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?

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. 

California Passes Act That Will Allow College Athletes to Get Paid, What Will Other States Do?

by with One Comment FeaturedSports

A couple of weeks ago, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed The Fair Pay to Play Act, which will allow college athletes in California to be paid for the use of their name, image and likeness. California schools will not pay athletes under the new bill, but athletes will be allowed to hire agents and seek out business deals. 

This is huge! 

Even if you’re not a fan of college sports… I’m sure you’re well aware that everyone from Bo Jackson to Zion Williamson has never received a dime (aka compensation) for their work and talent as a college athlete. Meanwhile, the NCAA has made billions of dollars over the years in profit based solely off their talents. 

Until now. 

And it matters that this act took place in California because it’s the largest state in the country in terms of both population and economic power. And… California has several powerhouse collegiate programs to draw top-ranked athletes, such as UCLA, Cal, and Stanford, all of which are worthy of 5-star athletes who might consider them over other programs like the University of Texas solely due to their personal income potential.

Unless… Texas (the second-largest state in terms of population and economic power) passes their own version. And to not be outdone by the lone star state… Florida… with its own large population with economic might not want students going to Texas A&M over Florida State. Not a coincidence, both Florida and Texas are hotbeds for college football recruiting. With everything else they have to compete with, are they really going to stand by and let their top athletes leave the state because of failing to compete legislative wise? 

That brings us to a crossroads, which eventually will lead to either one of two things… the NCAA steps in and fixes its serfdom-like ways with college athletes, OR… literally every state or the federal government as a whole will enact a federal “fair play to pay” act. 

This will inevitably open the grounds for student-athletes to finally get some form of compensation, stipend, allowance, or outright paycheck for the use of their name, image or likeness.

Call me crazy, but I think we’re long overdue for such a a common-sense correction.

What do you think?

Trump is Clearly a Fan of UCLA Basketball

by with 3 Comments Sports

Before I begin this article, I think it’s important to state that I do not have children. I have no nieces or nephews. I’m rarely in the presence of young people. That includes everyone from those racking up Disney points, to those who voted in the 2008 election. My experience with young people is limited to being a long-term substitute teacher for several months, to law enforcement, to well… that’s about it. And it’s been years since I was either one; however, spoiler alert, the acts and ways of young people don’t change. They will always do naive things without thinking.

The most recent news about the Ball basketball family isn’t Lonzo Ball’s league-worst shooting percentage, the family’s terrible reality show, or the Big Baller Brand’s latest attempt to sell overpriced sporting apparel. It may sound like I don’t like the Ball family, which is led by the Don King and patriarch of the family, Lavar Ball; but that couldn’t be further from the truth. I support Lavar Ball and his outlandish acts, even his more than over the top sound bites. History has shown that when there’s a “Puff Daddy” to the father of Venus and Serena Williams to Flava Flav, a hype man/father/loud supporter of a particular talent, said talent generally does very well. Plus, the family last name is Ball – how cool is that? It’s like a military family with the last name “Sergeant.” And yes, I’ve met a Sergeant Sergeant before. Anyway, I digress.

LiAngelo Ball, Cody Riley, and Jalen Hill, all three freshmen of the UCLA Basketball team, decided to make the good (insert sarcasm) decision to steal sunglasses from an upscale and well-monitored store in China. Not Chinatown, New York City, but actual China. Not smart, I get it; however, teenagers and young people, until a real-life experience hits them, make a lot of dumb decisions.

To be clear, this isn’t about a lack of intelligence or common sense, but about the notion that young people are very naïve and arrogant at times. Mix in budding basketball stars of a premier basketball school, no life experience or knowledge regarding the nation they were in, and presto! An arrest for shoplifting, in China.

Speaking of the arrest… before anyone goes on a pious rant that it’s because “Lavar Ball is overbearing” and “poor little LiAngelo is acting out,” or the classic, these young black men with the world given to them “doing something stupid just wanna mess it up,” I’m very sure no player has ever wanted to just give back their fame and potential riches. LiAngelo and the others are doing what every other young person, I would say younger than 25, has and/or will do. That is an act depending on the opportunity, situation, person, etc., something very stupid that will either begin the process of true maturity, or will begin a negative trend of behavior sure to render a consequence that jeopardizes everything. It’s not like young people don’t possess the moral power to do right instead of wrong. But they do lack the need to understand that even the littlest wrongs can have a major impact that comes with major consequences, consequences they don’t foresee.

I will bet any amount of money these young basketball players never took into account that they were in a communist country. China’s legal system and procedures are nothing like the United States’. Another factor – they probably didn’t think they would get caught, or were important enough that if they did get caught they wouldn’t get in trouble. Yes, that has much to do with young athletes being treated like royalty early and far too often; however, that’s not that big of a deal. For the most part, most college and young professional athletes, both men and women, behave accordingly, given the circumstances they could easily act a fool.

Fortunately for the players, ole 45 made a few calls and apparently even Lavar Ball knew a few people, and the players escaped a “Midnight Express” situation. 

Once the players settle back in the U.S. their consequences will probably exceed their crime. The moral joke, which is the NCAA, will likely overreach and make “an example” of them.

In the final analysis, all we can do as responsible adults is stress the importance to young people to think beyond the current, and understand their negative acts last three times longer than their positive ones. We must stress that life is mostly about decision making, and the better one’s life, has much to do with his or her choices. I think young people, including star athletes, generally understand that. This incident was a technical foul they couldn’t argue with the refs about. But it didn’t matter, because as crazy as it sounds, Trump was there to help them win the game.

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.