The month of March is a month for sports. Every single year it is the greatest month for sports without question. This glorious time of the year involves March Madness Brackets, NBA and NHL start coming down to the wire, MLB kicks off their season, even NFL Free Agency is in full swing. The year is 2020 and gamblers are in all of their glory at the sports books across the country. Placing 10 game parlays that they know will never hit, MLB futures are being placed, basketball seems to be on every channel for 12-14 hours a day. Life is good.
Flash forward to March 11th 2020, also known as The Day The Sports World Froze. Rudy Gobert, aka patient zero, touches every microphone on stage, then touches his teammates all over their faces and who knows where else. Despite all of the media sources begging and pleading the public to not touch their faces, to make sure you stay sanitary. He goes out and makes a joke, probably a joke that most of us were making at that time. That joke turned serious when his test results came back and he was found to have the COVID-19 virus. This little joke was the beginning of the end for all of the sports world. The Jazz and the Thunder were on the court minutes before tip off, then something happened. The referees got in a huddle and sent both teams back to their respective locker rooms.The NBA almost immediately decided to postpone their season. Nobody at this time knew what was coming next.
Panic, hysteria, and uncertainty came in like a hurricane on a small island in the Caribbean. All the toilet paper was ripped from the shelves, good luck trying to find a case of water. The American greed set in and it was a free-for-all type of atmosphere in your local Walmart’s and Costco’s. But it wasn’t the idea of not being able to wipe my ass that bothered me.
As a Degenerate, I was worried that my favorite time of the year would crumble around me. Conference tournaments were being cancelled across the country, leagues playing with no fans in the stands, nobody chugging brews in the parking lots. I admit, at first I was in denial along with many of my fellow degenerates. The Degenerates were a week away from going on our annual trip to Atlantic City. There isn’t anything better than being in a sports book in mid March. Just your crew crushing a bucket of brews, big winners, crushing defeats, Cinderella stories, losing all your money at the book and pulling an all nighter at the tables to make back what you lost. This is what a degenerate eats, sleeps and breathes for. THIS IS MARCH! And then out of left field, it all came crashing down on our heads. The NCAA Tournament would be cancelled for the 2019-2020 season. Not postponed like the NBA or the NHL, CANCELLED.
Now I know what you're thinking, how can you be so selfish? There are people in this world dying from this virus, people losing their jobs, their retirements. All of that is terrible, I get it I truly do. My job has been greatly affected by this virus. But what about my mental state? I live for March Madness. Ever since I was a little kid watching it, rooting for Shane Battier, Jay Williams and the Duke Blue Devils winning the Championship. Watching these kids live out their dreams on National TV has been a holiday for me since I can remember. I spent every March with a game on the TV, a game on my Laptop and a game on my computer, making sure I don’t miss a moment of action. For gamblers like myself, this is our Christmas!
I don’t know what to do with my time and my money now that there is nothing to gamble on. I didn’t spend endless hours watching the Mountain West, Colonial, Ivy League conferences all year for my Christmas to not happen. I feel attacked, I feel robbed, I feel like my teddy bear has been taken from me. Something that I have loved since I was a child has been ripped from my hands and nobody will give it back. I need my March Madness so I can sleep at night. I feel empty inside knowing that I will never get to see Utah State upset Iowa, knowing I’ll never get to see Gonzaga not make another Final Four. I feel like my heart has been ripped from my chest and torn to a million pieces, similar to my LSU -8 ticket from last year.
Am I being greedy? Bet your ass I am. I love my sports and life will not be normal until they come back. My empty heart goes out to all of the seniors who will never get to play their rightful last game. But at the end of the day, as my grandfather used to say “If you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything”. Life will go on, sports will one day come back, there will be spreads and totals to bet on. My advice to you is wash your nasty hands, don’t touch your teammates faces, and spend time with the ones you love.
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