They’re back. Sports are back! After months of confusion and panic, the NBA came back to complete its regular and postseason in a bubble. The NFL started up at its normal time but without preseason games, the NHL have just named the Stanley Cup winners (The Tampa Bay Lightning), and the MLB playoffs are just beginning. Sports are back, but not without some unusual qualities.

Some sports, such as tennis and golf, haven’t seen much change besides from mandatory masks while not competing, and the banning of most fans. While other sports, such as professional basketball, have drastically changed, seeing that their season was cut in half. The NBA resumed its season in a “bubble” in Orlando Florida, with every team that had a chance at making the playoffs being there. The bubble was a massive complex with rooms for each individual player, courts, dining areas, and many other accommodations. Some NBA players such as 76ers guard Matisse Thybulle, and Lakers center Javale McGee even recorded their bubble experience, posting regular vlogs to YouTube. 

The former of these players went quite mainstream with his “Welcome to the Bubble” series he posted to his YouTube channel, as he got on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “Good Morning America.” Sadly, this series came to an end after nine episodes as the 76ers were eliminated from the NBA playoffs in the first round. But these videos along with many others gave us an insight on what it’s like inside of the bubble. The NBA playoffs are coming to an end as the Miami Heat will face the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals.

Now as excited many people are with the return of sports, it has not come without much controversy. From concern about Covid-19, to arguments of racial equality in America, sports have been chock full of drama. Every NBA team boycotted their games following the shooting of Jacob Blake, while many NFL teams held moments of silence before their games, as peaceful symbols for racial equality. This upset many people, with President Trump saying, “I don’t know much about the NBA protest, I know their ratings have been very bad because I think people are tired of the NBA frankly…they’ve become like a political organization and that’s not a good thing.” 

When it comes to the Coronavirus, there are obviously people who don’t believe sports should have ever stopped, and there are also people who think that sports should not be going on right now. All sports have a mandatory mask policy and make sure athletes get regular covid tests. Five NFL coaches and their teams even got fined during their respective games because they didn’t wear masks, with the fine totals coming to a staggering $1.7 million.

No matter what your stance on the protests for equality, and how the Covid-19 situation is being handled, sports are back, and this makes many people very happy. For a lot of people, sports are a pastime, a passion, and something they love to do and watch. So as controversial as this return is, sports are the one bright spot in many people’s 2020–something we all definitely need.