With the lack of live competition we are dependent on reliving the past and thinking about the future in sports. Changes in all future professional sports are required. See the Sports Lineup below. Cancellations and postponements reign supreme. We can chafe or acknowledge the necessity.
The Indycar Series, the Indianapolis 500, will be planned to run at the unseemly August heat of the Summer. Changes were required in tennis and golf. Major League Baseball, and the Red Stars women’s soccer have no starting date and never did inaugurate the season.
• In high schools, the expected transpired at Tuesday’s virtual Board meeting of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA). The Board voted to cancel all of the high school Spring State tournaments, not unexpected following governor JB Pritzker’s decision Friday to keep school buildings closed through the end of the school year because of the spread of the COVID-19 in the State and throughout the Nation. There was little opportunity to hold the Spring State tournaments, hold competition by virtual (computer) means. Wait until next year, we hope.
The hope of the schools is that schools could be open for Summer sessions and the IHSA will offer limited games, especially to accommodate senior nights. It is, of course, wait and see.
• East Aurora High School has joined other IHSA high schools in turning on lights from 8 p.m. to 8:20 p.m. each Friday throughout the home quarantine, according to an East Aurora School District 131 press release. The lights will be visible at Roy E. Davis Field at Ellsworth Hill Stadium. The gesture, according to the news release, is, “a sign of support for our senior student-athletes, and for all the health-care workers, first responders, and other essential workers on the frontlines of the pandemic.”
Recalling the past? Two items jump to the surface: Deaths of prominent professional sports stars in the past 10 days and, of course the 10-part television series focused on the sixth championship in eight years by the 1997-1998 Chicago Bulls:
• Eulogy first to three key professional sports participants who died in the last 10 days: Glenn Beckert and Jim Frey of the Chicago Cubs and Willie Green of the Green Bay Packers.
Beckert was the quiet, stable hero of the Cubs, 1965-1973, which included the magic ride of the 1969 Cubs who offered the first sniff of postseason play in 24 years since the 1945 World Series team which fell to the Detroit Tigers. Beckert was the sure-handed second baseman and part of the double-play combination with shortstop Don Kessinger. Beckert was called up following the 1964 off-season after sure-handed second baseman Kenny Hubbs perished in an airplane accident.
Frey, in his first year as manager of the Cubs in 1984, did lead the franchise to postseason play for the first time since 1945, although more teams were in postseason in 1985 than the two teams in the 1945 World Series. Frey was manager, 1984-1986, and later general manager, 1988-1991, the latter when he hired Don Zimmer as manager for the Club’s 1989 postseason appearance.
Green was the feared and ferocious Hall of Fame defensive end for the successful Packers, 1960-1969. He played in every game for the Packers in those 10 years, was a leader and captain when the Packers not only gave the Chicago Bears, but every other team in the National Football League fits, and played on five NFL championship teams in those 10 years. He was a star in the Packers’ first Super Bowl championships in 1966 and 1967.
• More in the following weeks on the Bulls, which will run each Sunday through May 17 on ESPN. It is sufficient to understand now the strength of Michael Jordan, more mental than physical, which helped propel the Bulls to those championships, although there were many factors. Jordan’s hard work more than pure talent was his key factor. Will Chicago sports ever see its likeness again? Enjoy and understand.