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Calling a timeout

March 13, 2020 at 6:12AM
Sam Hess, Operations with Monumental Sports & Entertainment, skates alone prior Detroit Red Wings playing against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on March 12, 2020 in Washington, D.C. Today the NHL announced is has suspended their season due to the uncertainty of the coronavirus (COVID-19) with hopes of returning. The NHL currently joins the NBA, MLS, as well as other sporting events and leagues around the world suspending play because of the coronavirus outbreak. (Patrick Smith/Get
Sam Hess, Operations with Monumental Sports & Entertainment, skates alone prior Detroit Red Wings playing against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on March 12, 2020 in Washington, D.C. Today the NHL announced is has suspended their season due to the uncertainty of the coronavirus (COVID-19) with hopes of returning. The NHL currently joins the NBA, MLS, as well as other sporting events and leagues around the world suspending play because of the coronavirus outbreak. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images/TNS) ORG XMIT: 1602943 (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

MLB, NHL, MLS, NCAA go dark

By Naila-Jean Meyers njmeyers@startribune.com

The crack of the bat. The swish of the net. The rattle of the boards. "One Shining Moment."

Many of the sounds of spring will be missing for the next few weeks, at least, as we try to slow the spread of COVID-19.

On Thursday, a day after the NBA suspended its season, Major League Baseball, the NHL and MLS followed suit.

College basketball players were pulled off the court at conference tournaments, which were abruptly called off. Then, a few hours later, the NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments were gone too.

There will be no college wrestling champions crowned in U.S. Bank Stadium, no hometown triumph for undefeated Gable Steveson. There will be no hockey champions, lacrosse champions, track champions or baseball champions in the NCAA either, as spring sports too were swept up in the abundance of caution. You will not see if the Gophers softball team can return to the Women's College World Series.

You won't hear "Play ball!" at Target Field for a while, with Opening Day pushed back at least two weeks. The Loons, who were to open at home Sunday, won't run onto the pitch at Allianz Field until, perhaps, mid-April. The NWHL will not give out the Isobel Cup on Friday as planned, and the Stanley Cup may be awarded in July.

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Hardly any sport was left untouched by the shutdown. Golf? The Players Championship stopped after one round. NASCAR? No fans. Boston Marathon? Possibly postponed for the first time in 124 years.

The cascade of cancellations ended athletes' careers by news release, without a walkoff to a standing ovation. Cross-country skier Caitlin Gregg had planned to compete in her final World Cup race a block from her home when the circuit came to Minneapolis next week. But there will be no race.

Gymnast Maggie Nichols of Little Canada, a senior at Oklahoma, expected to compete in front of family and friends Saturday when her Sooners team visited the U. The sold-out event, a first for Gophers women's gymnastics, was canceled. And with no postseason meets ahead, Nichols' storied career, which included the past two all-around national titles, was over — without a sound. □

INSIDE: 11 pages of coverage Ø


Twins catcher Mitch Garver sat in front of the dugout in Flort Myers, Fla., on the day that spring training games were called off in March.
Photos by Patrick Smith • Getty Images (NHL) • Elise Amendola (MLB), Ben McKeown (College basketball) • Associated Press Scenes of emptiness prevailed across the nation’s sports stadiums and fields Thursday. At top, Sam Hess, an employee with Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which operates the NHL’s Capitals, skated alone at Capital One Arena in Washington. Above left, Twins catcher Mitch Garver talked on his phone in an empty dugout at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers, Fla. Above right, Mike Lemcke of Richmond, Va., sat in an empty Greensboro (N.C..) Coliseum, site of the canceled Atlantic Coast Conference men’s basketball tournament. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
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Mike Lemcke, from Richmond, Va., sits in an empty Greensboro Coliseum after the NCAA college basketball games were cancelled at the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament in Greensboro, N.C., Thursday, March 12, 2020. The biggest conferences in college sports all canceled their basketball tournaments because of the new coronavirus, seemingly putting the NCAA Tournament in doubt. The vast majority of people recover from the new coronavirus. According to the World Health Organization, most people recover in about two to six weeks, depending on the severity of the illness. (AP Photo/Ben McKeown) (Associated Press/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
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In this photo taken Monday, March 6, 2017, in San Francisco, released confidential files by The University of California of a sexual misconduct case, like this one against UC Santa Cruz Latin Studies professor Hector Perla is shown. Perla was accused of raping a student during a wine-tasting outing in June 2015. Some of the files are so heavily redacted that on many pages no words are visible. Perla is one of 113 UC employees found to have violated the system's sexual misconduct policies in rece

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