Does anyone here think that MLB will make it to the Playoffs and the World Series in 2020? Does anyone think that the NBA bubble will hold up long enough to finish a brief season? Or that the NFL will start? Or that the NHL will skate? Or that golf tournaments will play through the schedule?

Or that any of it will matter. even if the Pro Sports leagues somehow manage to slap together anything that looks like a game that they can put on broadcast TV or stream to make some network money?

NO. If what is going on in Major League Baseball is any indication, nothing in pro sports is going to fly very far or for very long.

As soon as any player tests positive on the League's official test their team's games will be shut down and their opponents games will be shut down and all will be rescheduled with other teams and on other dates. So as of today we are now going to get 7 inning double headers in MLB to make up for games already missed in only the first week and a half of the truncated 60 game season. This on top of changes already in place for designated hitter and extra inning game rules. Plus not counting the star players who are not on their teams because they wisely opted out of the whole charade and stayed home.

Why go through these exercises when the best result you can get means nothing? For the money sure, but if it fails even at the lowest bar they could possibly set, and it sure looks like its failing, what then? You did it for nothing and got people's hopes up for nothing.

If the NBA's locked down bubble doesn't work long, forget it. The NFL players don't even want to start because there is even less discipline there. If the idea is too follow strict protocol, once someone tests positive, even if its a false positive, you might as well pull the team. Football teams can't drop games and can't play double headers. They could go to 15 minute games, but then how would the commercials fit in?

I don't know what is bothering more. That all the pro sports have to be put on hold or that the team owners and league officials are trying to convince the fans that they can have any real games under these conditions.

Yeah, the wheels are already falling off the MLB wagon. More players/staff testing positive. I didn't know about the 7-inning double-header games. What is this T-league? I get Giants and A's games here and it's hard to hear the announcers talk about how great it is to have baseball back. I think Krukow and Kuiper each scream into their own bowl of water during each commercial break.

The NBA is trying to finish its season. It was only about a month away so that was frustrating. I think it has the best shot at doing it but I have to wonder if it was better off focusing on having a full 2020-2021 season unless they just want to try to finish this season because of a 50/50 chance there will be no next season because of a second wave of COVID.

The NFL has already cancelled the preseason so expect sloppy play the first few games. The offenses should be able to run up the scores as long as nobody gets sick. By Week 3 there's going to be a problem.

Yeah, they could play flag football with no snap and no rush for 3 seconds. Either that or it's everybody in haz-mat suits. It will be tough to kick or block a kick in those.

Jess

Watching the British Grand Prix here, no fans but it is on with no problems.

The Golf tournaments seem to be ok, they are going on with no fans.

The football in the UK is going along nicely, again no fans but matched taking place with no problems.

With the testing protocols over here it really is an impossible situation. If one person tests positive, everyone they were in contact with is supposed to isolate for 10 - 14 days. They are testing constantly, because in theory, you can catch it 10 minutes after you took a test that will be negative. If one person connected to a pro team does test positive, numerous people can be quarantined even though no one shows signs of being ill or will be ill at all.

A positive result may be a false positive, but you have to test negative 3 more times to prove it was wrong. Different COVID tests produce different results, but Pro leagues are going by the one they choose. There is one baseball player that is quarantined now who is testing negative on other tests, but he still has to wait to test negative on the right one.

And if anyone wants to take up Governor Cuomo's offer to bring all baseball teams to New York State because we are so low on virus cases now, they should forget about it. What with all the restrictions, Downstate New York and the New York City area is barely open for business. NYC has hardly left Stage One and any and all other city services and laws that don't fit into the COVID story are being ignored or applied in uneven and stupid manners. As a result large homeless encampments are out in the open, protests that follow no rules are allowed, small businesses are shuttered or losing their licenses, garbage is piling up in Manhattan and the Bronx, rats are running, the MTA is going bankrupt, the teachers are threatening to strike, unemployment payments are being cut, people going back to work have been laid off again, bank locations are still closed and minor street crimes and horrific gang violence is out of control. So yeah, come to New York, we have everything you need.

It's all a shame.

