I’m listening to the NFL network while I write this. I’m gonna have a lot to talk about tomorrow on the waiver wire, but this ain’t that. Instead I want to think and reflect about the abundance of importance we place on sport and on the things we take for granted as Americans. We are in a major crisis. I won’t use hyperbole to describe the situation. I will say that we notice it more because of the cancellations. We notice it more because our daily lives are impacted at almost all financial levels.
When the restaurants close we all feel it. Not just from the perspective of the workers who no longer have jobs. We feel it from the standpoint of our hours of enjoyment. No going out, no sports, and everyone slowing the internet with their traffic. What we discover in all of this is that we are a nation sedated by shows and sports and activities. We are a nation that rarely looks up to take stock of the world we have created and, in fact, often make light of that pursuit or otherwise turn it into just another activity.
I believe it was yesterday when I talked about the system breaking down. I believe the experts see that and are struggling to find ways to prevent that from happening the way it did at the onset of the Obama presidency. I do not know that they will be successful. This is indeed a crisis, and I for one have not been taking it seriously. I’ve been walking around in public in close proximity to others. I’ve dined. I’ve complained that youth sports are cancelled. All of this points to me as part of the problem vs. solution.
It is very American of me to be that way, and until that behavior stops becoming synonymous with our nation, we are going to keep piling up problems.