Sports Illustrated - USA (2020-04)

APRIL 2020 37

throws a perfect-strike first pitch—in the World Series

at Yankee Stadium after 9/11. Or Drew Brees’s piloting

the Saints to the NFC championship game a year after

Hurricane Katrina.

This time it’s different. It’s not just that sporting events

aren’t there as a comfort and a sign of an untattered

social fabric. It’s also that they would manifestly make this

crisis worse. When we are being told to avoid gatherings

of more than 10 people, you could scarcely conceive of a

worse activity than going to a game.

would donate $500,000 to an employee-support fund
at the arena and COVID-related social services relief in
Utah, Oklahoma City and within the health care system
of his native France.
In a way Gobert became the face of this crisis: Sports
were not going to play their typical curative role. In past
catastrophes they have been there to distract and unite
and remind us of the power of the shared experience.
Think Big Papi’s reinforcing the message of Boston
DOU Strong. Or Derek Jeter—after President George W. Bush

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EVEN WITH ATHLETES SIDELINED AND

LEAGUES SUSPENDED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE,

SPORTS CAN PLAY A CRITICAL ROLE.

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