THE NEW YORK TIMES SPORTSTUESDAY, JULY 28, 2020 Y B7
SOCCER
LEICESTER, England —
Those final few minutes, the ones
upon which an entire season
rests, do something strange to
time. The clock seems to slow,
each second claw-
ing and scratching
for its moment
before it yields to
the next. But each
is so pregnant with
meaning, or with
the possibility of meaning, that
even in these moments that last
an age, it can be hard to keep up.
On Sunday, Leicester City was
losing at home to Manchester
United, and Chelsea was winning
at home to Wolves. United and
Chelsea would make the Champi-
ons League. Unless Leicester
could make something of this
free kick: The goalkeeper,
Kasper Schmeichel, had gone up.
Aston Villa had scored at West
Ham. Was it enough to ensure its
survival? There were only four
minutes left. Bournemouth was
ahead at Everton, and Watford
was threatening a comeback at
Arsenal, but as things stood, both
would be relegated. In the time it
took for a screen to refresh,
though, West Ham had scored to
draw level. It was back on the
knife’s edge. Another goal and
Villa might yet fall.
This was the final day as the
Premier League would have
wanted it, the final day that the
Premier League, not so long ago
— not so long as it feels, in this
year in which every day has
somehow felt like a lifetime and
yet every week has passed in the
blink of an eye — worried it
might never have, as its clubs
bickered and squabbled and the
coronavirus pandemic threat-
ened to claim the season itself.
The title, long since claimed by
Liverpool, might not have been
in play on Sunday, but almost
everything else was. Six of the 10
games on the pandemic-delayed
schedule’s final day had some-
thing tangible at stake, some-
thing beyond league position or
personal pride or a lingering
sense of optimism ahead of the
new season, hovering close on
the horizon: a place in the Cham-
pions League, a slot in the Euro-
pa League, survival.
That jeopardy remained al-
most to the last moment. United
scored deep into injury time to
confirm its victory at Leicester
and the return to the Champions
League that the club hopes might
act as a springboard to help close
the gap on Liverpool and Man-
chester City. Villa’s struggle
lasted until the final whistle
against West Ham; only then
were Bournemouth’s hopes ex-
tinguished, and its relegation
confirmed. Watford followed
them down a few minutes later.
The season that started 352
days ago, with Liverpool’s dis-
missal of Norwich on a balmy
August night in a very different
world, retained its intrigue until
its final whistle. That, the Pre-
mier League would say, is why it
had to play on, why it could not
declare the season over in
March, why it did not want to
decide its outcome on paper. Themost compelling league in the
world, after all, deserved a con-
clusion.
There can be no question that
the Premier League — like the
Bundesliga, the competition that
showed everyone else the way,
and the other leagues across
Europe that followed in its foot-
steps — deserves credit for find-
ing a way through, for playing to
completion in the age of the
pandemic.
In that long, frightening
spring, as executives and observ-
ers alike debated the morality ofdoing so in the face of daily death
tolls touching the thousands,
there were times when it felt a
distant prospect.
It went relatively smoothly.
The clusters of positive tests that
many feared did not materialize.
There was no need for neutral
venues. The players handled the
compressed workload impres-
sively well. The standard did not
drop, and nor did the drama.
That it all played out in stadi-
ums stripped bare of fans gave
the games an eerie, alien air, and
demonstrated how much of soc-
cer’s spectacle is dependent on
packed houses, but it did not
deprive the games of meaning.
This was not, as once appeared a
threat, a season of asterisks.
There was little sense that the
players were going through the
motions: the suffering of Leices-
ter players in the stands at the
King Power Stadium on Sunday
was no less real than the joy of
Liverpool’s players in lifting the
Premier League trophy on
Wednesday night.
Players do play for the fans, of
course, for the faintly mystic
institution of the “club,” the one
that lives in collective memory
and in myth accumulated over
time. But they also, at heart, play
for themselves: for their ambi-tions, for their pride, for their
win bonuses, for their new con-
tracts, for their sense of worth.
