SPORTS TEASER By George Hassell
Well hello and welcome back Sports Teaser fans. It has been far too long since we’ve last had a chance to chat due to this unprecedented pandemic in
our lifetimes. While we have all missed sports and all the fun that goes with it, my thoughts and prayers have been with the frontline personnel protecting
our safety and caring for those in need with real life issues in real life problems. We all hope for this to be over sooner than later and a return to some sense
of normalcy (heard that one before?). In the meantime, there is some sports to talk about and that’s a good thing! So let’s get to it shall we?
The first sports to come back were golf and NASCAR. Many of us who don’t keep up with those sports all of a sudden found ourselves glued to the
television just because they were live. Never has been watching a lot of left turns and slapping a little white ball around been so appealing!
We just completed the first of the three golf major championships for 2020, the PGA. It was an exciting back nine for sure with Collin Morikawa winning
at age 23. Will he be the next dominant golfer to emerge? There are so many great players with a chance to win every week on tour. With the playoff in
August, the U.S. Open in September, and the Masters (ahhh, pimento cheese) in November, it should be quite a year to remember for yet another reason.
Hockey and basketball have returned in their respective bubbles in Florida and Canada. It seems that they have gotten that right for the most part - with
the exception of one NBA player leaving the bubble for a funeral in Atlanta and ending up at a strip club because they have great chicken wings, to go of
course.
Baseball on the other hand, has struggled with keeping everyone healthy and it remains to be seen if the season will ultimately complete its 60 game
schedule. I do like the new ‘put a runner on base to start the 10th inning’ concept installed this year. I was wary of it, but it does add some excitement right
off the bat to start an inning. Of course, this will probably be the year that the Braves win the World Series and there’s a big fat asterisk right next to it. But
believe me, we’d take it right? Go Braves!
That leaves football. Football! Hopefully, by the time you are reading this, college and NFL football will be very close to kicking off. There will be reduced
schedules, mostly conference only in college, but it appears that the NFL will play its full slate of games.
As we know, everything is in motion and anything can change at any time. One of the hardest things about sports during the pandemic has been so much
talking and so little action. Everybody has an opinion and knows what’s going to happen but in reality, we don’t. We’ll just have to see where things take us
in many respects, not only just sports.
Bottom line, sports are back and I know most are excited to get off Netflix and Prime for a while to tune into some live action. That doesn’t mean I’m not
still watching Yellowstone!
Everyone please continue to stay safe and be smart and we will get through this mess! See you in October!
22 TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | SEPT 2020