Life as we know it will probably never be the same again.
A few weeks back I posted, based on my personal encounters with government officials with CDC, that I didn’t believe that this pandemic was as serious as it was reported. I was called out. I argued back. Then the post was shut down because of its political nature.
Let me just say it here. I was wrong. I misjudged this whole thing. I apologize for what was my stubborn miscalculation of events. We are experiencing something that never has been experienced. When the whole world’s economy shuts down, the ramifications can be endless. Are we in for another great depression? I certainly hope not.
The world has changed significantly. We may never be able to visit family and friends in hospitals again. Which probably is a good thing, as difficult as that will be. My mother-in-law undergoes heart surgery on Tuesday, replacing her malfunctioning pacemaker. She simply can’t wait any longer. We are all preparing our “good byes” because you never know. She’s about as vulnerable as can be with her pre-existing medical condition and age.
There are lines at supermarkets, post offices. Basic services are limited. Try to find a notary public to get a legal document signed these days. I had to do that. Took me a week and I felt like I walked into the E.R. to simply leave a wet signature and a thumb print.
I hope we see sports again, but deep down, how important is that? Do you realize that for the first time in over one 140 years or so, there have been no spectator sports conducted on a major scale in the entire world. Think of that. Not one game where an audience congregated to watch. That is astounding. My son was watching re-runs of baseball and basketball games. He mocked getting excited when he knew the outcome in advance. Doesn’t work for me.
When the Dodgers announced that the impasse had broken on the TV deal, that should have been a BIG DEAL. But it turned out to be a big “whoopteedoo.” Too little, too late. About seven years too late. It was so appropriate that the whole thing was announced on April Fool’s Day.
All the hoopla and enthusiasm we had for the 2020 season was deflated as fast as the air escapting from a pin pricked Dodger Stadium beach ball. Now it looks like the Betts deal may be a big viral bust, and you really can’t blame anyone but the Big Dodger in the Sky for it. No one is at fault. Circumstances and fate are to blame.
Stan Kasten said that when the pandemic lifts and the world opens up again, Baseball will be a national celebratory event and let the country know that we have overcome this scourge. I hope he’s right. I hope that our enthusiasm will return and that a 100-game season can somehow salvage the year. At the moment, its tough to envision it. I get up, strap on that gun and vest, don the facemask and gloves and try to get through the day without touching anything that might contain the wretched virus.
A lot of us are shut in and that seems about as depressing as can be. I would say that we just need to ride this out because we have been there before, but we haven’t. That good old American, (and Canadian…didn’t want to leave you out Harold), resoive is what we need to fall back on. This is 2001 again, but it is directly affecting us all now. This could be 1929 again, and we’ll have to work within ourselves to rebuild and start over in what could be a shattered world-wide economy.
The Dodgers? MLB? They will always be a part of our lives, but there’s so much at stake. Watching millionaires entertain us on the diamond may or may not be a part of the recovery. I hope they are, but I’m not going to dwell on it. There seems to be too many other important things to overcome in our fragile existence. If there’s anything we’ve all come to grips with in the past month it is the fragility of life that we come to grips with every day.
Be safe everyone.
Discussion (85)
Disagree, not disagreeable
I find it a really bad and depressing thing that everything now has become “political.”
For example, climate change, global warming, and the fate of life on our planet should not be political. But there are many who will not discuss it “because it is political.’ I have a strong opinion about which people made it political, but I will not go into it, except to say that if science has become political, than we are pretty much lost. Is it political to discuss Newton’s Laws, or at what temperature ice melts? Then why should it be political to listen to science, and realize that unless we substantially reduce the carbon pumped into the atmosphere, we will raise the global temperature to a point where billions of lives will be lost or greatly impacted? But some people do not want to believe in science. I realize that science is not absolute,and that new things are learned; but when thousands of scientists write and lecture about the dangers of global warming, we had better listen. Not listening is either because one is so dogmatically religious that one doesn’t believe in science, or that one is so wedded to making money off pollution causing activities. that one convinces oneself that the science is wrong, or that making billions of dollars is more important than anything else.
