Year of sports lost to covid shutdowns

Yes, it has been a year since we were shutdown, schools closed, sports equipment locked away, and only essential businesses could be open. Did we neglect to protect those people that needed to be protected or hurt those that were not as vulnerable? Or both?

Let’s take a little walk back 52 years ago when the world was in the midst of another pandemic. In 1968-69 there was the Hong Kong flu pandemic. It, too, was an election year and Dan Evans was reelected as the Washington state governor. A future governor was entering his senior year at a Seattle area high school. This future governor was the quarterback of his high school football team and the center on the basketball team.

The flu pandemic killed well over one million people worldwide. I happened to be a junior in high school and the school was only closed for a couple of snow days. Let’s just say it was a nasty winter, weather-wise. The only thing I remember about the pandemic is when popular KJRB radio disc jockey Charlie Brown would bang a gong which he called the ‘Hong Kong flu gong.' I’m not sure that it is politically correct to say that today, but it was in the late 60’s.

So in 1968-69 we had a football season and a basketball season as well as wrestling, baseball, track and tennis. This was before Title IX and those were all of the sports we had to look forward to.

What if Governor Evans decided that too many people were ailing from the ‘flu’ and decided that it was too dangerous to go to school or play competitive sports or even hold the state basketball tournaments. How would the future governor attending school in the Seattle area have reacted? Would he have organized a protest in Olympia? For that matter, would my teammates and I have been angry enough to make that trek over the mountains? Oh, yeah, the legislature was meeting live in Olympia because Zoom meetings or however they meet today wasn’t invented yet.

Face-to-face meetings were not cancelled unless it was weather-related. There were no other choices back then. Kids had to go to school to learn. If a kid was sick, then the teacher would send the textbooks home with a parent as well as the assignments that needed to be completed. And we didn’t wear masks, either. I think the teachers would have freaked out if that happened 52 years ago.

We’ve had a lot of information thrown our way in the last year and it seems that it all depends on who says it if it is to be believed or not, or which news outlet reports it. Unfortunately so much of the information has scared the life out of many elderly folks who are also very vulnerable to C-19.

We have finally been able to get some schools open and competitive sports are once again being played six months later than normal. There are shortened seasons and no state tournaments. The WIAA did their best and had several different scenarios, but had to wait until the whole state could be on the same page, so to speak. Those decisions came from the Governor.

So the shortened fall season will be over in a few weeks and spring sports will be next followed by winter sports in May and June. All of the competitors, coaches, referees and the limited amount of spectators all need to be wearing a mask. That goes for practice sessions as well.

When things get back to normal is anybody’s guess at this point in time, but hopefully Phase 3 will be incentive enough for us to once again enjoy our lives.

I don’t remember getting sick from the flu back then. It doesn’t mean I didn’t take a personal day for one reason or another, I just didn’t get the HK flu. We are living in such a sterile society these days that it makes me think that our bodies can’t overcome a few more foreign germs. We didn’t have hand sanitizer, we had Lava soap and I think the pumice kicked out the bad stuff.

There are a lot more people living in the USA now than 52 years ago; somewhere around 130-150 million more. I also know that obesity, age and diabetes are big issues with this pandemic, in comparison to 1968-69. We can sometimes be our own worst enemy.

I know a lot of people lost a year because they locked themselves away and were afraid to get out and see the light of day. I just know that going to a restaurant or a sporting event is good for my soul and I hope you can experience the same thing.