Jim’s take: Stanley Cup postponement was bad enough, but losing NCAA Tournament was madness

When asking what have you missed most during sports’ hiatus, it’s almost easier to say what you haven’t missed. The coronavirus pandemic has hit all levels: pros, college, international, preps, recreational. It’s been a horrible time to be a sports fan.

With apologies to all the other wonderful, but AWOL, sports recently, two of my all-time favorites have gone missing, which really hurts.

My decidedly favorite professional playoffs are the NHL’s Stanley Cup with the added inducement of a very strong Colorado Avalanche club this season. However, since the Cup playoffs were just postponed and not canceled, I grudgingly yield to my biggest disappointment.

The NCAA basketball tournament is always superb theater and excitement, no matter who wins or, frankly, who is playing. It’s a great 2 ½ weeks full of upsets and upstarts, stars and surprise heroes, brackets and busts. To cancel it was a punch in the gut.

It is a time where many nonfans and fans of other sports join in the fun, at the office, the watering holes (remember them?) and wherever they watch the games, check their brackets, and (now legal in Colorado) their bets.

Every round of the NCAA Tournament has its good points: the opening four days are a whirlwind of excitement and excess with each ensuing round that much more important with better teams.

What’s not to like? Or miss terribly? Hope you all come back when it’s healthy to and hopefully that’s soon. I don’t want to go through another stretch like this one.

Brandon’s take: Life is not the same without baseball

There is nothing quite like the sound of a baseball game on the radio. It is like a warm blanket. One that you can wrap yourself in nearly every day. And what a great thing to look forward to.

Nothing says summer more than hearing a fast pitch slamming into the catcher’s mitt, the crack of the bat, and the stadium crowd.

Even if baseball does start in some capacity this year it will likely be played in empty stadiums, so the radio broadcasts won’t be the same.

It is sad that this year we won’t see any old men sitting in a lawn chair in the garage drinking a beer while listening to the game.

Baseball on the radio is something that could be depended on every summer since the 1920s. The first game ever broadcast was on the 5th of August, 1921 on KDKA in Pittsburgh at Forbes Field by Harold Arlin. He used a converted telephone as a microphone. The Pittsburgh Pirates played the Philadelphia Phillies, and then started one of our country’s best traditions.

Baseball seems to come alive over the air, along with everything it touches. The sun seems brighter, the beer, hot dogs and apple pie taste better, the neighborhood awakens and enjoys life together.

It’s hard to think of anything more regarding sports that affects Americana in such a nostalgic way, or a bigger break in its lineage. It will be sorely missed.

Duke’s RJ Barrett, left, hugs Zion Williamson after Duke defeated Florida State in the NCAA college basketball championship game of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament in Charlotte, N.C., Saturday, March 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

Chuck Burton