In sports, as in life, timing is everything.
Consider 77-year old Joe Biden. His timing has been perfect twice. When he was 29, he ran for Senate in Delaware, even though you must be 30 to serve in the Senate. However, he turned 30 between Election Day and the day he was due to be sworn in. Perfect timing.
Now he’s running for president. He’s done that and failed twice already, but assumedly the timing simply wasn’t right. Now, the man who was once too young to serve in the Senate will try to be the oldest man ever elected president. Timing.
No Eyes on the Clock
Timing is going to matter for the NCAA tournament as well. If it had begun a few weeks ago, it would have gone off without a hitch — much like Super Bowl LIV. Nobody was much worried about a novel coronavirus in February. In March, everyone’s afraid we literally (and I’m literally using that word correctly) won’t live to see April. Timing.
So the NCAA has declared it will hold its tournament with no fans. It’ll be like an Alabama A&M game. Very quiet.
One advantage will be that coaches won’t have to drag all the chairs on to the court during TV timeouts. After all, that tradition got started because coaches didn’t want the fans to be able to hear them cursing at the players. No fans, nobody to hear the cursing. Go ahead and leave the chairs right where you found them, please. Unless you’d prefer to throw one, Bobby Knight style.
Also, there should be more time for Mike Krzyzewski to appear in some more recruiting videos — I mean commercials. He’s more than just a basketball coach. He’s a leader (among pitchmen). Sports fans everywhere will rejoice if he’s stopped short of a sixth national championship, so the Capital One ad can run again next year.
Nothing in Greensboro
Of course, the timing was even more challenging for tournaments this week, including the ACC’s storied get-together. The ACC tourney was in its second day before the conference announced it wouldn’t allow fans to attend any more games. Luckily, nobody goes to the first two rounds of the ACC tournament, anyway, so in the end, all five rounds will be played in empty arenas.
This was the year that the tourney returned to Greensboro after stops in Brooklyn and Charlotte. We can only hope Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim has time to visit a Denny’s before the Orangemen’s ACC run ends.
Since his team has always been one-and-done in this tournament, Boeheim better schedule that visit for earlier rather than later. Or he can wait and hit the Denny’s on Erie Boulevard back in Syracuse, while he waits for the Not Important Tournament bracket to come out. As an aside, Erie Boulevard was created when the city of Syracuse filled in the famous Erie Canal. So driving on it means you’re driving on American history.
Speaking of Politics
The NCAA tournament won’t be the only unattended event this March. CNN reports:
“The DNC has announced that there will be no live audience at the 11th Democratic debate because of the coronavirus outbreak.”
Imagine a debate where the candidates just discuss issues with each other, instead of playing to a crowd that wants to engage in what Larry King correctly calls “obnoxious hooting and hollering.”
Maybe next year, we can get a silent State of the Union address, as well. That whole speech could be read in about 25 minutes if it wasn’t repeatedly interrupted for undeserved standing ovations. The time has come.
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