NHL suspending season indefinitely as coronavirus outbreak continues

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Washington Post

The NHL suspended its season indefinitely Thursday in response to the coronavirus, becoming the latest North American professional sports league to alter their operations in response to concerns about the outbreak.

The NHL announcement, which characterized the move as a “pause,” came after the NHL Board of Governors held a conference call early Thursday afternoon and followed similar actions taken by other leagues. The NBA suspended its season indefinitely Wednesday night after a player from the Utah Jazz tested positive for the coronavirus. Less than 12 hours later, a second Jazz player also tested positive. The MLS announced Thursday it would suspended matches amid the coronavirus crisis and plan to reschedule postponed games on the back-end of the season.

Earlier Thursday morning, the NHL, with 31 franchises in the U.S. and Canada, announced that “given the uncertainty regarding next steps regarding the coronavirus,” teams were being advised not to conduct morning skates, practices or team meetings. All morning skates in preparation for 10 games scheduled for Thursday night were promptly called off.

The NHL was less than a month out from the start of its postseason play.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/03/12/nhl-season-suspended-coronavirus/

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NHL Public Relations
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The @NHL pauses 2019-20 season. https://media.nhl.com/public/news/13911 …
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1:35 PM - Mar 12, 2020

[bluedigger]

1. NASCAR - "Hold my beer."

[melm00se]

6. This weekend's NASCAR

event will be held but with no fans.

“At this time, NASCAR will hold its race events at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway without fans in attendance. These events will be restricted to competitors, crews, officials and other necessary personnel to conduct the race. We will work with public health officials as we determine future scheduling beyond these events.”

https://www.nascar.com/news-media/2020/03/12/nascar-statement-atlanta-homestead-race-schedules/

[melm00se]

9. I was thinking about this

Cancelling the race completely would disperse a large number of NASCAR folks (20 or so members per team and 20+ teams attempting to qualify + media + officials + families + non-support people) back to their home areas.

If any of them are already infected, they would show symptoms while in Atlanta and could at least be quarantined there rather than running the risk of spreading COVID in their home communities.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. 1919 Stanley Cup Finals

The 1919 Stanley Cup Finals was the ice hockey play-off series to determine the 1919 Stanley Cup champions. No champion was declared; the series was canceled after five games had been played due to an outbreak of Spanish flu.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1919_Stanley_Cup_Finals

[BumRushDaShow]

3. Philly is still trying to live down ignoring the Spanish Flu warnings

and ending up with the highest death rate of any city in the U.S. after holding a huge parade celebrating the WWI Armistice... ("Armistice Day" now Veteran's Day).





https://www.phillyvoice.com/100-years-ago-spanish-flu-philadelphia-killed-thousands-influenza-epidemic-libery-loan-parade/

[bucolic_frolic]

4. Maybe civic leaders thought patriotic Armistice Day would fight the Red Scare

it being 1919 and all. That was very prevalent thinking from about 1906 to the 1920s.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. Stubborness like you see today

Not making that mistake this time. The Governor just shut down Montgomery County (3rd largest in the state). The city is even considering (if necessary) reopening a recently-closed large city hospital (private owner had closed and decommissioned it over the summer).

[melm00se]

7. The parade

according to the article happened on September 28, 1918.
The armistice was signed on November 11, 1918.

So the parade was not to celebrate the armistice.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. It was in support of what was to come

and the city did indeed have one for the Armistice -

Even once the war ended, famously on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, the flu’s devastation did not let up. In spontaneous celebrations marking the armistice, ecstatic Americans jammed city streets to celebrate the end of the “Great War,” Philadelphians again flocked to Broad Street, even though health officials knew that close contact in crowds might set off a new round of influenza cases. And it did.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/philadelphia-threw-wwi-parade-gave-thousands-onlookers-flu-180970372/