MIXED MESSAGES IN THE SPORTS WORLD ARE MAKING MY HEAD SPIN

Day Number I DON'T KNOW of self quarantine. I have lost track at this point, and also have lost a lot of sanity in the process.

This weekend I found some old games that were airing on television. I'm sure you found a bunch of them too and maybe you were like me and you tuned in with hopes to find some nostalgia and some good vibes. There were some good games on this weekend, I gotta hand it to the networks.....but it didn't work.

I found Jim Abbott's September 4th, 1993 no-hitter against the Indians but I didn't watch it for long, it just wasn't the same. I found one of my favorite hockey games of all time but I didn't watch it for long either, it just wasn't the same. Then I tried baking and I only finished that because once I started I couldn't stop mid project...but it wasn't what I was looking for.

So finally I just had to do it. I started searching the internet for something hopeful....but I didn't find it. Instead I found article after article of confusing and contradicting information. Boy, was that a mistake.

NBC Sports is telling us all HERE that our President had conference calls with commissioners from 12 professional sports leagues that he wants leagues to open doors to their fans by "August or September" and at that point baseball should just chalk it up to a lost season. That's just one source.

Then I see another article from FOX HERE that says MLB will consider quarantining players and playing games in empty spring training parks to start the season. But wow, that is stark contrast to what the New York Post said HERE about Ron Darling's opinion that MLB's season looks more and more doubtful with every day that passes.

Honestly, if football can start in September which is their regular schedule then they are golden. Of course, that's a big IF at this point. But, what about baseball? If baseball can't start in empty spring training parks like FOX suggests and an August or September time frame is most realistic.....do we even play this year? Do we have a "lost" season?

I hope not but, NJ.com has an interesting idea HERE where they interviewed David Cone and he laid out his plan IF he were commissioner and he got to call the shots. He said he would consider a round-robin tournament IF NEED BE. That's definitely creative, not quite sure exactly how that would work though.

And oh man....is your head spinning yet like mine? I should've stopped there, but I didn't. Then I made the mistake of going to twitter and just reading my feed when I see a quote from the NFL's chief medical officer and his grim opinion on not just the NFL....but ALL sports.

That statement is not directly related to us. It's not from our world, but it is still very telling. We all heard what happened almost a month ago now when the Jazz-Thunder game was stopped just before tip-off. Then eventually the NBA suspended the entire season, and then of course MLB and NHL were quick to follow. If one chief medical officer is saying and thinking this way....others from other sports are at least thinking the same way and I would put money on that.

At this point, I can't read anymore. I just need to step away because reading all of this is just draining. I don't know what to think anymore, and the sources that I have come to know and trust over the years are questionable. There's too much "chatter" out there and it isn't helping all of our fragile states of mind right now.

We all just want a normal life again, and we want our sports. We miss our sports but at this point I think a social media time out is in order. I'm a writer and a sports journalist....but even I am tired of hearing about what the media thinks. I just want the facts, that's it! Spare us all from the flashy sports headlines that are used for click bait.

So no more for me, I am going to step away and stop getting sucked into the click bait. Sports will be back, at some point. We will be back with the facts, but until then don't be like me and don't get sucked into the splash sports headlines that may or may not be true.


 

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @nyprincessj