Throughout the second week in March, most professional sports leagues—including the NBA, MLB, and NHL—suspended the remainder of their seasons. For some students, nights are typically spent sitting back and enjoying the game on ESPN.
The NBA regular season was coming to its final stretch, and the playoff seeding was starting to take place. The 76ers were entering the stages preparing for the playoffs, in hopes to have a shot at winning the title.
Fourth Form 76ers superfan Ryan Rodack said, “Fewer sports to watch has led to more free time for me. On most nights, from around 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., I spent my time watching the Sixers and NBA basketball in general, until the season was suspended,” Rodack said.
“It’s unfortunate that Sixers fans most likely won’t get to see the Sixers perform in the playoffs,” Rodack said. “This was a team that was built for the playoffs this offseason, and it stinks that they won’t be able to realize their full potential.”
“Luckily, they have all of their main players under contract next year which will hopefully help them out in the long run,” Rodack said.
In addition to professional basketball, students and faculty were preparing for the annual NCAA March Madness basketball tournament. Every year, people all over the country spend hours filling out a tournament bracket. This year, the tournament was canceled before the teams competing were announced. A tournament that usually leaves people busy during Spring Break never happened, leaving many students devastated.
To make up for it, ESPN now shows throwback NFL, NBA, MLB, and NCAA games that are considered the greatest games in history, but Fourth Former Aidan Boyle had a relatively boring Spring Break without March Madness.
“Without March Madness, it felt like there was nothing to watch on TV, and there was no point in watching reruns of NBA games from the ’90s, considering I have seen all of the games. I also missed out on making a bracket, which is probably one of the most fun parts of the whole tournament,” Boyle said.
Baseball fans might have it the worst out of anyone. The baseball offseason is lengthy, from October to late March. For fans to wait months just to have the season postponed is brutal.
Fourth Former Will Ferris was not happy after hearing the news.
“It’s really unfortunate because I have been waiting since the end of the season for baseball to start back up again,” Ferris said. “Like everyone, I hope the [coronavirus] dies down and professional sports can resume play as soon as possible.”
