2020-03-30 07:00:00
Why sporting events have been canceled through history
Going through the major sporting events that have been canceled and why
SportsPulse, USA TODAY
I checked in with a friend last weekend. I called Troy Dannen.
A former Marshalltown resident and formerly the athletics director at Northern Iowa and former executive secretary of the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union, Dannen runs sports at Tulane.
Tulane is in New Orleans.
New Orleans has become the fastest-rising coronavirus hotspot in the United States.
“Health-wise, we’re not impacted,” Dannen said last weekend, referring not only to himself, but his family. “I can’t go into the office. None of the coaches can go into their offices, but we’re managing.”
Dannen’s had close encounters with the coronavirus for months now.
COVID-19 started in China — and Dannen was in China last November, when coronavirus was thought to have first emerged. He attended a press conference there to announce his school facing Washington in the sixth annual Pac-12 China Game in Shanghai.
Will it still happen?
“To be determined,” Dannen said, “but I doubt it.”
Last month, Dannen rode on a float in the annual Fat Tuesday parade in New Orleans. That event coincides with Mardi Gras, the annual free-wheeling party where many people in New Orleans believe the area’s outbreak started. Partiers from throughout the world — not just the New Orleans area — are among more than a million bead-tossing rowdy merrymakers who crowd city streets, bars and hotels.
“We live in a very social place,” Dannen said.
According to CNN, coronavirus cases in New Orleans have risen from 100 two weeks ago to 1,350 last weekend. There were 73 deaths through last weekend, according to the CNN story. It’s the highest per-capita death rate in America.
Throughout it all, Dannen and his family are all right. They live in Metairie, a New Orleans suburb “that’s like what West Des Moines is to Des Moines,” he said.
His wife is playing school teacher to their two kids, 7 and 5, while Troy tries to navigate his new world — a world that will include less NCAA revenue, possibly no fans at football games, and the ramifications of if spring sports athletes are given another year of eligibility.
The Green Wave baseball team was 15-2 and ranked No. 20 nationally when spring sports were stopped. College World Series? Not happening.
“We had big hopes,” Dannen said. “We’re pretty good.”
He knows, too, that allowing seniors another year of eligibility would be costly.
“It costs $75,000 to go to school here,” Dannen said. “If we bring spring sports back, it’ll cost me around $1 million.
Nonetheless, Dannen called allowing spring athletes an extra year of eligibility for their shortened seasons a “no-brainer.” We’ll find out Monday if they allow it.
“It was outside their control,” Dannen said. “You get additional eligibility for injuries, in a lot of cases. That’s out of the control of athletes, too, and so was having their (spring) seasons stopped in mid-season.
“It’s the right thing. It’s their last opportunity to compete.”
Dannen spoke with the Register between conference calls.
Dannen has been on conference call after conference call for days about spring sports and other topics. I just happened to catch him between calls.
“It’s been 89 degrees here the past two days,” Dannen said during our conversation. “We’re not locked in our house; there’s still movement. We can still drive and pickup carryout.”
Dannen is one of the fortunate. There’s a swimming pool in his backyard. His property includes a guest house.
“It’s where I set up my office,” Dannen said. “I’m on seven-hour Zoom meetings every day, but like I said earlier — we’re managing.”
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