Coronavirus Disease 2019
What To Do Without Sports On TV
Will esports become mainstream during the coronavirus pandemic?
Posted March 15, 2020
I woke up this morning, Saturday, March 14, and went through my normal routine. I made myself a cup of coffee, opened up my iPad, and checked the sports scores on ESPN. Only then did I remember that no live sports had been played on Friday night.
I was surprised when I saw a headline that said Luka Doncic's 50 lead Mavs past Suns—on Twitch. It turns out that after the NBA suspended all games, the Phoenix Suns decided they would have their games played virtually over the next month. If you want to see how the Suns are doing, you can watch their games via Twitch on NBA 2K live. Those of you desperately looking for your sports fix to keep your mind off more pressing issues might be stuck with simulated, online, or esports for the next month, causing me to wonder if esports will become mainstream during the coronavirus pandemic.
Many of us who love sports enjoy them because they are essentially meaningless. Sure, we follow our favorite teams, but if they lose, our lives go on as they were before. Now that they are not there, we are missing something very important to us.
Sports provide a way to relax, distract ourselves from the stresses of daily life, and root for our team, but not to lose anything when they don’t win. That laissez-faire attitude might be easier for people like me who have seen their Boston-based professional sports teams win 12 championships in the past two decades. However, I can safely say that I never lost much sleep (except when the Bill Buckner Red Sox lost the 1986 World Series, and that refrigerated bottle of champagne remained unopened until 2001) when all of my teams except the Celtics were regularly losing in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Watching, following, reading about, and being distracted by sports is a daily part of the routine of hundreds of millions of people around the globe. So what are they to do now?
Prior to suggesting sporting activities for a non-live sports world, I want to explore other alternatives. First, how about exercising and being physically active? While you probably don’t want to get into a pickup basketball game or go to a crowded gym, you could shoot some hoops on your own or go for a walk or bike ride. Or why not explore other relaxing, distracting, and engaging daily activities, such as reading books and articles about a topic of interest, starting seeds for a flower or vegetable garden, expanding your cooking skills, doing jigsaw puzzles, visiting online museums, or planning and completing building projects around your home.
If you need your daily sports, take a historical journey. You can watch almost any major sporting event online if you dig long enough. I’m planning on watching the six New England Patriots Super Bowl victories (not the losses—I’m trying to relax and distract). Start preparing for 2020 fantasy football or follow the free agent “frenzy” on the NFL network. Check out the major sports websites for lengthy articles on rookies and prospects for your favorite teams and look into some of the long-form posts you did not have time to read before.
The need for social distance during the coronavirus pandemic provides extra time to play sports video games with your kids or friends. Playing sports and exergames games is likely to increase your real-world exercise. Play sports simulation games, where your favorite teams might have a chance to win. For example, a recent ESPN.com article played out the next 10 years of major league baseball. Cubs fans should feel good about the three World Series wins in the next decade, while, even more surprisingly, the Tigers win three World Series, dominating the latter half of the decade. If you are a diehard Red Sox fan, such as myself, you’re out of luck and hanging onto our recent glory.
Esports may be another solution for those of you longing for daily sports. Watching esports has become extremely popular among millennials and centennials, to the point where, by 2021, there will be more online and stadium viewers of esports than of traditional sports. The aforementioned Suns game was seen by more than 12,000 viewers. I will not be surprised if NBA players become the gamers playing NBA2K live on Twitch, far larger crowds will show up.
Esports can also be a place to relax and distract oneself from the stresses of real-life and fit with the gradual change in how we consume sports. More people than ever choose to watch games from the comfort of their homes rather than going to crowded stadiums. It will be interesting to see if the coronavirus pandemic shifts even more people to stay at home, watching esports as their only live sporting alternative.
