Dodgers Win Pandemic Series

 The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Tampa Bay Rays to win the 2020 World Series in six games at Arlington, TX.  For a baseball season that began in late July and shortened to 60 regular season games performed in empty stadiums due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and few thought should have been played at all after two teams had outbreaks, this was quite an accomplishment.

Game 6, won by the Dodgers 3-1, was notable because:

• Rays manager Kevin Cash lifted his starting pitcher Blake Snell in the sixth inning with a 1-0 lead, ultimately losing the game and the Series with subsequent relievers failing to stem the tide.  So the moral of this story is:  If you live by the pitch count, you can also die by it too.
• Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner was taken out of the game when he tested positive for Covid-19, yet he was allowed to celebrate maskless with his wife and teammates in the post-game championship ceremonies.  Obviously, somebody dropped the ball here.

This World Series was played at the Texas Rangers' new retractable roof stadium in Arlington, which is actually closer to Fort Worth than Dallas.  Not only was this the first Series to be played at a neutral site (league championship playoffs had also been held in Houston, San Diego and Los Angeles), but it was also the first held in the same ballpark since 1944 when the Cardinals and Browns (now the Baltimore Orioles) shared Sportsman's Park in St. Louis during that wartime series.  Until Turner's diagnosis, Major League Baseball had done a pretty good job of keeping the virus at bay with keeping close tabs on the players and limiting attendance.

The Dodgers, who have been in the Series three of the past four years before finally winning their first title since 1988, went through the Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres and Atlanta Braves in the National League playoffs to get here.

The Rays, only in their second Series since 2008, defeated the Toronto Blue Jays (who spent their regular season in Buffalo), New York Yankees and Houston Astros in the American League playoffs.

The Dodgers have now won seven world championships in franchise history, starting in Brooklyn in 1955 and the rest in Los Angeles.  This is the first title in which Vin Scully, who broadcast Dodgers games from 1950 to 2016, was not in the booth when they won.

Against all odds, Major League Baseball survived long enough to play a season in the shadow of Covid-19.  Whether there will be a full season in 2021, with paying customers permitted to watch inside a stadium, is anyone's guess.

Sid Hartman (1920-2020): Covering a Century of Minnesota Sports

It only seemed as if Sid Hartman had been around forever, if you've been a follower of Minnesota sports. For 75 years, he had been writing columns for the Minneapolis newspapers that eventually became the Star Tribune.  For 65 years, he was a fixture on WCCO Radio with daily appearances and a Sunday morning show.  On TV, he was a panelist on a weekly Channel 23 show hosted by Mike Max on Sunday nights. 

Hartman was 100 years old when he died on October 18.  On that Sunday morning, his final column had appeared in the newspaper.  By afternoon, when his death was announced by son Chad, the tributes started pouring in. 

Everyone who knew Sid, it seemed, had a story to tell about him.  Like how he operated and cultivated his "close personal friends" by insinuating himself into the lives of the athletes, coaches and other movers and shakers who normally wouldn't have the time of day for anyone else. Because unlike most journalists, in order to get the story, he knew everyone and everyone knew him. And he wouldn't write a critical word in return. 

Hartman was partially responsible for helping bring major league sports to Minnesota, starting with his stint as general manager of the NBA Minneapolis Lakers in the 1950s. But even after the Twins, Vikings, Timberwolves and the NHL were established here, he kept his focus on the University of Minnesota's athletic department, a focus he kept ever since he was selling newspapers outside Memorial Stadium. 

Sid Hartman came from an era when newspapers and radio were the main source of information and entertainment for most Americans. Now, with both mediums hanging on for dear life, one more piece of 20th century culture has gone for good.  And one more Minnesota icon passes into legend. 

Lakers, Storm Burst Basketball Bubble

The National Basketball Association was the first professional sports league to call a halt to its season when Covid-19 got serious in March.  Seven months later, after moving their playoffs to Walt Disney World in Florida, the NBA finally crowned a champion. 

