In any normal year, this space is reserved for the best of the best. The top 10 sports stories of the past 365 days.
Not this year. As 2020 gets ready to make way for 2021, all who play and those who watch can't wait to bid adieu to the season of COVID-19. The coronavirus pandemic slammed into our world in March and, instead of having a year with incredible triumphs, fantastic finishes and individual accolades, we got sadness, disappointment and frustration on the court, on the ice, on the field and at the track.
Sports ground to a halt as the nation fought — and continues to fight — the battle against the coronavirus pandemic. We have hope as a vaccine is at the ready, but, getting our sports back to any kind of normalcy is still beyond the horizon.
As we look back on the past 12 months, unfortunately, the biggest story of 2020, was what didn't happen.
An expected postseason run for the Siena men's basketball team. A summer of baseball in Troy with the Tri-City ValleyCats. RPI's hockey looking at doing something special in the ECAC playoffs. Watching the races in July and August at Saratoga Race Course. All of that was swept away because of the coronavirus.
Except for wrestling, last year's winter sports in high school athletics never got to play for their championships. A couple of leagues played soccer in the fall and schools ran cross country but there was no prep football and there is no guarantee that it will be played in the spring. Winter sports for this season are a no-go for now, with some low-risk exceptions.
Some teams, like Union's hockey teams and the women's basketball teams at UAlbany and Siena, did complete their seasons last March before COVID hit. Same for the College of Saint Rose and Division III programs at RPI and Union.
When the calendar turned to 2020, fans were flocking to Times Union Center to watch what looked like it was going to be a championship season for the Siena College men's basketball team. COVID KO'd that before the Saints could win the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship and head off to the NCAA Tournament.
Basketball fans were stocked for March Madness' scheduled return to TU Center, the first time the NCAA Tournament was to be held downtown since 2003. That was called off because of the coronavirus, as was the entire tournament.
College basketball is back, but fans can't go to watch. The men and women at Siena and UAlbany are and will play in fanless gyms, the Saints back to Alumni Recreation Center on campus, the Great Danes at SEFCU Arena. Both programs have seen pauses because of the coronavirus with the Siena men having the most frustration. The Saints have yet to play a game after being put on pause recently for the third time.
"I went to all home games," said Patti Bayly of Troy, a Siena season-ticket holder since the mid-1970s. "It's very strange not getting into the car and heading down 787 to the TU. It had been a long time since I had missed a game. It was just depressing last year. I really thought we were going to go back to the NCAAs and win more than one game. It was hard to take."
She is bummed, too, that she can't see her beloved Saints in person this year. Bayly promises she will root just as hard in front of her television set as she would in person if she were in her seat at Times Union Center.
Mark Benson, the athletic director at UAlbany, feels the pain of his fans. The Great Danes, besides basketball, have seen all of the fall sports, including football, called off with the hope of playing in the spring. Last spring, lacrosse, one of the most popular sports on campus, didn't get to play, nor did the baseball or softball teams.
That was a familiar tale of woe all over college campuses in the region and the country.
"We were going to host Syracuse (in lacrosse) for the first time ever," Benson said. "We get tremendous support from our fans and we were not only excited for our program, but for them, too. We thought it would be a sellout. I feel so bad for them. Our football team had a breakout season last year, getting to the FCS playoffs and winning a game. It's just been tough for everyone, for every sport, that we haven't been able to play. We're happy our basketball teams are playing, but, again, you just feel bad our fans can't be there."
The college hockey fans in the area got a gut punch last month when both Union and RPI decided there would be no season for either program, men and women. There are those in Troy and Schenectady who make those ECAC weekends a rite of winter passage. And, you're darn right they miss it.
"No games to watch. It has been brutal," said RPI season-ticket holder Michael Fairchild, who grew up on Engineers hockey when he would go with his dad, Larry, who also still attends. "This could have been the year for them. I miss going to the (Houston) Field House. It's a good, family atmosphere; always fun to go there."
You hear the same sentiment from Mike Aragosa of Schenectady, who has been a longtime fan of the Union program.
"I can think of people who were going to the games in the late '70s and they are still going now," Aragosa said. "They would have been there Friday if there was a game. Not only do I miss the season, I miss seeing the people. It was a social event for a lot of us. A lot of those people, that is the only place I would see them, at Union hockey games."
Saratoga, considered to be the most popular horse racing destination in the country, if not the world, was able to get through its 40-day meet. Everything was the same as it had been for decades before except for one thing. No fans.
The general public was not allowed to attend the races, a crushing blow to the Saratoga economy which did not get the tourism traffic it relies on mightily. At one point, owners were allowed to come to watch their horses run, but having world-class thoroughbreds run in front of an empty grandstand took some getting used to.
In 2019, Saratoga's attendance averaged just more than 27,000 daily.
Many fans, like longtime Spa resident Bob Giordano, made it a daily ritual to set up a lawn chair and watch workouts on the Oklahoma Training Track from outside the fence along East Avenue.
What he really wanted to do was be inside the big horse park to watch the races. He can only hope for 2021.
"I missed the people, I missed seeing people I would see every year," said Giordano, who said he has been attending the races since 1968. "After going in the mornings, there was a lot of emptiness to fill the rest of the day. Summer at Saratoga. That is the place to be as far as I'm concerned."
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December 28, 2020 at 05:30AM
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Pandemic the top sports story of 2020 - Times Union
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