This week’s been a sports stunner

It was the week the sports stopped.

Basketball. Hockey. Baseball. Golf. Soccer. Tennis. Auto Racing.

Even football, which is technically out of season but was still around with the fledgling XFL and spring practice on college campuses around the country.

Over these next few weeks, and likely months, we’ll become painfully aware of how much these games mean to so many of us.

From the communal joy of attending a sporting event in person to the barrage of sports programming that usually flooded our TV screens each night, not to mention fretting over fantasy leagues or filling out March Madness pools or simply all that time spent arguing back and forth about our favorite teams, there is now a huge void in our lives.

This was all understandable, of course, given the rapid spread of the coronavirus to nearly every corner of the globe.

One way to contain the pandemic is to stay away from large crowds in tight spaces, which effectively ruled out the idea of holding major — even minor — sporting events until this scourge is under control.

The shutdown is unprecedented, certainly in scope and scale.

The only parallel in recent memory is 9/11, which brought the games to a halt for about a week nearly two decades ago.

This time, no one knows how long it might last.

At least a month, for sure. Maybe longer.

The rites of spring have already been snatched away.

The NCAA men’s basketball tournament, which culminates with the Final Four, has chosen not to crown a national champion for the first time since its founding in 1939. The Masters won’t be held on the first full week of April, depriving us of a tradition unlike any other. Opening day in baseball, that eternal source of hope, has been pushed back at least two weeks.

Trying times, indeed. It’s difficult not to shed a tear for all those people who felt the wrath of the virus without being infected.

Those at the top of the games will still collect paychecks during this shutdown, but what about all the folks in the background who make the experience so enjoyable?

The man who takes your ticket.

The women who shows you to your seat.

The person who hustles up and down the aisles, bringing us popcorn and drinks.

A lot of people are hurting, and every last one of us can be a helper.

Then, at some point, the games will resume.

We’ll all realize how much we missed them.