Similarly, there were people who ignored the clear warnings of pandemics in general, and this virus in particular. But because everything has been politicized, not only do many not want to broach the topic, but we know that we are going to get divided into the same two camps again, as we now are as a country with regard to everything. And that is very bad. That is an endless war which stalls progress and stymies hope. Everything is not “both sides.” And blame has to be based on the best set of scientific facts available, not shrugged off as , “We can’t get into that, because it will just lead to an unending argument’ I’m not talking about this site, I can understand the wish to keep it collegial and about the Dodgers. I’m referring to this horrible thing which has happened to America, where even the most obvious facts are violently fought against. Hundreds of years were spent to throw off the repressiveness of the feudal age; we went through the Age of Reason, and the Age of Enlightenment; and none of it was perfect, and there were fits and starts and disputes and wars, but we seemed to be making progress. But now I see us heading to a new Dark Ages, where literacy is down, people increasingly ignore science, and substitute authoritarianism and mocking of science, and, inventing “alternative facts.”The Church forced Galileo to recant, and this country killed so-called witches in Salem. Are we going back to that? Very possibly.
Saving lives is much more important than apportioning blame. But not casting blame is not going to help us in the future. Acting as if life is mostly a spin of the roulette wheel, so that no particular action is wrong or right, is giving up in the quest for knowledge, out of which supposedly comes the ability to make better decisions in the future, and just maybe evaluating people on any level in terms of their ability to understand science, and to marshal the most informed and capable people to help make the most reasonable decisions, not make them based on one’s own self-interest or a shrug of the shoulders. We can differ as to who those people might be, but can we at least try to agree that this is what we need, and that “both sides are wrong on this” (whatever the “this” is, at any point), is essentially a giving up, a
nullifying of the entire history from the Renaissance on, and just returning to what we are told by authoritarians, secular or religious, or proceeding by whim or guesswork? Why will humans do any better with the next impending crisis, if we can’t discuss who and what was most likely responsible for this one; and if we obscure it all with endless reflexive partisanship, what the Founders decried as “factionalism”?
I carried a firearm while working for thirty years as a police officer and was never off-duty without a firearm. As an honorably retired police officer I now have a lifetime CCW and trust me when I say I have zero desire to be a hero, but I will protect myself and family from an attack.
My experience is we have little to worry about from the honest gun carrying CCW permit holders, but the gang bangers, drug dealers and psychopaths are the real problem. If you think you can survive an active shooter incident by hiding or running……good luck and I mean that with all seriousness. I’ll consider running and hiding in an active shooter attack if those are viable options, but without those options I’ll protect myself and won’t wait for the police to show up.
MT’s points are spot on!
Gentlemen and Ladies— I am using the terms gentlemen and ladies to reach out to all of you because I believe that is what all of you are. The bickering about political discussions related to the Coranavirus pandemic seems like a “Red Herring” for all of us. It is getting more difficult for me to be as patient with my wife and mother-in-law as I commonly am and I believe it is due to the isolation of the “stay at home” order in Indianapolis. I believe a lot of this is because I am denied my opportunities to be out and about in the real world. Not being able to see people doing acts of kindness, having the meanlingless, meaningful conversations with strangers, acquaintences, and friends, and just being a part of humanity is decreasing my tolerance of those around me. I adore a good argument over almost any topic and would just love to challenge any of you with whom I disagree. But I am not going to allow myself to be drawn into this for this simple reason.
THE PEOPLE ON THIS SITE REPRESENT THE GREATEST COLLECTIVE OF MEN AND WOMEN THAT SHARE AN APPRECIATION OF, KNOWLEDGE ABOUT AND PASSION FOR THE LOS ANGELES DODGERS.
Please don’t fall into the trap of arguing about any other topic on this site and having to leave the discussions about the Dodgers just because of being on edge because of the pandemic. I would miss any of you once baseball returns because all of you provide me with knowledge and information about the Dodgers on a regular basis.
Just try to remember why we were all drawn to this site and ask yourself if what you may gain by discussing the failure of the governmental systems from the local, state and federal levels to see the potential for a pandemic to occur is worth the possible loss of the camaraderie and discussions that we all are here for.
