PGA Tour is currently pushing forward with the Travelers Championship. The tournament sounded like it would be in doubt after three positive tests in the golf world. Cameron Champ and the caddies of Graeme McDowell and Brooks Koepka. Some called on golf to cancel. They did not. Rather, the PGA commissioner had a great quote about learning to ‘manage the virus.’ He is 100 percent right. That is how everyone should be acting towards COVID-19 as sports and life restart again. This disease is not going away. Let’s try our hardest to social distance, wear masks, etc, but it is hard to picture any sport that goes COVID-free on their restart.

Some sports have already started. Overseas, German soccer programs saw cases of COVID-19 during their training towards the season. FC Koln had multiple cases and put the Bundesliga in some doubt. They pushed forward. Since then, there has not been one case of COVID-19 from my knowledge. The Bundesliga likely learned from the 12-13 COVID-19 cases they had early on and made adjustments on how to get better. The same goes for the English Premier League.

Major League Baseball and National Basketball Association have done a great job of providing outlines for all of the safety protocols. They need players to follow those. Will they? I’m not sure. This isn’t doubting players, rather, understanding that people are humans and rules get broken. NBA and MLB will likely have some COVID cases, but it is about how you adjust at the moment. It is highly unrealistic to expect no cases for either league. And when they do have a case, what can the sport learn from it?

Some might find this scary given the complications of COVID-19. Looking through my research, it is hard to pinpoint lung damage in young people. It does not seem like there is a pattern. I’m sure some doctors are working to find this out. Looking at the multiple cases in college football, most have been asymptomatic. Cameron Champ, who tested positive for PGA, said he felt ‘physically great.’ Due to the rampant testing, there is a good chance cases pop up.

New normal gets overused in our society but it truly is a new normal where COVID-19 plays a role every week in sports.

Charlie.