By Brian Hoffman – Sports Editor
63 DAYS AND COUNTING
Well, it’s now day 63 AG. That’s “After Gobert,” the date when Rudy of the Jazz was found to have the virus. That’s over two months sports fans!! It was March 12 when all sports as we know it came to a halt.
I haven’t gone two months without watching live, or at least live on TV, football, baseball or basketball since the ‘50s. Here’s the kind of stuff that goes through my mind as I sit on the porch and wait for the virus to just go away, like President Trump tells us it will.
AS SEEN IN KOREA
Can anyone tell me why the names on the back of the Korean uniforms are in Korean and the name of the team on the front is in English?
Check it out. All the names on the backs of the uniforms are in the Korean alphabet, or whatever you call those symbols. But on the front, you have Bears, Twins, Dinos, etc. I figure the symbols should be on the front as well.
Also, did you ever see so many advertisements? In the game I was watching the other day the Samsung Lions team had advertisements on the sides of their battling helmets. How would that go over in the United States?
In that same game I noticed the Samsung team had caps that had adjustable backs while the NC Dinos did not. When is the last time you saw a professional baseball team with hats that had those adjustable plastic straps with holes and balls? Nothing against them, I have many, but I never saw a professional team wearing them.
And another thing, if you’ve watched any of the games you know they’ve been putting cutouts of fans in the seats. It was reported that you can buy a cutout of yourself to have put in the stands. Talk about selling ice cubes to Eskimos! Some fools are buying seats for a game they’re not allowed to attend.
As if that’s not bad enough, the Korean games have cheerleaders dancing on top of the dugouts, apparently trying to get the cutout figures to cheer. The cheerleaders are wearing masks, so I’m not sure if the cardboard fans can’t understand what they’re saying or that cardboard cutouts can’t cheer.
I’ve never made it to the seventh inning of one of these games. Do they expect the cutouts to stand up for the seventh inning stretch? They could bring out a cutout of the late Harry Caray, the famous Cubs broadcaster, and play his rendition of “Take me out to the Ballgame.” Of course, in that part of the world you might want to be careful where you say “Harakiri.”
Just a couple observations while I wait for Major League games to return, and it can’t be soon enough.
GOING TO THE DOGS
I’ll tell you how desperate people are for sports. I was looking at the “Today on TV” section of the local daily last week and one of the things listed was the “Dog Show!” I like dogs as much as the next guy, but does anyone consider that sports?
The only live stuff listed were the dog show, horse racing, mixed martial arts, tennis, Korean baseball and, on Saturday, they had “Cornhole” listed among the sports on TV. You know we’re in a strange time when Cornhole is on TV as a live sporting event. That’s something you play in the parking lot before a real game while drinking beer. What’s next, croquet?
And you wonder why people were so amped up over the NFL draft.
WHAT’S A BIGGER STORY THAN THE VIRUS?
You know how at the end of the year news organizations recap the “Big Stories” of the year coming to an end? This year, I thought it was going to be easy.
So far we’ve had an impeachment trial and the death of one of the all-time great NBA basketball players in a tragic accident. We have a presidential election in November, and normally that would be the big story. However, the coronavirus pandemic is likely to not only be the big story of the year, but the big story of the century to date. What could possibly top it?
How about finding there’s life on other planets? Did you see the video of the unidentified flying objects that was recently on the news? The Pentagon officially released three short videos showing “unidentified aerial phenomena” that appear to be unidentified flying objects rapidly moving while recorded by infrared cameras. Two of the videos contain service members reacting to how quickly the objects are moving.
According to a story on the CNN website.
The Pentagon has previously studied recordings of aerial encounters with unknown objects as part of a since-shuttered classified program that was launched at the behest of former Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada. The program was launched in 2007 and ended in 2012, according to the Pentagon, because they assessed that there were higher priorities that needed funding.
Nevertheless, Luis Elizondo, the former head of the classified program, told CNN in 2017 that he personally believes “there is very compelling evidence that we may not be alone.”
Interesting stuff. Stay tuned, but as of now the pandemic is still the odds-on favorite for the year’s top story come December 31, 2020, and the aliens are a long shot at best. I might put a couple bucks on the aliens as a “flyer.”
PLAY IT
I saw a sign the other day promoting Trish White-Boyd for Roanoke City Council. The first thing that came to my mind was, “Play that funky music, White-Boyd.”
