The waiting in the wings well-being salve that is the NFL

I didn’t watch any of the virtual NFL draft.

I’m trying to maintain some cautious optimism about the upcoming season.

Curious as to how Gronkowski and Brady will fare in Tampa Bay.

Interested to see how the Broncos’ draft picks and the year two progression of Denver’s quarterback Drew Lock pan out.

Mitch Trubisky seems like a nice guy, but I’m not sure of his long-term NFL future as a starting QB. I will be rooting for him to at least hold off veteran journeyman Nick Foles and keep his starting job with da Bears for this season.

Year two of quarterback Daniel Jones with the Giants leaves me hopeful about Big Blue’s ability to return to relevance amid the NFL’s upper echelon of franchises.

And after last year’s Super Bowl victory, I’m anxiously awaiting Patrick Mahomes encore performance with Kansas City.

All of these comments betray my innermost feelings regarding whether or not we’ll have an NFL season as we’ve come to know these past 100 years.

Will there be fans in the stands?

Will there be a season at all?

A lot depends on what happens with the coronavirus in the coming months.

I have to give credit to Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky who is phasing back in the Commonwealth’s economy sensibly.

His approach is careful, methodical, and with the general public’s safety first and foremost.

I’m not sure approaches in other states that are not quite as measured are appropriate.

The NFL is big money and big money takes a hit if games are played in quarantine.

Roger Goodell has pulled off a virtual draft.

If need be, can he also have a virtual season when the real games are scheduled to come in September?

The coronavirus has disrupted everyday life and in so doing brought a halt to sports.

Sports have always been one social institution Americans could immerse themselves in and look forward to during national crises.

Not knowing how the coronavirus will play out, however, is cause for concern, to put it mildly.

All good plans have contingencies built into them.

Could you enjoy watching NFL games on TV without fans in the stands?

Would you even watch at all?

I think many fans would.

How would the NFL pull off the successful and safe version of its season this fall?

I’m just not sure no matter what happens between now and then, that fans would attend games–even with assurances from health officials that it is safe to do so.

The coronavirus is the silent, deadly unknown.

Nothing short of a vaccine is said to be the cure that would enable a full return to societal norms pre-dawn of our new normal.

The economy is teetering.

It has to be phased back in safely to avoid a complete financial collapse to the global economy.

And speaking of the global economy, we need to be cognizant of the operative word that is global when describing the type of economy the world utilizes.

I understand temporarily closing borders as part of coronavirus measures to limit its transmission.

But the global economy cannot flourish again on pre-coronavirus levels if any country including the U.S. deems isolationism the preferred school of economics moving forward.

We live in a digital age which fortunately for us allows the coronavirus to be monitored more closely than any plague before it.

And unlike baseball, whose hopes for a season are fading quickly, football may be the sport that virtually restores our sense of time-honored familiarity during the new normal.