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Sports Fans–Unchartered Waters”

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This is such a different time for sports fans.

This is such a scary time in society.

The US is paralyzed by Covid-19, the Chinese imported coronavirus.

The fallout, the infections, the deaths, have brought the sports world to its knees, to a halt.

We’ve had games stopped before.  Our society was rocked by 9-11.  The aftershocks led to the cancellation of games in baseball, the NFL, college football and more.

Baseball seasons have been impeded by work stoppages and disputes with the owners and unions.

The NFL had a bitter work stoppage in 1987 for a three week window.

The ugliest of all was the NHL cancelling an entire hockey season in a war over a new deal involving free agency and demands from its union.

But this is a first, an epidemic, a sickness, a non-controllable virus, that has felled sports.

In our lifetime, this has the potential to be as deadly as the first plague of our modern life, the Influenza outbreak o 1918 at the end of World War I.  It killed hundreds of thousands around the globe.  There was no medicine to stop it.

Modern day trauma says the polio outbreak in the mid 1950’s, the one that attacked children around the US, was scary till the Salk vaccine saved society..

We have lived thru Ebola, Legionnaires Disease, the SARS infections and more.

But this outbreak is scary, for much like the early 1900s, there is no game-plan yet how to create a vaccine to fight it.

So the NBA season ceases when the first two players from the Utah Jazz test positive.  An NBA ref has now been identified as a third victim.

March Madness was finally cancelled a day after they said they’d play games behind locked doors in arenas.

Baseball shutdown before someone got infected, putting all in jeopardy   Hockey red-flagged the majors leagues, the minor leagues and all of junior hockey.

MLS soccer followed suit, then college’s shutdown all their spring sports, and padlocked their winter sports championships.

Odd, that the PGA is playing this weekend at the TPC tourney at Sawgrass, but with no fans, while the LPGA cancelled its next 3-tourneys.  Tennis won’t play for an indefinite period.

Auto racing will run in Atlanta this weekend  but with no fans in the stands.  The same for Indy car racing starting its season with the St Petersburg Grand Prix.  The Formula 1-season runs the Australian Grand Prix, without fans.  The NHRA cancelled this weekends drag racing schedule.

The NFL will conduct its business starting Monday, not face-to-face, but by Skype.  That will be followed by free agency, and possibly still the NFL draft.  The upstart XFL ceased operation after just 5-weeks of play.

No games, no trades, no storylines for possibly 30-days, maybe as long as 2-months.  It will be a different weekend ahead of us, because now it is a very different life in front of us.

Self-isolation may be the only way to beat down this virus.  Not having games to watch will feel weird.  Not feeling comfortable going out in large crowds will be different too.

We won’t be following roster cuts or free agency or basketball-baseball games.  We will instead be following reports of “break the chain-the spreading of the disease.’  That becomes the most important thing we will pay attention too starting this weekend.

We’ve cancelled everything in our sporting life, because that may be the only way to roadblock the damage happening to our lives.  Once that is done, maybe the games begin.

Disneyland is closing.  Broadway has gone dark.  Colleges are sending students home.  The norm is now gone.

But for now, America has shutdown.

But it will be very different going forward, a new norm in our life.

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“Games–Wins-Losses or Death?”

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“Pandemic”…..a word you have ever hardly heard across America.  And now you have, as the Virus-Crisis grows day-by-day.  Our world is changing, rapidly, without our approval.

And yet some in the sports world want to carry on as if nothing serious is happening and the world should go on.

In what should be an ‘hour-by-hour’ discussion, the NBA has suspended its season, when the Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert was diagnosed after contracting the virus.

That came hours after the NCAA  decided to ban fans from its tournament  that is supposed to start next week.

The NHL, MLB are still going ahead with plans to play games, infront of jam packed arenas and spring training venues, but that should change next..

Places where fans gather to cheer, scream, and unknowingly, possibly pass on the Coronavirus from China, should all be shutdown..

It has spread at wild fire rates, a killing field in Seattle, a flash outbreak in New Rochelle, New York.  How the virus’ got there so quickly, no one knows.  What we do know however, the numbers of who tested positive, and the death rates that have occurred in under one week.

March Madness was supposed to start next week, and it would have been Madness to allow all these games to start next Thursday infront of packed houses.  The fans, wearing their colors, won’t be able to cheer their teams, but they won’t get sick either.

The NCAA finally acted, shutting down all the arenas where next week, the post season tournaments are to be played.  Games will go on, but there will be no fans allowed in. Watch it on TV.

Strange atmosphere for sure, but we don’t need to trigger ‘killing zones’.

While the NCAA gave out its ‘close the door’ marching orders, the PAC-12 Conference tournament, was allowed to begin in Las Vegas.  So said controversial Commissioner Larry Scott.  What happens in Vegas-won’t stay in Vegas this time.   What a callous leader he is.

