Coronavirus Chronicles: Bases empty
The one thing that might have provided some normalcy this spring is the start of the baseball season. However, like every other sport, no games are being played. That means nothing to watch on TV, and nothing to listen to on the radio.
The lack of sports must be a burden on people who rely on consuming sports to escape the stresses of everyday life. Here we are faced with a huge stress, yet there's nothing to turn to. Even though we haven't as many sports televised since we cut the cable cord, I still love listening to ballgames through the MLB radio app.
Plus, the start of baseball is the surest sign that the winter was survived and that summer is just around the corner. Without that milestone, along with no basketball, it doesn't feel convincing that spring has begun.
What's helped is YouTube and Strat-o-Matic. I've blogged about my affection, now almost four decades old, for the Strat-o-Matic board game. The 1980 set was re-released and updated last year, and though it wasn't my first set, it was my favorite, and I continued my ongoing American League replay over the past few weeks.
The cards look different, but the vibe is the same -- so much so that I actually transferred all the game contents to the same style of box that contained my first set 40 years ago. In all this chaos, the nostalgia and the memory of a simpler time was comforting, even if it was just provided by a different box.
While I continue the replay, I've been watching old baseball games on YouTube. We don't have MLB Network anymore, either, but there are still plenty of complete games on the video channel. YouTube offers plenty of other baseball content besides old Cubs games, including classic "This Week in Baseball" episodes as well as the All-Star Game films that used to be shown during rain delays on the WGN broadcasts.
The combination of the two activities has resulted in something distracting -- I find myself going a half-hour or more without thinking about the crisis in progress. And not just simply refusing to dwell on COVID-19, but completely forgetting what a weight it's been or that it's even happening. That's been a welcome relief in a time when not thinking about it, even just for a few minutes, feels impossible.
I haven't blogged in almost a week, and honestly, I'm feeling a little better, not as pessimistic. Everything still sucks, as the number of cases and the death toll rises, and we're still facing at least five more weeks of this strange reality (the boys won't be back in school until at least May 4). The news still gnaws at me/pisses me off. I allowed myself a day to keep up with the latest events, but I plan to go back on a news embargo tomorrow.
I lament how fast time goes, so I shouldn't be too upset if this doesn't zip by. In the meantime, I bought some old baseball cards on eBay. Just because there aren't any games being played doesn't mean I shouldn't enjoy my favorite sign of spring ...
The lack of sports must be a burden on people who rely on consuming sports to escape the stresses of everyday life. Here we are faced with a huge stress, yet there's nothing to turn to. Even though we haven't as many sports televised since we cut the cable cord, I still love listening to ballgames through the MLB radio app.
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| The new (top) and classic Strat-o-Matic boxes |
What's helped is YouTube and Strat-o-Matic. I've blogged about my affection, now almost four decades old, for the Strat-o-Matic board game. The 1980 set was re-released and updated last year, and though it wasn't my first set, it was my favorite, and I continued my ongoing American League replay over the past few weeks.
The cards look different, but the vibe is the same -- so much so that I actually transferred all the game contents to the same style of box that contained my first set 40 years ago. In all this chaos, the nostalgia and the memory of a simpler time was comforting, even if it was just provided by a different box.
While I continue the replay, I've been watching old baseball games on YouTube. We don't have MLB Network anymore, either, but there are still plenty of complete games on the video channel. YouTube offers plenty of other baseball content besides old Cubs games, including classic "This Week in Baseball" episodes as well as the All-Star Game films that used to be shown during rain delays on the WGN broadcasts.
The combination of the two activities has resulted in something distracting -- I find myself going a half-hour or more without thinking about the crisis in progress. And not just simply refusing to dwell on COVID-19, but completely forgetting what a weight it's been or that it's even happening. That's been a welcome relief in a time when not thinking about it, even just for a few minutes, feels impossible.
I haven't blogged in almost a week, and honestly, I'm feeling a little better, not as pessimistic. Everything still sucks, as the number of cases and the death toll rises, and we're still facing at least five more weeks of this strange reality (the boys won't be back in school until at least May 4). The news still gnaws at me/pisses me off. I allowed myself a day to keep up with the latest events, but I plan to go back on a news embargo tomorrow.
I lament how fast time goes, so I shouldn't be too upset if this doesn't zip by. In the meantime, I bought some old baseball cards on eBay. Just because there aren't any games being played doesn't mean I shouldn't enjoy my favorite sign of spring ...
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