They imbued this strange and
quiet mini-season, this delayed
denouement, with their own
purpose.
But for all that the 2019-20
Premier League season will
always stand out for — the sea-
son of the pandemic, of empty
stadiums and games in July — it
is worth pausing to ask what
made it memorable, aside from
the circumstances of its climax.
Perhaps it was the introduc-
tion of the video assistant referee
system, tortured and then deci-
sive: Aston Villa might have
been relegated, and Bourne-
mouth survived, had it not been
for a technological error on June
17, the day the league returned,
when V.A.R. failed to spot a
Sheffield United goal at Villa
Park.
There was certainly Liver-
pool’s relentless march toward
its first championship in three
decades; possibly the end of one
era at Tottenham Hotspur and
the start of a new one at Arsenal;
maybe the final sight of David
Silva, one of the finest imports to
grace the league, on English soil.
That apart, though, it all ended
as might have been predicted.
The insurgencies from Sheffield
United, Wolves and Leicester all,
ultimately, fell flat: Leicester
managing to go from mounting a
title challenge to missing out on
the top four; Wolves and
Sheffield United missing out on
Europe altogether.
The top four teams are the
four richest in England. Even
Tottenham, which fired a coach
and spent much of the season in
crisis, managed to finish sixth.
Might, as always with the Pre-
mier League, served to make
right.
All that drama on the final day,
those long minutes and those
nails chewed to the quick and
those glances at the table as it
stood, wondering what might
come next, and here we are
again, with everyone — a couple
of notable exceptions, in the form
of Sheffield United and Burnley,
aside — in their rightful place, as
ordained by their financial fire-
power.
It took 352 days. The Premier
League rode out a pandemic,
waited until the final whistle.
And then, after all of that, every-
thing was just as it always is.
The season that nobody could
have foreseen ended just as you
would have predicted.Premier League Finds Its Way to an Expected Finish
RORY
SMITH
ON
SOCCERJUSTIN SETTERFIELD/GETTY IMAGESPOOL PHOTO BY NAOMI BAKERSunday’s goal by Jack Greal-
ish, above, helped Aston Villa
avoid relegation. The success
of Sheffield United, left, was
one of the season’s surprises.The athletes who would have
represented the United States at
the 1980 Summer Olympics in
Moscow are an older crew now,
two generations removed from
missing what for some was a
once-in-a-lifetime chance in the
spotlight.
Some are retired or semiretired
from their post-athletic careers.
Some are grandparents. Life has
happened. And yet no one in a po-
sition of authority has ever made a
formal apology for what even
President Jimmy Carter, who or-
dered the American boycott to
protest the Soviet invasion of Af-
ghanistan, has said was a mistake.
Olympic Games past and
present are on a lot of minds this
time of year, since the 2020 Tokyo
Games would have been going on
right now had they not been post-
poned until 2021 because of the co-
ronavirus pandemic. So on July
19, the 40th anniversary of the
opening ceremony of the Moscow
Games, the chief executive of the
United States Olympic and Para-
lympic Committee, Sarah Hirsh-
land, posted a letter that came aw-
fully close to an apology. In the let-
ter, addressed to “the athletes of
the 1980 U.S. Olympic team,” she
wrote:
“It’s abundantly clear in hind-
sight that the decision to not send
a team to Moscow had no impact
on the global politics of the era and
instead only harmed you — Amer-
ican athletes who had dedicated
themselves to excellence and the
chance to represent the United
States.
“We can clearly state you de-
served better. You deserved the
support of an inspired nation, to
be celebrated for representing our
country with pride and excel-
lence.”
Hirshland’s letter came three
months after former Vice Presi-
dent Walter Mondale delivered a
partial apology in a remote town
hall meeting of Olympians. “I
think we did the right thing,” Mon-
dale said in April. “But I’m sorry
about how it hurt them.”
