I started writing these blog entries because I thought, as a dad who'd gone through the youth sports experience with three sports-loving kids, I had information I could share that might benefit other folks who would be going through the same stuff. And everything I wrote, I did because I thought it was a common everyday occurrence in the youth sports world, and my perspective might help someone else in some way.
But this entry is different, because it's not about something that happens to everyone, eventually, at some point in the youth sports journey. This one is just straight up venting, because I have to do something.
As I write this, the world is battling with the coronavirus pandemic. And all our lives have changed, in major, major ways. People are quarantined in their homes. Jobs have been lost, and businesses are going under. People are sick. People are dying. We don't know how long it will be before life returns to some semblance or normalcy.
And right now, I miss sports more than anything.
As a sportswriter, sports are my business, so that's part of it. But on a personal level, now that there are no games being played, I find myself truly understanding just how important sports are to our society. I turn on the television and I hear the grim news about the virus, and its spread; I hear all the daunting statistics, and the dire speculation about just how long we'll be forced to live under these "social distancing'' conditions.
And all I want is to get away from it all. I want to be able to turn on a game on television and not have to think about this awful virus for a while. But there are no games to watch that can serve as a distraction.
Look, I don't need to tell anyone just how awful things are these days. My family has it relatively good, actually. We're all home, we're all healthy, and we have food to eat and nice weather in which we can go walk around in for an hour or so to kill time.
We all believe we'll be OK -- that our social distancing efforts will help to stop the spread of the virus and we'll eventually be able to go back to our regular lives. But we also know it could be a while before that happens. And in the interim, it's going to hurt.
My three sons -- one in college, the other two in high school -- are all doing school from home now. And I find myself wishing, more than anything, that we'll get the good news soon that our kids will be able to go back to school. Most of all, I'm really hoping my two high schoolers will be able to play lacrosse this spring.
My middle son is a senior, and this will be his final chance to play sports with the kids he grew up with. He's signed to play in college, so he at least knows he'll play lacrosse again. But most of his classmates can't say the same. My heart breaks for those boys, knowing they won't get one last hurrah with their teammates before they leave to go away to college.
My youngest son is a freshman, so he's got more years to play. But losing an entire season is going to hurt him, too. And as a parent, this is the last chance I get to see two of my kids play together on a team (sort of, anyway, as one would be varsity and the other JV). I was really looking forward to that. Playing together really helped them get closer to each during football season, and I think, as brothers, it's something they really need.
It's something I really need.
