What’s the Score? and How Much Time is Left?
Would that We Knew, or that We Could Answer Those Questions
Please note that nothing here is to make light of the coronavirus pandemic, or to suggest that it is anything like a game, a sport, a contest, or anything other than the extraordinarily dangerous and tragic public health event it has been. Rather, it is to note how different than sports this first-person-plural pandemic has made the world for all of us, framed in a way that we who are sports fans and players are so accustomed to looking at things.
Anyone walking in on, or joining in, any sporting event in progress will ask these two questions: “what’s the score?” and “how much time is left?” Though fantasy sports, online-in-game gambling, and the extraordinary array of real-time statistics and analytics have opened-up many new conversations amongst fans, the essence of watching, understanding, and even playing competitive sports still comes down to these two questions. Notwithstanding individual performances, 3-point percentages, pitch-counts, quarterback ratings, and other such things, the real story of a game in play is answered by these two simple questions, because they give us a common understanding of what has happened, where things stand, and when we can expect a final result. But only because we understand the nature and the rules of the game, and because we have seen, or played, the same game, with the same rules, so many times before.
The coronavirus pandemic all-but eliminated sports from the world, and replaced them in our consciousness with full-time media attention on the progress and toll of the disease, flattening the curve, and the statistical analysis of all-things virus-related, from the rate of new cases, to the production of personal protective equipment, and more. Those statistics, however, do not tell us what we want to know. Though this is no game, we still want to know where things stand, and when we can expect a final result — what the score is and how much time is left.
The coronavirus is not sport, of course, and those question are not so easily answered when talking about it. The first problem is that we have not seen this “played-out” before. There are few such incidents in the history of the world, and none we can count as effective models for this one. What may be the larger problem though, is that, despite what we do know, unlike in sports, where applying the known and settled rules can be difficult, with the coronavirus, we are left to make-up the rules as we go, without knowing quite where it is we are going or when we will get there.
All we want to know is if we’re winning, and when it will end. In the ramping-back-up world of sports, those questions are comforting, fun and exciting to talk about, at least in part, because they can be answered. In the coronavirus world, which we hope and believe is ramping-down now, it is discomforting that we cannot answer those questions, but it’s a good bet that following the evolving rules, for as long as it takes, will make us winners “in the end.”
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Disclaimer:
The information above is provided for general information purposes only. It may not represent the current law in your particular jurisdiction. Nothing in this post is to be viewed as advice from LaMonaca Law or the individual author. It is not to be a substitute for legal counsel on any subject matter. No one reading this post should act or refrain from acting based on the above information or information accessible through this post without first seeking the appropriate legal counsel on the particular facts and circumstances of one’s particular case from an attorney licensed to practice in one’s own state, country, or other appropriate licensing jurisdiction. Any information contained within is not about nor does it include any facts about any particular client of LaMonaca Law or the individual author.
