Is a Bubble the Answer?

by with 2 Comments FeaturedSports

For 5 weeks I’ve been living life in the WNBA bubble, also known as the wubble, in Bradenton, Florida at the prestigious IMG Academy. Players and team staff are quarantined, tested daily, and holding social distancing practices as much as possible. We practiced, ate, and gave medical care while getting used to our new normal without being allowed to leave the premises. Well, as much as possible around teens who were on campus for various sports camps and Academy staff who were going home to their families everyday. I guess you could say that we were separated from them as much as we possibly could, although I did find out that Academy staff were being tested every 2-3 days as well. 

I’d be foolish if I said that everything was well-planned and that the logistics were perfect from day one, but through some trial and error, and constant communication, we seem to have hit a bit of a sweet spot. For instance, every person on each team’s travel party had to take 3 coronavirus tests prior to flying out to prove that he/she had not been exposed to the virus. The testing did expose several players prior to leaving and even caused one team to delay departure due to multiple positive results. However, once given the “all clear” we were placed on a commercial flight which, from our city, happened to be a full flight that allowed for no social distancing at all. Thankfully, as a healthcare provider, I was well prepared with an N95 mask, face shield, gloves and enough wipes to sanitize the entire plane. Upon arrival, we then mixed in with the rest of the people in the airport- although by no means full- Florida had just been rated a growing coronavirus hot spot, so even a handful of people warranted suspicion. 

Once we arrived as a team at the IMG premises, we picked up our room or house keys and set out to find our dwellings for the next 4 days where we would be quarantined again. Meals were delivered 3 times a day, and grocery delivery services became fast favorites of everyone. The only time of day that we were allowed to leave was for the daily testing procedure that was scheduled by team so that we did not potentially cross-contaminate one another. After the initial quarantine period practices began for 2 weeks until the season finally kicked off on July 25.

While there have been a small number of true positive tests, most teams have stayed to themselves still, with the occasional moments of mingling at meals or the pool. When a positive result is returned, all team leads are notified, with care to protect the identity of the person to decrease the stigma. The athlete or staff member is immediately isolated in a designated off-campus hotel and tested again for the next 2 days to determine whether or not the result is true or false. In some cases, if there is a roommate or family member present, appropriate care is taken to retest and isolate them if necessary as well. 

The elephant in the room was the noticeable differences between what was shown and exposed about the NBA bubble compared to the wubble. For instance, our testing seemed to be administered using a different procedure almost daily, by different people- some getting good samples and some barely seeming to scratch the surface. The problem is that an insufficient sample is listed as “positive,” causing the individual to be isolated at a remote site and having to wait at least 2 days to obtain consecutive negative results. This has lead to missed games and practices. Instead, the NBA has access to rapid tests to be used in similar cases which can turnaround results within hours and avoid an unnecessary isolation and missed games. Let’s not even talk about how it’s taken the entire 5 weeks to get someone (2 people to be exact) into the wubble to staff the hair salon for a limited 2 week period to do hair for a couple hundred women and the male staff, while the NBA has had multiple barbers on site from the beginning, and they rotate them out every 2 weeks. The WNBA doesn’t know if/when the hairstylists will return after this initial 2 week period. NBA players can also have family members visit and go in and out on designated days, while WNBA players cannot unless they came in on the first day as a caregiver for an accompanying child. 

The disparities in services and accommodations are present and the topic of some conversations, but overall everyone recognizes the real reason we are here- to cut the risk of exposure to, and spread of the coronavirus. It is my opinion and has been for a few months now, that it will be difficult to play any sport without the use of a “bubble” experience. This takes a lot of time and effort to plan and raises multiple medical and logistical challenges. I applaud the medical professionals and team and league representatives who have labored tirelessly to make a season possible, and I believe that the NBA and WNBA have been successful because of it. Is it realistic to put all football (college or professional) or major league baseball teams into the same bubble where they only interact with one another, are tested daily, and don’t have to travel for games? Probably not. For this reason, I side with the college conferences that have decided to forgo all Fall sports. 

I also applaud the NCAA for beginning to look at possible bubble situations for men’s basketball already, and hope that they can identify locations that can adequately support the unique needs of athletic medicine, performance and education of college athletes. I’d be lying if I said that I was 100% confident that the NFL season would start without a hitch. We have seen the challenges that MLB has faced when each team has been allowed to “create” it’s own bubble at the facility. However, trusting athletes to go straight home, not have outside company or even family visit, and the many other scenarios make it very difficult to predict outcomes from day to day. The truth is that America still has way too many people who don’t take the virus and it’s spread seriously, thus the decisions made away from the facility are often based solely on self.

