Not once in my entire writing career— no, scratch that, not once in my entire life did I think I would even have to imagine a world where sports did not exist, let alone live in one.

I knew I would be bored when the announcement of all of the athletic seasons’ postponements came out, but I did not know just how sad I would be. Like, all the time.

The sadness began on March 11, the date that the NBA suspended their season for a minimum of 30 days after the Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19.

One day later, the NHL followed suit. The league and player’s association asked athletes to self-quarantine until March 27, but practices were pushed to late April at the earliest. What does that mean for all of us hockey lovers? A resuming date that will not be until May, should no more delays ensue.

The same day as the NHL’s announcement, the NCAA canceled their March Madness tournaments, both men’s and women’s, and also canceled all remaining winter and spring championships throughout the rest of the semester.

The MLB was knee-deep in spring training when the league indefinitely suspended the remainder of spring training and delayed the start of the regular season by months. The league did say it was “committed to playing as many games as possible when the season begins.”

The MLS suspended all play for a minimum of eight weeks, with U.S. Soccer canceling appearances by the men’s and women’s national teams as well as all youth national team training.

The NFL, although not as affected as the other leagues, did cancel its league-wide end of March meeting, as well as forbidding teams to make in-person visits with draft-eligible players indefinitely. As of the time of publication, the draft scheduled for April 23-25 in Las Vegas is still a go.

The XFL, however, was mid-season when the outbreak occurred, and on March 12 players were informed that the rest of the 2020 season will not be played.

Finally, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics have been postponed after teams around the world called for the postponement due to a lack of ability to train leading up to the games.

Other events, like the Masters and big city marathons, have been pushed back or canceled due to the outbreak as well. 

Even the Australian Football League canceled games earlier this week.

It has been said countless times since the COVID-19 outbreak began: we have never seen anything like this.

I never, ever thought that we would see a world without sports. Those that do not even watch or enjoy sports are seeing the effects that a sports-less world has on society.

Sports are not vital to life. It may seem like it to some, but the simple fact is that we can all live in a world that does not include sports.

The simple fact of the matter is that we choose not to because sports add excitement. They bond people together. 

I guess that is the positive we can take out of all of this. We’re all going through it together.

Imagine when all of the suspensions are lifted, the postponements cease and those canceled events get rescheduled. 

Attendance is going to skyrocket; TV viewership is going to reach new records; those bonds that were tested over this temporary break are going to be stronger than ever.

We may be living in a world without sports now, but imagine how sweet it will be on the other side.