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| Palm Beach Post
We all know the last six months have been difficult, challenging and heart-breaking due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Many of us have had to work from home, some have lost their jobs. We have seen family and friends get sick, hospitalized and die.
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I’m certainly not equating what we’re going through to any of that, but covering the wide world of sports has been affected, too.
- Sports writers in “bubbles” along with NBA and NHL players.
- Sports writers having to undergo daily COVID-19 tests.
- Doing interviews via Zoom or conference calls.
- Covering games while practicing social distancing, no access to the locker room and limited amount of media in the stadium/arena.
- Wearing a mask — ALL THE TIME.
While I was a skeptic that we would be playing football once September rolled around, here we are. High school football in Florida kicked off two weeks ago (even if we’re still more than a month away from public schools playing in Palm Beach County). College football has its first full Saturday (well semi-full). And, the NFL opened Thursday night and a full slate of games are scheduled for Sunday.
It’s our job to cover those games. The Palm Beach Post’s Tom D’Angelo and Hal Habib were at Hard Rock Stadium Thursday night when Miami hosted UAB. Our fellow Gannett paper, the Tallahassee Democrat, will be covering FSU’s home opener against Georgia Tech Saturday with four writers at the stadium. And, Joe Schad of The Palm Beach Post put his butt on a plane Saturday and will be at Gillette Stadium Sunday when the Dolphins take on the Patriots. We also will have people working from home helping to cover the Dolphins via their TV sets and Zoom interviews provided by the teams after the game.
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While most of us welcome back sports as a necessary and nice diversion, we all need to remain realistic. Games will be postponed or canceled, players will be quarantined due to testing positive, the competition itself will be sloppy. Accordingly, our coverage might not be what it was under normal circumstances (I can hear the wise guys now), but we’ll be trying our best.
Of course, another topic at the forefront of the games returning has been the Black Lives Matter movement and social injustice issue. I’m going to save all those who already have called or written and all those who will be jarred into such actions going forward — save your breath, your ink, your time. That is, unless you seriously want to have an intelligent discussion about race and sports. Or even COVID-19 and sports.
We plan to cover these stories — and comment on them — because they matter. They matter to the athletes, to the fans, to all of us. Shame on those who booed Thursday night when the Texans and Chiefs met at midfield to link arms in a sign of unity before the national anthem. I’m sure there will be boos Sunday all around the NFL.
I know many feel politics and social issues should not interfere on their sports and games. The athletes feel differently. They know this is too big an issue to put away in a little box and pulled out when the need arises.
The boycott prompted by the Milwaukee Bucks last month was a seminal moment that quickly spread to the rest of the NBA playoffs, the NHL, the MLS, MLB and even tennis. We have never seen anything like it and I doubt it’s the last such event.
The video produced by the Dolphins and released on Thursday was another first-time event. The fact that Coach Brian Flores was the last face and voice on that video sent a powerful message.
Bottom line — they are playing ball and not shutting up. And, we will be there to chronicle whatever happens on and off the field regarding COVID-19 and the social justice movement.
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