The Masters in November? Better than never

By Art Spander

Be prepared for disappointment. This is what a senior researcher at Johns Hopkins University told the Washington Post, when asked when sports would return to normal.

“And I’m a huge sports fan,” said Jared Evans, the researcher.

Disappointment? Hasn’t there been enough already? Wasn’t the Open Championship, the British Open, cancelled Monday, joining the Final Four — the title game would have been Monday night — and Wimbledon?

Hasn’t the NBA been placed in limbo, along with baseball? And weren’t so many high school championships scrubbed because of, yes, that apparently unbeatable opponent, the novel coronavirus.

We understand. Our world, the world of fun and games, is not the real world, the one where people are dying from a disease we were barely conscious of three months ago, the one with which doctors and nurses are struggling gallantly and officials debate the distribution of ventilators.

Hard to think of people trying to find ways to win games or tournaments when epidemiologists are trying to find a vaccine against the virus — a necessity, we’re told, if stadiums and arenas are to be packed once more.

Golf is a hope. Not, in this case, as a participant sport but a spectator sport.

We lost The Open, the announcement of cancellation interestingly coming only a few hours after Queen Elizabeth II tried to rally fellow Britons against the crisis created by the virus.

The 149th Open was scheduled for July at Royal St. George’s on the English Channel, but the R&A said a change in date was not possible. For the major events in the United States, fortunately, date changes — if extreme ones — could be made.

The PGA Championship, to be played at Harding Park in San Francisco, has been moved from May to Aug. 6-9, which is ironic. For most of the past 50 years the PGA was played on the first weekend in August, but the decision was made that starting in 2019 the event would shift to May to get away from the start of football season. And now, for a year at least, it’s back against football.

If not positioned as the last year’s major, as it used to be. That slot is to belong to the Masters, which in normal times is an introduction to spring. This year, anything but normal, the Masters will be played Nov. 12-15.

The U.S. Open is moved to Sept. 17-20, from its traditional mid-June dates. As of yet it hasn’t been moved from Winged Foot in the suburbs of New York, although on Monday there were stories it would go to Pebble Beach — site of the 2019 Open — or Torrey Pines, and either of those might happen.

So much of sport is tradition. We know what’s coming and when, from the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day to the last NFL regular season games in December. But the suspensions and cancellations have disturbed our rhythm, thrown us off balance.

No basketball, no baseball, no golf, no tennis, no hockey, not even any Premier League soccer. How are we supposed to know what day it is? Or even what week or month?

The Masters in November is going to be strange, yet better in November than never. If there are no azaleas, there will still be birdies.

What historically has been the start, of the season, of golf — of baseball certainly — will instead become the finish, more or less. That’s if everything works out, and despite the optimism, there’s no promise it does work out.

NFL games in California in September with stadiums — the new one for the Rams and Chargers, Levi’s in Santa Clara for the 49ers? “I’m not anticipating that happening” said Gavin Newsom, the state’s governor. “I would move very cautiously in that expectation.”

Moving cautiously is better than not moving at all. We’re prepared for disappointment. We’re ready for some satisfaction.

Wimbledon loses out to the coronavirus

By Art Spander

Another announcement. Another disappointment. No Wimbledon. No tennis on the lawns of the All-England Club.

No kidding.

The coronavirus was the winner this year, in straight sets. John McEnroe would have shouted, “You can’t be serious.” Oh, but we are. Sadly.

Ask anyone hunkered down, waiting, hoping, unsure of what will happen next — in sports, in life — worrying about a protein molecule that has hospitals overflowing and our world a mess.

No Wimbledon. No Final Four. Probably no U.S. Open or Masters. Maybe no British Open. The NBA perhaps running into August, if it restarts — and suddenly the optimism of Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who was talking about mid-May, has been dimmed.

Major League baseball perhaps running into Decemeber. If it starts at all.

Hard to complain about what’s not happening in sport when you read and hear what is happening in society.

In normal times, the predictions would be about Roger Federer’s chance for another title. Now they’re about how many people will fall victim to the coronavirus.

Our patterns have been altered, our template shattered.

George Vecsey, the retired New York Times sports columnist, had a book, “A Year in the Sun,” a title that, if not literally accurate, described our sports writing culture. From event to event, across the calendar.

So many places, so many games, and so few that through tradition and location stand out — the Rose Bowl, the Super Bowl, the Masters and, because it’s very name is so instantly recognizable, Wimbledon.

“Devastated,” was Federer’s one-word tweet, when the 2020 tournament, as the British say, was abandoned. His sentiment is understood. For more than a decade, Wimbledon was Roger’s tournament. He won it eight times and believed he could add another.

However, Federer is growing older. At the next Wimbledon, 2021, he’ll be a month from his 40th birthday. His time is ebbing away. The same for Serena Williams, who has won the tournament seven times. She’ll be 40 in September 2021.

So unfortunate for Roger. For Serena. For the kid who didn’t get to play in the NCAA tournament. For all the athletes whose careers have been affected by something beyond their control, beyond our control.

How barren the sports landscape. No basketball, baseball, soccer, golf. Now, nothing.

Two months ago, they held the Super Bowl, which was followed by the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which was followed by the Genesis L.A. Open. Spring training was underway, just like always. We were loving it.

Then what didn’t come to a halt became a sad apology.

"It is with great regret that the Main Board of the All-England Club (AELTC) and the Committee of Management of The Championships have today decided that The Championships 2020 will be cancelled due to public health concerns linked to the coronavirus epidemic," Wimbledon said on Wednesday, in a statement on its website.

"Uppermost in our mind has been the health and safety of all of those who come together to make Wimbledon happen — the public in the UK and visitors from around the world, our players, guests, members, staff, volunteers, partners, contractors, and local residents — as well as our broader responsibility to society's efforts to tackle this global challenge to our way of life."

There had been talk about holding the tournament without spectators, as there have been suggestions that NBA games end English Premier League games and baseball games be held without fans, in empty stadiums or arenas. But why?

The people who watch, who cheer, who queue for seats at Wimbledon, who wait to give high fives to Steph Curry as he leaves the court, are as much a part of a sport as those who play. Think Rafael Nadal would scramble up the seats after a win at Wimbledon if there were nobody waiting to hug him?

The virus won this time, in straight sets. Wimbledon never had a chance. It was unfair. But as have been reminded of late, so is life.