18WT 010:  On take 2 Patrick and Janet discuss playing ball in America. The laughter rolls right away with these two as they wonder if they can even say here in America and why this is “Take 2”. They are of course talking about professional sports. Now where do they begin? As season ticket holders for the Arizona Diamondbacks they decide to begin with baseball.   After 5 years of being season ticket holders they have plenty of memorabilia; from bobbleheads and mugs to shirts and baseballs. Janet can identify a lot of players from the back, which makes Patrick laugh. He knows the players by their faces; she knows them by their butts.

  For them and many other local baseball fans, this year began with Fan-fest in February. There were a lot of fans that they knew, employees also. Many of the players were there interacting with the fans, signing autographs, and getting the season off to a great start. Chase field had the roof open, tons of activities and food and fun. Baseball was on, or was it? Then came Covid, and baseball stopped for a few months. It came back, kinda, sorta. Masks were worn, fans were out, tempers were still there. They talked about the Dodgers brawl with the Astros. Words were thrown but not punches, not that game. It took a few more weeks for that to happen.

  So as Janet has issues with papers flying about her, which of course Patrick brings up, they continue and wonder if baseball will stay healthy enough to make it to the world series. There was brief talk of a baseball bubble, like basketball. Janet then quotes sportswriter Steve Rosenthal “Professional baseball is a nearly $11 billion business. If it can’t get its act together and pull this off safely, perhaps cancelling the shortened season will serve as a wake-up call that nothing is “normal” in this pandemic and that premature openings, like many are proposing for school districts that aren’t ready, will only backfire and put our teachers, kids, school employees and their families at great risk, just like the baseball community. It’s heartbreaking for those of us starved for baseball and hoping for a diversion, but until we get the coronavirus under control, America doesn’t deserve baseball.” Both Patrick and Janet agree with him as well as with the NHL going straight into the playoffs. Patrick then gives Janet grief over loving her Chicago teams, like the Blackhawks. Go Blackhawks, Go Yotes (Coyotes)! They both give Patrick’s sister grief over sports.

  They next bring up the Washington Redskins name change. Now they are the Washington Football Team. Of all the choices they had, they chose nothing is what they both feel. Next up Patrick brings up the term redskin and white skin and how Janet can melt into the background. Janet’s hair takes a left turn and she must fix it, so that becomes a thing momentarily. They get back on track with the 66 players that opted out for this season. They get $150k as an advance off next years’ pay. A lot of these players were lineman on both offense and defense. Will the game be a kicker’s game now? Or flag football is what Patrick wants to know. Janet brings up Cameron Smith, the Viking’s player who needs heart valve replacement due complications from CoVid19. Hoping things go well for him. She continues with the spacing out of players in the locker room. She brings up covid again and makes Patrick shake his head over the center snapping the ball to a germaphobe like Tom Brady. Mr. “licks his fingers all the time” cannot anymore. And where that ball has been up the centers’ butt with all that sweat. Is it true that some players such as Brady have the centers’ put a towel in their britches to absorb the sweat? Yes, she went there. She knew that Patrick didn’t. It choked them both up. Brady cannot lick the balls, or deflate them…and the conversation went sideways. What was Gronk thinking?

  Janet switches it up to Let’s talk about the Bubble. Go Suns! And of course who left for a family emergency and chicken strips from a strip club. Were they named after him, was the club named after him? Janet says maybe it was a stripper named chicken, hmmmm? More than Patrick can handle there. Let’s talk about all the alpha males in the Bubble of Testosterone. Players have been going head-to-head in golf, cards, video games, ping pong (no doubles allowed!), spike ball, kickball, cornhole, beach volleyball (being 7ft tall is helpful here), and … fishing. Can you imagine, they’re all stuck together in this bubble, bored and competitive. The competitions must be endless. The NBA Bubble Blooper videos would be hilarious. They both want to see it. Patrick asks if Janet saw the shirts they are wearing to play. They say things like equality, respect and justice, Black lives matter and taking a knee during the National Anthem. Baseball has BLM on the pitcher mound also.

  They go on to discuss the riots briefly and if BLM is behind them. They go on to discuss that no matter the color of a person, American Lives matter. Janet then attempts to tell a story about the landscaper making a comment about her being Very white. And that she could not say that about his skin color because it would be taken wrong because she is white. Patrick then attempts to make a funny joke that Janet didn’t exactly get, she is blonde after all.

  Back to the NBA bubble and all the people that are in it. There is a hotline in the bubble to call and report people who break the rules. (L.A. is offering rewards for turning people in for not wearing masks.) Janet goes on to discuss the 28 teams that went into the playoffs.   Patrick is as usual full of shenanigans as Janet tries to discuss the playoffs and finals. They had eight regular season games each, then the playoff brackets then the finals. They both believe the playoffs are going on now and the finals the end of September.

  College sports came up and how it seems to be done. They cannot protect the players. This doesn’t mean that they do not want to play, but to try and keep the players and staff in any type of bubble would be impossible. There is media talk about sexual harassment, racial discrimination, and other harassment in college sports already this year. Janet wonders how this is even possible when most of the schools had not even begun and had postponed any training because of Covid. If the students are not present how can they be harassed or discriminated against? Patrick believes the complaints are from last year. Janet mentions that Colorado State is one of the University’s in question and of course Patrick mentions that they are mile high. The talk of CSU is a toxic culture this year, how is it possible if they aren’t even in yet? Should college sports be backed off for the year or not is the question. Patrick says leave it up to the players. Let them decide, based on the rules of the game and the guidelines of Covid. If there are enough players and enough teams, then play on.

Side note** Real Life imitating TV, The Rock bought the XFL. Just like his show Ballers.

  Back to professional sports, these are professional, healthy athletes who make a lot of money. Then there is the other side of that coin. Many of them are family men, husbands, fathers, sons. Just because they are athletes doesn’t guarantee they won’t get covid. Just look at the Marlins, just because they are athletes doesn’t mean it will be easy on them or that they will survive it. Who wants to be the one to tell some kid, or the family “hey sorry that your Dad didn’t make it, we wanted our games back”? Patrick says leave it up to the players. He says they have the option, which is true for the NFL. In a lot of the rest of sports they are being told play or lose your contract. Such As the WNBA, even high-risk players are being told that.

  They both say it isn’t worth it. Patrick says stay home; Janet says go volunteer. They argue briefly about it as they laugh also. They both agree that our Country needs to heal. And go about life as best we can before we worry about who is winning what game in America. I know that after 9/11 it was a sign that life was going on when sports continued. But maybe just maybe this time we need sports to stop to show that life will go on. The circumstances are different now. They both say there is plenty of things to do and maybe sports can be left alone for the year. Go have fun with people you love and want to be with. Which isn’t to say people you are related to are the ones’ they mean as they laugh about it. As Janet’s hair comes undone and Patrick talks about her head falling off, they try and finish the show with a few laughs.

  They bring up golf, Tiger Woods, Soccer, family, Phoenix, drinking beer, dinner. Janet mentions that the Triple Crown was entirely fucked up this year and she doesn’t want to discuss it. However, auto racing, local tracks, NHRA, etc. seems to not have changed a lot. Fans were there, most not wearing masks. Janet also asks about the new quick result Covid test, why can’t they do that before a concert? Patrick thinks it is too much. Too many people standing around waiting for results. Maybe someday, but not yet.

  They end with the usual laughter and please smash the like button, click the notification bell and subscribe to the channel.