We’re nearly two years into the Covid-19 pandemic, and while it hasn’t faded into the background, it isn’t exactly the day-to-day pressing concern it used to be either. Even as the omicron variant sends daily infection numbers through the roof, the discussion is more about learning to live with the spikes than it is about eradicating the virus.
That is a total 180 from where we were even a year ago at this time. Of course, the big difference between then and now is the availability of not just vaccines, but booster shots as well.
The science is out there. Anyone can find it. The reality is, we are probably at a point where everyone that is going to get vaccinated is already vaccinated. Both sides of the argument know that is true and that is why the CDC has loosened its guidance so much.
Let’s set the larger narrative to the side for a moment and focus solely on sports. What does learning to live with Covid-19 as part of our everyday lives look like in the sports world? I asked three hosts from major markets across the country if another spike in cases has changed their show and what they are hearing from listeners.
“I thought the NBA was going to press pause in December when all the games are getting pushed and postponed and all the stars were out,” Carl Dukes, one half of Atlanta’s top-rated sports talk show Dukes & Bell, told me via text.
He says that a full-on shutdown returning to sports is hard to imagine. The NBA pulled off a relatively successful 2020 playoffs with the help of a bubble. That is far more likely to come back than a halted season, and even another bubble seems unlikely.
“I don’t get the sense the NBA is going to pause,” says Jorge Sedano of 710 ESPN in Los Angeles. “They’ve added over 100 players to the normal amount with hardship exemptions for teams. They seem intent on finishing the season and working through postponements.”
It is those 100 extra players that give Dukes a little bit of pause. If you thought Dave Portnoy made a stink about LeBron’s last championship not counting because the games were played in the Disney World bubble, imagine the blowback if LeBron and the Lakers won an NBA Finals series against a Nets team led not by Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, but by guys that were reserves on the Sioux Falls Skyforce roster to start the season!
“These leagues ultimately have to protect the integrity of the games. Having five G league guys on one side vs 2 NBA players and 3 dudes that got picked up off the street does not help the league.”
Sean Salisbury of SportsTalk 790 in Houston doesn’t think omicron is changing things on air necessarily. It is something he considers though in the course of regular prep.
“When it comes to betting and game predictions, I also take into account Covid, just like I would anytime a player is scheduled to miss a game,” he told me in an email. “But we rarely on our show discuss Covid or vaccines because it’s fatigue for our listeners. If Covid affects a player playing in a game then it’s brought up.”
Fatigue is real. And it’s not even right to call it fatigue. Just speaking from my own point of view, it is Covid apathy.
My wife and my daughter just tested positive earlier this week. Do I want them to recover quickly and be safe? Of course I do, but my concern is for them. It isn’t really for the world at large anymore. I think that is a major difference in the way most of us are approaching this now: what the rest of you do is on you.
Sedano says Covid restrictions and protocols are just a part of life now. He hasn’t taken a call or read a text from someone with questions about games being cancelled or play being suspended.
“Obviously, hockey had a pause, but it was not a major point of conversation for us,” he said in an email. “Particularly, because it was implied the games would resume soon, which they did. Also, to get into any LA venue you’ve needed a negative test or proof of vaccination plus masks to get into an event for a long time now.”
In Atlanta, Dukes says any conversation he has had about the way the omicron variant is effecting games has more to do with fans wallets than with their health and safety.
“I think fans are more concerned about the integrity of the games. Are they going to see the stars when they go to these games and if the games are pushed or postponed, does it work within their schedule for what they’ve attempted put together?”
Salisbury told me that he is trying to “discuss sports without Covid being it’s foundation” these days. I think most hosts have had that goal for a while now. For the most part, the sports world seems to have cooperated.
It is hard not to raise an eyebrow when we hear that the College Football Playoff came up with a plan to crown a champion via forfeit if necessary. But it is worth pointing out that it takes something that extraordinary to raise our eyebrows now.
Covid-19 is part of our lives and it is going to stick around for a while, but there are so many reasons that the fatigue and our fears subsiding are justified. Vaccines work. The omicron variant is more transmissive, but less severe than past variants. It doesn’t mean people aren’t taking the virus and their health seriously. We aren’t staring down the barrel of uncertainty anymore, so we aren’t talking about it as much.
Living with the virus on sports radio is largely going to look like it does now. When infections spike to the point where the Brooklyn Nets are willing to rethink how they are handling Kyrie Irving, we talk about it. If you have a unique or interesting angle worth sharing, we talk about it. Otherwise, talking about it is probably not doing anything for your audience but creating a tune-out opportunity. The difference will likely be things the listeners never see or are even aware of like working to fill time that was alloted for a game broadcast or delivering on make-good spots for clients.
