Talking About Sports Without Sports

It’s now been three weeks since Rudy Gobert’s positive test for COVID-19 shut down the NBA; the rest of the sports world soon followed. That same night, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson announced that they had also tested positive, providing the country with ample evidence that COVID-19’s impact would be real and invade all of our lives. We are all affected by this pandemic, and we’ve all been left asking what we should be doing for ourselves and others. While that private contemplation can be helpful, asking others how they are coping can shape our own thoughts and feelings in useful ways. Sports were the among the first things to go, and without an upcoming season to write about, I thought I’d ask those who talk about sports for a living what their plans were during this unexpected hiatus.

Since that strange Wednesday, I’ve talked to a handful of people in the industry, all of whom were gracious with their time and forthright with their answers. I talked to Mike Ferrin, who hosts a show on MLB Network Radio every morning. He talked about balancing the seriousness of the news with the necessity of still being himself. He discussed the opportunity baseball’s delay gave him to go a little deeper with interviews, with history, and with the numbers, and expressed confidence in the sport’s ability to bounce back.

I talked to Kavitha Davidson, who hosts a daily podcast for The Athletic (her show isn’t behind a paywall). She spoke about covering the news of the day and how on many days, that news was going to be COVID-19 related. Discussing Tom Brady’s free agency and eventual signing was necessary, but it would also be impossible to pretend that the NFL offseason is the only thing going on. She mentioned setting up a podcasting space at home since she couldn’t go into the office, and how she and her friends were setting up a virtual St. Patrick’s Day in place of actually going out and having the usual brand of fun associated with the holiday.

Julie DiCaro, who since being interviewed has had her show on 670 the Score in Chicago eliminated as part of a round of Entercom layoffs, talked about the sense of responsibility she felt in providing accurate news about the world around us. While thankful for some NFL news, she let her listeners dictate the direction and tone of the show. At that time of night, some just want information, while others want to talk about what to do without sports and what shows to watch; people are searching for the escape that sports couldn’t provide.

Brandon Kiley, a producer for 101ESPN in St. Louis, discussed the process of putting a show together, relying on the strengths of his hosts to get through multiple hours and segment after segment without being able to rely on games actually being played. At home, he has started watching movies he had missed and shows outside the world of sports, which had previously dominated his viewing habits.

Carmen DeFalco, a host from 12-2 pm everyday on ESPN1000 in Chicago, talked about the difficulties of parenting in a pandemic, his appreciation for teachers, and going to work in a mostly empty studio in order to limit human interaction.

I also exchanged messages with Ben Lindbergh, who co-hosts Effectively Wild on this website. He felt it was important to provide that escape, and to get weirder if necessary to make sure listeners weren’t overwhelmed with the world around us.

I was excited to tell the stories of those who tell others’ stories for a living.

But when I finally sat down to transcribe the interviews about how to navigate the world without sports, I found that I had failed to successfully navigate the voice recording app on my phone, ending up with about 15 minutes of audio after hours of conversations. It broke me a little.

Three weeks ago, my wife started working from home. We both undertook the tricky task of working both of our full-time jobs while parenting our 14-month-old daughter, as child care was no longer an option. Our daughter wakes up every morning at around 6:30 and goes to bed at around 8 PM. Our dog, Henry, impatiently refuses to be ignored. Waking up earlier than our daughter feels like an impossibility, and the brain rarely functions well enough after eight to get anything done. She eats five times a day and after devouring her food, makes sure that we know that she knows where her head is after eating with her hands. There’s always a mess. No matter how full its contents, changing her diaper is a battle of wills not easily won. We try to get outside, but it seems to reach 45 degrees only when it rains. Aside from an hour-long nap in the morning and one again in the afternoon, she needs our constant attention. Her naps present the choice of whether to work, shower, or take care of an increasingly tall pile of dishes. An infant with a positive COVID-19 test just died in Illinois. I’m tired. I’m scared. And I’m lucky.

Both of us still have jobs. We are privileged. We don’t have to worry about our home or health insurance, or making risky trips out to work or the store. Despite the demands of my wife’s work, she still finds time to do her job and play and cook; we take walks as a family. I couldn’t get an app to work, and put some of my and others’ time to less than optimal use, but I can still write about it. If we are really lucky, our most lasting memory of this pandemic will be when we watched our daughter take her first steps across our living room floor. In these last few weeks and into the next month, I will have more one-on-one time with my daughter than in any other time for the rest of our lives. She won’t remember, but I will. How we sing and we dance. We read and stack blocks. We fill up the baby doll’s stroller with stuffed animals and toys and run across the basement as fast as we can. We fly and we land and we laugh and laugh. I’m lucky. I have a life filled with love. And I want this to end. I want to feel safe.

Sports isn’t just an escape where we allow ourselves to experience emotion without serious stakes. It’s also an entry point into the world. For an introvert like myself, extroversion is a practiced skill made comfortable through repetition. Being in groups or around strangers is like bunting. It often feels maddening and counterproductive, but it can have utility, occasionally be aesthetically pleasing, and is rarely effective without considerable practice. Sports are more grease than glue. We aren’t being confronted with the lack of sports. We are being confronted with life. And it’s hard.