Might I suggest that finding a site established to allow, condone, and encourage political debate might be an option to consider when the need for expressing your personal political views , whatever they may be, overwhelms you.
Indiana Mark? I know a good ball player that came from that state….lol.(see my reply to Bear above).
The first 16 years or so of my life our family spent a 2 week vacation there, as that’s where my mom was from.
I get that firearms are polarizing, but I live in a state where (right or wrong) the horse is already out of the barn. I think there are 3 guns for everyone in Indiana and that doesn’t include the illegal ones.
I have a Lifetime Permit to carry a firearm… which is really stupid, but it’s the only one. So, I have it.
I live in a “safe” neighborhood, but the CVS a mile away has been robbed 21 times. I have had to fire people who threatened my life. I used to be able to kick their ass, but I can’t anymore.
My 33-year-old liberal son loves guns, but can’t have one in NYC. My 20-year-old conservative son carries one but it totally responsible.
I have walked among the baddest of the bad and I can say for a certainty that there are a lot of people out there who would blow you away while eating their Big Mac and not miss a bite. I know this for a certainty.
Like Michael said, “I’d rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it!”
Tom Dempsey died today of the Covid-19 virus. It has been a long week. I am tired and irritable. So, I am going to sign off for a few days. Be well all.
Millard Fillmore was actually the least bad of the 3 pre-Abraham Lincoln presidents (Fillmore was #13, before Franklin Pearce and James Buchanan, who was really bad).
History is interesting. Not too many Whigs got elected – mostly former generals (William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor).
5 R&R groups I wouldn’t ask for my money back:
Rolling Stones
Eric Clapton
Jimi Hendrix Experience
Leonard Skynard (Free Bird – Epic)
Beatles
Not necc’ly in order and of course there’s more…
We live in a lovely part of Los Angeles, so I don’t need, nor would it make sense to have a firearm.
I had a nice discussion with Bear elsewhere about Red Flag laws. I am much more bearish (PUN!) than he on that subject matter.
AC, I agree. I think all of us would much rather be discussing an outstanding pitching performance, or a walk off homer by Betts. The country as a whole is hurting right now. And sports has always been an outlet for so many Americans. But no one was prepared for this. And no one could have predicted this. Our initial response was slow. But America has a way of bouncing back. If this pandemic has a long shelf life, we will deal with it. Life as we know it has already changed dramatically. But as long as we, as a nation, and as fans stick together and do our parts, we will get through this. I have so many friends in the music business who cannot earn any money at all right now because live entertainment has come to a standstill. Some are giving on line music instruction just to get by. One of my friends is a DJ at the country station here in Canon City. His job is pretty safe, but he is giving guitar lessons free on the internet. I believe in the good people in this country. I also believe the medical community is working it’s ass off to find a way to beat this virus. It may take some time, but they will find a vaccine. Have some faith my friends. I do. Ahh….peterj, I think you may have partaken a little too much of the White Rabbit.
Thanks AC… You hopefully stem the tide…
Saw Jefferson Airplane at the Fillmore in 66, albeit hazily, but I never knew it was called the Millard Fillmore!??!
I am with Idahoal. I have zero desire to discuss politics live or on a blog. People can choose to read what they want, listen to whatever scientists they want, but when governments ignore the fact that they were not prepared for a pandemic for at least 30 years, there is a lot of blame to go around. You can blame the President all you want, but do not ignore the mayor of NYC or HIS SCIENTIST, NYC Health Commissioner, Dr. Oxiris Barbot who on February 2 claimed…”We are here today to urge all New Yorker’s to continue to live their lives as usual. I want to assure New Yorker’s that there is no reason for anyone to change their holiday plans, avoid the subway, or certain parts of the city because of coronavirus.” That was said on February 2, when the virus was in its infancy but still prevalent. How many New Yorker’s might have been saved if they had chosen to not promote to continue life as if nothing was wrong?
