SACRAMENTO, Calif. _ It is eerily quiet at and around Golden 1 Center, like a holiday. Only there is no joy.
On Thursday afternoon, I met little resistance downtown when the lunch hour often creates a maze. Traffic was light. Only a few cars dotted the parking structure near Golden 1 Center. Friday should have been the start of the NCAA men's basketball tournament here, but the action was nowhere to be found.
The arena was closed with notices on the doors about the suspension of the NBA season, of postponed concerts. The Kings' team store was dark. Sports without soul or energy is not sports at all, and that's where we are now in our new normal.
Same with any sort of entertainment. A show is only good as its crowd. None of it works with social distancing. Our 100-mph lives have been reduced to a crawl. What hovers is a mysterious, invisible foe, the coronavirus that continues to shake lives and take them.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday announced a 'statewide stay-at-home" order in an effort to best quell the spread of the virus. This is no longer an inconvenience. It's a crisis. We all long for better news and better days.
Sports always offered a diversion. It did during 9/11, the last time this country was jarred to attention. I went to Golden 1 on Thursday to get a sense of what was and what may be again.
This was the week Golden 1 was supposed to heat up. The Kings were supposed to host the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday in a quest to end the NBA's longest playoff drought at 14 seasons.
This week was supposed to be a March Madness stopover at Golden 1, starting with media day Thursday and games Friday and Sunday. It would have been a full venue with pubs, restaurants and coffee shops around the arena overflowing, much like it did during the NCAA Tournament three years ago.
The Yard House near Golden 1 was sparse Thursday. The television sets included breaking NFL news _ Rams running back Todd Gurley has been waived! _ and other monitors had replays of basketball games played years ago. There was no cheer at this bar, which was open only for takeout orders.
"It just seems so ... slow and so sad, all of this," said Larry Evans, a 53-year old contractor who attends Kings games and planned to watch the March Madness action. "Makes me just want to go home and sleep."
It's quiet on the Golden 1 front and everywhere else used to activity. I saw no Little League or youth soccer sessions in the region. I saw no high schools or college student-athletes working on their craft on a track or on a baseball or softball diamond.
On Sunday, the River Cats were scheduled to host the Giants at Raley Field, a sure sellout and jumpstart for the defending Triple-A champions. Raley Field on Thursday was as lonely as Golden 1. Baseball is also on hold. All sports are. No games are scheduled at any level of play. No one has any idea when any of it comes back.
The heroes now aren't the ones racing downcourt in Golden 1 or running the bases or running laps. The heroes today are nurses, doctors, health-care workers, teachers and those frantically stocking toilet paper onto shelves before the crunch of humanity roars in to clear it all out.
Everyone feels the coronavirus crunch, right on down to the high school and college coaches who implore their student-athletes to remain upbeat while reminding themselves to do the same thing.
Sacramento State baseball coach Reggie Christiansen on Thursday was supposed to be on a plane to El Paso to play New Mexico State in a Western Athletic Conference opener. The Hornets had a lot to play for this season. Their aim was to return to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time since 2014. Instead, there is no season for anyone at any level.
"I mowed the (Sac State outfield) grass and prayed for our doctors, nurses and health providers," Christiansen wrote in a tweet. Sac State players have not remained idle. They have volunteered their time at local grocery stores to assist in eCart takeout orders for those who cannot go into stores.
Said longtime Grant High football coach Mike Alberghini, "I always try to stay positive. I look at this way: When something you love is taken away, you think differently when you get it back. We'll get it back, and when we do, I won't think, 'Man, I'm so tired' or, 'Man, not the weight room again.' We'll be excited just to have it all back."
