-- By Tom Phillips
What do you miss most in this Viral Spring? I asked that question at a recent social-distance gathering with three other people, and got four different answers. Working, partying, going to church were three. Mine was: Sports.
April is the coolest month, for both players and fans -- winter sports climaxing just as baseball returns. Pro basketball and hockey teams scramble for playoff spots. The outdoors warms, the boys of summer fly north, and the buzz of spring training becomes the roar of Opening Day.
Not this year. Baseball, basketball, hockey are all stilled. Tennis courts stretch empty in the parks. Playgrounds are closed. Here on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, the only sound of sporting life seems to emanate from a backyard on 111th street, where the thump of a basketball on concrete is followed by the clang of a shot off the rim.
It's me, playing Hoop Solitaire.
I've been shooting balls through hoops for 70 years, starting in a suburban driveway on Long Island. I hoped to be a star, but I had limited value to my high school and college teams, because the only skill I worked at was shooting.
My game is Hoop Solitaire. And suddenly, it's the only game in town.
What do you miss most in this Viral Spring? I asked that question at a recent social-distance gathering with three other people, and got four different answers. Working, partying, going to church were three. Mine was: Sports.
April is the coolest month, for both players and fans -- winter sports climaxing just as baseball returns. Pro basketball and hockey teams scramble for playoff spots. The outdoors warms, the boys of summer fly north, and the buzz of spring training becomes the roar of Opening Day.
Not this year. Baseball, basketball, hockey are all stilled. Tennis courts stretch empty in the parks. Playgrounds are closed. Here on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, the only sound of sporting life seems to emanate from a backyard on 111th street, where the thump of a basketball on concrete is followed by the clang of a shot off the rim.
I've been shooting balls through hoops for 70 years, starting in a suburban driveway on Long Island. I hoped to be a star, but I had limited value to my high school and college teams, because the only skill I worked at was shooting.
My game is Hoop Solitaire. And suddenly, it's the only game in town.
