A month without sports... and counting
by William Aniol ’21
I’m sitting in my room, studying for –– and worrying about –– the two tests and two quizzes I have tomorrow. And there’s a Dallas Mavericks game tonight, a pivotal inter-conference matchup with the Denver Nuggets that I just can’t afford to miss.
The pain that comes along with having to miss Mavs basketball, however, is something I’ve unfortunately grown accustomed to given the rigors of junior year. At least, I need to catch a quarter or two, I tell myself.
I finally wrap up studying for my APUSH reading quiz and scamper down the stairs to check in on the game.
I hurriedly turn the TV on and flip over to ESPN, knowing that the game is nationally televised. It’s the second quarter, and the Mavs are up.
Thirty-minutes pass by and I’m still in front of that TV –– the Mavs are firing on all cylinders. But I’m actively studying for my daunting physics test tomorrow, concentrating surprisingly well; the TV is on mute and I’m just glancing up every so often.
My focus is on my physics test.
Halftime hits. The Mavs are still up. I check my phone, scroll through dozens of Twitter notifications, and immediately realize that something abnormal is taking place in Oklahoma City.
Tip-off of the Utah Jazz-Oklahoma City Thunder game, scheduled at 7 p.m., is being held off, but no one knows why. Referees and both team’s head coaches huddle near the scorers table, unlike anything seen before, as confusion and panic fill Chesapeake Energy Arena.
I’m captively following along, as I’m trying to study for my physics test and monitor the Mavs game all at once.
Suddenly, the players head for the tunnels. The game is called off.
But still, no one knows why. And then...
8:27 p.m: Utah Jazz all-star center Rudy Gobert tests positive for the coronavirus.
8:31 p.m: The NBA suspends its season indefinitely.
My focus is no longer on my physics test.
The sports world is turned upside down.
I look up, and there’s Mavericks owner Mark Cuban being interviewed courtside. He’s just as shocked as the rest of us.
Out of nowhere, the NBA has been ripped away from me and many others at 10600 Preston Road.
Any hope of holding any sports games without fans seemingly vanished. The NBA’s decision would start an inevitable chain reaction. Any hope of enjoying the best sports stretch of the year –– March Madness, the NBA playoffs and The Masters –– vanished.
I could always turn to sports no matter the situation –– especially after a long day at school –– and everything would begin to seem okay again. Only sports have the ability to bring forth such a feeling in me.
I sit there, unable to focus on school work for two hours –– trying to wrap my head around what has just happened –– scrolling and scrolling and scrolling on my Twitter feed just as most diehard NBA fans are.
To me, even through times of uncertainty, sports have always been this immovable “giant” that can’t be taken away from us under any circumstance. Only a global crisis of the magnitude of World War II could suspend American sports, or so I believed.
Before sports were paused, I –– along with many others –– viewed coronavirus as this distant issue that wouldn’t pose a legitimate threat to our country. But on March 11, Americans began to take the threat seriously.
In a time of great uncertainty in the world, sports have continued to impact lives but in a different way, as owners and athletes have stepped up and provided for their communities when needed most, exemplified by their countless acts of selflessness in giving.
March 11 had dozens of Marksmen, myself included, wondering what on earth are we going to do without sports?
And a month later, we still don’t know the answer.
We need sports in our lives again… when the time is right. Sports provide us an indescribable sense of comfort and normalcy incomparable to anything else.
No one knows how long it will take for people to again be comfortable next to 80,000 others in a football stadium. Only time will tell.
But for now, to again be able to witness incredible touchdown grabs and improbable buzzer-beaters, we all must play our part.
Never would I have imagined as I flipped to ESPN that the Mavs-Nuggets game would be the last sporting event I would witness for months.
St. Mark’s School of Texas
10600 Preston Road
Dallas, Texas 75230
214-346-8000
Dallas, Texas 75230
214-346-8000
About Us
St. Mark’s School of Texas is a private, nonsectarian college-preparatory boys’ day school for students in grades 1 through 12, located in Dallas, Texas. St. Mark’s aims to prepare young men to assume leadership and responsibility in a competitive and changing world.
St. Mark’s does not discriminate in the administration of its admission and education policies on the basis of race, color, religion, sexual orientation, or national or ethnic origin.
St. Mark’s does not discriminate in the administration of its admission and education policies on the basis of race, color, religion, sexual orientation, or national or ethnic origin.
