Being thankful for Sports

 

What does the word thankful mean? Thankful is defined as being pleased and relieved, which is a very appropriate word to describe not just the Thanksgiving holiday, but also how many fans feel about sports being played during this uneven year. As the world approaches a year since the global pandemic began, sports should seem insignificant as over 200000 have died at the hands of Covid-19 in the United States alone, but never have sports been more important. 

Sports throughout history have been used to help distract and bring awareness to larger societal issues but also used to unify and help with the healing process. During WWII, baseball legends such as Ted Willams, Joe DiMaggio, Bob Feller, and Yogi Berra were among many baseball players that joined the military ranks, with most participating in military baseball teams to boost the morale of soldiers in the pacific. During the Vietnam War, Muhammad Ali protested the war effort and publicly denied entry into the draft thus leading him to spend over two years in prison, but his actions started to open the eyes and ears of many other Americans. 10 days after 9/11, Mike Piazza of the New York Mets hit one of the most iconic home runs in MLB history with a go ahead shot in the bottom of the 8th inning against the Atlanta Braves which was the first sporting event in New York post-9/11. That same year the New York Yankees went to game seven of the World Series with both moments providing healing for a city wrecked by tragedy. While there have been mostly no fans in attendance since March, that has not lessoned the impact that sports have had on the psyche of fans and for even the casual sports fan. From March until July sports had mostly been a non-factor in societies around the world, but many did not expect how having sports delayed or postponed would impact the daily lives of millions around the world. Sports were always there for fans to turn to or even the fact of knowing there was a game on was part of the norm, but as of March 12th, 2020 everything changed. Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the virus shutting down the Jazz Thunder game that night and it was no coincidence that as the multibillion dollar sports businesses shut down, which stop for nothing the world shut down. It is only fitting that sports starts the transition back to normality and that is something to be thankful for. 

As fans we have seen some incredible performances and many highlights from the NBA bubble, to the MLB playoffs to Augusta National. Starting in the NBA Bubble, there were some incredible performances and many young rising stars showing out. Let's start with Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns. The Suns went 8-0 in the bubble pushing for the eighth seed in the Western Conference until the last day led by Devin Booker and his 30 plus point scoring average. That led the Suns to be aggressive during free agency and trade for veteran point guard Chris Paul to help them contend for this upcoming season. Donovan Mitchell averaged 36 points per game and Jamal Murray averaged over 31.5 points per game in a first round 7 game series for the ages, with both recording multiple 50 point games. Mitchell also became the youngest player with a 50 point game in the playoffs since Michael Jordan and broke the Jazz all time playoff scoring record in a game held by Karl Malone at 50. Mitchell now owns the third highest scoring individual game in playoff history behind Jordan and Elgin Baylor. We witnesses an incredible 3-1 comeback by the Denver Nuggets over the LA Clippers where the Nuggets were down by as many as 16 in Game 5, 18 in Game 6, and 12 in Game 7 with amazing comebacks in all of them. Damian Lillard went on one of the greatest five game stretches in league history averaging 43.8 points per game to get Portland into the playoffs, including a career high 61points in a big game against the Dallas Mavericks. The Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors played one of the best games in the bubble and of the season with a double OT thriller in game 6 of the playoff semifinals. Jayson Tatum and Jalen Brown of the Celtics combined for 60 points with Marcus Smart contributing a 23 point triple double, but the Raptors hung on led by Kyle Lowrys 33. The underdog Miami Heat knocked off 3 of the 4 top teams in the East on their way to the NBA Finals led by rising star Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler. Last, but not least Lebron James won his fourth championship in his illustrious career, honoring the late great Kobe Bryant along the way. The NBA bubble had many concerns going in, but the quality of play was inspiring and the storylines were incredible. 

From 2013-2019 the Los Angeles Dodgers experienced immense postseason heartbreak including back to back World Series losses in 2017 and 18, but finally broke their championship drought in the year that is 2020. The Dodgers had won their first championship since 1988, led by Mookie Betts against a Rays team with a payroll just over 28 million, led by a relative unknown player in Randy Arozarena, who had 10 home runs to pair with a 1.219 OPS in the playoffs. 3 of the 5 longest playoff droughts coming into 2020 were broken with the Miami Marlins, San Diego Padres, and Chicago White Sox all making the playoffs with the Marlins and Padres also winning their first playoff series since 2003 for the Marlins and 2006 for the Padres.

In the NFL we have seen the Pittsburgh Steelers off to the best start in franchise history at 10-0, the Cleveland Browns are on pace for their first winning season since 2007 and first playoff berth since the early 2000s, the Kansas City Chiefs are 9-1 fresh off a Super Bowl victory, the NFC West has three teams currently in the playoffs, the 2020 version of the NFC East could also go down as the worst division in the history of the league, and Tom Brady is playing down in Tompa Bay. At the Masters, Dustin Johnson shot a 20 under par to win the 2020 Masters by five strokes, with his 20 under par being the best score recorded in the history of the Masters. 

In the year 2020, there have been many negatives around the world, but none of that relates to the sports world. Only in 2020 would fans witness some of the things that have been accomplished. It is unfortunate that March Madness never occurred and that every seasons regular season and postseasons were postponed until months later, but having sports at all is something that needs to be appreciated. The moments that have been witnessed need to be cherished because no one knows when those moments will happen again. No fans does not take away from the accomplishments and in fact it enhances those accomplishments as we as fans are witnessing these professional athletes play in an authentic way, with passion that has not been seen often from many of these professionals. Also, for these athletes for them to create their own motivation and adrenaline to get going in high intensity matches or games makes these feats that much more impressive. During these trying times for many around the world the impact sports have had is immeasurable and the performances inspiring. People around the world finally realize the importance of sports in every day life and hopefully no one ever takes sports for granted again and for that we should be thankful.