I’m not sure what it will take for us to change our behavior collectively so that we can eradicate this virus, but hopefully, sports can help us unify in ways nothing else has been able to do. 

Similar Read: Do You Remember 2020?

Not What I Ordered

by with 2 Comments FeaturedSports

The Washington District of Columbia Football Club…

For the first time in my lifetime, there’s a serious call for changing the nickname of the Washington DC professional football team. The team’s nickname is not one of opinion… it has never been a question of whether or not it’s racist or offensive. 

Real simple, would you ever call anyone a “bleep-skin”? If you didn’t know the team name, would you even know the term existed? No… because it’s a terrible name and needs to be changed immediately. No one uses this term in real life, we all know why, let’s not play dumb. 

Nowhere else in the world do you see sporting teams named after whole peoples. There is no such thing as the “Berlin Russians” or the Paris “Italians,” no because it sounds stupid and without substance. 

So that’s that…

Now what should be the new team name? 

I’ve seen a number of suggestions and they’re all over the place. From the respectable nickname of the “Red Tails” (to honor the Tuskegee Airmen) to the boring and lame “Presidents” and “Generals” to simply being called the “Americans.” 

NOOOOOOOO!!!!

Just call it the “Washington District of Columbia Professional Football Club,” with no gimmicks, no mascot, no cheerleaders, no band. Just the coaches, trainers, scouts, and players. 

Why? 

For starters, we as Washington area sports fans already went through a terrible team name change. The Washington Bullets was a great nickname for our professional basketball team. No one, and I mean no one, hunted down anyone in the name of the “Washington Bullets” and shot them for said reasons. The reason for changing the name due to Washington’s murder rate is one thing, but to change it to the Wizards is just whack. Luckily our old red, white, and blue colors are back. But for years we were the laughing stock of the league due to lack of talent, ugly jerseys, and a terrible nickname. 

Secondly… the new team name NEEDS to be done quickly, to revert the media’s attention and focus back to the game of football. Outside of a couple RGIII’s here and a Sean Taylor (RIP) there, my childhood team has been ridiculously awful. 

A no-nonsense type of approach and new name is exactly what that organization needs to change its image. 

Lastly, the new name should be simple and straight forward, for it may bring some seriousness to Washington as a whole. The past few years we’ve seen the most illogical and asinine stances from people. Flat-Earthers to Trump voters refusing to wear masks amongst a health pandemic, it’s been a lot to take in. Maybe, just maybe, a team in the nation’s capital once named as one of the worst racial slurs in history could turn around and be a symbol of reason and progress. If the team were to change its name, show success, be a lead voice for what’s right, it COULD have an impact and trickle effect for the rest of the NFL and beyond. 

Similar Read: John McGraw, Andy Reid, And Black Quarterbacks

No Horsing Around

by with No Comment FeaturedSports

Even with the national shutdown and suspension of our normal way of life, most pastimes can still be enjoyed. If you have reliable internet service, you pretty much can get anything you need. Is it the same? Of course not. Seeing a movie meant for a theater release isn’t the same as streaming… no matter how big and new your television screen is. Yes, you can still order the Surf and Turf platter via delivery; however, it simply isn’t the same served in styrofoam. Considering it costs the same, you want the same taste and experience you’d get in the actual restaurant. 

But it’s something. 

Prior to this shutdown, I was in a gym rat groove. I still can run outside and use my dumbbells at home (don’t worry about the weight of the dumbbells). Is it the same as a full-fledged gym??? No. 

But it’s something. 

One aspect of society that cannot be modified, and for good reason, is sports. 

Yes, ESPN is currently airing a HORSE basketball tournament between current and former NBA and WNBA players. I get it, they’re trying something. And I tried watching it. I really tried, it just simply wasn’t appealing to me. Aesthetically, it looked like it was shot on an Iphone 4. It was little action and mostly interviews with the players, the competitiveness was manufactured, and it wasn’t live. Sorry, something about the unknown of watching live sports is a major appeal to why we love it so much. I currently watch the classic games shown by various outlets, and love seeing the unknown in the face of fans as they watch something they don’t know or expect to happen. It’s a really special feeling only live sporting events can deliver. Either at the event or home, the emotion of fans cheering and live action is needed. A prerecorded HORSE competition simply can’t deliver that. And as a rabid sports fan, I only want the full return of sports. No more barnstorming and bad ideas, just the real thing. 

