I think we are about at the point of The Shit Hitting The Fan on March 1st

• One, and really only one piece of good news in this post:  Any fears for a repeat of the October WWE travel debacle from Saudi Arabia were unwarranted -- they left the country cleanly and got home safe in time for Smackdown in Boston!

That's about the only good news recently, however...

• Two German soccer matches were disrupted Saturday due to fan protests against the owner of one of the four teams involved.  (ESPNFC)

It's going off in Germany about Dietmar Hopp, the owner of Hoffenheim.

There is a significant storm surrounding Hopp and how he got Hoffenheim to the Bundesliga.  Hopp, worth about 16 billion euros, according to Wikipedia, has caused great stir as to financing a team from the Fifth Division all the way to the Bundesliga in 2008-09.

Two years ago, all supporters of Borussia Dortmund were banned from traveling to Hoffenheim contests by the German FA for similar incidents to Saturday's.

The fans still take it personally, and, Saturday, the Bundesliga was, twice, forced to invoke the anti-racism standards in UEFA and had to halt both matches when protesters unfurled banners and howled chants at the pitch.  The banners had Hopp in crosshairs (implying he was about to be shot) with vile slogans against him.

Borussia Dortmund was forced to have it's match against Freiburg stopped for a few minutes, but was completed with a 1-0 victory by Dortmund.

Hoffenheim's match, however, was more severe on a number of fronts.  The match was abandoned in the 79th minute with Hoffenheim losing 6-0 to Bayern Munich.  When the match was restarted, both teams refused to play, and both teams stood in solidarity to Hopp after the match.

Hoffenheim is 8th as of the start of play today in the 18-team Bundesliga -- 10 points and a game in hand against them from any European qualification.  13 points clear of any relegation danger.

Dortmund is third on goal difference, four points from the top of the table.

Freiburg is ninth, a point behind Hoffenheim.

Bayern Munich, as usual, tops the table, four clear of Dortmund and Leipzig (but Leipzig has a game in hand).

• In the first five games of spring training, the Astros have been plunked seven times.

And these games don't even count yet!  Just wait til April...

Oh, wait...  We've got the coronavirus to worry about, just coming on our shores.

• Add five more postponed matches in Italian coronavirus concern centers to the three postponed last week.

Inter Milan has now had consecutive matches postponed.  Those five matches are provisionally set for what was going to be the day of the league cup final (which has been postponed one week).

• France has now banned all indoor gatherings of over 5,000 people.
• And, with that in mind and with cases growing in the United States, Yardbarker reported yesterday that the National College Player's Association is urging the NCAA to seriously consider (now that there are US cases, especially on the West Coast, involving community transmission) holding the March Madness basketball tournament without fans.

If that happens, especially because the cases are just beginning to propagate here, you can kiss sports as you know them (as well as concerts, etc.) goodbye.

Consider the wrestling bonanza in Tampa, FL, coming up in about a month.

Consider the winter sports playoffs, about six weeks off.

Consider the start of Major League Baseball, about four weeks away.

Are we seriously going to have to think about holding these events as television-only concepts -- if not cancelling them altogether?

Stay tuned!