My friend texted me today to say that BC was leading Clemson, the #1 college football team in the country, during their game, although Clemson ultimately did win.

But in another universe, Clemson’s starting quarterback would have been in, because he hadn’t tested positive for the coronavirus.

Back in March, all sports were suspended at first. Then gradually, they resumed again, with talk of testing and “bubbles.” But there’s been constant talk of players testing positive, particularly in baseball and college football, which happen to be the two sports I care the most about. After the Dodgers won the World Series earlier this week, this happened.

I know a lot of people who’ve welcomed the return of sports after a spring where ESPN had to show reruns and that Last Dance documentary series about Michael Jordan. It’s certainly a distraction from all the awful stuff going on. But I feel super weird about it. There’s the obvious issue of players and team staff being exposed to the coronavirus, but aside from that, there are players who should be playing who aren’t because they opted out. And it is so hard to ignore that the fans aren’t there watching the game in person. It all just feels…like it doesn’t count somehow. Like it’s a weird, practice season.

I don’t really know why THIS is what I decided to blog about this month. But here it is.