I can watch a remote episode of a sketch comedy show or a news broadcast, not the same, but it’s something. And that something is currently the state of sports. Meaning, we don’t have a true understanding of how or when the shutdown will end. And that understanding is beyond and more important than sports. With that being said, if with the utmost safety we can get modified versions of sporting events, I think it would be welcomed by many. 

Proposals such as playing in empty (fan-less) stadiums, playing in one arena and city, and other similar ideas of that nature are a good start. Sports is needed. The positive economic and social impact of professional sports teams on cities is beyond simple calculations. On a smaller scale, the same can be said for the economic and social impact of collegiate athletics (the NCAA) on college and university campuses nationwide.

The need to have an outlet for celebration and sports is inevitable and emotional. I just hope we don’t have to wait too long to experience it again. 

Ugly Politics And Beautiful Game

by with One Comment FeaturedGen Z

Now that the World Cup is over, it’s a good a time to unpack all that happened. Not the actual play (although there were some absolutely gripping games), but the often darker political undercurrents that undergird the world’s biggest sporting event. From West Germany playing East Germany at the height of the Cold War to Nike being unable to provide the Iranian national team with cleats, the World Cup has never truly been divorced from the political realities of its time. At the World Cup, the beautiful game has never been just a game, and this is truer now then it has ever been. 

This World Cup saw a plethora of shocking upsets with heavy favorites losing to newcomers and underdogs. This is an apt metaphor for what we’ve seen happen in global politics, with what was once thought to be a deeply cemented world order slowly crumbling. The United States failing to qualify is a fitting allegory for America’s abdication of its global leadership position. And fitting, the specter of Russia looms just as large considering their position as host nation and their global ambitions on the international political stage.

Related: Candy Corn Sports… What Happened To Baseball?

Even while soccer’s powerhouse teams failed to perform, the effects of globalization could be seen in the style of play. While a nation’s playing style was once considered distinctive to each team, the majority of teams now adopt a much more technical style normally associated with European teams and inspired by European club football. Most countries’ star players play in one of the major European leagues, and if they don’t then they are influenced by the style of play broadcasted to millions around the world throughout the year. While nationalist leaders often decry the perceived threat of global homogenization no one dares do so when it comes to soccer. Just like in the global economy, it’s either adapt or die.

The effects of globalization could also be seen in the makeup of the teams vying for sports’ most sought-after championship. The final four teams all came from Europe, but a look at the names on the roster told a different story. Half of the Belgian and English teams had roots in Africa or the Caribbean. The Championship winning French team is made up primarily of players of an African background with a significant amount of Muslim players. This is in sharp contrast to the right-wing hyper-nationalism and racial identity politics that have begun to sweep across Europe.

There are many lessons that can be learned from this fact. France, plagued by xenophobia and Islamophobia, embraced their African and Muslim stars in a way that was both heartening and cautionary. The success of the French national team truly showed that immigrants can not only become members of society but that they can make significant contributions and make their country better.  On the other hand, immigrants don’t only matter when they succeed but their worth should come as an intrinsic part of their humanity.

Karim Benzema, the great Algerian-French player, once said, “If I score I’m French, but if I don’t I’m Arab.”

No matter how much we might wish that our sports be an escape from the realities of the real world the fact is politics permeates everything in the world around us. This is especially true when nations face off against each other in the world cup. The prolific sports writer Simon Kuper once wrote that when two teams take the field in the World Cup their nations’ histories take the field alongside them. At times this may mean that the beautiful game is besmirched by the ugliness of political competition. Then again, there are few things more emotionally charged than sports, so perhaps it’s fitting that politics is fought out on the pitch as well.  

Candy Corn Sports… What Happened to Baseball?

by with 9 Comments FeaturedSports

Possibly the most popular, unpopular thing in America is Baseball.

Every year around Halloween, polls are conducted on what’s America’s favorite candy to eat. Oddly, a frequent top choice is candy corn. Candy corn, in my anecdotal experience, is eaten only during Halloween, and after which, mysteriously is absent from the stores and consumption from people. Candy corn is also not a candy in which the masses draw too or crave. It’s not a very popular candy, yet during Halloween, it’s everywhere. You will never see a kid skipping down the street eating candy corn in July, not a chance. So how is it so popular? The same way baseball is popular, it’s ingrained into Americana, but not by choice, by circumstance. I’ll explain.

Circumstance.

Baseball by and large is played without much interruption from other sports. Baseball is synonymous with summer, which is the time of vacations and overall group activities. From work outings to student five dollar night, baseball is an excellent option for group outings on the cheap. For most, that’s about as good as it gets. Unless you’re 55 and a White male, which is the current average demographic for baseball. Football average age demographic is 47, and basketball… 37, basketball is also the second most popular sport in the world, but that’s for later.