On March 2, De Blasio said “The facts are reassuring We have a lot of information now, information that is actually showing us things that should give us more reason to stay calm and go about our lives” normally.”
https://www.dailysignal.com/2020/03/30/de-blasio-nyc-officials-downplayed-covid-19-threat-after-trump-restricted-travel-to-china-here-are-5-examples/
Anyone who believes that the Federal government can act quickly and efficiently is naive. That is why it is the officials of NYC that are more criminal than the current administration, or the former administration that proposed to cut the CDC funding. Here is a Cato Institute study on NHI and CDC funding. I know some of you do not acknowledge the Cato Institute as a worthwhile group, but this is information from budgets, not opinions.
https://www.cato.org/blog/coronavirus-nih/cdc-funding
There was nothing stopping the State of New York, NYC, State of California, LA, SF, or any other state of city to buy and store ventilators for such an epidemic. They knew it was coming, not if, but when. I do not blame government officials. Most are incompetent politicians from both sides of the aisles and are not mentally equipped to handle this situation. But every one of them is politically motivated to stay in power…Democrats and Republicans alike. Nobody will ever accuse me of being a Gavin Newsom fan, but he did not ignore the pandemic and has locked down California pretty well. And he should get credit for it. But make no mistake, his daily press conferences are just as politically motivated as are the President’s.
This is a very bad pandemic and I agree with Evan that our lives will never be the same. My retirement will probably be put on hold. I cannot see into the future so I cannot predict what the result from all of this will be. I do not know when baseball will be played again. Or if there will be a NBA or NHL Championship, or MLB draft, or NCAA/NFL football in the summer/fall. I respect Mark has every intention to keeping politics out of his blog, but I also agree with Badger that this current situation cannot be discussed without being political. Everyone is looking to blame somebody. I will not get into name calling, but there is a lot of ignorance on both sides, and I consider myself one of the ignorant ones when it comes to pandemics, even Scientists like Dr. Barbot. Everybody has 20-20 hindsight. But what I can predict is that this is the last time I will post anything other than baseball, or baseball related, on this blog (or any blog). DC is far better than me to chronicle the baseball exploits of the former ball players, and without baseball there is no MiLB season to follow the future. So until there is baseball again, I hope everyone stays safe.
I know Mark doesn’t want a political discussion but I can’t resist. What does the Dodgersphere think of President Millard Fillmore?
Can understand your worries about your mother-in-law! These are difficult times. Our hearts go out to her! It does take a big man to admit he’s wrong. We should all be as humble as you are. I do believe some good will come of this. Especially the realization that we are all in this together, and responsible for each other. Our best protection is taking care of each other.
I don’t think anyone here really thinks they will change anyone else’s opinion, either through argument or discussion, but we’re all stuck in our homes with nowhere to go and it’s very frustrating.
Therefore expressing an opinion whether it be politically neutral or way off to one side or the other can be very cathartic. Whether Mark wants to let us use his blog as a means to do that, however, is entirely up to him.
I am 82 years old and I can’t remember anyone changing their politics as the result of a political argument.
Without bats we wouldn’t have the virus or baseball.
The need to lay blame at the feet of our leaders, especially at this time, confounds me. There will be plenty of time, and at the right time, to examine where our leaders made mistakes and If someone feels the need to blame our elected leaders they should go to a political blog site. If you feel the need to play the “blame game” make sure you put China at the top of the list.
America will find the appropriate cure/vaccine and will “save the world” from this scourge. Stay positive, keep the faith and we will soon say “PLAY BALL!”
I watched other sites disintegrate because of politics and/or religion and I won’t allow it here. I have learned from my mistakes.
I left the other blog because they wanted to talk politics. Now some of you have moved to this site and are talking politics. It will not be long before this blog will be like the old blog if Mark continues to let this go on. I do not know why some people cannot understand that politics and religion should be off limits. I am out until Dodger baseball starts and then maybe we can talk about baseball and not politics.
Good luck to your mother in law on Tuesday! Please let us know when she gets thru it.
When this started, I predicted 10’s of millions of deaths worldwide. Why? Not because of the dummies in the US who aren’t taking this seriously. (although when this is all said and done, in the next 12-18 months, I think we far surpass the best case 100-200,000 deaths). But I look at the dense poor populations in other countries. When this disease spreads thru all of the poor and homeless in India, and those people get sick and have zero access to healthcare, you will see enormous numbers. I expect 10mil in just the Pakistan, India, Bangladesh regions.
