If you are sports fan in this province, you likely felt normal during these COVID-19 pandemic times for a handful of days near the end of April.
At the end of April, it was sports draft season, as a few leagues held player drafts.
The WHL Bantam Draft was held via an online format on April 22. The NFL Draft ran via an online format April 23-25, and it was broadcast live on the NFL Network and by some sports specialty channels.
The CFL Draft went on April 30 via its standard online format, and the first two rounds were broadcast on TSN.
Whether these drafts were held online or had television broadcast time, people got the opportunity to track or watch an actual live developing event regarding sports.
That has been hard to come by since March 11, which was the last day most professional leagues in North America hosted live games.
The NBA began to shutdown that day, which started a domino effect of most leagues going into pause situations or shutting down over the two days that followed.
In Saskatchewan and Canada, most of the last live sporting events held by local associations took place on March 12. Most national minor sports governing bodies in Canada began to suspend the sanctioning of actives and moved into a pause state beginning on March 13.
Since March 12, there haven’t been any live sports to watch on television or at local facilities unless one was able to go socialize at beer league hockey games on the weekend of March 14-15. Shutdowns for most facets of society took hold in earnest on March 16.
When these sports drafts were held over the final two weeks of April, they were the first live sports events people got to watch since March 12. For a short time, it allowed the mind to get locked into those sports worlds, as one wondered where players would be selected.
You kind of forgot about what was going on in the rest of the world. The WHL streamed the first round of its bantam draft online, and it was actually pretty good. Zach Hodder, who is the WHL’s manager of player development, made that broadcast work, and he offered really good insight on what each of the first-round selections could bring to the teams they were selected by.
In Saskatchewan, there was a lot of anticipation to see where one-time Dundurn residents and Saskatoon Contacts star forwards Riley Heidt and Brayden Yager would be taken. In the second and third overall spots after the Regina Pats selected North Vancouver, B.C., product Connor Bedard.
The broadcast of the NFL Draft was packaged perfectly like you would expect something to be that comes from the NFL. Starting the draft with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell receiving virtual boos somehow immediately drew you in.
The circuit had a #BooTheCommish social media hashtag charity fundraising campaign going on for COVID-19 relief efforts. The NFL produced it in such a slick way it got even the casual viewer invested.
As for the CFL Draft, TSN has to be given credit for how well that was packaged. Apparently, that was the first live thing TSN had done in weeks, as their nightly Sportscentre episodes have been pre-taped.
In Saskatchewan, there was great buzz when the Roughriders selected Mattland Riley in the first round and seventh overall. Riley is a star offensive left guard with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies football team.
For a short time, the mind was wrapped around the fact the Roughriders had picked a local provincial product, who grew up in Melfort. It made for a feel-good moment.
While the mind indulged in some good feelings in the present when these drafts were on, the question about when live sports could return had to cross the mind, when the excitement of these drafts ended.
On Tuesday, professional baseball returned to action in South Korea with the Korea Baseball Organization. Teams played televised games in front of empty stadiums, and umpires wore protective surgical type masks under their regular masks.
The players on teams wore protective surgical-type masks. Cheerleaders, who also donned protective surgical-type masks, were on hand to dance in front of empty stands, some of which were filled with cardboard cut outs of people.
Could this be a glimpse into the future of sports in North America? With regards to when leagues could begin play in North American, the only certain fact is no one knows when that start date will be. Everything else on that front is speculation.
Sports leagues at all levels are at the mercy of chief medical health officers and medical health officials. You can get one of those officials on one news program saying you can take steps to start returning to normal over the next four to six weeks to resume play. On another news program, another medical official will say there will be shutdowns that will make sports a write off for the rest of 2020 and all of 2021.
Actually, in the United States, a whim by President Donald Trump could occur on any day that would get the sports world going again.
Apparently, kingpin Dana White hell bent on creating a “fight island” on international waters to hold his UFC events on. There have been reports on Tuesday and Wednesday that claim the UFC president said his “fight island” is nearly complete and will be ready for action sometime in June.
Since the pandemic started, the NHL and NBA have been trying to figure out ways of completing their 2019-20 seasons to the point of crowning champions in “quarantine cities.” MLB has been looking to start its 2020 campaign in a “quarantine city” setup. This means you house a number of teams in one city and play games in one facility without fans.
Saskatoon was floated as a possible quarantine city for NHL action early in the North American shutdowns, but that was quickly shot down. There has been recent speculation that Edmonton and Toronto could be quarantine cities, but nothing substantial has materialized out of that talk.
Many different regions in Canada have varying restrictions on mass gatherings and use of facilities that differ between provinces and municipalities. Alberta has limited mass gatherings for any event to 15 up until Aug. 31.
Those restrictions and travel restrictions will play apart in how quickly leagues come back. At the moment, any athletes coming into Canada to play for a sports league have to quarantine for 14 days before they can engage in any activities.
Optimists have pegged September as a hopeful starting month for most leagues. For hockey leagues like the WHL and SJHL, it might mean starting their regular season at what would be their normal start dates.
There has been speculation the CFL and leagues like U Sports football have plans to begin their seasons as late as October.
Some sports on the minor front could open on a case-by-case basis per region. Golf courses in Saskatchewan are slated to open May 15, but there is no word on the fate of provincial tournaments.
In the professional realm, the PGA is hoping to resume play June 11 at the Charles Schwab Challenge without fans.
The Saskatchewan governing bodies for minor softball and baseball are hoping to have seasons in July and August that could include provincial championship tournaments. Baseball Canada has already cancelled its national championships for 2020.
While certain regions of Canada are starting to get back to work, the sports landscape is still cloudy. Drafts might be the only events we get to witness for some time, unless you develop an interest for professional baseball in South Korea.
-Darren Steinke