A JERSEY GUY: School's Back For Summer?
No more pencils no more books
No more teacher's dirty looks yeah
Well we got no class
And we got no principals
And we got no innocence
We can't even think of a word that rhymes
School's out for summer
Those are lyrics from Alice Cooper's School's Out from a generation ago, a mantra which signaled the start of summer vacation for many people.
Well, here it is the Pandemic Summer of 2020 and the Memorial Day weekend has just passed and our thoughts again turn to the lazy, hazy crazy days of summer, which means things slow down.
Right?
Well, not exactly.
Consider what could be a very real summer line up of NBA and NHL playoff games, the start of the Major League Baseball regular season, a reverse Triple Crown in horse racing with the Belmont, Preakness and, in September, the Kentucky Derby.
The opening on schedule of NFL training camps. College campuses re-opening in stages with the football teams leading the way as they gear up for a September start upl
And that is just a tease for the fall, when we could have NFL regular seson, MLB regular and post season, college football regular season, the Boston Marathon, The Masters, NBA and NHL playoffs.
Does any of this make sense?
Of course, not. But what does these days as we cope with a once in 100 years pandemic which has literally nearly shut down the world.
We hibernated in our homes and with masks (some of us) for a few months, but now the weather is better and it is time to resume life.
Yeah, well, not exactly. But plans are being made.
In college football, the major conferences are giving the go ahead for schools to re-open their days and allow preliminary training for college football teams.
It is a move that produces as many questions as answers.
"Do I know how this going to play out?'' said University of Connecticut football coach by phone from his winter home in Florida. "Of course, not. No, one does. I will just do what they tell me to do and follow the protocol see what happens.''
Edsall said the plan is for a tentative return to campus by his players in early July.
After that, he says, it's all uncharted territory about how to do things, withe underlying question everyone is asking "|What do we do when some of our players test positive.
Lots of people still have visions of a college national championship game played next January in Miami and perhaps the latest chapter in Clemson vs. Alabama.
But even if a game is played, will there be people in the stands, how extensively will it be covered by a media, which is learning to exist without person to person contact?
That game, if it happens is months away.
For now, we will sit and WATCH as sports in America resumes.