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Hundreds of cases crown, games postponed, emergency filling of positions. US sport is grappling with the aftermath of the viral pandemic and is gradually losing control.
Anyone who believes that sport and politics can be separated from each other was convinced to the contrary by the 2020 US election campaign at the latest. Again and again, Donald Trump has come out in favor of continuing matches in various sports leagues despite the severe effects of the corona pandemic in his country. Opponent Joe Biden opposed. Whether it’s football or basketball, professional sport has become a political issue.
“We want to do sport in our country again,” Trump said in May and promised, “It will happen.” He was right. The alloys worked on high pressure concepts. The NBA became a role model and created its own isolated world for the remainder of the season: the game took place in the Disney World enclosed area in Florida with no spectators. Few complications, the season ended successfully.
Disney World in Orlando: This is where the NBA has played the rest of the season since July. (Source: MediaPunch / imago images)
The NFL game is postponed for nearly a week
The situation was completely different in the NFL (the top division of American football; ed), because the new season is expected to start in September 2020. And the NFL match schedule is tight, not only updated, but always. Therefore, further cancellations of matches due to crown outbreaks between teams must be avoided from the start.
But the Lega received the receipt. In the past two weeks, there have been a total of 156 crown positive cases in the NFL, 61 of them were players and 95 were addicts. In the weeks since August 1, a total of 270 cases have been recorded in the NFL.
A bad example: the match between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens, which was supposed to take place last week. The duel of rivals was scheduled for “Thanksgiving” Thursday. But at the Ravens, several players tested positive for Corona. Among other things, superstar Lamar Jackson was also impressed. The game was therefore postponed to the following Sunday.
But it was not even possible to keep the new date. On Sunday, the game was postponed to Tuesday and shortly thereafter from Tuesday to Wednesday. The game finally took place six days after the effective date. But not in fair terms: due to positive tests and quarantines, the Ravens were missing 23 (!) Players. A selection B was on the pitch and lost the match 14:19. For the ambitious team, it could be tight in the playoff fight.
Gus Edwards (left) was the only one of the usual running back line who was ready. Robert Griffin III. (right) replaced Lamar Jackson. (Source: Icon SMI images / imago)
The next matches of the two teams next week have already been postponed so that there are no injuries due to overload.
Which leads to the question: What happens to the current NFL season if there are further positive tests? At least it would be a big problem, because there is not much room for maneuver in the tight season anymore, the playoffs start in January.
The wide receiver becomes a quarterback
And the Ravens aren’t the only team where the coronavirus is shaking everything. On Saturday at the Denver Broncos, substitute quarterback Jeff Driskel tested positive. Since all the other quarterbacks had previously been in the same room with Driskel and weren’t wearing a mask, they had to be quarantined. There wasn’t enough time to sign a clubless quarterback. So another player, wide receiver Kendall Hinton, had to play in an unfamiliar position.
The game against the New Orleans Saints with Hinton as quarterback was a flop, Denver lost 3:31. Incidentally, Hinton threw nine passes, only one landed with teammate, three with the opponent.
Suddenly quarterback: Kendall Hinton (left). (Source: Icon SMI images / imago)
Nearly nine percent in the NBA is positive
The explosion in crown numbers in the US can clearly be felt in US sport as well. This applies to the NFL, but also to the NBA. Almost three weeks before the season began, all 546 basketball players were tested, 48 were positive. That’s nearly nine percent of all professionals in the best basketball league in the world. The tests took place from 24 to 30 November. According to the protocol of the championship, positive players cannot participate in training for at least ten days; if symptoms do occur, professionals need to stay away longer.
After the past part of the NBA season at Disney World was a success, the championship is now facing reality. Because in the new season the teams will not isolate themselves. The continued high crown numbers would come as no surprise and could also ruin this championship.
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