Stupid Is As Stupid Does

While Forrest Gump's best-known line from the film probably shouldn't be used in a professional setting, it seems overly suitable for the NBA's latest decision which will inevitably cause the other professional sports leagues to take notice of how this experiment goes. If you missed the announcement, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski has reported that the NBA is planning on "allowing teams to open their practice facilities to players in cities and states where local governments have eased stay-at-home orders" on May 1, according to his sources. All I can do is sigh in disappointment and point out the blatant stupidity that this shows on the NBA's behalf.

This isn't Basketball Blog in Canada, though, so why should this matter? Well, the NHL has been putting together plans of their own to restart the season based on government rulings over when gatherings can begin to resume. As you may recall, Gary Bettman is a former NBA guy, and the NHL followed the NBA's lead in suspending the season following the positive COVID-19 tests in NBA players. It seems that the NHL is keeping an eye on the NBA more closely than MLB and the NFL, so this is why we should be concerned.

While I'm not a religious man in any way, it will be Sunday in a few hours so allow me to put this decision in a few religious contexts that will make more sense when we start breaking down why this allowing players to resume practicing is such a terrible idea. It won't occupy all seven sins that are out there, but I fear the NHL will commit a few of the Seven Deadly Sins because they simply can't help themselves.

PRIDE

We've known for some time that the NHL seems dead-set on completing the 2019-20 season even if it pushes the 2020-21 season into a shortened calendar situation. If you've been reading this blog since the pandemic started, I've basically been begging the NHL to simply abandon this idea and start preparing for the 2020-21 season. The reasons are many, but safety for everyone involved is the main reason why I'm going to continue to beat this drum.

The pride it takes to hold onto this idea that the season will end through competition rather than a decision is rather astounding to me. We've seen viruses explode in isolated Indigenous communities before where medical care is either absent or hard to obtain. Isolating the NHL players in an Olympic village-like idea sounds great on paper, but it takes just one case of the virus to spread like wildfire as we've seen and that's reason enough to rethink this whole "play it out" scenario that the NHL wants to see to complete the past season.

Historically, pride is considered the original and most serious of the seven deadly sins because of its ability to lend itself to superiority. What the NHL needs to do is listen to all medical opinions from trusted medical sources such as the CDC, Canada's Chief Public Health Officer, and the US Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Anyone else who has an opinion can be heard, but it should be vetted by these leading authorities.

With the majority of the world's leaders and medical professionals saying that opening businesses up to the public is still far too early, this should be an easy sin to escape. The NHL would be wise to abandon this thought of concluding the 2019-20 season while focusing on ramping up safety precautions at all 31 NHL rinks next season. That would be the responsible and intelligent thing to do.

ENVY

This is the old "if he can do it, why can't I" argument when it comes to the NBA's idea. While basketball is a physical sport, it has nowhere near the physical contact that hockey is built upon and that should be the top reason why envying the NBA is a terrible idea. From players crashing into each other and breathing in and around each other in close quarters to the many bodily fluids that end up on equipment and clothing, the NHL is literally begging for a player or staff member to contract the virus. If the NHL is willing to be liable for this happening because their envy of the NBA resuming practices, they deserve and are responsible for any and all of the fallout that may come from a player or staff member contracting the virus.

"But there haven't been any deaths in the NHL, Teebz," I hear you saying, and you're absolutely right. Let's keep it that way by not forcing the players back to the ice and the staff members to the locker rooms and behind the benches just because the NBA's foresight is that of the three blind mice. NHL players spit all over the place - this is an undeniable fact. We know that "spray" from sneezes and coughs spreads this virus. By putting them back in that environment, old habits will begin to resurface. Why are we even risking this?

Historically, envy seems to be the second worst of the seen deadly sins as only "pride weighs down the soul more than envy among the capital sins". Putting these two sins together - the desire to finish the season combined with sending players back way too early because the NBA is doing it - would be the most foolish and definitely the dumbest thing Gary Bettman has ever done in his time as NHL Commissioner.

That's not an opinion; that's fact.

THREE MORE

The three sins of greed, wrath, and sloth won't be as evidently clear as the above two sins, but they're still prevalent in this discussion based on what secondary decisions are made regarding how the NHL progresses. And the NHL may not be the one committing the sin here, but they will likely be the victim of at least one of these three sins.

We'll start with sloth because it has the widest scope of definitions here. Generally seen as the sin of "absence of interest or habitual disinclination to exertion," it may also be defined as "a failure to do things that one should do" such as when good people witness a crime, but do not intervene. It's this latter definition that I'm going to focus on because it comes directly from pride and envy.

The NHL isn't consulting with governments who are easing stay-at-home orders as to why that's happening when it's pretty clear that these states and cities haven't reached the recommended levels as set out by the American government. What's worse is that the second wave of the coronavirus, like the Spanish flu, is expected to be worse than the initial outset, so asking players and staff to willfully head back into close quarters this quickly would be willfully negligent, especially if there's another outbreak within NHL circles. Ottawa and Colorado already had players and staff go through this - why risk more?

Maybe the NHL is worried about its economic outlook? I find it nearly laughable that billionaire owners and millionaire players would be worried about their bottom lines by not playing, but this need to acquire more money is the definition of greed. Billionaires and millionaires worrying about money of any kind when there are millions in the US filing for unemployment insurance is a joke. While the likelihood of playing in front of empty arenas is almost certain, hearing some owners already looking at ways to enable social distancing in their arenas and stadiums is extremely concerning. The greed is real here despite medical experts expressing serious concerns about fans gathering in arenas.

A lot of these decisions will lead to wrath. If anything goes wrong if the NHL decides to get the season underway once again will lead to fans, sponsors, players, and staff being angry for the decision to restart. Anyone who contracts the virus through gatherings that include an NHL game will unlikely be angry for that result. And if we're talking about the American legal system be prepared for lawsuits if the NHL decides to resume, forces people to return to the rinks, and someone gets sick or worse.

As I said above, I'm far from being religious in any way, so these interpretations may be way off-base. What I do know is that the NBA opening up practice facilities in specific cities isn't going to help the situation. The NBA opening practice facilities doesn't help the health of either country, doesn't help restart the economy, and doesn't help the overall control of the spread of this virus. It's simply the craving to return to normalcy which no longer exists.

Adam Silver would be wise to keep his players and coaches and facility staff at home until things are better in all NBA states. Getting a vaccine introduced to the general public would really help his cause, but we're still holding out hope for that to happen right now. Either way, rushing back just because a few governors and mayors are wanting stay-at-home orders removed is the definition of stupid.

That's a definition Gary Bettman would be wise to remember.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!