Two very different voices, two very distinct perspectives, one singular view: Games without fans would be awful.
LeBron James, undoubtedly the most prominent star in professional sports, playing for a marquee NBA franchise in one of our continent's biggest markets, had this to say March 6 when reporters in Los Angeles asked him if he'd be in favor of the NBA conducting business in empty arenas: “We play games without the fans? Nah, that’s impossible. I ain’t playing if I ain’t got the fans in the crowd. That’s who I play for. I play for my teammates, and I play for the fans. That’s what it’s all about.”
A couple days later and figuratively solar systems away, Paul Maurice, head coach of the Jets, based in the NHL's smallest market, had this to say when reporters in Winnipeg asked him something similar: "I want undistracted hockey with fans in the building. That’s what I like. I might not be able to get all of that, but we all want a healthy, positive outcome for everybody. Short of that, we want everyone safe. But you’d like to go into games feeling that hockey is the most important thing for you that day. If it becomes short of that ... we’ll do what we’re told."
Pretty powerful stuff, huh?
Look, set aside that LeBron walked back his comments a the first chance, claiming he'd been unaware that the NBA was seriously considering such a move and that he'd merely be "disappointed" if it ever came to pass. What counts most, I dare say, is how both gentlemen responded reflexively to the thought of empty arenas, empty stadiums: They thought first and foremost about the passion that'd be lost. As Maurice would proceed, "The best parts of our game are still driven by emotion."
They are.
I'm not impartial here. I won't claim to be. I'd love to see sports back because they're my life and business and, once they're back, I'll be inside those buildings whether or not fans are allowed. All of us in the media will.
And I appreciate the importance of completing ongoing seasons or even starting new ones. The competitions, the championships matter immensely to the participants and to the public. This damned virus is going to take so, so much from us. We might as well embrace the chance to cheer, not to mention all the inherent economic benefits of continuing.
But I'm not going to hold this back, either: When sports are back, it'd be beyond wonderful if we can figure out how to do it all together.
Picture Game 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Penguins vs. Flyers. Yeah, just that.
A commonwealth that'll have just spent weeks or months heeding the same instructions from the same governor, working toward the same goal, will now share the same ice. And rather than the usual salutes to the military, we instead, on this special occasion, are standing and roaring for Philadelphia's medical heroes, followed in Game 3 by Pittsburgh's heroes.
From there, imagine, as Maurice suggested, that "hockey is the most important thing for you that day." Because when the Penguins and Flyers meet, it should be. There's no shame in that. It really should be. By the time the puck drops, those people at Wells Fargo Center should snap right back into being miscreants and chanting 'CROS-BY SUCKS! CROS-BY SUCKS!' with so much venom you'd think he'd just gotten done licking grocery shelves.
Now picture opening day at PNC Park. And no, I know, it's not the same, but stay with me.
A city that'll have just spent weeks or months staying away from each other, shielding and sheltering, is now standing in the same place, facing our skyline as only that brilliant vantage point can afford, feeling whole again. Those who were in attendance for the Pirates' first few games after 9/11 will understand precisely what I'm referencing. It was scary, but it was also cathartic. Big gatherings felt like a terrorist target and, yet, if we were at one, we were striking some small symbolic blow right back at those bastards.
Like the hockey, Greg Brown and Joe Klimchak can introduce and honor, as only baseball can, the many men and women who'll have served on our new front lines right here in Western Pennsylvania. We'll be on our feet. Derek Shelton's Pirates and the opponents will be on their respective baselines, applauding louder than they'll expect to have reciprocated. Because they'll get that Josh Bell could plant a bomb onto a passing boat, and it won't measure up.
And then, of course, the games. With witnesses. With fans. Maybe no hugs or high-fives. Maybe with sanitizer dispensers hanging behind every seat. Maybe with fever tests at every game, just like we now go through metal detectors. But with emotion. With humanity.
