Lights Out: Pat Forde Commentary On a College Sports Landscape Gone Dark

Nationally renowned sports journalist for Sports Illustrated offers his take on unusual times for athletes, coaches, journalists and fans everywhere.

The image above is of Husky Stadium, last September, emptied out of spectators in scant minutes by lightning strikes. 

The good news was, after a significant weather delay, the Washington-California football game continued into the early hours. Fans reclaimed their seats. Somewhere approaching 2 a.m., the visiting Bears pulled out a last-second 20-19 victory.

Fast forward ahead six months and all of the sporting world, professional and collegiate, sits in limbo, reeling from the novel coronavirus pandemic, which is threatening lives and livelihoods across the globe.

There's just no sense in taking chances in bringing together large crowds and risking the further spread of a fatal virus that has no cure at the moment.

At Washington, all athletic activities -- games, practices and workouts -- have been suspended until at least the end of the month, when the school will reassess the situation.

In the accompanying video, Pat Forde, a nationally renowned sports writer for Sports Illustrated, opines on the current state of affairs for the sports world and what he normally would be covering at this time.

"It has been a staggering, sobering, somber week for college athletics," Forde says, "capped off, and, America, we all knew it was coming, that for the first time since the 1930s we won't have an NCAA men's basketball tournament. We're all going to miss March Madness."

 Forde went on to pay homage to all of the collegiate athletes  who are seniors and just had their playing careers abruptly ended. Basketball. Softball. Wrestling. Track. 

"Tough day," Forde says. "Tough day in America."

Shortly thereafter, the NCAA announced it would grant extra years of eligibility to athletes, where appropriate, who have had their spring seasons compromised by the pandemic.