It is the Los Angeles Lakers, who beat the Miami Heat in six games.  For the Lakers, it was their 17th NBA title (that includes five in Minneapolis), tying them with the Boston Celtics for the most championships in the league's history.  For LeBron James, it was his fourth title with three different teams (the Lakers, Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers).

Despite the play of Miami's Jimmy Butler, for whom no one will ever call a team-killing malcontent ever again, the Lakers seemed preordained to win.  Not only because of James' presence, but also as a tribute to Kobe Bryant, who with his daughter was killed in a helicopter crash in January. 

The WNBA played their shortened season and playoffs in a bubble of their own in Bradenton, Florida.  The Seattle Storm, led by stars Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart, swept the Las Vegas Aces in three games. 

The bubble format worked out for both leagues, with no games postponed or canceled due to players getting sick or testing positive for COVID-19.  Other leagues such as the NHL and Major League Soccer have also done it successfully.  Outside the bubble, the NFL, Major League Baseball and college football have had problems keeping everyone healthy. 

Even though the players from the NBA and WNBA were sequestered inside the bubble, they didn't forget the social unrest going on outside. Courts and uniforms were adorned with Black Lives Matter, "Say Her Name", remembrances of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black victims of police brutality. The only postponements had to do with players protesting the shooting of Jacob Blake by Kenosha, Wisc. police, and the demonstrations that followed. (According to WTMJ in Milwaukee, Blake is recovering.)

It must be noted that all this activism by the players would not have been possible without the bubble. If fans had been allowed to attend games in their home arenas and players so much as took a knee during the National Anthem, the backlash would have been significant. 

Whether this experiment continues into next season depends on how long it takes for the coronavirus vaccine to be approved for use, if ever. The most the NBA can hope for is a shortened season that ends by early summer, and a return to arenas (though Toronto might be a problem).  Otherwise, Lakers and Storm fans can rejoice responsibly in winning championships in a most unusual year.

NHL: Lightning Wins Cup in a Bubble

The Tampa Bay Lightning survived two months in quarantine, four teams and several multiple overtime games to take this year's Stanley Cup, their first since 2004. They defeated the Dallas Stars in six games, concluding with a 2-0 shutout Monday night in Edmonton.

The National Hockey League, which had to shut down its regular season in March when the coronavirus pandemic hit, deserves credit for keeping things together while trying to come up with a way to credibly conclude the season.

They created "hub cities" for their newly reformed tournament, choosing Edmonton and Toronto as hosts. Which was a smart move, since Canada was (still is) doing a better job of controlling the virus than the U.S. is

They got through the tournament without having to postpone a game due to players getting sick. But they did take a couple of days off in late August to respond to the social unrest going on in America, even though most NHL players (and much of its fan base) are white. Had it not been for the Minnesota Wild's Matt Dumba (one of the few Blacks to play pro hockey) to call attention to the problem of diversity in the NHL, it's doubtful the league would have noticed, much less done something about it. 

Watching this tournament on TV in the late summer/early fall, at a time when NHL teams would normally be starting their seasons, is kind of like watching an intramural match in a TV studio with no fans and fake crowd noise. But you get used to it after awhile. 

The Tampa Bay Lightning are about to bring Lord Stanley's Cup back to their adoring fans in Florida,  just in time for that state to rescind its COVID-19 restrictions.  You can imagine how many cases might result from that.

The NHL might return during the winter with a limited regular season and playoffs that might end around Bastille Day.  And maybe, just maybe, they'll start allowing paying customers to watch.  But right now, they've taught all of us a lesson in How To Survive a Pandemic. 

Play Ball?

Four months into the COVID-19 pandemic, we've seen in this country alone nearly four million confirmed cases and around 140,000 deaths, with no end in sight if you believe scientific and medical authorities (and some of you don't). 

