Tag: COVID-19

On this day: NBA suspends season following Rudy Gobert’s positive COVID-19 test in OKC

On this day: NBA suspends season following Rudy Gobert’s positive COVID-19 test in OKC.

On this day four years ago, Oklahoma City set off a chain reaction that led to the United States essentially shutting down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On March 11, 2020, the NBA postponed the Utah Jazz vs. Oklahoma City Thunder game due to Rudy Gobert testing positive for COVID-19. Gobert was the first known NBA player to test positive for the virus.

Later that night, the league suspended its season. In the following days, sports leagues across the country followed suit — either suspending or canceling their seasons.

The Thunder entered that date just one game behind the Jazz for a top-four seed in the Western Conference standings. It was billed as a critical game for OKC’s chances of earning homecourt advantage in the playoffs with roughly a month left in the regular season.

Instead, it marked the unofficial start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The league resumed its season five months later on July 30 in a bubble environment at Disney World in Florida. The Thunder were one of the 22 teams invited to the bubble, and teams weren’t allowed to leave it until their season concluded.

The league scheduled eight regular-season games for all 22 teams and also introduced the play-in tournament concept during the bubble.

The Thunder’s season ended in a Game 7 loss of their first-round series against the Houston Rockets. The only Thunder players remaining from that roster are Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Lu Dort.

Following their exit, the Thunder blew up their roster and shifted to development mode. Chris Paul was traded to the Phoenix Suns. Steven Adams was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans. Dennis Schroder was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers and Danilo Gallinari signed with the Atlanta Hawks.

The Thunder also changed head coaches, going from Billy Donovan to Mark Daigneault.

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Report: COVID-19 forces Santa Paula to cancel their football game against La Cañada

Santa Paula football has cancelled their weekend game due to an outbreak of COVID-19.

Santa Paula (Calif.) football has canceled their scheduled game this weekend against La Cañada (Calif.) due to a COVID-19 outbreak that has spread throughout the team.

According to Joe Curley of the Ventura County Star, there was a widespread outbreak of the COVID-19 virus within the Santa Paula football team. Curley provided some great depth in his reporting by digging up the actual numbers regarding those affected by the virus:

“Santa Paula had at least 20 confirmed COVID cases, 17 from its 46-man football roster and another three on its cheer team, and has yet to test everyone who is sick.”

An uptick in reported COVID-19 cases has been evidenced in the past few weeks, a trend that isn’t surprising since much of the country is back to school. Since late July, there has been a nearly 16 percent increase in reported cases nationally.

Like much of the country, COVID-19 hospitalizations in recent weeks are up in California, even though the numbers are still considered low by the CDC.

Santa Paula is currently off to a 3-0 start to their season.

With the cancellation of this weekend’s game, Santa Paula plays their next game on Sept. 15 at Bellflower High School (Bellflower, Calif.).

History of Notre Dame’s rivalry with Navy

This rivalry is filled more history than nearly any other rivalry in college football.

Few rivalries in college football have as much history and prestige as Notre Dame-Navy.

Except for the COVID-19-affected season, these programs have played each other every year since 1927. Even with the college football landscape seemingly always in flux, there’s no reason to think this rivalry will stop anytime soon. Most fans on both sides are fine with that, even if the Irish have won the vast majority of the meetings.

If for no other reason, Notre Dame owes it to Navy to keep the rivalry going. When Notre Dame faced financial difficulties during World War II, the Navy opted to use the university as a training ground for its V-12 program. The money the Navy paid for that usage kept the university from going under, so Notre Dame feel it’s forever in its debt.

The result is many memorable moments over the years. Here are some of them:

Notre Dame Football: Iconic T-Shirt Gets Reworked to Benefit Charity

CATHOLICS VS. CONVICTS

Just reading the words brings back memories of one of the most-heated rivalries college football has ever seen and the 1988 classic that is on the short list of most exciting games anyone has ever seen.

Now the t-shirt is getting reworked in order to benefit the United Way COVID-19 Community Response and Recovery Fund.

It’s the most famous T-shirt in the history of college sports. Heck, perhaps all of sports for that matter.

CATHOLICS VS. CONVICTS

Just reading the words brings back memories of one of the most-heated rivalries college football has seen, and the 1988 classic is on the short list of most exciting games anyone has seen.

