For me, February began with a business trip to California, where I also stayed the weekend to visit family after going to Disneyland with some wonderful friends I've worked with for many years. I knew what coronavirus was then, but in no way did it impact my everyday life, nor did it for most Americans. I remember waiting in line for one ride in front of a young Chinese boy who was coughing his head off, though I wasn't particularly concerned about catching anything from him. At least he had the decency not to cough right on me. Turns out, I caught a cold at the end of my trip, though I blame that on the middle-aged white guy in the airport who literally turned and coughed in my face when he was getting off of the plane. Didn't cover his mouth or anything. Totally disgusting. I just gave him a look like, "Really, dude?" If it happened today, I might have given him more than a look.
February ended with a vacation in Florida, where I introduced my girlfriend to Grandma, went to Disney World, and went to a Yankees Spring Training game. Coronavirus was a thing in the U.S. by then, but I still didn't think much of it. March started in much the same way: Going places and doing things, per usual. March 6, Spurs vs. Nets NBA game. March 8, Casting Crowns and Matthew West concert. March 9, plane to Washington, D.C. for another business trip. The March 10 conference I was in D.C. for was about a quarter smaller than usual, and some things were beginning to get cancelled. I remarked to a co-worker that I thought that was probably an overreaction, and she agreed with me.
My meetings on Capitol Hill went on as scheduled. I met with Rep. Stanton (AZ) and several folks from the staffs of Senators and Representatives. The only thing different than usual was that no one was shaking hands anymore. A wonderful woman from the staff of Rep. Hastings (FL) has the distinction of being the person to introduce me to the elbow bump as a greeting in lieu of a handshake. I used this newly-found greeting that evening when I met Rep. Veasey (TX). That night, I met up with a buddy from college for a few beers. We talked about coronavirus. He explained that it was going to be a serious problem, and he had just cancelled an upcoming vacation. I told him we had to take basic precautions, but I didn't think it would become a huge problem. I had to fly back to Westchester the next day and was hoping the flight did not get cancelled. It was more than half empty, and I landed early. That night, all hell broke loose.
After the previous game, Rudy Gobert had been joking around about coronavirus, going out of his way to touch the microphones of all of the reporters, and apparently just about everything and everyone in the locker room afterwards as well. On this night, March 11, Gobert was not in the arena, so the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder was about to start without the All-Star Center for the Utah Jazz. Suddenly, it was called off without warning and all of the fans in the packed arena were sent home, undoubtedly booing mercilessly.
The ESPN alerts on my phone came in fast and furious. Gobert had tested positive for coronavirus, which led to the game's cancellation. Then NBA Commissioner Adam Silver postponed the NBA season. And the NHL season was postponed. And the NCAA Tournaments were cancelled. And pretty much every other sporting event in the country and the world was cancelled or postponed as well. Whoa.
Well, being a sports fan, that's what it took to wake me up, and the same was likely true for hundreds of millions along with me. I looked at the information, the numbers, and what the experts were saying, and realized the situation was damn serious. Even the eternal optimist President Trump had changed his tone at this point. Now, I'm one of those people who always washes his hands and almost never touches a door handle, so nothing changed for me on that front, but social distancing was now a thing, and I'm doing most of my work from home for the short-term (and thankful that I still have a job where I can do that). The mass hysteria and the shortages of toilet paper and hand sanitizer though, not to mention those who bought them up just to try to price gouge, are totally ridiculous. But the cancellations of all large events are warranted and make complete sense.
Meanwhile, the stock market has tanked, and my 401K, Roth IRA, and small collection of stocks are in the toilet. I expect that they will bounce back in time once we get through this, but we need to keep the social distancing in place in order to get through this in a way where we flatten the curve and can hopefully return to normal in several months, losing perhaps a few thousand people in the U.S. rather than a seven-digit number (every life is precious, but the sad reality is that some number of people, mostly elderly and those with underlying conditions, are going to die from this).
No sporting events. No concerts. No church services. No school for children. No commute to work. No having to put on pants in the morning. It's nothing like I've ever lived through, nor has anyone under the age of 100 who wasn't around for the Spanish Flu, which is, by the way, not a racist term. Look, President Trump and his administration could have responded better initially, but hindsight is 20/20, and I believe they're doing a much better job now, and his labeling of this as the Chinese Virus is not racist. It's accurate. This originated in China, and it happened because the Chinese government allowed it to happen in the first place, because people are apparently allowed to eat bats. They then failed to act and tried to cover it up, allowing it to spread. It's similar to what Russia did with the nuclear meltdown in Chernobyl, except this has now spread worldwide. We call the Chernobyl disaster by its location rather than by some other name. It's not degrading to Chinese people to call this the Chines virus, but to the garbage Communist Government of China, which is now trying to spread the lie that the U.S. Military is actually responsible for the virus by the way.
One major thing that I will give President Trump credit for is that he banned travel from China very early on. This saved countless lives. And he did so despite people calling that policy racist, like so many people on the Left do with virtually every fucking thing President Trump does. The man is far from perfect, but he's not a racist, and he's certainly no authoritarian, even though many are now begging for him to essentially become one. Anyway, that's enough on President Trump for now. Let's get back to the taller hero.
Rudy Gobert was the first celebrity I heard of who was diagnosed with coronavirus, with a displeased Donovan Mitchell (Gobert's teammate) soon following, as well as Tom Hanks and a slew of others over the last week or so. Rudy Gobert is me. And you. He was joking around and making light of the virus one day, and the next day he was the most infamous NBA player to test positive for something since Magic Johnson. People were pissed at him. He recognized that he made a thoughtless mistake, apologized profusely, and donated a lot of money to help. He did the right thing. In his error, subsequent diagnosis, and subsequent recognition of the seriousness of coronavirus, he may have inadvertently saved America.
As Rudy Gobert went, so went America. The NBA was the first domino to fall, followed by the other sports leagues, and then concerts and pretty much every other gathering. So, thank you, Rudy Gobert! We're all in this together now, so even if you're a young person, for the sake of the older folks and the at-risk folks especially, let's make some sacrifices and practice social distancing. Let's all try to help those in need, like the sports stars and team owners who are paying the salaries of those who usually work in the arenas and stadiums for the teams. Let's reach out to people and call them to check on them and to connect. In the absence of church services, my Pastor has taken to daily brief messages online, the last several of which have encouraged us all to call a few people, especially those who may be feeling especially isolated or lonely.
We can't always correct mistakes that were made in the past, but we can do better going forward. We can make the future better. It won't be easy, but we must do it. And this too shall pass. Yes, it's unprecedented, but we will come out on the other side stronger than ever!
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For those of you who are wondering about how to pronounce Rudy Gobert's last name, it's similar to Stephen Colbert's last name (Rudy is a 7'1" French guy). For those of you who are wondering when I got the cards in the photo signed by him, it was over a year ago, so he did not have coronavirus at the time, although he does happen to have an abysmal signature...
