Ending the old normal

Less than a month into baseball's return, remember the privilege that is returning to "normal," and strive to resist that urge

Over the last few weeks, I naively started to feel like baseball's return had brought a sense of normalcy to the world, or more accurately, my world. Sure, there are still no fans, and dozens of games have been postponed due to a few team outbreaks, but just watching baseball in any form felt good. 

In fact, we were on the verge today of having all 30 teams playing at the same time, for the first time in a long while.

But on Saturday, due to a Cincinnati Reds player testing positive for COVID-19, their scheduled game against the Pirates would be postponed. Just add that to the pile of other games this year that have been postponed due to the global pandemic. 

During my commute, I also thought about the protest that was scheduled for Saturday afternoon (Black Lives Matter: Shut Down the Dan Ryan and March) protesting police brutality. A similar protest took place just two years ago, where protestors blocked off the Dan Ryan Expressway. 

Sports have been back in the United States for roughly a month now, and with their return many felt a sense of comfort, like things were getting back to whatever "normal" is. 

Maybe it's because I received my first "stick to sports" tweet response, or just because I'm just trying to remind myself, but hopefully we never return to the "normal" that so many are longing for. 

Thanks Joel, I won't! 

Of course I hope for the day when we have a vaccine, and thousands of people aren't dying alone in hospitals on a daily basis. 

As far as everything else? I'm just not sure people realize what their "normal" really is. 

Their normal is not having to think about the atrocities of police brutality, generations of systemic racism and fearing for their loved ones' lives. 

It is an enormous privilege to be able to view the return of sports as a return to normal. Sports, for myself and so many others, are an incredible form of entertainment. Since baseball has returned, I would be lying if I said I have not been entertained. 

With that unbridled excitement that privilege allows, it is your responsibility as a sports fan to remember that as much as you want everything to return to normal, it is vital to remember how dangerous your sense of normal is for people who don't share your privilege. 

Nobody, or at least not this writer, is telling you not to enjoy your sports and other forms of entertainment. All I ask is that you think about the ways you can help create a new normal where it's not only you who feels comfortable.