It’s 4:30 in the afternoon Central standard time on January, 19th 2020 in Kansas City Missouri. The Chiefs are leading the Titans 28-17 and facing a third and 6 at their own 40 yard line with 7:40 left to play in the game. Patrick Mahomes steps back to pass rolls to his right launches a pass 50 yards down the field to Sammy Watkins who got behind Logan Ryan and strolled into the left side of the end zone for a game sealing touchdown. 76,000 people lost their minds in an euphoric state of madness that generally only occurs at a music concert or a sporting event. It was 50 years of frustration, 50 years of being so close to the big game. Lin Elliott forgiven, Darien Gordon’s breakup on a 4th and 1 pass by Elvis Grbac forgiven, losing a playoff game to the Colts yet not punting forgiven, Marcus Mariotta completing a touchdown to himself forgiven, Tom Brady converting 3 third and longs in ot forgiven. What is great about sports and football is particular is there is always next time, always tomorrow. The only thing is we don’t know when tomorrow will be. For the Chiefs sake it was 50 years for older fans, less years but still as excruciating for younger fans. When Sammy Watkins dropped that ball after crossing the goal line and Patrick Mahomes raised both hands in the air it was at that moment all of those soul crushing home playoff losses were forgiven. This is why we watch, because sitting on your coach in that moment you can feel the euphoria of that moment like you were there on the field witnessing the hysteria first hand.
We shift 45 days later to Wednesday March 11th to Oklahoma City. Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz tested positive for COVID 19 and the game between the Jazz and Thunder is postponed in response to the positive test. Adam Silver decides to postpone the basketball season indefinitely. This bold decision started a domino effect in which hockey, baseball, march madness and all American Sports either canceled or postponed operations for the forseeable future without a set return date in near sight.
Sports would resume over 4 months later but looking completely different than it did on that fateful January afternoon in Kansas City Missouri. Baseball would play a 60 game regular season in completely empty stadiums with fake crowd noise and cardboard fans. Basketball would resume in a bubble in Orlando. Hockey would shift immediately to the playoffs in bubbles in Edmonton and Toronto. College football would resume the following fall but have a very convoluted season with several games being postponed or cancelled due to COVID 19 outbreaks across America. Then we have pro football…
We have to give credit to Roger Goodell and the powers that may be that they stood the course and completed the entire 256 game season without a single cancellation and the final game was played as originally scheduled at 5:20 Pt on Sunday January 3rd. Some teams had fans this season (Chiefs for example at 22 percent capacity). Some teams did had no fans (Jets, Rams are examples). One team (49ers) had to move to a different city for the remaining 6 weeks because of local restrictions permitting them from being able to practice or play any games in their home facilities. Most teams were affected by COVID at some point in this season, the most notable example is the entire Broncos quarterback room missing a home game against the Saints in Week 12.
So here we are in the playoffs. The playoffs in football are different than any other sport. The single elimination brings massive urgency, it’s the best of the best at the highest level of competition. The fans in the stadium hardly sit down and are completely hoarse by the end of the game from screaming at the top of their lungs for over three hours straight. But this year is different. If you watched the finals in basketball or the cup in hockey the ambience of no fans was evident. You felt like you were watching a championship, the player intensity was still there but it felt incomplete without the massive roars from a big bucket or goal. Think of what it would have been like watching at home if Lebron James had won his fourth title in Los Angeles behind a packed house with every celebrity in the planet in attendance. With Kobe Bryant’s retired jerseys in the rafters staring down on the center of the court. Even for people who root for Lebron to lose it would have been tough to not shed a tear in that moment, to feel your heart beat just a little bit faster. It was still a great accomplishment from arguably the greatest American athlete of the 21st century (Tom Brady might say hold my beer) but a moment that was hard to grab onto.
The most prime example for this years playoffs in which the ambience will feel a little incomplete takes place in Buffalo New York. Where the Bills have their best team since the early 90s. A 13-3 juggernaut that started fast, had a little bit of a bumpy midseason culminating with a devastating loss on a hailmary in which DeAndre Hopkins showed why he may be the best contested catch receiver of all time (many including his own teammate Larry Fitzgerald may say hold my beer). Then starting with a weird Monday night road game in Arizona against the 49ers turned into a buzzsaw late in the year which concluded in the way of a 56-26 bushwhacking of the Dolphins that knocked the Dolphins out of the playoffs. Local officials did approve 6,800 fans to attend their playoff games which will be a plus and those fans are going to have the moment of their lives (I was a freshman in high school last time Bills hosted a playoff game!). But if the buffalo bowl was filled 71,608 crazy Bills fans that were drunk and bruised from jumping on tables and forming mosh pits at pregame tailgating it would be an atmosphere that we could gravitate to the energy from our living rooms. We might start jumping on tables every time Josh Allen would connect with Stefon Diggs for a big play (please don’t try that at home).
We will be deprived of a Devante Adams leap into the sea of Packer fans after a touchdown from Aaron Rodgers in the snowy Green Bay winter. We will be deprived of Saints nation dressed in all different types of creative clothing and makeup structures that one can form with the colors black and gold. We will be deprived of the 12th man in Seattle. We will be deprived of a full crowd in Kansas City raucously cheering on for a repeat and the continued changed narrative of good home cooking. We will be deprived of an amped up atmosphere in our nations capital cheering on the story of the year, a coach whos beating cancer and a quarterback who almost lost his leg just two years ago to continue their improbable run. We will be deprived of the sea of yellow towels waving in the background of Baker Mayfield on a big third down. But the most important thing is you know what we won’t be deprived of?
We won’t be deprived of Russ to D.K on the seam route. We won’t be deprived of Rodgers to Adams on the back shoulder fade. We won’t be deprived of Drew Brees last ride. We won’t be deprived on Tompa bay’s quest to make it a home for big game all the while doing it on the road. We won’t be deprived of King Henry’s quest to carry the Titans that one step further. We won’t be deprived of Lamar Jackson’s quest to end the narrative that he can’t win in the playoffs. We won’t be deprived of the Chiefs going for a repeat and the continued legend of Patrick Mahomes. We won’t be deprived of playoff football. In a year that’s been tough for us all, those seven words alone make it hard for me to contain myself, fans or no fans, that in itself is the biggest victory of all.