By Brian Hoffman, Sports Editor
Today is day 237 AG, or 237 days “After (Rudy) Gobert” tested positive for Covid-19 and all sports as we knew them came to an end.
It’s been a long seven and a half months, and it’s certainly been a different time for me. Normally, I’m buzzing from one sporting event to the other, but that hasn’t been the case since the middle of March. We haven’t had any high school sports, limited recreation sports, no Salem Red Sox, no Rail Yard Dawgs, no Old Dominion Athletic Conference events and I haven’t been allowed to go to the Tech football games. Instead of taking photos I’m getting them from the “ACC Portal” that serves all publications who normally have a photographer on the sidelines. I sure do miss it, and they never have any photos of Jesse Hanson in the portal.
What have I been doing? Well, I walk a lot and I’ve played golf almost 80 times since the first week of April. That’s after not playing once for over 30 years prior to the pandemic. I’m getting a little better but I still suck.
Golf is a funny game. Every once and a while I can hit a shot just like you see on TV, and that’s enough to keep me coming back. Of course, most of the other shots are why I have a bad score at the end of the round.
I have three sayings that keep coming up. Number one, “If I would have hit that straight it would been right on the green;” number two, “If I could hit it like that every time I’d be really good; and number three, “If I’d only made a few ‘makeable’ putts!”
Of course, being able to hit it straight, putt well, and be “consistent” are basically the things that separate the good players from the bad ones. If I could consistently hit it straight, make all the putts I should and rarely duff a shot I’d be playing on TV instead of at the sand greens course on Academy Street in Salem. However, for five bucks on a Wednesday afternoon (Senior Day) I can’t get too upset about not playing well.
I also take a lot of walks during this “down time.” I have several favorite trails across the Roanoke Valley and I usually listen to the sports talk radio while I walk. Every once in a while I’ll turn it to a political talk show, but that defeats the purpose of trying to relax.
One of the reasons I started playing golf again was because I could walk and also have some fun doing it. If I just go for a walk I usually go for about 45 minutes to an hour. When I play golf I can walk for two hours and put in way more miles without even realizing I’m exercising, because it’s fun.
I always walk when I play. I sort of chuckle when people play golf for exercise but drive a cart and drink beer while they’re doing it. That’s not to say that isn’t fun, but it sort of defeats the idea of exercise in my book. And again, I suck at the game so I’m not going to put a lot of money into a cart and an expensive course anyway.
Which brings me to November 1. While I’ve found some things to do to kill the time while I’m not going to real sporting events, November 1 put a real crimp into my schedule. As you know, “Daylight Saving” time ended on Saturday night and made it a lot more difficult to have fun.
Now, it’s getting dark at 5:15 p.m. and it’s getting colder. People who work a day job relish that time after work when the sun is still out and the weather is warm. On Saturday night that pretty much ended until March 14 of 2021, when Daylight Saving Time returns.
Without the pandemic this wasn’t as big a problem. Last weekend I would have been at the championships for the Sandlot Super Bowl Football games. I love those games, but we didn’t have them this year.
This Friday would normally be the last regular season high school football games, with playoffs to follow. Count that out.
This would be the week for regional volleyball tournaments, with the championship games the weekend of November 14. No luck there.
Cross country state championships would be this weekend. Forget about that.
Basketball would be starting up soon. High school practices normally begin this week and Roanoke College games would start right about the middle of November. There will be college games at some Division I schools, but good luck trying to get in. You can watch them inside on TV when you come home in the dark.
Oh yes, 2020 has been a real trip. I saw a cartoon on the editorial page of the local daily last week where a man and wife are sitting at the table and the woman proclaims, “Don’t forget we get another hour this Sunday,” to which the man replies, “Who wants another hour of 2020?”
And, of course, we have an election this week. As I write this I don’t know the results, and there’s no guarantee we’ll know the results by the time this paper comes out. I’m just hoping there’s no rioting in the streets or idiots trying to run people off the road, regardless of which side wins.
Oh well, at least the pandemic is “turning the corner.” Only trouble is, I’m afraid to see what’s around that corner.
What a crazy time indeed, and now it’s too dark to play golf after work.
