Not really. H1N1 in 2009 was also pandemic. A 1958 flu pandemic killed close to 70,000 in the US.
I meant specifically in terms of the NBA suspending play indefinitely. It’s very possible I don’t remember, but did that happen in 2009? Or was there any other time where pro sports leagues shut down or at least shut the arena doors for something like this?
It did not. There isn’t any precedent for these actions.
As Ike points out, H1N1 was a bad pandemic that infected a huge percentage of the population and killed a lot of people but suspending sports wasn’t even considered. SARS, which is also a coronavirus, was very scary in 2003 although it didn’t break free the way this one is but again, no one even talked about it.
Comparisons to the 1958 pandemic or the mother of all pandemics, Spanish Flu, are harder to make because back then less was known, and especially in the case in 1918 the government was suppressing the truth. Anyway, in 1918 there only major pro team sport in North America was baseball, and the season was shortened anyway due to the war.
I love baseball and basketball more than I love most of my relatives, but holding off on basketball for at least a few weeks isn’t going to kill anyone, while holding the games very well might. As for baseball, the fact they continue to hold spring training, which motivates fans across the continent to take flights to Florida and Arizona, is a disgrace. The season can start a little late. No one would miss a few weeks of spring training. It blows for people who work at the parks but let’s stop this pandemic as best we can.
There is no Stanley Cup winner for 1919 due to the flu.
I just wish they would have done the no fans at the arena thing.
That does not stop transmission when one of the players has the virus.
For example back in 2014 14 hockey players from 5 teams contracted mumps.
MLB just corrected that one. At this point it is virtually a domino effect with the NCAA cancelling all of its tournaments - I imagine the behind the scenes pressure is intense. Looks like everything is shutting down and Silver may deserve some credit for getting the ball rolling in the right direction.
The NBA is usually out in front of most things as compared to the other leagues. Kudos to Silver for reacting very swiftly.
The CDC’s suggestion to not have gathering for eight weeks has resulted in MLB saying their season will not start until at least May 15.
If the NBA follows suit, and I cannot see how they can’t, I suspect the season is lost.
I figure the worse case scenario is they will kill the remainder of the season and jump straight to the playoffs with 5 game series for the first two rounds and 7 game series for the conference finals and NBA finals. There will be less rest between games and the off season will be shorter as a result.
Reducing the off days between playoff games would certainly tighten things up. It may be wise to at least have a couple of regular season games to help shake off rust.
ole Jimmy, eh?
huh…well, well…
Time to revive a moribund thread. Life goes by more slowly without sports. The Bundesliga and best games of 2015 just aren’t the same.
Anyway, 538.com came out with their revised predictions. Some teams have people who have now healed from injuries and this makes a big difference to a few teams (but not the Warriors?). Once again, the difference between traditional ELO and newer player-based stats is enormous. The Raptors, for example, have a 19% and 2% chance of repeating, when an average seems more realistic. Of course, no one knows anything now - of course there will be an asterisk this season.
538’s unwillingness to believe in the Raptors makes no sense at all to me, and their obsession with the Sixers is based on something not apparent to any observer.
The Warriors are literally at the bottom of the Western Conference standings. They’re 15-50, and mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. So no, having all their players back from injury doesn’t make a lick of difference to their title hopes this year.
I realize the Warriors aren’t going to make the playoffs. But having good players back does increase their numerical rating. 538.com had a separate article on which teams injuries made the biggest change. I thank your clarification that no change is going to make GSW qualify this year without an unusual format condition. Still, as a means of changing the team rating, I thought maybe not all their best players are healed.
Well, the Blazers, who were all but finished back in March, have managed to claw their way into the playoffs in The Bubble. The return of Nurkic has been huge for them and having three seven-footers to rotate is a luxury. They shocked the Lakers in game one, but got hammered in game two. I don’t expect them to win this series, but hopefully they’ll put up a better fight than last night’s game.
I’m pulling for Portland. They’re currently even against the Lakers.