The New York Mets' former star Yoenis Cespedes just packed his bags, snuck out of his hotel room and had his agent tell the team that he has opted out for the season, while today's game was in progress no less. One would assume he didn't like the set up, which with him would be a crock. He was a Met mistake from the start.

Worse news is that the Philadelphia Eagles head couch Doug Pederson just tested positive for COVID-19 and is out of training camp. This right after he gave an interview saying he felt "extremely safe in the Eagles bubble". OK, this is starting off well.

To me, football is going to be a real problem. Unless some medical breakthrough pops up or the virus fades away for no reason, which seems unlikely with these waves, I honestly don't see Pro Football happening with so many players and their routines.

I'm doubtful that baseball can finish up too. Without even counting the virus toll, look how many players are just getting hurt in such a short time. The pitchers might as well line up for Tommy John now. I can't see this year and these stats as being worth it for anyone.

How about the fake crowd noise? I watched my beloved Bruins play hockey yesterday and I was fine without fans. No banging on the plexiglass like apes. Do we really need fake crowd noise?

The fake crowd noise is done better in some arenas than others and seems more necessary in some sports than others. I agree, hockey is better without it. For baseball, I think a completely silent game would seem very jarring in a 50,000 seat stadium, but the tapes are only cheers and white-noise machines. Where are all the boos and the curses?

I also like the cardboard cut outs of fans that they have propped up in the stands at Citi Fields much better than the empty seats of Yankee Stadium. Now if the Mets could only replace the team with cut out players, they might be able to win a couple of games.

Here in the UK when football was being shown you had the option of of having crowd noise or not. Without the crowd noise we had whatever noise was being generated in the stadium by the coaches. I preferred that to having the false crowd noise. Fans for quite a lots of the football teams had the option of having their image as a cut out. It was always quite interesting when the camera panned to those.

A highlight to the baseball season in NYC is the Subway Series. That's the usual regular 6 games a year, not including a World Series, that are played between the NY Mets and the NY Yankees, so named because fans can take the subway to both Citi Field and Yankee Stadium.

This year it was going to be only three games this weekend. Now its cancelled because two Mets players either have or are suspected of having COVID-19. Don't really know anymore what the problem is, but the Yankees already have ten players out for injuries unrelated to the virus. In any event one of the biggest money making series of the year is off and I'm not sure if they can reschedule.

Sorry, but these games are a joke and the rules of engagement are a joke. Just go into a playoff already and wrap it up.

Football season is scheduled to start in a couple of weeks. They have no exhibition games, little practice, players are not going to look good and they are going to get hurt fast. Many who have agreed will opt out once they see the personal regulations they are supposed to follow off the field. If games start to be cancelled because of real or suspected COVID, I don't see how they can even scam their way to a Super Bowl.

I can't watch hockey in 90 degree weather and the NBA lost me years ago. Golf is golf. Wish I could get into sports as a diversion, but I just can't.

I thought it was weird that there were any inter-league games with so few total. You'd think the MLB would have wanted the maximum inter-division games with the rest being intra-league. I understand that the MLB would still want some local rivalry games (Yankees/Mets, A's/Giants) but why have any games with the Giants playing the Astros?

Jess

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
A highlight to the baseball season in NYC is the Subway Series. That's the usual regular 6 games a year, not including a World Series, that are played between the NY Mets and the NY Yankees, so named because fans can take the subway to both Citi Field and Yankee Stadium.

This year it was going to be only three games this weekend. Now its cancelled because two Mets players either have or are suspected of having COVID-19. Don't really know anymore what the problem is, but the Yankees already have ten players out for injuries unrelated to the virus. In any event one of the biggest money making series of the year is off and I'm not sure if they can reschedule.

Sorry, but these games are a joke and the rules of engagement are a joke. Just go into a playoff already and wrap it up.

Football season is scheduled to start in a couple of weeks. They have no exhibition games, little practice, players are not going to look good and they are going to get hurt fast. Many who have agreed will opt out once they see the personal regulations they are supposed to follow off the field. If games start to be cancelled because of real or suspected COVID, I don't see how they can even scam their way to a Super Bowl.

I can't watch hockey in 90 degree weather and the NBA lost me years ago. Golf is golf. Wish I could get into sports as a diversion, but I just can't.