The Beatless Beat Writer: A Blog by Joey Blackwell

And just like that, they were gone.

I’m going to assume as a reader of a University of Alabama athletics website, you probably already have an idea of what I’m talking about.

The first wave hit last Thursday, when mere hours before Alabama basketball was set to hit the court against Tennessee in the SEC Tournament in Nashville, the tournament was cancelled.

Then came softball.

Then baseball.

Then tennis. Gymnastics. Swimming and diving. Golf. Soccer.

The cancellations peaked on Friday when Alabama football postponed its practices indefinitely.

It was on that cloudy Friday afternoon that I, along with many other Crimson Tide fans, came to a realization:

pic.twitter.com/5vXv4Yk6qb
— Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) March 13, 2020

This is serious.

As a lifelong fan of Alabama athletics, I didn’t (and still don’t) quite know what to do with myself. My life revolves around the Crimson Tide, be it as a fan or my obligation as a journalist. Quite literally both my life as an everyday human being in both work and play revolves around the University of Alabama and its sporting events.

Like many, my hopes turned to professional sports. It was there that I was only to be let down again, as one by one each sport was cancelled, with many sports incredibly close to starting the playoffs like the NBA or the NHL.

Stadiums at Alabama sit empty. Sad, empty husks devoid of all human interaction that fills them with life. Sewell-Thomas Stadium, lovingly referred to as ‘The Joe’ by fans, was silent. Alabama was due to start its first SEC series against Missouri after an historic 16-1 start.

It, as depressing as this sounds, was all for nothing.

We all know why all these sports have been cancelled, so I need not delve into the matter. There are still many that believe that all of these cancellations are silly and won’t prevent anything and that the university should continue to allow its athletes to compete for our entertainment.

To those that still believe that notion, I find that to be incredibly selfish.

I say that as being a former member of that group. I dealt with this current pandemic as a joke, laughing at memes on social media and shrugging it off with the thought of ‘It’s happening on the other side of the world. How could this possibly affect me?’

Well, now it’s here. It’s among us. It could happen to any one of us. If this past weekend doesn’t have you even starting to think about how you can make preparations and lifestyle changes, then I don’t really have much else to say to you other than please reconsider.

So what are we supposed to do? If you turn the television on to any major sports network, you will simply find a bunch of talking heads discussing and debating when the sports will return and what (or rather what they’re not) doing currently. The whole matter is frankly stressful and glum.

I have dedicated my life to Alabama athletics. On Thursday and Friday of last week, I saw my entire livelihood slip away, as did many of you reading this. I became a beatless beat writer.

Now that doesn’t mean that there isn’t anything that can be done to satiate our appetites for SEC sports.

The SEC Network is currently hosting takeovers over the next two weeks, one for each SEC team in alphabetical order. Alabama began its takeover today.

Sitting on the coach soaking in past Crimson Tide victories can do a lot to put the mind at ease. Smiling while watching a highlight from a game that you remember the time and place in life you were currently in can be quite a stress relief in these dark times.

For example, watching the takeover inspired me to hop on the ol’ laptop and watch the legendary Alabama-Georgia national championship from 2018. Tua Tagovailoa’s debut. 2nd and 26.

These came at an equally dark time in my life. I was working a job that I despised. I was living with my brother and sister-in-law which, while they were incredibly accommodating and gracious, was a dependent scenario that I did not wish to be in.

I watched that game from the couch of a friend’s apartment in Birmingham. We had already gotten in trouble for a noise complaint, and I remember when Tagovailoa threw his incredible game-winning touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith, all of my friends jumping up and down, screaming as quietly as we could. I hugged one of my best friends in an embrace of pure, unfiltered joy.

I will never forget that moment.

It came at a time when I needed it most. It opened my eyes to what brought me joy. It caused me to shift my life’s course, leading me to the University of Alabama in both an educational sense and a career change.

I will forever be grateful for the Crimson Tide.

So now, the main question: what are we to do now?

There really isn’t much else to say other than to wait patiently. With everything indefinitely delayed, there really is no timeline for when practices and games will resume. Alabama football is currently delayed until April 15 at the earliest, but there is no way of telling if that will actually be the date that the players return.

A-Day is still slated for April 18, but with the football timeline being pushed so far back, who’s to say when that will, if ever, actually occur.

All we can do is watch and wait but I, with every fiber of my being, believe that Alabama athletics is a thing worth waiting for.

This reflection is to be the first in a series of stories where I will discuss what it’s like being an Alabama fan in Tuscaloosa without the Crimson Tide. I hope that you will embark on this journey with me. I intend for these reflections to be informative, funny and at times sad.

Thank you for reading, and I look forward to enduring these difficult times with you.