Another week of being bored out of my skull from the lack of personal interaction as well as the dearth of variety and new programming on the old idiot box, it’s beginning to get me down. I’m usually a pretty upbeat person, but the current situation is starting to wear on my psyche. If it weren’t for the crossword and other puzzles in the two newspapers that I read each day, my mind would go completely to mush — some would argue that it already has. In any case, here are some observations on several topics.
As has been his routine since this pandemic first reared its ugly head in the country, President Trump continues to make patently false and misleading statements about the situation. Recently his proclamations have been more “look what I did” than providing needed medical and social information. His outsized ego simply won’t allow him to provide the needed information without boasting of his self-perceived amazing performance.
Our wannabe king has also made a couple of curious decisions, both for purely political reasons, and each, although technically legal, have never been done in the history of our nation.. The first was to threaten to adjourn Congress in order to actually install some of his nominees for positions without congressional approval. Much to my surprise, and relief, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell quickly responded that that would never happen. Such a move by Trump could only happen under a very strict set of circumstances, which do not currently exist. The second, and meant only to further his campaign for re-election, was to have his signature placed on the Economic Stimulus checks that are being mailed out by the IRS. A presidential signature has never been on any check issued by any department of the U.S. government. My guess is that he wants those who receive such checks to believe that it was him and not congress who made those checks possible.
Gov. Hogan, along with Gov. Cuomo of New York, have been the most outspoken as the leaders of the nation’s Governors Association, although several others have also been quite vocal in their responses to Trump’s continuing disinformation campaign. Their decisive leadership has been welcome in this time of unease among the population.
Like many of my brethren, I am having severe withdrawal from the absence of live sports, both the games themselves and the discussions of the minutiae surrounding them. Through the history of our nation, sports have been the one thing that has brought the country some sense of normalcy in times of war, economic depressions, and other natural or man made disasters. In that vein, I have a few suggestions on the possible resumption of real live sports. Of course any of this is contingent on the players, coaches, and other staff being medically cleared and could include some form of quarantine in order to keep all safe.
For baseball, I would plan on beginning the season on July 3 with a two- or three-week conditioning period prior. The season would contain about 110 games and end on Oct. 4. One suggestion that’s floating around that could possibly work is for the teams with spring training sites in Florida to begin there, and those who train in Arizona to start there. My suggestion would have teams playing eight games per week, with one day, Monday, off per week. That would necessitate two doubleheaders each week, on Wednesday and Sunday, but those would be seven innings each in order as to not overtax the players. If/when games could be returned to the home cities, the teams would continue to play the opponents they had in either Florida or Arizona. League affiliations would be disregarded for this season. Just a thought.
As for the NBA and NHL, some protocol for testing and provisions for the safety of those involved needs to be determined. After a conditioning period, those leagues should proceed directly into playoff mode, only with a reduction in the number of games required in the early rounds and with some restrictions on the amount of travel required. As with baseball, the ability to have fans in the stands would be up to the medical experts to determine.
With all of the news of sickness and death and the negative economic impact of the COVID-19 virus, America needs something, anything, to at least temporarily take our minds off of the still evolving situation.
Many thanks to all of those who are putting themselves in harms way in order to protect us and our families and to those who work to provide us with food, medicines and the other necessities of life.
We will get through this ... eventually.
Bill Kennedy writes every other week from Taneytown. You may contact him at wlkennedyiii@verizon.net.