{"id":20263,"date":"2020-04-08T21:12:37","date_gmt":"2020-04-08T21:12:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=20263"},"modified":"2020-04-11T15:31:01","modified_gmt":"2020-04-11T15:31:01","slug":"a-world-without-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/a-world-without-sports\/","title":{"rendered":"A world without sports"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lars Dzikus<\/a>, University of Tennessee<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Baseball\u2019s opening day came and went<\/a>. The Olympics have been postponed<\/a>. Football in the fall? Don\u2019t count on it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With COVID-19 infections and deaths rising each day, the cancellation of live sporting events might seem like an afterthought. But in the coming weeks and months, their absence will undoubtedly be felt.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the first time sports have been put on hold. During previous crises and conflicts, sports have been stopped. But in the past, the reprieve was brief; sports went on to act as a way to bring Americans together, persevere and, ultimately, heal.<\/p>\n

This time\u2019s different.<\/p>\n

An American \u2018religion\u2019<\/h2>\n

Sports are so important to so many of us that some have likened them to a modern religion<\/a>, replete with rituals, saints and shrines.<\/p>\n

\u201cSports are more than games, meets and matches,\u201d sociologist Jay Coakley<\/a> has observed. \u201cThey\u2019re important aspects of social life that have meanings going far beyond scores and performance statistics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Research suggests<\/a> that watching sports can benefit physical well-being. Fandom can also be linked to psychological benefits such as an increased sense of belonging. When spectators experience social connectedness to other fans, it can reduce negative emotions, like depression and isolation.<\/p>\n

Enduring \u2013 and emerging stronger<\/h2>\n

For these reasons, sports, during times of crisis, often act as a salve.<\/p>\n

At the onset of the Civil War, baseball was less than two decades old<\/a>, and the first two years of the war hit the young sport hard<\/a>. As several players enlisted and others focused on civilian war efforts, many clubs folded or played reduced schedules.<\/p>\n

Still, as historian George Kirsch<\/a> has noted, baseball \u201cendured the trial of civil war remarkably well, persisting and even progression under trying circumstances.\u201d Union soldiers brought the game to the battlefield, playing to stay fit and get some much-needed distraction. In the process, they exposed many of their fellow countrymen to the game for the first time. After the war, baseball\u2019s popularity boomed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sports went on to endure both World War I and the 1918 flu pandemic.<\/p>\n

\"\"
A baseball player dons a face mask.<\/span>
\nGeorge Rinhart\/Corbis via Getty Images<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The ranks of college football players, for example, were vastly depleted, with many student-athletes going into active duty. Others joined the newly established Student Army Training Corps<\/a> on their campuses and were often kept out of practices and games. Still, the games went on, with freshmen permitted to fill the rosters.<\/p>\n

Overseas, in Europe, millions of American troops continued to engage in baseball, football and boxing behind the front lines as a respite from the drudgery of trench warfare. Sports and athletics, according to historian Steve Pope<\/a>, became \u201ccentral components of military life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first wave of the flu arrived in the U.S. in the spring of 1918, but the second, stronger wave<\/a> hit right at the onset of the college football season.<\/p>\n

Given the shortage of players due to the war, discussions to cancel the 1918 season<\/a> were already underway when the flu returned.<\/p>\n

Michigan had played only one game when the governor shut down public gatherings. A game against rival Michigan Agricultural College \u2013 now Michigan State \u2013 was postponed<\/a> for concerns that \u201cprolonged cheering at the games would weaken the throats of the spectators, thus making them more susceptible to the disease.\u201d Nationwide, hundreds of college games were canceled<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, as flu cases subsided in November 1918, Michigan was able to play four more games. Undefeated Michigan and Pitt were titled co-champions, despite having played only five games each.<\/p>\n

Bringing the country together<\/h2>\n

Following the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, some wondered whether it was even appropriate to hold sporting events. Then President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent the so-called \u201cgreen light letter<\/a>\u201d to Major League Baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis in January 1942.<\/p>\n

In it, Roosevelt wrote that \u201cit would be best for the country to keep baseball going.\u201d The people, he added, \u201cought to have a chance for recreation.\u201d The 1942 season went on as scheduled. Women\u2019s-only baseball leagues also became popular during this period<\/a>. At its peak in 1948, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League<\/a> attracted close to 1 million spectators.<\/p>\n

More recently, 9\/11 presented a major challenge to sports<\/a>. As sporting events could present perfect targets for terrorists, security concerns and costs skyrocketed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On the day of the attacks, Major League Baseball immediately postponed all 15 games; over the next six days, 91 games were canceled. The last time the league had canceled games without a player strike had been D-Day in 1944.<\/p>\n

Yet games resumed on Sept. 17<\/a>, and the World Series was played in November. The Super Bowl was also pushed back, but went on as planned.<\/p>\n

According to sports scholar Rebecca Kraus<\/a>, baseball\u2019s return, in particular, \u201cprovided an emotional release, sense of hope and a place for the community to gather in its time of need, thus fulfilling its role as the national pastime.\u201d<\/p>\n