Now the T-shirt is getting reworked to benefit the United Way COVID-19 Community Response and Recovery Fund.

Started by four Notre Dame undergraduate students, the Catholics vs. Corona shirt is a fresh reimagination of a classic piece of college football history. It couples the lore of the Notre Dame-Miami rivalry with the altruism and solidarity so desperately needed in these difficult times.  CatholicsVsCorona.com

Shirts are available for $19.95 and benefit the United Way. If you want the new edition of the college football classic, you can purchase the shirt (s) and help a great cause in the process here.

 

Sweden’s top-ranked player, Linn Grant, replaced in LPGA team event due to vaccination status

Grant will also miss the 2023 Chevron Championship, the first LPGA major of the year.

Linn Grant has played all over the world in 2023 – from Morocco to South Korea to Thailand to Singapore to Saudi Arabia. But because she is not vaccinated against COVID-19, Grant has not yet competed in the United States.

In January, the U.S. government extended its existing COVID-19 restrictions, which require international visitors to be fully vaccinated against the virus. The national public health emergency will expire on May 11, and the hope for Grant is that she’d be eligible to compete in the Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play event in Las Vegas, May 24-28.

In the meantime, she’ll miss the 2023 Chevron Championship, the first LPGA major of the year which is next week, as well as the Hanwha Lifeplus International Crown, which will be played May 4-7 at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco. The top four Swedish players in the Rolex Rankings qualified for the event. Grant, who is currently the highest-ranked Swede at No. 22 in the world, was replaced by Caroline Hedwall, who is ranked 117th. Maja Stark (27), Madelene Sagstrom (28) and Anna Nordqvist (34) round out the Swedish team.

Grant won four times on the LET in 2022, including the history-making Scandinavian Mixed, in which she beat the men on the DP World Tour. She also topped the season-long Race to Costa del Sol.

In six LPGA starts last season, Grant carded four top-eight finishes and a T-19 at the AIG Women’s British Open.

Grant has yet to win in 2023 but has two top-four finishes on the LET. She recently tied for 36th on the KLPGA.

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On this day: NBA suspends season following Rudy Gobert’s positive COVID-19 test in OKC

What was your initial reaction to the Thunder’s home game against the Jazz being postponed?

On this day three years ago, Oklahoma City set off a chain reaction that led to the United States essentially shutting down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On March 11, 2020, the NBA postponed the Utah Jazz vs. Oklahoma City Thunder game due to Rudy Gobert testing positive for COVID-19. Gobert was the first known NBA player to test positive for the virus.

Later that night, the league suspended its season. In the following days, sport leagues throughout the country followed suit. They either suspended or canceled their seasons.

The Thunder entered that date just one game behind the Jazz for a top-four seed in the Western Conference standings. It was billed as a critical game for OKC’s chances of earning homecourt advantage in the playoffs with roughly a month left in the regular season.

The league resumed its season five months later on July 30 in a bubble environment at Disney World in Florida. The Thunder were one of the 22 teams invited to the bubble, and teams weren’t allowed to leave it until their season concluded.

The league scheduled eight regular-season games for all 22 teams and also introduced the play-in tournament concept during the bubble.

The Thunder’s season ended in a Game 7 loss of their first-round series against the Houston Rockets. The only Thunder players remaining from that roster are Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Lu Dort.

Following their exit, the Thunder blew up their roster and shifted to development mode. Chris Paul was traded to the Phoenix Suns. Steven Adams was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans. Dennis Schroder was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers and Danilo Gallinari signed a deal with the Atlanta Hawks. The Thunder also changed head coaches, going from Billy Donovan to Mark Daigneault.

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On this day: Pandemic pause anniversary; Russell’s 49 boards; Potapenko trade

On this date in Celtics history, the pandemic began for many, Russell ripped down 49 boards, and Potapenko was dealt to Boston.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, the NBA ground to a halt in 2020 as the world came to terms with a growing pandemic. The league canceled games following a positive COVID-19 test by Utah Jazz big man Rudy Gobert.

The Celtics were in Wisconsin to play the Milwaukee Bucks and ended up stranded in Milwaukee while the team was quarantined briefly. They had played the Jazz not long before Gobert’s positive test.

