
few events will have no spectators or sponsors allowed. However, as of this writing, the state of Ohio has authorized spectators to be able to attend
The Memorial tournament in mid-July. Unfortunately, the British Open was canceled for this year and will resume in 2021, but the other three majors
have been rescheduled with a November Masters on the calendar. I know who will be watching golf and football that weekend. And eating pimento
cheese and egg salad of course!
The NBA, MLB, and NHL have come up with some plans to play a limited season starting this summer. The NBA will finish its season and playoffs
with Mickey Mouse in Disney World. Many of these events will not have spectators, which will be awkward, but at least they’ll be playing.
College football is planning to start as normal but, as we know, things can change if there are any other health concerns that pop up. Many colleges
really need the television money to keep their athletic departments in the black. I think they will play football this fall but if the students are not on
campus that presents a problem. In addition, the NFL plans to start as scheduled. All these plans are subject to change and hopefully will proceed!
The last few months have been challenging for us all to say the least. Everyone has been touched by this pandemic to some degree. I have several
friends that contracted it and have recovered. I know of some that didn’t. Sports has always been a diversion for many and will come back like most
parts of our lives but most likely for now, a different way. The term “new normal” is often used to describe where we are heading. Let’s hope it’s a
close to the old one!
Enjoy the restarting of sports and I look forward to covering some “action” in the August column. Be safe and stay healthy!
TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | JULY 2020 27
SPORTS TEASER By George Hassell