The day sports stood still: Return to normal is great thing after last two years |
The day that sports stood still will forever be etched into my memory.
March 12th, 2020. Almost two years ago. We had a lot going on that week – Clemson was taking a break from spring practice, but the ACC Basketball Tournament was in full force in Charlotte and we had Clemson’s annual Pro Day at the Poe Indoor facility. I elected to stay behind and watch the Pro Day events unfold while fellow TigerNet writer Brandon Rink was covering the ACC Tournament in Greensboro. Clemson had defeated Miami and moved on to the quarterfinals against top seed Florida State. The game was scheduled to tip-off at 12:30 and both teams had warmed up and were preparing to play. Those of us who stayed behind to cover Pro Day were standing outside the indoor facility on a warm spring day, waiting on head coach Dabo Swinney and the players who had participated in the Pro Day for interviews when all of our phones started to ring, ping, and ding. There had already been a slew of college basketball cancellations due to COVID-19, and if I remember correctly, the NBA had already stopped play. The word out of Greensboro was that the ACC Tournament was canceled just as the Seminoles and Tigers were set to play. Those of us in Clemson talked among ourselves and agreed that this was likely the last time we would be together as a group for a while. Baseball was canceled. Softball was canceled during John Rittman’s first season as head coach. Spring practice was canceled and there would be no spring game. Life as we knew it was on hold. Sure, there was football in the fall, but with limited media presence on the road and with only a fraction of the fans in the stands. It was a try at some kind of normal, the best anyone could do under the circumstances, but it wasn’t the same. Last spring so limited fans in the spring sports and even our interviews were limited to Zoom calls for the most part. Last fall? The fans were back but it still wasn’t normal. Fast forward to the past few weeks. I sat in the baseball press box without a mask for the opener. Softball will open the home season today in front of a full stadium. Baseball is averaging 4,842 fans per home date (4), the ninth-highest figure in the nation and first in the ACC (through games of Feb. 23). Entering 2022, Clemson had a top-20 national figure in average attendance in 28 straight seasons, according to baseball SID Brian Hennessey. Those numbers show the desire that people have to get out of their homes and get back to the sports we love. Even better news? Football spring practice starts next week, and the interviews will be in person. We are scheduled to have interviews with Swinney, selected players, new defensive tackles coach Nick Eason, new offensive line coach Thomas Austin, cornerbacks coach/special teams coordinator Mike Reed, offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter, defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Wes Goodwin, tight ends coach Kyle Richardson, co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Mickey Conn, running backs coach CJ Spiller, defensive ends coach Lemanski Hall, and hopefully more in-person interviews following the spring game. Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you will notice that getting all of the assistant coaches during the spring is something we haven’t seen in a long, long time. We usually get them (those not the coordinators) one day before the start of fall camp, so this is a rare treat to be able to talk to all of the position coaches about their groups, and I hope the interviews are long enough that you can watch them on video and that we have enough for stories to help us through that long period during the summer. There will also be the Clemson Pro Day on March 17th, and once again we will be allowed into the facility to watch the proceedings and hold interviews after. Hopefully, that day will end without any drama.
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