My co-bloggers here at The Barking Crow want me to always have something on the front page of our site, in an effort to make it look less, at first glance, like the ramblings of a furious NIT fan. This is why I keep coming back to say the same things about different things.
The same things? Well, we don’t know how or when most sports will come back. We don’t know if the NBA will successfully resume, or if the NFL season will happen, or—most pressingly for me, building our college football and college basketball models (among other college sports) for this year—what college sports will look like this coming academic year.
The different things? Well, there’s always new news, so there are always new things to point to while saying, “I don’t know.” Right now, the new thing is the MLB.
The fact that the MLB’s finally got a plan obviously points towards baseball happening, which in turn points towards other sports happening. This is a small blurb on that topic, but its significance should not be understated.
The reasons for doubt, though, are many. The MLB reportedly is not going to pay any players who opt out due to concerns about, say, a pregnant wife or another at-risk family member. Cases are rising in a number of states, travel restrictions are beginning to pop back up within the United States, and there’s been little concrete detail offered on testing regimens. If an outbreak engulfs a team, or—God forbid—a player or a player’s family member becomes gravely ill, it feels unfathomable that any organization would want to proceed as planned. But, there’s a lot about the world that feels unfathomable.
If the MLB can do it and start playing games, things could be learned to benefit college sports. As it stands, though, it’s still too early to feel certain in any direction. So much can change so quickly, and any guarantees right now of games being played aren’t actually guarantees. As always: We’ll see.
