My old home in the Bay Area... Now under a full shelter-in-place for three weeks to try to shitcan this.
Now you can go out to get food and do stuff which needs to be done.
But the days of just going out to get some fresh air, etc., are over.
Because the air is no longer fresh.
Look, as people may well know, I am a conspiracy theorist, at least with respect to sports. And I accept everything that terminology has, including many people's scorn.
My view on the coronavirus is simple: This is no accident. Someone wanted to do something big, and, whether by accident or design, it got out in China some point late last year or early this one.
The fact is: I believe most of us now have it, or have had it. Many, if not most, positive cases are completely asymptomatic. But the fact is...
I'm 51. I have at least one co-morbidity, unchecked high blood pressure, and I was going, once this month got rolling, to see a primary care physician to get medications to keep it in check. There's a good chance, with my soda urges, I am also diabetic. I also weigh nearly 300 pounds.
I have had to confront the not 100% chance, but the very real reality that, if I get this, there is a decent chance I will be killed by it. (probably about what I'd call a d10 chance -- 1 in 10)
This is why a lot of people are wanting to do all these things that have basically ground the world as you've known it to an essential near-complete halt.
I've heard things in the last week or so I never thought I'd hear:
- A completely incompetent administration, seeming to join a number of the younger set in wanting to see many of us killed.
- For some, it's so bad that the phrase "Boomer Remover" has become a meme, mocking the propensity (which is often being disproven) that this primarily impacts older people.
- The stock market has dropped about a third of it's value in the month in which it has become apparent that the virus is now on this side of the Pacific.
- The cancellation of every American sport from high school to professional -- and those few pseudo-sports who are trying to go on (I'm looking at you, AEW and WWE) are doing so without fans in very controlled environments -- probably holding their breath one of theirs does not get positive for this illness.
- Shutdowns of regions and entire countries.
- The very real scepter of a (sadly, badly needed) near-complete shutdown of the United States, which, with the arrogance of many younger people, will probably require at least a brief period of martial law.
I could go on.
I probably will have a very long time to do so, unless I'm struck down by this soon.
I believe that the NHL and NBA will be forced to cancel everything through at least this season and playoffs -- and it's not impossible to believe next season will also be negatively affected (and all of this is with held breath of a mutation of this virus to another form (much like yearly flu-shot guesses) which would start this process anew, possibly PERMANENTLY killing much of the world sports scene.
I believe, right now, Major League Baseball will not have a 2020 season at all. Right now, they are probably looking Memorial Day at the earliest for a start.
NFL? I think their best hope is an October preseason and a 10-game schedule in November, December, and January -- home and home in the division, and the in-conference divisional opponents.
I've even heard ESPN Sportscenter anchors talk in terms of "as long as we can remain on the air". Look, I know ESPN has had a number of financial issues due to over-extension and being the Worldwide Leader in Snorts, etc. But this is something else: They are now reduced to the best of college basketball, fulfilling their UFC contract with content, and SportsCenters which will rapidly run out of content as it becomes obvious that the sports world isn't coming back any damn time soon.
We have reached End of the World As We Know It. The old ways are gone. It can be hoped that we can retain and regain as many of them as humanly possible, but the facts are that there's no way to even discern that we will EVER be able to congregate in great numbers to do anything -- pray, cheer, learn, whatever.
I have to confront, as I said above, the very real possibility I won't make it to that point, even if such a point exists (be it three months from now or two years, if ever...).
If I go, I want the people I love to know that I love them. (Yes, that includes Debbie.)
If I stay, I want to try to do what is needed to be done to do so. We have some real idiots running around out there who are not only acting as their own little versions of God, but we have some idiots who are using Weinstein-ian principles to blow up the good and hard work many people are doing on the Internet. And, just like in sports, their organizations, including some of the most respected in the world (I'm looking at you, American Cancer Society!), seem fine with it. The Hell with you.
As for the blog, this is largely it's off-season in any realistic event. It will, as it has been, try to monitor the present situation. I will probably try, at periodic points, to highlight various things people are doing to help us pass the time.
As of about two hours before this blog post goes to press, the six main Bay Area counties went under shelter-in-place for the next three weeks. Where I live probably is not far behind. I have been spending days scouring the empty shelves for anything I might find to help things along so that being sheltered in place will be as painless, hopefully, as humanly possible.
Be strong and safe. That's all I can say for the moment. We have gone over the side of the abyss and now have to hope that, when the fall ends, the landing will allow as many of us to go forward as feasibly possible.
Good luck. And, unless needed, Stay The Fuck Home.
