Are you already missing sports? Yeah, me too

Nothing is better than Death Valley and 85,000 of your closest friends.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sat Mar 14 14:56:57 GMT-04:00 2020

Are you already missing sports? Yeah, me too.

At precisely 7 am Saturday morning my phone’s notifications sounded off, the calendar informing me that Clemson had two sporting events today that I needed to know about. Sorry, calendar, you’re wrong. And it stinks.

The group at TigerNet uses an instant messaging platform called Slack so our team can communicate. Bmeist and Crump and Tony and Brandon and Nikki are all signed on pretty much all the time and a few months ago we added the calendar portion so we wouldn’t miss anything. The Saturday notifications informed me that Clemson was supposed to play softball at Georgia Tech and baseball at Wake Forest.

Even though it was early in the morning, I replied back to the calendar that there weren’t any events today. I was already up with Eli so I put him in his car seat and headed to Chick-fil-a, and the young man that took my payment looked at my name and said, “What are you going to write about now?”

It’s a question I’ve been asked a hundred times since Thursday afternoon. I always laugh in January when people tell me things like, “Hey, now that football is over you can rest.”

Right.

We have recruiting and now softball and baseball and then spring football and basketball and it is busier in the spring than it is during the football when it’s football-centric. Add in the recruiting combines and Dabo Swinney’s high school camp in June and things don’t usually settle until mid-June. We usually have The Opening in early July and another few weeks off and then it’s the ACC Football Kickoff and we’re right back at it. It’s wonderful.

Now, everything is in limbo. I am not using this space to complain about the government or the NCAA or any sports league – they made their decisions and if one person is saved then it’s all worth it. Maybe, hopefully, the right decisions were made and, in a few weeks, or a month we can all move past this. Maybe there will be sports again.

I certainly hope that the next time I walk into a press box isn’t in Atlanta in September for the Clemson football opener at Georgia Tech. But if it is (or even if it isn’t), I will walk into that press box with a newfound appreciation for what we have. I tell everyone that every time I walk the sidelines of a big game I never take it for granted. I’m old, and I understand how special all of this is. I treat it as if it's the first time and the last time.

Another writer walked onto the deck of the indoor practice facility Thursday and announced, “Well, welcome to the last event we will cover for a long time.”

At that point, the ACC Tournament was still a go and the seasons in the different sports were still a go, but there was a ring of prophecy to his statement. That was just two days ago but it already seems like an eternity.

After leaving the restaurant this morning, Eli and I drove through the deserted campus and I made my way – as I always do – over to Death Valley. I was just on the field there Wednesday for the Tigers’ scrimmage, but now that almost seems like another time and place.

It looks like the next few weeks and months will be challenging for all of us, but life goes on and recruiting will continue and maybe before we know it we will all be back to normal. At TigerNet we will continue to bring you all the news we can and provide a forum that will be a place to vent or just get away from everyday life. My boss informed me that he has taken off the calendar notifications for the next 30 days. It stinks. But when it does it get back to normal – and it will – we will all love and appreciate our sports a little more.