The Beatless Beat Writer: A Brave New World

Where to begin?

Well, where to end is more like it.

On March 12, I was getting ready to watch Alabama basketball take on Tennessee in the second round of the SEC tournament. Many of us were. In the hours leading up to it I watched coverage on the coronavirus and how it was impacting sports. In-between my classes, I saw how many sports leagues and college tournaments were being cancelled.

“Please not the tournament,” I remember saying to myself. “Please don’t cancel baseball, too.”

We all know what happened next.

Even with both college basketball and baseball being put on hold, the reality didn’t set in for me until Alabama and Nick Saban cancelled spring practice mere hours before it was scheduled on March 13. That was when it hit me, as well as many others.

“Ok, this is real.”

Since that time, we have seen many changes happen in the world of sports. Along with college sports coming grinding to a half, we’ve seen the suspension of the MLB, the NBA, the NHL, a virtual NFL draft, a shortened MLB draft and the pumping of the brakes on NASCAR. We’ve seen just about everything stop in a manner that absolutely no one could have predicted heading into 2020.

At the dawn of the new year, I was in Orlando covering the Citrus Bowl. I remember being in the hotel hospitality room as the clock struck midnight and celebrated with my media colleagues from various outlets. All of us were hopeful for what the new decade would bring us.

I remember sipping whiskey with Joe Will Field, a photographer at the University of Alabama’s school newspaper, the Crimson White. With the football season coming to a close that next day, we discussed what we were looking forward to in the coming year.

I was excited about baseball as well as basketball. I was looking forward to graduating in May. I was anticipating moving out of my dumpy house into a nice apartment. I was excited to take that next step into a new chapter of my career.

Joe Will echoed the same sentiments (minus the dumpy house). Regardless, we both looked forward to adjusting to a new phase in life.

Neither of us knew how much adjusting we would both have to actually do.

When college sports were cancelled in March, I remember I was sitting in class with my good friend Jacob Harrison when the news broke. It was that same day that the SEC tournament was cancelled. I remember leading up to class discussing how it might be cancelled, but I didn’t think it would actually happen.

Jacob took a much more realistic approach than I did. While we both hoped that sports wouldn’t be cancelled, I was much more optimistic. Jacob brought me back to reality (as he often does), but nevertheless I remained hopeful. What would he and I do if college sports came to a halt? Our chosen careers revolved around it. How would we make do?

Class began, but soon after the news started pouring in regarding cancellations. One of my classmates, softball pitcher Krystal Goodman, made the first announcement to the class. As the class was typically styled in an open-floor format, the discussion turned that direction and remained on that topic for the rest of class.

Krystal is my friend. She was the first athlete that I got to see in-person react to the cancellations. She was a senior, and that was far before we knew the NCAA was going to grant an extra year of eligibility. My heart hurt for her and all of the athletes.

Why am I bringing up these conversations? The common theme is this: for those of us in the sports media field, sports is what drives us.

Over the past few months, I must admit that I have had difficulty staying motivated. Being on top of things has been frustrating in this bold new world. As cliché as it sounds, sports is something that I took for granted.

Trust me. I will never make that mistake again.

While sports has been at a standstill, progress is beginning to be made. With the return of NCAA athletes to campuses for voluntary workouts, the ball has began rolling. Football and basketball players have returned to Tuscaloosa, signaling the start of something new. We might not be out of the woods just yet, but we are getting there.

When I started writing the Beatless Beat Writer, I stated that I had become what the title defined me as. I now realize that that was never the case. While my beats had been made more difficult, they never truly left me. Finding something to write about became more difficult. Making news and stories over seemingly nothing became typical. However, this pandemic has benefitted me in a way I never thought possible: it caused me to grow.

Since that fateful March day, I have grown in so many ways. I have shifted to full-time with my position at BamaCentral. I have graduated summa cum laude from college in one of the most difficult semesters that I ever faced. I have faced adversity as a writer and have had to put my skills to the test. I have had to deal with both working and doing school full-time from my couch here at home.

I have no doubt that you have grown, too.

With COVID-19, people have begun to refer to societal adjustment as ‘the new normal.’ While I agree with the sentiment, I prefer to call it something else: a brave new world.

In this new world, we have seen society come together to fight a global pandemic. While there are still stragglers, we have mostly unified to combat a difficult force. There is still a lot of room to improve, yet we have come so far over the past few months. The MLB is trying to get a season together. The NBA has already announced its plan. The NHL is establishing a playoff. NASCAR is back.

There have been many difficulties overcome, yet plenty still remain in our way. However, I have no doubt that we as a society will handle them as we always have: together.

While the Beatless Beat Writer might be over, there will still be plenty of Crimson Tide news in the days, weeks, months and years ahead.

It’s a brave new world, and I will be right beside you for every step of the way.

The Beatless Beat Writer was a series of stories by BamaCentral's own Joey Blackwell. The series was meant to reflect on and discuss Alabama athletics and its fans in Tuscaloosa during the current pandemic.