Sunday, 21 June 2020

Much respect to those in sports who keep marching on

Riley Pickett is training for a season in the fall of 2021.
    The elite athletes and those that make a living in sports have to be given tonnes of respect for marching on, while the COVID-19 pandemic keeps casting a shadow over the world.
    Even with the fact there is no certainty of when a next competition or a season will occur, there are a tonne of athletes still training all over the place trying to ensure they will be at their best when action resumes.
    Canadian Olympic level track athlete Sage Watson usually does most of her training in the United States and usually competes around the world in her specialty the 400-metre hurdles. Last year in Lima, Peru, she won gold in the women’s 400-metre hurdles at the Pan American Games.
    When the shutdowns started to occur due to the COVID-19 pandemic on March 11 and 12, she returned to her family ranch near Medicine Hat, Alta. Watson’s family has been in the ranching business for over 100 years in that area.
    Since arriving back home, she has continued to train on her own. She was set to represent Canada at the Summer Olympic Games that were originally slated for July 24 to Aug. 9 in Toyko, Japan.
    Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, those games have been postponed to run from July 23, 2021 to Aug. 8, 2021.
    At this point, Watson doesn’t know when her next competition will be. Still, she can be found training on her ranch or at the Rotary Track in the Crescent Heights neighbourhood of Medicine Hat striving on her own to be the best she can be.

    Watson turned 26-years-old on Saturday and has enjoyed reconnecting with her family in a way she hasn’t been able to since she moved away from home at age 18 to compete in the NCAA track and field ranks.
    If you are fortunate enough to get to know Watson’s family for even a short time, you know she will always make her father, Wade, and mother, Jolene proud. They are likely feeling blessed that their prodigal daughter has been home for an extended stay.
Brant Morrow is training hard for a season that is uncertain.
    You can bet Sage has enjoyed bonding with her younger brother, Waylon. Waylon, who turned 15-years old in April, was a member of the Medicine Hat AAA All-Stars baseball team that won the Canadian Junior Little League Championship last year.
    Since arriving back home, Sage has shared a number of posts hanging out with Waylon on her Instagram account.
    In all parts of her life, Sage Watson keeps writing an ultimate feel good story.
    Besides looking at Watson’s example, you can find lots of athletes that keep working at their craft. University of Saskatchewan Huskies defensive lineman Riley Pickett keeps training, even though he won’t see any regular season action until the fall of 2021.
    You can find Saskatoon Hilltops defensive back Brant Morrow going hard, and the six time defending CJFL champion Hilltops aren’t guaranteed of a campaign in 2020.
    Big respect goes out to Hilltops president Chris Hengen-Braun and the Hilltops team board and executives.
    They are spending tonnes of hours trying to make a 2020 season a reality.
    At the WHL level, the same goes for Saskatoon Blades general manager and president Colin Priestner and director of business operations Tyler Wawryk for the upcoming 2020-21 campaign.
Blades GM Colin Priestner and staff are working hard on a 2020-21 plan.
    If you travel from Saskatoon up Highway 11, you can find Prince Albert Raiders general manager Curtis Hunt and business manager Michael Scissons are doing their best to try and make a 2020-21 season a go.
    Numerous administrators for minor sports bodies are getting up every day putting in a solid effort trying make things happen.
    All these sports people are trying to do their flat out best, when the reality is a health or government official could easily strike down the most innovative idea to make action happen.
    Of course, the concern about returning to action is real, when you consider the constant stories coming out of the United States this past week about positive COVID-19 tests in the sports world. It has gotten to the point it is hard to keep up with the information on the positive tests.
    Late this past week, positive tests were confirmed in Major League Soccer, the National Football League, the National Hockey League and Major League Baseball.
    The MLB’s Philadelphia Phillies shut down their facility in Clearwater, Florida, and the Toronto Blue Jays did the same in Dunedin, Florida, due to COVID-19 concerns. The Phillies had five players and three staff members test positive and one Blue Jays player showed symptoms.
Raiders GM Curtis Hunt and staff are working towards a 2020-21 plan.
    The San Francisco Giants closed their facility in Scottsdale, Ariz., after a visitor and one family member exhibited symptoms.
    A report surfaced on Friday from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun that Toronto Maple Leafs centre Auston Matthews tested positive for COVID-19, and he is apparently self-isolating at his home in Arizona.
    On Saturday, media reports surfaced that at least 30 players from the defending NCAA football champion Louisiana State University Tigers have been quarantined due to a COVID-19 outbreak in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
    With all that noted, you have to love how elite athletes continue to train and administrators and executives bring a top level effort on a daily basis, even if that work does not produce a result due to factors beyond anyone’s control.
    At the moment, it appears those in the sports world are going up against a stacked deck.

