Worst Seat in the House

At this point in time, I would have been really excited about the NCAA first round match-up for Gonzaga in Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena.

Gonzaga, with a No. 1 seed, would be playing against some team from across the country as a No. 16. The team would have no idea how much energy a hometown crowd from Spokane would bring the home town team and it would be fun to watch.

They would, of course follow that up with a second-round victory sending them into the round of 16.

Unfortunately, that won’t happen.

Neither will the Eastern Washington Eagles be getting a 14 seed and having the opportunity to upset someone in the first round. And the Whitworth Pirates, already in the round of 16 in the NCAA Division III tournament, will not continue to roll on and maybe have a shot at a final four berth.

The Gonzaga women also had their season cut short by a crazy sounding virus that is putting life as we know it on hold.

The Gonzaga women at McCarthey Athletic Center would be a great venue for the first two rounds of the women’s tournament and maybe the ladies would have a shot to win and play on.

But that won’t happen either.

The Washington State University Cougars were able to win a game in the Pac 12 tournament for the first time since 2009. But then all conference tournaments were canceled.

The Cougs would have most likely been invited to one of the other postseason tournaments and been playing this week. But then all of those tournaments were also canceled.

The sports seasons for the pros and colleges have been put on hold or canceled altogether.

I got up Saturday morning and looked at what might be on the television. I told my wife that apparently I gave up televised sports for lent.

I’m just glad the high school Hardwood Classic basketball tournaments were able to finish last weekend.

Some colleges have plans to close and go online for classes and then maybe go back in a couple of weeks. All public and private schools in our state will close March 17 and may reopen April 27.

Call it an extended spring break.

Schools will be closed and there will be no practices or games scheduled. There will, hopefully, be state tournaments and a revamped schedule once school is back in session. Since there will be a long layoff, we’ll have to wait and see how the games will be rescheduled.

But the weather should be nice by then, right?

We have gone through pandemics before. After reading the news on Sunday, I personally lived through four and this one is No. 5. I was probably vulnerable for at least three of them as a youngster and as an adult.

And now that I am a mature (old) adult I’m vulnerable to this one, as well. And yes, at least 10 time a day, I check to see if I’m getting any sort of fever, just in case.

So far, so good.

Honestly, I’m not going to panic since I’m a pretty healthy guy. And I have no plans to travel anywhere other than the immediate area. So, I feel safe.

Once the weather warms up it will be time to get out and breathe fresh air and do some yard work.

This too shall pass and we will be watching our favorite teams play again and those great people of medicine and science will figure it out and protect us and find medications to keep us safe.

If you have elderly neighbors check on them once in a while. If they can’t get out, ask if there is anything you can do to lend them a hand.

Don’t horde toilet paper, or food.

There are plenty of friends and neighbors that would also like to make it through this pandemic comfortably.

Just saying.

Instead of listening to the news that may be scaring people to death, watch a rerun of a ball game from 10 or 20 years ago. You’ll get a kick out of the uniforms they once wore.

S­tay safe.

— Dale Anderson is a local sports columnist. Email him at [email protected].