The effect has been mixed. For
some athletes, there was a degree
of appreciation, but as Benn
Fields, the United States cham-
pion in the high jump that year,
put it, “It’s a little too late, 40 years
later.”
That is not the fault of Hirsh-
land, who has held her job for only
two years. Also, the U.S.O.P.C.,
which promoted the 1980 athletes
recently on TeamUSA.org, consid-
ers them Olympians, though the
International Olympic Committee
does not.
The 1980 boycott was the result
of several months of ultimatums
and ultimately failed negotiations
after Carter began to push hard
for it early that year. The
U.S.O.P.C. dared not defy the pres-
ident, who tried to garner support
from as many allies as possible.
Ultimately dozens of countries, in-
cluding Canada and West Ger-
many, joined the boycott. But in
the decades since, most interna-
tional sports officials and manypolitical leaders have fought to
discourage Olympic boycotts, ar-
guing they merely sacrifice an
athlete’s right to compete and
make a living, and don’t lead to
changes in policy.
Some of the athletes did not see
the Hirshland letter, which was
posted on the U.S.O.P.C. website
and Twitter, and also distributed
by the organization’s alumni
group. The 1980 athletes aren’t ex-
actly the Twitter generation, and
email databases are not always
up-to-date. Regardless, it turns
out 40 years has helped heal some
scars, though only some.
“I haven’t seen the letter, and
I’ve moved on from 1980,” Renaldo
Nehemiah, 61, a former world-
record holder in the 110-meter
hurdles who was considered a fa-
vorite for a gold medal in Moscow,
responded in a text message. “No
words can change history. Fortu-
nately, 1980 didn’t define me or mycareer.”
Nehemiah did not wait for 1984,
deciding instead to pursue a ca-
reer in the N.F.L. at a time when
the Olympics were basically an
amateur-only affair and training
four more years meant passing on
earning income.
Others did wait. Steve Scott,
who ran the mile, and Edwin Mo-
ses, the 400-meter hurdles cham-
pion, competed in 1984 and 1988.
Tracy Caulkins picked up three
gold medals in swimming in 1984.
And yet even for those who got an-
other chance, missing 1980 still
sticks in their craw, and Hirsh-
land’s letter was something of a
salve.
The winning time in Moses’s ab-
sence in the event in Moscow was
48.70, more than a second slower
than the winning time he ran in
1976.
“I could have done a cartwheel
at the end of the race in 1980 and
still won,” said Moses, 64, who also
received a personal letter from
Susanne Lyons, the chairman of
the U.S.O.P.C., acknowledging the
unfortunate decisions of 1980. “I
appreciated that,” he said of the
letter.
Scott, 64, who did not see the let-
ter initially, said 1980 cost him a
chance to learn how to handle
Olympic competition, something
he struggled with at the Los Ange-
les Games in 1984, where he fin-
ished 10th.
“I had my chances,” he said
from his Texas home last week.
“The guys I feel bad for are the
ones who didn’t, the athletes for
whom 1980 was their year.”
Don Paige had the world’s top
time in the 800 meters in 1980. In
1984, he finished fifth at the U.S.
Olympic trials, missing the team
by two spots.
Fields, the high jumper, spent
four years after his 1976 gradua-
tion from Seton Hall preparing for
the 1980 Games. He was inches off
the world record and thought he
had a good chance to break it in
Moscow and win a gold medal. He
hoped to spin that fame into mar-
keting opportunities.
Instead, he became one of more
than 450 members of the Ameri-
can team to receive the Congres-
sional Gold Medal, the highest ci-vilian honor that can be bestowed
by Congress, at a ceremony held
when the athletes should have
been in Moscow preparing to com-
pete. Because of financial re-
straints and the large number of
medals needed, they were given
gold-plated bronze medals.
