In this new sports-free stretch we're adjusting to, it's important to start with the following caveat:
None of this really matters.
The health and safety of everyone trumps whatever inconvenience is caused by the temporary absence of sports in our lives from the coronavirus outbreak.
That goes without saying.
As the United Airlines pilot on my flight home from Phoenix told the passengers, and as Cubs President Theo Epstein reiterated to reporters in a conference call Friday night: "We're all in this together."
Sports no longer is important in the big picture, but because you've spent your life following the world of sports, we're going to stick with the program.
It's impossible to know when or if things will return to normal in our world, but we would like to believe eventually we'll be back watching our favorite teams and players doing what they're paid to do _ provide entertainment for the masses.
Because we don't when that will be, we only can speculate. Which is where we, the lowly sportswriters of the world, come in.
My biggest concerns, relatively speaking, are the potential eliminations of the NBA and NHL playoffs, and, of course, the disruption of the baseball season.
So apologies to the Chicago Fire, NASCAR, the Kentucky Derby and any golf tournament in which Tiger Woods is participating. I'll miss you all, but not watching you in 2020 won't cause me too much anguish.
I wish there were a way to salvage March Madness, both on the college and Illinois high school levels, but because most student-athletes' years end in May in college and in June in high school, there's no way to move them back while schools are still in session. It's a sad ending for all the teams with high hopes, but there's not much that can be done.
As for baseball, the 2020 season easily can go forward with a shortened schedule and some creative thinking, and I'd like to think the same can be said for the NBA and NHL playoffs.
If the suspensions of their seasons can be lifted safely sometime by mid-May or early June, here are my proposals for the three majors sports leagues affected by the outbreak:
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