Much like President Donald Trump, who refused to follow the lead of people who know, the doctors and the scientists, he keeps telling people, all will be better and the numbers will go down.  The sickness scoreboard does not show that.  No Trump jokes nor explanations can explain why there was  the White House leadership inertia.

This is almost as bad as China covering up the initial outbreak, and trying to silence the doctors who discovered it, then died from it two weeks ago.

The President, who must have gotten his degree from his own Trump University, doesn’t want to listen to science and people who know, just wants to blame Democrats, or China, or crack jokes and laugh his way thru this.

CDC and WHO officers said Thursday the mortality rate in the US from this could be 10-times what the flu fatality rate is, and yet people like Trump-Scott want life to go on as normal.

The NBA acted.  The NCAA should reconsider.  The NHL should to the same.

Play the games, protect the people who work in the arenas, and protect the fans.  But there seems to be more inherent dangers.

Baseball’s opening day is just 2-weeks out and Rob Manfred, much like Adam Silver and Gary Bettman are monitoring the situation hour-by-hour.  They should close up shop for two weeks, reschedule games if necessary, but do not expose people to risk.

Oh there are stupid comments, like LeBron James initial comment, I won’t play if the fans don’t come.  Wonder if he’d play if his teenage son came home exposed to the disease.  Superman-Stupid ass comment.

The games right now are meaningless.  The outcomes are unimportant.  What is most critical is this does not become what China has become, a ‘toxic culture’ because they covered all this up.

There is no immunity, no vaccine, and no way to control this unless we self discipline American fans, and keep them from catching the virus and then spreading it.

This isn’t something just happening in another far-away country or some third world nation.  It’s at our doorstep, in our national lifestyle.  We don’t want it in our bloodstream.

We don’t want panic.  We don’t want sickness.  The stock market has an illness now-global panic.  The US leadership, government to sports, needs to put a lid on this as best they can.

Don’t care about the standings, the scoreboard, or the playoff races.  Care that me and my family don’t get sick, my neighbor stays healthy, and this does not spread beyond the (1,110) here in the US already afflicted over just the last two weeks..

We shouldn’t care the next two weeks about wins or losses.  We have to be concerned about things that lead to ‘Death’ if the games are allowed to go on.

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“Aztecs Basketball….Sit & Wait”

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San Diego State is (30-2) and ranked 6th in the nation.

They wait now till Selection Sunday to see where, who they play.

They will get rested, they will get a player back in the lineup, they will be ready to go.

Coach Brian Dutcher:

..2-days of rest coming off the tourney loss.
..Begin prep for tourney on Tuesday-get this team better
..10-days off..rejuvenate-get our legs right
..We are beat up from 3-games in 3-days..good to get week and a half off
..We need to work on timing, spacing on set plays, on time-on target.
..We need to perfect things
..We lost 2-games by 6-points…close games help us prepare for March
..Matchups will be everything in the NCAA tourney game
..There are so many close games
..We do practice half court shots each day
..Holding out hope Nathan Mensah can play…2-doctors meetings this week
..He is going 100 miles an hour in practice-full workouts
..We don’t have someone with a 7-foot wingspan-so he would help us
..He has not had any contact workouts…working without contact
..His timing will be good if he is ready to play
..Nathan brings tremendous defensive presence inside on offense-defense
..We don”t have anything like Nate on this roster-definitely missed him
..Shortened bench has not hurt us…AG Aroup- has played well with 8-man group.
..We are past the loss to Utah State
..Time off allows us to create some things to run others have not seen
..Let’s put 1-thing in that is dangerous in March other’s haven’t seen
..For these players, be on March Madness stage is exciting for us
..End of games-we made right calls-right player had ball in his hand
..Not bothered by where we are in the polls ranked behind 4-5 loss teams
..There is great parity in basketball..that’s why Gonzaga-Dayton-SDSU are ranked
..Our guys hate losing-they were disappointed in losing..we hung a banner
..We are going to play in March and that is good
..I thought we would click at start of the season…going (30-2)..wow.

..Great experience for chance to go play at Madison Square Garden and play
..Do want to scrimmage on Saturday just to get guys to get into the flow
..My guys don’t like practicing against each other
..We have talked to our players about the virus-crisis
..Universithy health has given our players packets as information
..Fans and spectators are important to game of basketball-playing in empty arena be hard
..This bye week is great for us-rest our legs.

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“Aztecs”

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It’s the only team in town with a winning record, whether that is San Diego State football, which has gone (81-31) over the last 9-years, or this current Aztecs basketball team, heading to March Madness with a (30-2) record, heading into Selection Sunday

Incoming head coach Brady Hoke inherits a good program…and spring football ‘his way’ is in high gear.

