How Does March Madness Being Canceled Effect Sports Anchors, , Coaches And Student Athletes?

Have you ever stopped and thought about how March Madness being canceled this season effects those who work in the industry such as sports anchors, coaches and how it effects the players?

I reached out to two different people who work in the industry . The first being Mark Armstrong who is the sports anchor for ABC 11. He had this to say about not having March Madness this year.

1.       Obviously, since there are no sports to cover, my job has changed drastically. I’m doing more feature stories now related to how the sports world is reacting to the coronavirus pandemic.

2.       I’m sure they’re very disappointed and depressed to not be able to compete this year. I know I’m very sad not to be covering it. It’s a once in a lifetime event for many of the players, so to miss out must be extremely gutting. There is no choice though.

3.       I miss the excitement of the games, the fun of entering a winning locker room and seeing the joy on the player’s faces. I miss traveling and socializing with my other friends in the media during the tournament. I miss everything about it.

The other was former Duke player, 2010 National Champion Nolan Smith who is currently the Director Of Basketball Operations at his alma mater and he had this say about March Madness being cancelled.

No March Madness has effected the basketball world in a major way. In college athletics the first thing we had to do was get our players home safe. Duke university shut down campus and we as a program follows our school’s policy. Our players will have to finish school online. It has been a lot of change Fast with a lot of moving parts.

I know that not having March madness effected our players in an emotional way. It ‘s what he start training for in July, so you have that taken away from you it’s extremely tough ! Extremely!

To all the student athletes that missed out on March Madness . .. It’s a really sad for them ! Playing in March Madness is a childhood dream . There are a lot of seniors including ours that I hurt for that missed their one shining moment! That moment will never happen again and we will never what could have been. It could have continued to be Justin Robinson or Javin DeLaurier or Jack White primed and ready in their last tournament!!

Here is to hoping that in March 2021 we will be having March Madness and that the people who work in the sports industry as well as the student athletes that they get rewarded for all their hard work they put in throughout the year to prepare for the moment we call March Madness and that they get to enjoy hearing their team be announced as one of the sixty eight teams in the field competing in the NCAA Tournament!