There is also a rising tide of support for Black Lives Matter and questioning the role of sports in society following the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others at the hands (and knees) of police officers.  Taking a knee during the "Star Spangled Banner" is in vogue once again.  Leagues will have names of victims of police violence on players' uniforms, and "Black Lives Matter" splashed across fields and basketball courts.

Despite all this, sports is getting back on the field.  The question is, should they?

Golf tournaments, auto racing, horse racing and the men's and women's soccer leagues are already under way, though without fans in the stands.

Major League Baseball and the WNBA are beginning their truncated schedules this weekend,  The NBA and NHL will resume their schedules the following weekend, choosing to conduct their playoffs within the confines of Walt Disney World and the Canadian hub cities of Toronto and Edmonton, in that order.

The NFL is determined to have a season, even if it means pushing the Super Bowl to Easter Sunday.  The league has already agreed with their players association that, in exchange for tests for players' safety, there would not be a preseason.

College sports is also in flux.  Most of the Power Five conferences have opted for a conference-only schedule for fall sports including football.  The smaller schools, unable to afford the NCAA's generous plan to test players, have decided to either delay their seasons to spring or cancel them altogether.

Because no fans will be allowed to watch the proceedings in person, what sports there are will strictly be a TV show to fulfill existing network contracts.  It will look and sound fake, with piped-in crowd noise, virtual advertising and commentators calling the action from the safety of their studios.

There's also a renewed effort to do away with racist sports nicknames, something we thought we'd never see due to resistance from team owners and their fan bases.  The Washington Redskins are (at least for) now the Washington Football Team.  The Cleveland Indians are also considering a name change, having gotten rid of Chief Wahoo earlier.  Canadian football's Edmionton team are no longer the Eskimoes.  But the Atlanta Braves, Chicago Blackhawks and Kansas City Chiefs are sticking with their nicknames.  Unless, that is, their sponsors start pulling out.

But all this may be rendered moot if there's an outbreak of coronavirus among players inside their bubbles, or if someone dies from it.  Then we face a long, cold fall and winter without sports.

So is it wise and safe to play sports during a pandemic, and with so much social unrest going on?  We don't know.  But millions of dollars in television money and keeping players safe will be spent to find out if it was all worth it.

UPDATE (8/1/2020):  One week into the shortened Major League Baseball season, three teams--the Miami Marlins, Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals--have had to cancel games because their players have tested positive for COVID-19. 

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has reportedly told the players association that if the situation doesn't improve soon, he may be forced to cancel the season. A season that never should have started in the first place. 

Delay of Games

The moment when people stated taking the looming coronavirus crisis seriously was the evening of March 11, 2020.  That was when the National Basketball Association suspended its regular season, in response to a cancellation of the Utah Jazz-Oklahoma City Thunder game because a Jazz player tested positive for COVID-19.

Since then, the virus has caused the sports world to either cancel or postpone its regular seasons and events.  The mix of big crowds and closeness of athletes without the benefit of social distancing must have been too much for the organizers to contemplate when thousands around the world are infected and/or dying in overwhelmed hospitals.  The longer this pandemic goes on, the more likely it is that the list will expand.  Here's what we have as of April 5:

CANCELED:  NCAA winter championships and spring sports, Wimbledon, NASCAR, National Spelling Bee, Formula 1 auto racing, world hockey championships, World Figure Skating Championship, World Cup skiing.

POSTPONED:  Summer Olympics (to 2021), Kentucky Derby (to Labor Day weekend), Indianapolis 500 (late August), golf's Masters, PGA Championship and U.S. Open (TBA), tennis' French Open (late September).

UP IN THE AIR:  NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball, college and NFL football, Major League Soccer, WNBA, Canadian Football League, tennis' U.S. Open.

The sports organizations,TV networks and the sponsors that support them are taking major hits to their bottom line, like most everybody else.  The longer this thing goes on, the more likely they'll have harder decisions to make to keep players and fans safe.

