We come not to praise the loogie, but to bury it. Already banned on sidewalks, outlawed indoors and pooh-poohed by polite society, that gob of saliva and Lord-knows-what-else is done mucking up sports. In the wake of the new coronavirus, teams are revoking the germ-landing privileges that turned dugouts, benches, boxing rings and even grass fields into potential biohazard sites.
Tom Murphy has become somewhat of an online sensation during baseball’s shutdown for the array of workouts the Seattle Mariners’ catcher posts on Instagram from his home in upstate New York. While staying in shape is a priority, Murphy also is thinking ahead. As in, how the game’s strategy might need to shift if teams have to play in empty stadiums.
NCAA President Mark Emmert says the coronavirus is making it unlikely all schools will be ready to begin competing in college sports at the same time. The goal, he said Friday night, is for every team to have an equal amount of preparation time before its season starts, and there could be some competitive inequities caused by schools having varied timelines for re-opening campuses.
Pahranagat Valley (Class 1A), The Meadows (2A), Boulder City (3A) and Bishop Manogue (4A) are the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association/One Nevada Credit Union’s ONE NEVADA CUP champions for the 2019-2020 school year. The NIAA, the non-profit governing body of high school athletics in the Silver State, began this awards program in 2001. One Nevada Credit Union, the title sponsor of the NIAA, became the presenting partner in 2019.
On March 13, the NIAA office issued a memo notifying NIAA member schools and districts of the suspension of NIAA sanctioned sports until further notice. On April 23, hat suspension became a cancellation of regular season contests and post-season tournaments/meets based on a directive from the Governor’s office to close all Nevada schools for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year. The March 13 Memo was issued with the hope that Spring 2020 sports would resume at some point prior to the end of the school year. With that in mind, several restrictions were enumerated in the interest of maintaining a level playing field once schools re-opened and competition resumed.
As the University of Nevada prepares for the 2020 season, ticket prices for the majority of the seats in Mackay Stadium have been lowered as the department strives to make football gamedays fun, affordable and easy. There is no increase for any of the Wolf Pack’s season tickets, and prices have been reduced for most of the seating areas in the stadium. Season tickets now start as low as $89 per seat for the six-game home schedule with discounts available for children and seniors. Nevada is also offering new extended payment plan options for season-ticketholders.
The final blow to the high school spring sports season came last Thursday, as the NIAA Board of Control voted to cancel the rest of the season. The NIAA had already canceled state tournaments for the spring season, but were hopeful to play a couple weeks into May. However, when Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak announced Tuesday that schools would remain closed to in-person schooling through the rest of the academic year that ended any hope of resuming play.
The task for the San Francisco 49ers heading into the draft was straight forward. Find replacements for departed starters DeForest Buckner at defensive tackle and Emmanuel Sanders at receiver and then find a player to step in for longtime left tackle Joe Staley, who informed the NFC champions before the draft that he planned to retire. The Niners filled the first two spots in the first round with defensive tackle Jevon Kinlaw and receiver Brandon Aiyuk and hoped they wouldn’t regret passing on a potential starting tackle like Tristan Wirfs.
The life of a minor league ballplayer can be hectic — transferring from team to team, getting called up to the major leagues, going back down to the minors, never certain where you’ll be. Coronavirus has added an extra layer of uncertainty. Many players on minor league teams across the U.S. are home right now or stuck in hotels in Arizona, where spring training was happening when much of the world came to a standstill amid widespread orders to shelter in place. “It happens so fast,” said Reno Aces pitching coach Jeff Bajenaru, who was able to make it home to his wife Alysa in Texas. “Everybody else thought it was no big deal at first … we had a doctor come into the big league locker room and just tell us ‘just do this.’ And then all of a sudden the next day is like ‘everybody out.’”
The NIAA realignment committee held its latest meeting on April 9 and recommended changes for winter sports for high schools in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years.
University of Nevada head men’s basketball coach Steve Alford has announced that Grant Sherfield has signed a financial aid agreement to play for the Wolf Pack beginning in 2021-22 season. Sherfield comes the Pack after playing his freshman year at Wichita State and will have three years to play at Nevada after sitting out next season under NCAA transfer rules. “Grant had initially committed to us at UCLA, so he and the family have an established relationship with me,” Alford said. “I’m excited to have him in the beginning of our culture building. He’s a tremendous individual with a great work ethic. He stands for all the things we want in a student-athlete. This is a huge addition to our program.”
Devin Booker won the NBA 2K20 Players Tournament on Saturday night, sweeping Phoenix Suns teammate Deandre Ayton in the best-of-three final. “I played a lot growing up,” Booker said. “It’s all about timing and eye coordination.” ESPN broadcast the three-day, 16-player Xbox One competition. The last NBA games were played March 11, the day Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus.
On the back of a bucking bronco, bareback rider Jamie Howlett tries his best to hang on for eight fierce seconds. That’s how the cowboy from Australia feels at the moment. Only in this case, there’s no horn to signal an end. Howlett and the rest of the rodeo riders remain in a holding pattern with events from Florida to Canada to Texas to California on pause due to the coronavirus pandemic.
With Governor Steve Sisolak directing that schools will not re-open through the end of April, in conjunction with the Stay at Home Order announced yesterday, the possible restart of spring sports was pushed back again.
