by JACK KEWITSCH
“Listen to the win blow, watch the sun rise.” Fleetwood Mac’s iconic song “The Chain” echoed through a practically empty Target Field as closer Taylor Rogers entered from the bullpen. With the Twins coming back to tie the game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at four, all eyes were on Rogers. Yet, the typically jubilant crowd was nowhere to be seen or heard, leaving the stadium eerily quiet outside Lindsey Buckingham’s guitar riffs. That song in an empty stadium is never something I anticipated hearing or needing to hear. But it brought an amplification of anticipation to the moment otherwise devoid of it.
This is the sport world’s new normal: cavernous venues hosting high-stakes events without the added rush fans provide. Everything seems sterile, cold and lifeless. While there were the yells from a small group trying to catch a glimpse of the action atop Ramp B, those were the only sounds not coming from those on the field.
Everything in today’s pandemic-induced sports is monitored, scrutinized, and often overemphasized. It is a whole new ball game. Throw in coronavirus protocols and it makes for an experience unlike any other. Walking into the ballpark, a staff member checks your temperature, has you sanitize your hands, and makes you take a lengthy questionnaire on your current health. Everything from your public transportation usage to any problematic symptoms you may have is included. Yet that is just the beginning. Making your way to the press box is even eerier than a game with no fans. While you are used to seeing massive amounts of spectators and staff milling through the concourses, there were none, allowing you to hear every sound you made.
Then the game begins. You hear everything. The usually drowned out music sounds like it’s being played through a headset. Each player and coach’s yell is amplified when they are usually drowned out by the hum of the crowd. Then there is the sound of the ball hitting the catcher’s mitt and the crack of the bat, each distinctive and unique. Yet during a normal time in our lives those sounds are some of the purest in the world, these are an out-of-body experience, magnified beyond one’s previous experiences. Each fly ball sounds like a home run, 80-mph changeups sound like blistering fastballs, and every great play bemoaned or cheered like a pick-up game in the park.
While we have become used to the sights and sounds of the game and ballpark, the pandemic has brought a purity back to the sport, giving baseball the feeling of playing at the local field with your buddies, giving each other grief and marveling or bellyaching over each play. That is what covering baseball this season has shown us. While it is far from what we know and love, it has produced a completely different environment and feel. We should hope it does not last past this season, but it is something none of us, whether you cover the team or listen on the radio, will ever forget.
"pure" - Google News
August 19, 2020 at 09:00PM
https://ift.tt/2Q9y0dT
Baseball during a pandemic: the strange but pure reality - Winona Post
"pure" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3d6cIXO
https://ift.tt/35ryK4M
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Baseball during a pandemic: the strange but pure reality - Winona Post"
Post a Comment