Fields and other Olympians
have heard the story of Jeff Blat-
nick, a wrestler, meeting the presi-
dent on a plane and introducinghimself as a 1980 Olympian. Blat-
nick said Carter told him the boy-
cott was a bad decision.
Now Fields has Hirshland’s
near-apology. His response to it
was neither excitement nor exu-
berance. It wasn’t total disap-
pointment, either, he said.
“At least they decided at an ap-
propriate time to recognize us,” he
said. “Now we are waiting for the
real Congressional medals.”For U.S. Olympians of 1980,
Near Apologies Come Up Short
By MATTHEW FUTTERMANRenaldo Nehemiah, above and competing below, would have
been favored to win gold in the 110-meter hurdles in Moscow.
Rather than wait four years, he pursued a career in the N.F.L.DAVE SANDERS FOR THE NEW YORK TIMESBOB MARTIN /ALLSPORTBoycott had little
impact on the global
politics of the era.
SCOREBOARD
N.B.A. RESTART SCHEDULE
All Times E.D.T.
All games in Orlando, Fla.
Thursday, July 30
Utah vs. New Orleans, 6:30 p.m.
L.A. Clippers vs. L.A. Lakers, 9 p.m.
Friday, July 31
Orlando vs. Nets, 2:30 p.m.
Memphis vs. Portland, 4 p.m.
Phoenix vs. Washington, 4 p.m.
Boston vs. Milwaukee, 6:30 p.m.
Sacramento vs. San Antonio, 8 p.m.
Houston vs. Dallas, 9 p.m.
Saturday, Aug. 1
Miami vs. Denver, 1 p.m.
Utah vs. Oklahoma City, 3:30 p.m.
New Orleans vs. L.A. Clippers, 6 p.m.
Philadelphia vs. Indianapolis, 7 p.m.
L.A. Lakers vs. Toronto, 8:30 p.m.HOCKEYN.H.L. STANLEY CUP
QUALIFIERS SCHEDULE
All Eastern Conference games will be played
at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. Western
Conference games will be held at Rogers
Place in Edmonton.
Saturday, Aug. 1
Toronto
Carolina vs. Rangers, 12 p.m.
Islanders vs. Florida, 4 p.m.
Pittsburgh vs. Montreal, 8 p.m.
Edmonton
Edmonton vs. Chicago, 3 p.m.
Calgary vs. Winnipeg, 10:30 p.m.BASKETBALL
N.B.A. PRESEASON SCHEDULE
All Times E.D.T.
All games in Orlando, Fla.
Monday, July 27
L.A. Lakers 123, Washington 116
Sacramento vs. L.A. Clippers
Utah vs. Brooklyn
Orlando vs. Denver
New Orleans vs. Milwaukee
Tuesday, July 28
Memphis vs. Miami, 2 p.m.
Toronto vs. Phoenix, 3 p.m.
San Antonio vs. Indiana, 4 p.m.
Oklahoma City vs. Portland, 6 p.m.
Boston vs. Houston, 8 p.m.
Dallas vs. Philadelphia, 8:30 p.m.SOCCERM.L.S. IS BACK
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
All Times E.D.T.
All matches played at ESPN Wide World of
Sports Complex, Orlando, Fla.
Knockout Stage
Saturday, July 25
Orlando City 1, Montreal 0
Philadelphia 1, New England 0
Sunday, July 26
N.Y.C.F.C. 3, Toronto FC 1
Vancouver 0, Sporting Kansas City 0,
Sporting Kansas City advances 3-1 on
penalty kicks
Monday, July 27
Real Salt Lake at San Jose
Los Angeles FC at Seattle
Tuesday, July 28
Minnesota at Columbus, 8 p.m.
Cincinnati at Portland, 10:30 p.m.
Quarterfinals
Thursday, July 30
TBD vs. TBD, 8 p.m.