Brady Hoke:

..Really good start into spring football…intenisty-energy-competition.
..New coaches and new players meshed well
..Very big senior class-good leadership-very important to me
..Young players need to understand how we want this team led
..Important week, installing our offense, changed language.
..Full scrimmage 76-plays on Saturday
..Carson Baker is leading QB right now..shown the most
..We will give other QBs a chance
..QB-Lucas Johnson-cannot comment on his transfer from Georgia Tech
..We may still take a look at another OL in recruiting end of spring
..RB competition is wide open-we ran decently-
..Run-Pass Option Offense of new Coordinator Jeff Hecklinski taking hold.
..RB-Jordan Byrd is good fit for RPO-too early to talk about other RBs in mix
..Use our playmakers a lot of different ways to help the QBs
..1-on-1 meetings with players have been good since I took over
..I am looking for leaders of this football team
..Replacing Ky Tezino-takes unique player-leader-athlete-physical talent
..We need seniors to lead..we won’t be very good if I have to lead
..I am animated about coaching-got in this to help kids
..Kick them in butt-kiss them on the cheek-you have to do that..we are a family

..You always take things you value from good and bad of my career..
..You look at things you should have done-didn’t do at Michigan-Oregon-Tennessee-do it now

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“Aztecs–Final Four Team-or-Team in Trouble”

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They are back home, saddened by what has happened to them the last two weeks of the basketball season.

They lost the chance to have a perfect regular season a week ago, when beaten at home.  Then they lost the chance to win the Mountain West Conference tourney, beaten on a neutral court.

This Aztecs season is not over, but there is some reality now, they may be living on borrowed time.

The record is (30-2), and yes they could still get the #1 seed in one of the regionals next weekend on Selection Sunday, and possibly head to the Madison Square Garden regional.  Yes they would wind up playing out here in the LA Staples Center regional as a #2 seed.

But they could also wind up ‘one-and-done’ too as March Madness begins.

But there are other things now to be considered, to be feared.

The look on Coach Brian Dutcher’s face on Saturday afternoon in the final minutes of the (59-56) loss to Utah State, told the entire story.

His team was fatigued.  It was not playing its in your face defense.  It’s 3-point shooting went away.  His star forwards were taken out of the flow of the game.

Dutcher had a glazed look in his eyes, as if he had run out of answers, as new questions and problems surfaced.

Tell me when you have seen an SDSU team lose a 16-point lead in a game.  Tell me when they could not defend the perimeter shots.  Tell me when they allowed entry passes into the paint down on the block so often.  Tell me when was the last time you saw this squad go 5, 6, and 8-minute spans without scoring a basket.

SDSU has now had 6-games in which they were in trouble in the last 3-weeks, most of which they were able to rally back from.  A team that has come back from being down by double digits to Air Force, Boise, USU, CSU, UNLV, failed to do it against a Utah State team that has 2-players, Sam Merrill and Neemius Quinta, and not much else.

USU’s guard drilled all those 3-point shots in the 2nd half.  The center ran free on the baseline for entry passes and got points in and around the paint with his 7′ frame.

It was an awful day for State’s big guns.  Malachi Flynn went (6-20) shooting.  KJ Feagin threw up bricks (3-11) and got schooled by Merrill at the other end.  Matt Mitchell had a substandard (1-7) shooting game, and Yanni Wetzel disappeared when they needed him most.

SDSU shot 35% in the second half, and let USU hit 69% of its second half shots in a 15-minute span.

Stunning that USU came from 16-down to win.  Stunning they could win even though they went 19-straight possessions without a basket in the first half.

3-games in 3-nights, with a shortened bench is taking a toll on SDSU.  Dutcher’s decisions on who to use, when to use them, seem to be coming back now to haunt him.

Maybe the re-emergence of Nathan Mensah, even with limited minutes of play off the bench, will be the catalyst to get Aztecs basketball back to where it should be.  Firepower at one end, fierce defense at the other.

Maybe this nearly 10-days off stretch before the first round of the tourney gets underway will be the tonic to return to form.

Yes, what happened Saturday…it only counts as one loss, but what we have seen happen the last couple of weeks has to be alarming for a team that had been rock solid consistent, with a tough as cement personality at both ends of the court.

The look on Dutcher’s face caught my attention late in the game.  The sullen look on the faces of his players post-game has to cast doubts in their hearts how much farther they can go in the tourney playing the way they are.

They are not at home any more.  There is no ‘Show’ support from Viejas Arena.  They are not doing all the things that made them unbeaten and unchallenged most of the winter.

San Diego State is not the same team anymore. Might be fatigue.  Might be scouting reports.  Might be the player rotation.  Might be the level of teams they are playing.  Might be SDSU has peaked, and others have caught up.

Aztecs basketball, just doesn’t look right, right now.  Not now, not at the most important time of the year. They should be concerned.  The fans should be too.

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