Though baseball is still very much popular, it’s not very much liked. The Major League Baseball All-Star game is this week, and more news and attention has been dedicated to Lebron joining the Lakers and where disgruntled San Antonio Spurs star Kawhi Leonard might get traded. The sport has become candy corn. Something only good for the special moment – the more enjoyable venture takes precedence once the moment is gone. Just like candy corn is taken off shelves as soon as November 1st hits, baseball is put on the backburner to football as soon as the calendar hits September. The patriotic sport with the most history has largely taken a back seat to the more popular sports of football and basketball.

How did this happen?

  1. Baseball has not embraced the Latin culture of its Latin players.
  2. The pace and the length of the game is the slowest and longest ever in baseball history, aka boring.
  3. The biggest stars of baseball are virtual unknowns outside their respective markets.
  4. Baseball doesn’t even generate funny internet memes.
  5. Baseball is largely absent from talks on social media to the workplace water cooler.

But unlike candy corn, which is relevant for only its “once a year” glory, baseball still has the distinction of being the most successfully solely Black run enterprise in America… the Negro Leagues. Baseball is also a much safer sport than football, and as previously stated a much more cost appropriate sport than basketball to see live.

But with all that being said, baseball has a decision to make… either be candy corn and marked 3 bags for five dollars and liked only as a niche market, or become relevant again and be embraced. If not, all it will be is a place for sales professionals to have “team building” ventures, and while there, only buy expensive beer and talk about if Lebron can lead the Lakers to a championship.

America’s changing… is baseball in fear of being left behind?

Similar Read: A Peak Inside American Sports: Cheers & Protests

A Billion Dollar Industry That Doesn’t Pay Its Employees

by with No Comment Sports

As a young child, I had dreams of being an Olympic gold medalist, a professional basketball player, and a WWF (before it became the WWE) superstar. I just knew I’d be able to do it all. I unfortunately had an injury in high school, which put a damper on those dreams. 

However, I still received an athletic scholarship to work (not play) with one of the main sports teams at a major university.  This scholarship helped cover my tuition, books, and a few other expenses such as housing and my campus meal plan. In return, I spent roughly 5-6 hours a day at the athletic facility between practice, game prep, study hall, etc. On game days, I spent more time at the facility than the athletes did! Did I forget to mention, I had a full course load of classes?

Although I came from a privileged family, my parents never gave me an entitled upbringing. That meant if I needed something, I had to work and earn it, which included everything I needed in college. It really started to hit me towards the end of my freshman year when I had exhausted the extra funds I was granted via my scholarship, loans and other awards. I needed additional income to be able to travel home, go out with friends, and do normal everyday activities! 

I was fortunate enough to find a work-study position in one of the school’s offices that was willing to work with my hectic athletic and class schedule. If I had one free hour in the day or even just one free hour in the week, they’d let me come in and work. The work-study position allowed me an opportunity to earn extra income, but the athletes on my team didn’t have that option because of compliance rules. I knew many of the players would’ve loved to earn an honest extra income especially during the off-season or free time between classes and practice. As a result, some of them unfortunately resorted to wrongful activity that I will not discuss. 

So what is my perspective? I can go both ways on this argument. The NCAA, specifically Division-1 televised sports, is a billion-dollar industry and a major source of revenue for institutions. The athletes who contribute to that success should be compensated accordingly. But, college tuition costs between 30-120k or more for many of these four-year institutions, and these collegiate athletes should be grateful for that. Right? But what about the athletes who are walk-ons who contribute to a successful team but aren’t receiving any type of athletic scholarship? The time they put in and the contribution they make still helps that team; yet, they’re receiving no scholarship or type of compensation. What about the other collegiate sports that aren’t moneymakers for the university? Does that mean only football, basketball and baseball players should get paid? What about the irregularities that also exist between the male and female team funding? 

There are so many factors that exist that I haven’t even mentioned, and all of them contribute to the very reason on why a solution hasn’t been made. Considering the disparities that exist between the different programs and the different schools, I do believe that potential resolutions should be thoroughly examined on a case-by-case basis. I do like the thought of athletes at major Division-1 teams being considered as student work-study employees.  Higher performers receive higher wages; bonuses and additional grants or scholarship aid is given based on individual and team performance.  Also, walk-ons and those without scholarships should be able to receive some type of funding for their work contribution. This could help student-athletes learn the valuable aspect of money management, which tends to be the ultimate demise for many professional athletes.  Whatever the solution is, student-athletes need to be valued and compensated considering the billion-dollar industry that relies solely on their athletic ability.