The likes of ESPN can survive on a diet of classic games and documentaries, but for how long can they last without live sports?  Sports talk radio, unless they're flagship stations for pro and college teams, will have a hard time staying afloat without having to change formats or go bankrupt.  Already, major radio companies like iHeart, Entercom and Cumulus are laying off staff.

Whatever happens, we should pause and contemplate the meaning of sports during this unexpected pause in the action.  The doctors, nurses, emergency responders, and critical store employees are playing roles that are more critical than who has the last shot to win the game.  So do we, in staying home, washing our hands and avoiding those who don't live in your home.  When the virus passes--and it will one day--sports will become more meaningful to our lives than ever before.

UPDATE (4/12/2020):  Tentative new dates for three of golf's majors have been announced.  The PGA Championship will try for August (which it gave up for May originally), U.S.Open in September, and the Masters in November.  The Open Championship in Great Britain will wait until 2021.

The NBA and NHL are talking about resuming their seasons at such out of the way places as Las Vegas and Grand Forks, North Dakota.  Major League Baseball is considering conducting its season in Arizona.  They'd all be better off waiting until next season.

Even 2021 is not a sure bet.  An official with the Tokyo Summer Games sounds like he has his doubts about the event being held at all if the situation doesn't improve.

And so it goes.

Super Bowl 54: Chiefs and J.Lo Score in Miami

It wasn't exactly a comeback for the ages, but the Kansas City Chiefs did score 11 unanswered points on the San Francisco 49ers in the final quarter to erase a ten point deficit to win Super Bowl 54 at Miami Sunday night, 31-20. 

That's because the Chiefs have become accustomed to overcoming big deficits during the AFC playoffs before quarterback Patrick Mahomes and company turned up the volume to 11, as the Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans will attest.

Mahomes, who won the game's MVP award with three touchdowns on 286 yards in passing, is going to Disney World.  Coach Andy Reid has his first Super Bowl win in his 21 year career with the Chiefs, and before that the Philadelphia Eagles.  And Kansas City, Missouri AND Kansas, has its first world football championship since 1970, prior to the NFL and American Football Leagues merging the following season.

Halftime

The NFL more than made up for bland shows by the likes of Justin Timberlake and Maroon 5 with this year's headliners Jennifer Lopez and Shakira, who turned Super Bowl 54 into Studio 54 (look it up, kids) with energetic dancing, crotch-first slides, pole dancing and wagging tongues.  All in the name of good. clean family entertainment, right?  At least there were no breasts exposed for the duration of the show.

Commercials

The ads for this year's Big Game weren't great, but weren't terrible either.  Here's a few that stuck out.

• It began and ended with pitches for Woman Power, from Demi Lovato singing the national anthem to a woman kicking the game winning field goal in an ad for Secret deodorant, to Olay cosmetics' sending supermodels and an actual female astronaut into space.  It ended with Microsoft saluting Katie Sowers, the first female and lesbian coach of an NFL team with the 49ers.
• We hate to bring up politics, but President Donald Trump bought two campaign spots and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg paid for one, with predictable results.
• Lil Nas X, still riding the gravy train for "Old Town Road", did his schtick for Doritos' Cool Ranch chips with Sam Elliott.
• Bill Murray reprised his role in the film "Groundhog Day" for the benefit of Jeep.
• More ads for Fox's "The Masked Singer", which followed the game, than you can shake a stick at.  Of the 102 million who watched the game, around 24 million chose to stick around for "Masked Singer".
• Planters killed off Mr. Peanut, only to be replaced by a baby peanut.  It would have been so much more dramatic if Kobe Bryant hadn't died in a helicopter crash only a week ago.
• Tide wanted to make the point that its detergent can wash out stains days after it happened.  Which explains the same guy with the soiled shirt walking through every other commercial for different products, only to be told it can wait.
• Budweiser, which usually shows off puppies and Clydesdales in its Super Bowl ads, chose this one to focus on the Average American in a manner that looks like any political campaign commercial you've ever seen.