No COVID-19 vaccine thoughts fires up anxiety, other thoughts

Downtown Saskatoon was deserted early in the COVID-19 pandemic.
    During the COVID-19 pandemic, a couple of thoughts come up that fire up anxiety regarding the idea of a vaccine.
    One thought is what happens if a vaccine isn’t developed for COVID-19 or the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the COVID-19 disease?
    The other thought is what happens if it takes a long time to develop a vaccine for COVID-19 or the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the COVID-19 disease?
    I try not to think about those questions, but they do cross my mind from time to time.
    The COVID-19 pandemic is often compared to the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918. The Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 was a deadly influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus.
    The first licensed flu vaccine didn’t appear in North America until the 1940s. When the Spanish Flu pandemic hit in 1918, the frequency of cases about 15 months later dropped to negligible levels.
    In an apples to oranges comparison, medical science has developed light years from what the world knew in 1918. Back in 1918, people still died of all sorts of ailments, and it was still a frequent occurrence in North America to see babies pass away within the first three months of being born.
    You have to hope it doesn’t take over 20 years to develop a vaccine for COVID-19.
    On the front of thinking about a vaccine not being developed, HIV/AIDS comes to mind.
    HIV/AIDS was first identified in the early 1980s. There still hasn’t been a vaccine developed for the HIV virus that causes AIDS or effective treatment for HIV/AIDS. It has been classified as a pandemic for decades.
    The HIV virus mutates quickly, which makes hard to develop a vaccine for it.
    In thinking about those two situations, one wonders if we are going to have to figure out a way to live with COVID-19 for the long stretch. Over the past week, there have been constant media reports that several states in the United States have seen a record number of cases in recent days.
    There has been a steady stream of positive COVID-19 tests from the sports world in the U.S., which gives further proof as to how easily this virus spreads.
    Looking at past historical examples, it is possible the COVID-19 pandemic could continue for some time without a vaccine. There are no clear paths on how to react, if that becomes the case.
    Thinking too much about all of that just does damage on the mental health front with regards to anxiety, so the best move is to try to stay focused on day to day tasks.

  • On Thursday, former NHL and CHL player Daniel Carcillo and Garrett Taylor, who played in the WHL for the Lethbridge Hurricanes and Prince Albert Raiders from 2008 to 2010, filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against the CHL and its three member leagues in the OHL, QMJHL and WHL in Ontario Superior Court in Toronto over hazing. The allegations haven’t been proven in court. Carcillo played in the OHL from 2002 to 2005 with the Sarnia Sting and the Mississauga IceDogs. This appears to have the potential to get extremely ugly and drag out for years before it is done. The allegations that have been made are extremely ugly. Rick Westhead of TSN did a story, and it can be found right here.
  • On Friday, the Government of Canada approved a cohort quarantine proposal by the NHL. The proposal makes players and staff exempt from the 14-day quarantine period for anyone entering Canada. Instead of quarantining individually, the cohort quarantine would keep NHL players and staffers separate from the general public. The move clears one hurdle towards making a Canadian city a hub city for NHL post-season play.
  • On Friday, the 17-member Alberta Colleges Athletics Conference cancelled all sports season play for the fall of 2020. For sports that are only conducted in the fall in golf, cross-country running and soccer, the ACAC is planning to run those sports in April of 2021.
  • On Friday, the Camrose, Alta., based University of Alberta-Augustana Campus Vikings, who play out of the ACAC, announced the program was withdrawing from men’s hockey, women’s soccer, men’s and women’s basketball and men’s and women’s volleyball from the 2020-21 campaign. Vikings Athletics cited economic and COVID-19 pandemic concerns for the decision along with aligning a plan of action with what the University of Alberta Golden Bears and Pandas programs have done at the U Sports level.
  • Over this past week, I thought social media was a little more kind than it was in the week previous. It seemed a little rough on Saturday. That was just from my subjective observation, but other might have not had the same experience.
  • I am fine with sports administrators and executives trying to find ways to make their sports work in these COVID-19 pandemic times. Besides trying to prevent falling off people’s radars, many sports teams and organizations in Canada are just trying to find ways to survive.
  • Starting about seven days ago, New Zealand began holding professional rugby games allowing full stadiums with no social distancing guidelines. One game at Eden Park in Auckland on June 13 drew around 43,000 spectators. The moves were done after New Zealand got down to zero active COVID-19 cases. It helps that New Zealand is an island nation with about 4.9-million people. As of the time this post went live, Worldometer, which accurately tracks various worldwide statistics, stated New Zealand has nine active COVID-19 cases. New Zealand observed strict lockdowns to originally get down to zero cases, so one has to wonder if those lockdowns will return. Still, it was cool to hear one country held large sporting events with no restrictions.
  • Just want to add a disclaimer that what I write or say about the COVID-19 pandemic doesn’t matter in the big picture of things. I am not a government official or a health official that has power to make decisions on that front. In the big picture, what I say doesn’t really mean much on that front. I just try to navigate the waves on day by day basis the best I can, because I don’t have control over anything else.
  • I am pleased I wrote a review on Friday’s #CFLsim broadcast put together by The Rod Pedersen Show. It appears the simulation game broadcast and my review gave people some much needed fun and helped provide some relief from the difficult times the world is experiencing. I think the public at least in Saskatchewan misses seeing comments like the one below from Fake Gainer.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.
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