At this point in time, the Coronavirus has affected almost everything. School has been cancelled, jobs are now enforcing a “stay at home” protocol, but for many, the worst news of all was hearing how many professional and college sports have been affected due to this pandemic.
So far, the NBA, NHL and MLB have suspended their seasons. The NCAA has canceled their March Madness tournament. The Masters is now postponed. And finally, The Olympics have been moved to the summer of 2021. Even if you don’t watch sports, this news had to have been a major shock.
For David Rivard ’21, who is a strong supporter of the University of Dayton basketball team, he feels that the team has been robbed of such a rare opportunity.
“This was one of the best teams that the school has ever had,” Rivard said. “I really thought that they could go far this year and now that they are losing their best player, I don’t know if they are ever going to get that opportunity again.”
When Dean Therriault ’21 heard that the NHL season was being cut off short, it was nothing but devastation. According to Therriault, watching hockey is something he looks forward to every night.
“I was honestly really mad when I heard that the season was cancelled,” Therriault said. “I pretty much watch hockey every night with my dad and my brother and recently I’ve been really bored with no sports to watch.”
According to Dominic Coluni ’21, it’s a yearly tradition for him and his dad to watch The Masters together, and is thoroughly disappointed that he cannot this year.
“The Masters is one of my favorite events of the year,” Coluni said. “I love watching it with my dad and we plan to go together sometime in the future, but now I don’t know when it will happen this year or if it even will at all. I also can’t go out and play golf anywhere because I’m stuck at home.”
Like many others at South, Therriault holds season tickets to the Red Wings. According to him, he was looking forward to going to several more games this year and cheering on the team.
“I know the Wings aren’t doing too well this year, but it’s always fun to go downtown and see a game,” Therriault said. “I either go with my family or bring a friend, either way it’s always fun for me.”
According to Rivard, everything to do with March Madness holds some of the best times he has all year. From start to finish, it’s such an exciting ride and it’s pretty much impossible to predict what will happen.
“Every year I make a couple different brackets and I love seeing how accurate I can be,” Rivard said. “Every game is so exciting to watch, especially when it’s a major upset. I also love when the championship is on because it’s usually over spring break and I’m with my family down in Florida watching it.”
According to Coluni, with no sports to watch there’s become a few ways he has learned to pass time and stay away from boredom.
“Since I can’t really hangout with my friends, there’s really not much to do,” Coluni said. “I’ve been playing a lot of Xbox and I found some good Netflix shows to watch. I’ve also been doing group Facetime calls with my friends because we haven’t actually hung out in a few weeks and I don’t know when we will because of the virus.”
For anyone that follows a sport, without a doubt this news had to have been devastating . For so many watching sports is one of their main sources of happiness. This is unlike anything that has ever happened before, but at the end of the day there will always be next season.