That test set in motion the longest midseason shutdown in league history, throwing the NBA calendar into a disarray that only recently returned to normal. It resulted in the season being finished in a bubble environment at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex.

To say it changed the league and its trajectory would be an immense understatement, and it continues reshaping the world we live in, to say nothing of the NBA.

On this day: Last game before pandemic pause; Murphy, Ehlers born

On this day, Boston played their last game for months as the pandemic interrupted the season, and a pair of Celtics O.G.s were born.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, there were three games of note where Boston stars had an outstanding game played by the Celtics in the last 30 years.

The first of the trio of contests was a 111-109 overtime road win over the Portland Trail Blazers in 1991 that saw Hall of Fame Celtics small forward Larry Bird put up 27 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists, and a steal to help Boston secure the win. Larry Legend wasn’t especially efficient overall, going 9-of-23 overall, but he shot 2-of-5 from beyond the arc and a perfect 7-of-7 from the free-throw line in 52 total minutes of floor time.

“I would love to have a situation in which we play Portland again this year,” Celtics head coach Chris Ford said at the time via the UPI. “That would mean we’d both be in the finals. I would love it to happen.”

Houston Texans disagree with NFL findings that led to forfeiture of 2023 fifth-round pick

The Houston Texans released a statement disagreeing with the NFL’s findings, but say they will abide by them.

The NFL announced they will fine the Houston Texans and take their 2023 fifth-round pick for violations of league policy during the 2020 league year.

The violations stem from how the Texans covered the costs of alternate workout sites while team facilities were closed during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

The team released the following statement via Aaron Wilson of KPRC-TV:

“During the 2020 league year and while its facilities were closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Club absorbed $26,777 in costs for player benefits for the use of alternate athletic facilities, which it understands should have been charged instead to player salaries.

“The Club has fully cooperated with the League in its investigation of these matters and maintains that it had no intention to circumvent any salary cap rules or gain any sort of competitive advantage. While we disagree with the League’s ruling, we will accept the imposed discipline and move forward.”

The Texans originally were tied with the Kansas City Chiefs for the most selections in the draft with 12. The 11 picks are still four extra than the typical complement of seven.

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Rising star Linn Grant likely to miss first major of season due to U.S. vaccine travel restrictions

Grant played a limited LPGA schedule last year for the same reason as she is not vaccinated against COVID-19.

Linn Grant will begin her 2023 season in Morocco next week on the Ladies European Tour. One of the most promising young players in the game, Grant was forced to play a limited LPGA schedule last year because U.S. travel restrictions won’t let her in the country as she is not vaccinated against COVID-19.

Grant, who is currently No. 28 in the Rolex Rankings, will be able to compete in the LPGA’s upcoming Asian swing, but her agent, Pelle Krüger said they’re not optimistic that she’ll be able to compete in the year’s first major, the Chevron Championship.

Tennis star Novak Djokovic was not able to compete in the U.S. Open last summer for the same reason.

In January, the U.S. government extended its existing COVID-19 restrictions, which require international visitors to be fully vaccinated against the virus, to April 10. Kruger told Golfweek that while they’re still trying to obtain a pass for special circumstances, they don’t foresee things opening up until at least early May. The Chevron is slated for April 20-23.

On Monday, the Biden administration announced plans to end both the national emergency and public health emergency declarations on May 11.

2022 Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed
Linn Grant poses with the trophy after winning the 2022 Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed Hosted by Henrik & Annika at Halmstad Golf Club in Sweden. (Photo: Naomi Baker/Getty Images)

Grant won four times on the LET in 2022, including the history-making Scandinavian Mixed, in which she beat the men on the DP World Tour. She also topped the season-long Race to Costa del Sol.

In six LPGA starts last season, Grant carded four top-eight finishes and a T-19 at the AIG Women’s British Open.

Worst-case scenario, Grant will play in all the LPGA events held outside the U.S. (around 10 or 11) and add in the same number of LET events in between.

Sweden is one of eight countries that qualified for the Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown, which will be played May 4-7 at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco. The top four Swedish players in the Rolex Rankings as of April 3 will qualify for the event. Grant is currently the second-highest ranked Swede, behind Madelene Sagstrom (25th).

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