College Football

How COVID-19 Has Changed Celebrations

Updated Jul. 14, 2021 5:43 p.m. ET

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By Martin Rogers

A proffered handshake between athletes used to be a sign of respect and not, as one virology expert put it earlier this year, that the person in question is "extending a bioweapon."

It was once that a student body invading a football field or basketball court in the jubilant aftermath of a seismic victory was one of the most pleasing sights in sports, not a precursor for fear, recrimination and apology.

That was the old days, a distant eight months ago, which feels like not just a different time, but an alternate universe.

Back then, a newly-crowned World Series champion letting nothing stand in the way of celebrating a title with his teammates might have been seen as positively endearing, rather than shamefully negligent.

But not now.

Not now and maybe never again will the optics of sports be as they were in the opening months of 2020, a period that didn’t feel particularly innocent but really, truly was, at least compared to where we are currently at.

The rules are different now. Everything is different. Sports can uplift and inspire and quite simply, make our lives better. Yet as long as COVID-19 burns onwards and that awful death toll counter continues its relentless tick, there is always going to be a bigger story.

Things have changed enough that even one of sports’ most compelling modern adventures, the Los Angeles Dodgers finally getting over the hump and clinching the World Series after all those near misses, wasn’t grand enough to avoid being overshadowed.

Justin Turner’s ill-conceived decision to take the field for the post-triumph party after Game 6, despite having just tested positive for the coronavirus, has been baseball’s primary talking point over the past two weeks.

Not Clayton Kershaw’s redemption. Not the generational warmth of getting the trophy back for the first time since 1988. Not Mookie Betts’ clutch hits and outfield magnificence, but Turner, a guy who dismissed the concept of social distancing, made physical contact with other players and pulled down his mask in order to get a photo with his teammates.

"Turner was front and center, mask pulled down beneath his chin while sitting next to manager Dave Roberts, a cancer survivor," USA Today's Nancy Armour pointed out. "There was no reason for Justin Turner to participate in the post-game celebration. There was no reason for the Dodgers to enable Turner's behavior."

Turner’s actions, for which he apologized and escaped sanction, have prompted a steady stream of national discussion, but that didn’t prevent a swath of Notre Dame fans flooding the field on Saturday after the Irish knocked off No. 1 Clemson.

Having sat in separate clumps for most of the game, a large number of fans moved down to the front of the stands towards the end of a double-overtime thriller that was ferocious and epic and everything that is good about college football.

When it was over, there was no stopping them. The field invasion was like a massive green wave and it would have been an awe-inspiring sight, if not for the instant realization of what it meant; that thousands of people were packed shoulder-to-shoulder in a confined space. Forget about six feet apart, most of them barely had six inches to move in.

And again, all the other narratives were replaced by one. Who is now talking about the fact that Clemson’s 39-game regular season win streak got busted? Or that Notre Dame must be considered not just a genuine national title contender, but one of the favorites? Or what this says about Trevor Lawrence’s impact and importance?

"As exciting as last night’s victory over Clemson was, it was very disappointing to see evidence of widespread disregard of our health protocols at many gatherings over the weekend," Notre Dame president Rev. John Jenkins wrote in a letter to students.

For all the overtime dramatics, the game’s biggest contribution is how it offered further proof that sports, and the way we view, consume and think about them, are now reframed in our minds.

They should be. Sports are important and my goodness they were sorely missed in those surreal months of summer, but they’re not as important as something that has killed 238,000 Americans and over a million more internationally.

Because … 2020 … we look at everything through a new lens. Seeing a star quarterback on the sidelines used to spark chatter about when he might return, how sorely he would be missed, what the repercussions for his draft stock might be and so on.

In the case of Lawrence, who received a positive diagnosis on Oct. 29 but was on the sidelines with his colleagues against Notre Dame, it was all about whether he should be there at all. Then - after he lowered his mask to speak to a teammate - about how someone so bright, poised and responsible could be so foolish.

Before this year, no one had to think of such things. We are adjusting our expectations and we are doing it on the fly. Sports have always been susceptible to unpredictability, but not on this scale.

Little can be taken at face value anymore. What looked on paper like a mouthwatering rematch of the 2019 NFC Championship Game, the Green Bay Packers against the San Francisco 49ers, turned out to be a complete dud.

The 49ers were ravaged by the coronavirus and then routed by Green Bay, 34-17, in a game that was way more lopsided than even the score suggests.

Even putting together a winning fantasy football team is that much harder when you don’t know who is going to be playing and, like on eight occasions this season, if the game itself will have to be played on a different week than what was originally scheduled.

Honestly, at times this all feels like a dream, a really dark and twisted one.

In January, you could watch sports and the first and only thing you needed to think about … was sports.

You could sneeze on a train and the only response from other passengers would be one of sympathy, not nervousness.

The way we view life has been altered beyond belief. Why would sports be any different?

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Martin Rogers