Friday, July 31
TBD vs. TBD, 7:30 p.m.BASEBALLAMERICAN LEAGUE
East W L Pct GB
Baltimore 2 1 .667 —
Yankees 2 1 .667 —
Tampa Bay 2 1 .667 —
Boston 1 2 .333 1
Toronto 1 2 .333 1
Central W L Pct GB
Cleveland 2 1 .667 —
Detroit 2 1 .667 —
Minnesota 2 1 .667 —
Chicago 1 2 .333 1
Kansas City 1 2 .333 1
West W L Pct GB
Oakland 3 1 .750 —
Houston 2 1 .667 {
Seattle 1 2 .333 1{
Texas 1 2 .333 1{
Los Angeles 1 3 .250 2
MONDAY
Yankees at Philadelphia, ppd.
Mets at Boston
Oakland 3, L.A. Angels 0
Baltimore at Miami, ppd.
Toronto at Washington
Atlanta at Tampa Bay
Chicago White Sox at Cleveland
Kansas City at Detroit
Seattle at Houston
TUESDAY
Yankees (Cole) at Philadelphia (Eflin), 6:05
Mets (TBD) at Boston (Hall), 7:30
Toronto (Roark) at Washington (Voth), 6:05
Atlanta (Wright) at Tampa Bay (Chirinos),
6:40
Baltimore (Stewart) at Miami (Hernandez),
7:10
Chicago White Sox (Rodon) at Cleveland
(Plesac), 7:10
Kansas City (TBD) at Detroit (Agrazal), 7:10
St. Louis (Martinez) at Minnesota (Bailey),
8:10
Arizona (Kelly) at Texas (Gibson), 9:05
L.A. Dodgers (Buehler) at Houston (Valdez),
9:10
Colorado (Senzatela) at Oakland (Mengden),
9:40
Seattle (Sheffield) at L.A. Angels (Sandoval,
9:40
NATIONAL LEAGUEEast W L Pct GB
Atlanta 2 1 .667 —
Miami 2 1 .667 —
Mets 1 2 .333 1
Philadelphia 1 2 .333 1
Washington 1 2 .333 1
Central W L Pct GB
Chicago 2 1 .667 —
St. Louis 2 1 .667 —
Cincinnati 1 2 .333 1
Milwaukee 1 2 .333 1
Pittsburgh 1 2 .333 1
West W L Pct GB
Colorado 2 1 .667 —
San Diego 2 1 .667 —
Los Angeles 2 2 .500 {
San Francisco 2 2 .500 {
Arizona 1 2 .333 1
MONDAY
Mets at Boston
Yankees at Philadelphia, ppd.
Baltimore at Miami, ppd.
Arizona at San Diego
Toronto at Washington
Atlanta at Tampa Bay
Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati
Milwaukee at Pittsburgh
TUESDAY
Mets (TBD) at Boston (Hall), 7:30
Yankees (Cole) at Philadelphia (Eflin), 6:05
Toronto (Roark) at Washington (Voth), 6:05
Atlanta (Wright) at Tampa Bay (Chirinos),
6:40
Chicago Cubs (Mills) at Cincinnati (Mahle),
6:40
Milwaukee (Lindblom) at Pittsburgh
(Holland), 7:05
Baltimore (Stewart) at Miami (Hernandez),
7:10
St. Louis (Martinez) at Minnesota (Bailey),
8:10
Arizona (Kelly) at Texas (Gibson), 9:05
L.A. Dodgers (Buehle) at Houston (Valdez),
9:10
Colorado (Senzatela) at Oakland
(Mengden), 9:40
San Diego (TBD) at San Francisco
(Samardzija), 9:45W.N.B.A. SCHEDULE
All times E.D.T.
Sunday's Games
Minnesota 77, Connecticut 69
Chicago 88, Las Vegas 86
Atlanta 105, Dallas 95
Monday's Games
No games scheduled.
Tuesday's Games
Washington at Connecticut, 7 p.m.
Los Angeles at Chicago, 8 p.m.
Minnesota at Seattle, 10 p.m.OLYMPICS