A coronavirus party? Really? Reluctantly, a quick word about ignoring the threat. We don’t know the identity of the new coronavirus patient in Kentucky who Gov. Andy Beshear scolded Tuesday for having taken part in a coronavirus party, a gathering held specifically to flaunt the request of public officials not to gather in large groups…
In emotional video, Karl-Anthony Towns reveals his mother is in coma with COVID-19 symptoms
Ten days ago, former University of Kentucky All-American and current Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns announced that he would give a $100,000 to the Mayo Clinic to support COVID-19 testing. Shortly after, he found out his mother, Jacqueline Cruz, was ill. Both of his parents were not feeling well, and both went to a physician….
A pandemic is not a game: Facts, stats and COVID-19
A personal observation. When you’re a sportswriter and you begin writing on a news topic, such as COVID-19, you know it is a fundamentally different enterprise from writing sports. And yet, and maybe because my audience is primarily a sports audience, many readers I encounter still treat it as a sport – which is understandable…
Coronavirus and the history happening around us
So how is everybody feeling? I have used this space to write about a great many issues surrounding this COVID-19 tsunami that has overtaken us in the past week. Today I don’t want to write about nuts and bolts, statistics or curves — though there are plenty of updates to give. Instead, consider this: Every…
California lockdown, a leadership failure and my rules for media engagement
The entire state of California was told Thursday to stay home. To shelter in place. The most populous state in the nation has been ground to a halt. Seven weeks after the biggest story there (and everywhere) was the death of Kobe Bryant in a helicopter crash, the health and livelihoods of millions are on…
More bad news — and solutions from unlikely places
So here’s the latest: the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1,300 points Wednesday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. increased by more than 4,000, President Trump ordered Navy hospital ships into New York Harbor and New York City mayor Bill de Blasio came closer to a shelter-in-place order to citizens of the…
You know it’s serious when the politicians start playing nice
I have spent the day writing sports news, and much of it, I’m just going to be honest with you, doesn’t matter to me, or at least, not nearly as much as it ordinarily would. I’m thrilled Teddy Bridgewater is getting a 3-year, $60 million contract with the Carolina Panthers, but honestly, I think it’s…
A new role, amid more dramatic containment measures
Today won’t be much different for me. It will be very different for many of my hard-working WDRB colleagues. Without going into specifics, I’ve never seen a workplace more dramatically and quickly transform than this television station has over the past week. A sizable portion of the WDRB newsroom, the largest TV newsroom in Kentucky,…
In 1918, Louisville came together when faced with flu pandemic
I was paging back through some old newspapers, looking at what generally is agreed to be the worst influenza outbreak in Louisville’s history, and was struck by something. They didn’t know as much back in 1918 when the so-called “Spanish Flu” hit, but they knew more than you probably think. Today, our technology is better,…
Thoughts while social distancing
What do you do when you’re a sportswriter, and sports suddenly disappear? ESPN is grappling with a similar scenario, as it scrambles to provide programming over a family of channels – with no games going on. Thursday night, Sports Business Journal media writer John Ourand shared an outline of programming for the network, with ESPN…