March is usually one of my favorite times of the year.
I love college basketball, especially when it comes to the NCAA Tournament. I love the pageantry, the excitement, the buzzer-beaters, the controversial officiating and the Cinderella stories. It’s one of the most surprising sporting events of the year.
This year, however, the surprising part is that it’s not happening this year. And there’s a good chance everything planned for the next two to three months will not go on in the sports or entertainment world.
You know what I’m talking about: the novel coronavirus that’s spreading at a pace it has been called a pandemic. We don’t know how extensive it is in our country, and that unknown is what is causing us to nearly shut down our country over it.
The last major shutdown I remember like this was in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001. However, this doesn’t appear to be terrorism. It is a virus that we couldn’t prepare for. Regardless of how much we tried, it was coming anyway.
Unfortunately, our response to the virus hasn’t been as aggressive as it should have been until recently. I think it’s an overreaction, but we are better safe than sorry.
I hate that school and sports are shut down for now. I don’t know if they will every fully return this school year.
If there’s one thing that hurts me is seeing those athletes who have worked hard preparing for their moment to shine to have it postponed due to a virus. I hate to see the seniors in high school and college have to deal with this when they should be trying to visit campuses and making connections to figure out what’s the next step in their lives.
I hope we return to some semblance of normalcy, but events like this will likely change us forever. I know every time I see hand sanitizer or a sanitary wipe at the grocery store, I’m going to stop and use it to wash the world off my hands.
Brent Maze is the publisher of the Appeal. Contact Brent at bmaze@newtoncountyappeal.com.
