NOVAK: Trying to come up with creative content

Published 9:16 am Tuesday, March 31, 2020

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I keep searching for that light at the end of the tunnel.

But so far, I still have more questions than answers when it comes to sports. Will we get high school sports restarted this spring? If so, how many games would make up a regular season? Can we push the state tournament back into the summer?

All good questions that we all want some answers to soon. Unfortunately, no one can answer any one of them at this point. We do not know how long the COVID-19 outbreak will last. We have no idea when social distancing restrictions will be lifted, nor do we know when the stay-at-home order will be lifted.

What I do know is that with each passing day, I am less optimistic about getting any spring sports played. I would have said something different last Friday, but then Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said it was “very unlikely” that schools would reopen.

If there is no school, then I have got to believe there will be no sports. It only makes sense.

To pass the time, I have been trying to come up with creative ideas for stories and photos to continue to fill the sports pages while we await the outcome. Things like having the parents of senior athletes decorate their front doors with jerseys and other items celebrating their participation in high school athletics the past four years.

We are off to a great start with a handful of submissions. Hopefully, this idea will continue to grow and spread to all six of the communities that Leader Publications covers. To submit a photo of your front door, email me at the address listed below.

I have also asked seniors who have signed national letters of intent, but have not yet had that information published in one of our products to email me a photo and contact information. I will contact you, and we will get that information in as quickly as possible.

If you are a senior who has never been part of our Athlete Showcase, email me and I will get you the form. We want to get every senior who competed in sports during the 2019-20 season in the paper over the next few weeks.

The best part of my day still is working on sports pages. It gives me a few hours of peace while I write up stories, pick pictures and then come up with a design. It takes my mind off of the virus and the fact there are no sports to watch on television unless you count reruns.

At this point, all my favorite summer sporting events are falling by the wayside. As I am writing this column, it was announced that Wimbledon, my all-time favorite tennis tournament, has been canceled for this year. What is next? Do we have to start worrying about losing the sports that come in July and August?

Only time will tell. Let us all cross our fingers that scientists can get a handle on this sooner rather than later. I am under no delusion that the worst is yet to come. But I pray that the worst is not as bad as they are predicting it will be. I pray they will come up with a treatment that will not only keep people from dying, but keep those who have not contracted the virus from doing so.

But for now, I promise you I will keep bringing you local sports coverage. I will continue to try to find stories you want to read. Hopefully, I can do for you what writing the stories does for me. I hope I can bring you a few moments of escape from the reality we now live.

Scott Novak is sports editor for Leader Publications. He can be reached at scott.novak@leaderpub.com.