The First Half Of 2020 Was A Bust For Sports, Second Half Begins With A Little Optimism

MIAMI  – When the Miami Dolphins walked off the field with 48 hours left in 2019, things were normal.

A win over the New England Patriots finished off a strong second half of the season and gave a sense of optimism to 2020.

Little did they know, or anyone else for that matter, what was in store as we rang in the new year.

2020 started off normally enough.

The Miami Heat continued their strong season knocking off the defending NBA champions Toronto on January 2nd.

The Florida Panthers got red hot, winning six in a row as coach Joel Quenneville returned to Chicago for an emotional night. Jonathan Huberdeau made his first NHL All-Star Game.

In February, the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens in thrilling fashion.

Also in February, baseball got ready to start a new with players reporting to Spring training and sounds of the game returning.

Then the calendar rolled into March and the unthinkable happened – a pandemic in the United States of America.

Some thought give it a few weeks, we’ll be back.

Not quite.

New phrases, the type usually reserved for sports, became part of all of our everyday language – flatten the curve and control the spread. We also got one that one nobody had ever heard of – social distancing.

As weeks turned into months slowly we began to hear of sports return. First, it was NASCAR, then golf, and, on a limited basis, tennis.

As we get into July the sports world is holding its breath and crossing its fingers that all goes well.

The Heat and the Panthers are set to restart their seasons at the end of July. While these guys never would have thought, the Dolphins in training camp are looking forward to 95 degrees on a football field working out.

The remarkable thing is it feels for all of us like 2020 has taken forever. But in reality, we are only halfway home. To use a sports term, the 2nd half begins.