If we come back without fans, as all leagues are currently discussing -- Major League Baseball most aggressively, it appears -- it'll give us good TV, it'll restore some semblance of normalcy ... but it won't be anywhere near the same.
No singular point here. Nor any solid stand. Just sharing some emotion of my own.
• No, I don't regularly quote Maurice just because he's in Winnipeg. He's legitimately that clever. This is the guy who earlier this NHL season described the 3-on-3 overtimes as a “free-for-all of fecal matter.”
• Best quote I've ever heard from any coach came from the late Pat Burns when he was the Maple Leafs, observing of Winnipeg's famously flat terrain: “It’s the only town where you can watch your dog run away for three days.”
• We'll be hearing from Eric Ebron today. Really looking forward to that. Dude's been ablaze on social media about how much he'll offer the Steelers this season. And rightly so, if he can stay on the field.
• Am I the only one who couldn't conceivably care less who hangs out with Antonio Brown?
• OK, if not, then am I the only one who'd actually be OK with AB going to the Ravens?
We Activated ? pic.twitter.com/MtnGXKcPwv
— Hollywood Brown (@Primetime_jet) April 1, 2020
Because if anyone wants to observe the ultimate experiment in unraveling a tightknit 14-2 team, that should be a storyline we're all happy to send down Harbaugh Lane.
• Hot news: The NFL's competition committee, of which Mike Tomlin's a member, quietly began moving toward agreeing to having a so-called 'sky judge' assisting referees at every game. This would be wonderful, especially if it de-centralizes authority from Al Riveron. One individual should never have that much power over outcomes in any league, much less the largest in the land.
• Hotter news: Jadeveon Clowney's willing to settle for slightly less than his initial demand of $20 million per season. He's now looking at $18 million, maybe $17 million. This after producing all of three sacks in 13 games for the Seahawks last season, then having core muscle surgery.
Browns got any cash under the couch?
• Hottest news: Tyrod Taylor, easily the NFL's worst for-now-starting quarterback, sounded off to the Orange County Register that he is, in fact, the right man to guide the Chargers to glory: “We have a lot of talent on our team. If I'm the guy calling the shots, I know for sure that we’ll go out and turn a lot of heads.”
He'll turn heads all right. All his teammates will be looking straight ahead, then swiveling back the other way.
• Honestly, I don't care where Clowney winds up or what he earns. But it's certainly worth watching what impact his eventual contract will have on a certain far, far more productive defensive player in these parts.
• No team in any of the three leagues with a Pittsburgh franchise has been hit harder by coronavirus than the Senators, now with three more players and a member of the Ottawa staff testing positive. Which should underscore all the further why the NHL yesterday extended its mandatory quarantining of all personnel to April 15.
Think of it this way: The Senators, by all accounts, caught the virus on their March 6-11 trip through California. One of those was among three home games the Sharks played while defying Santa Clara County recommendations to shut down. Several other teams passed through the state in that time, and the Penguins, of course, had just been there Feb. 26-29.
If everyone truly quarantines, it'll be clear before long who has and who doesn't have it.
The Penguins, for the record, have shown no symptoms at any level of the NHL operation, though Jim Rutherford has acknowledged that none of them have been tested.
• No. 1 reason -- and maybe the only good one -- for the NHL to complete its regular season is that it offers Alexander Ovechkin 13 more games in which to keep pursuing Wayne Gretzky's goal record, games he'll otherwise lose forever.
Would love to see it, if only to see Canada's reaction at the game's most hallowed record going to a Russian.
• Who's secretly more grateful for coronavirus: Rob Manfred, the Astros or the Red Sox?
The investigation regarding the latter is complete, but it won't be released until shortly before the start of the regular season. No reasons were given for the delay, but I'd presume it's to avoid taking any focus off the ongoing crisis. It'd be stunning if it turns out worse than what went on in Houston, but it wouldn't at all be stunning if Manfred tries to compensate for looking so weak the first time around by hammering the next in line.
• Something something payroll something something Bob Nutting.
There. Just like old times.
• We'll get there. We will.
