WHAT could be more revolting than this?
The Covid-19 has not only made more than 150,000 ill worldwide and killed more than 5,800, but it has done more unimaginable damage than Supertyphoon Yolanda: Sporting events—both big and small—are off in nearly 118 infected countries. Indefinitely.
Who would have thought of a global catastrophe happening in this age when the moon has become as near and as reachable as Quiapo, when cars will shortly travel minus drivers?
What is happening, indeed?
There is no PBA. There is no UAAP. There is no NCAA. There is no PSL/PVL. There is no MPBL. There is no PBA D-League. There is no ABL. There is no NBA. There is not even an inter-barangay cagefest in the neighborhood.
There is nothing.
No one can conclusively say when the standstill will end.
Even tumbang-preso, taguan-pung, patintero and luksong tinik are on hold.
Only two times did mankind see a sporting stoppage of this magnitude: World War I and World War II.
Not even the Munich Massacre, an offshoot of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict engineered by the Black September Group that killed 17 persons, including six Israeli coaches and five Israeli athletes inside the Olympic Village, did not stop the 1972 Olympiad from pushing through.
We suffer in pain because there is no more thrill and spill these days as our arenas of grass and hard court are as empty as a desert.
All because of Covid-19, the virus from Wuhan, China, that unleashed its deadly venom starting on December 17, 2019.
There is no more March Madness.
There is only March Sadness.
There is no more Augusta Masters.
There is only Mustered Madness.
What is golf without the first of the four yearly majors set every April the last 75 years?
What kind of coach needed to outwit this virulent virus?
Where is Doctor Naismith’s kin to discover the cure-making assist to stop the bleeding, weeping?
The world has virtually stopped turning as the outbreak has forced us all to be under house arrest. Against our will.
Seemingly, only the Tokyo Olympics is the “last man standing.”
It has not been either canceled or postponed.
Stubborn as a mule, Thomas Bach, the German president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), has refused to budge. The Olympic Games will begin on July 24.
“I rely on the expert,” Bach has repeatedly said. “WHO is the ONLY expert.”
WHO’s last word on the matter is yes to the Olympiad. That was about two weeks ago. Nothing’s changed.
But will the virus change its course?
Upon its route will hinge the fate of the entire sporting world.
Science is on trial here.
THAT’S IT With many Olympics-bound participants left inactive because of many canceled tournaments worldwide, the quality of competition will surely suffer if and when the Tokyo Games pushes through in July. Sigh.