As far as our normal lives, I think that initially results in games played without fans for a while (especially the NBA/NHL as they try to get to playoff season asap) . But bless the athletes if they do, because they’d be providing the rest of us with something to watch and root for and give us an escape from reality.
All is seemingly well here in SoCal…
I owe my life in part to AA and use their favorite mantras often… One Day at a Time and the Serenity prayer… Floats my boat…
I now watch now a 1/2 to 1 hour coronavirus news and that’s it…
I too don’t like watching replays of sports gone by… 30/30 is cool…
My newest friends are reading and my Spotify… Putter in the garage and blast some R&R… I might get back into puzzles, but that becomes a addiction quickly for me…
NBA HOF inductees: Bryant, Duncan, Garnett and Catchings… It doesn’t get better than that…
God bless and watch over the front line troops!!!
To my LADT friends be careful…
This too shall pass…
Thanks Evan.
Gets close to home. Our daughter works in the Children’s Hospital in Halifax. They have had a confirmed case of the virus, just yesterday. Not in her unit but still concerning for hundreds of people in a place with many already sick children.
I’m sure our governments could have done more but they are now doing whatever they can. Maybe we all should walk a mile in their shoes to see what it is like. They need our help as much, perhaps more, as we need theirs. It seems for some people now nothing is enough depending on a political stripe. All I want them to do is to be truthful in all they tell us and to work collaboratively with governments at all levels and other countries. We are all in this together.
According to MLBTR, the scouts will soon be able to contact players about the draft. And international players also. Should be interesting to see how this works out. NFL is planning to hold their draft from home. Kobe, Garnett, and Duncan into the basketball HOF. Pretty good trio of players.
Evan, welcome back to the real world. As Mark Twain said,
It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble.
It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.
As they say Evan, it takes a big man to admit he was wrong. None of us is perfect, even though some think they are. I’m trying to see the bright side of this. Maybe with all the research that is being done, someone will discover how to fight more than just this virus and do it more quickly from now on. Science and technology are making advances so rapidly that it’s hard to fathom. Maybe a cure for all this type of illness is just around the corner. I certainly hope so.
Human nature remains untouched by events like this. The same patterns will re-enact themselves. Wars have no effect, peace has no effect. Man is not the center of the universe, and neither are his thoughts and desires. We all tend to exaggerate our personal experience. We will get through this and resume whatever it is that is driving each individual’s agenda and society’s. Perhaps someone will be so lucky to burst the bubble of their ‘reality’.
I carry a weapon because for many years I did not. I was fairly young and healthy and could handle myself in a scrap. As arthritis and other ailments sapped me of that capability, I got a weapon. It is legal and is not a assault weapon. I have a shot gun that I bought specifically for home protection. I am glad I have never had to use them. But I would rather have them and not need them, than the other way around. Hell, I cannot even make a fist anymore because of arthritis. I think all of us misjudged how bad this is Evan, so do not feel alone. I think some where down the road we will get back to some semblance of normalcy. We always have. The flu pandemic of 1917-19 killed well over 1,000,000 people world wide, and over 100,000 in the US alone. Same thing with the Asian flu. But we beat those and we will beat this. It just will take time. Hopefully it pulls us all together. I know those in the hardest hit states have it a lot worse than we do here in my small town. I went to Wal-Mart today. People were not getting nuts. They were keeping their distance and some were wearing mask’s. Which actually are not really that effective since the virus is not airborne. But if they give people a sense of security, fine. Baseball will be back. If not this year, then next. But teams are going to have to adjust their thinking. People are not going to be able to afford the high prices most teams charge for games. Same with concessions. 12 dollar beers are going to be considered a luxury purchase. This is America. We have been through worse. We can make it if we all pull together.
FYI:
Evan is with Border Protection or Homeland Security or some such branch of the government.
That’s why he carries a gun.
I am not affiliated with any of that, which is why I also carry a gun.
Great piece, Evan… and I wish we could just focus on the pandemic and not the politics, but scumbags on both sides prevent that.
Don’t be a scumbag … Be a Dodger fan.