The Return of March Madness Brought Back Hope

Did you?

These tournaments marked a unique milestone. In mid-March 2020, the N.C.A.A. tournaments became the first big time American sporting events to be outright canceled because of the virus. Time has had its way with us ever since. It stretched and bent like toffee. Has it really been 12 months, or much, much longer? The shuttering of college basketball’s annual showcases happened with such a jolt, and caused such a shock, that it foreshadowed a year of daily, dreadful uncertainty.

Even as the pandemic raged, nearly every other significant sporting event in America ended up being played, in some form. Not long after the United States suffered its 300,000th coronavirus death, LeBron James won his fourth N.B.A. title inside the restricted-access landscape of Walt Disney World near Orlando, Fla. The grim death count sped past 400,000 in January, right around the time Alabama laid a whupping on Ohio State in the College Football Playoff championship game.

The virus wasn’t just out of control — there seemed to be no end in sight. Tom Brady’s Super Bowl win came smack in the middle of yet another terrible surge. If you’re like me, a fan of sports who cares more about the greater good than my favorite team or player, you were of course drawn to the magic of these mega-events. But you watched these shimmering championships with the gnawing feeling that they shouldn’t be happening with the virus still out of control.

Yet here we are. For all that is flawed about collegiate athletics, good fortune blessed this year’s N.C.A.A. basketball tournaments: They played out against a fresh backdrop. Infection rates, deaths and hospitalizations are down over all. Vaccines are arriving across the country, being pumped into more and more arms each day. Soon we’ll move past 20 percent of the population inoculated, with the rate climbing fast. President Biden in March signed a $1.9 trillion relief package.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/05/sports/ncaabasketball/march-madness-coronavirus.html