As we all adjust to a temporary “new normal” with no sports, self-quarantines and a spreading virus, we’ll document thoughts and ideas about getting by during this historic moment.

Sports. We’ve got nothing. From March Madness to my kid’s machine pitch Little League team, everything is halted. Sports television channels are resorting to replaying old games, matches and golf tournaments. We’ll see a re-airing of several old sports documentaries to help fill the air time. Which leads us to an important decision that our friends at ESPN have … release the 10-part Michael Jordan documentary as soon as possible! I’ve been hearing about this documentary for years. It’s supposed to be just incredible, especially for those of us who remember watching the Jordan years.

But it’s scheduled to air in June. Disney, ESPN’s parent, already moved up the release of Frozen 2 to debut this past weekend on the Disney+ streaming service. I’m predicting that the Jordan doc is moved up as well. It makes way too much sense. First, ESPN has nothing to air right now, and a 10-part documentary on Michael Jordan is the one, new thing that they could air that would get a ton of viewings and reactions.

Also, it’s worth noting that traditional cable bundles have been in a secular decline for years, and a couple of months of no live sports is only going to accelerate this decline. How many cable hold-outs (who might be experiencing job loss or income declines with the economic events of today) are asking themselves finally, why am I still paying for cable? The sub losses will continue and likely accelerate, but guess what could maybe mute that impact slightly? Yes, the Jordan documentary! Release it!

The CDC released updated guidelines last night that suggests holding no events over 50 people for the next 8 weeks. That means we’re likely to have no sports (and several other things) for at least 8 more weeks. Yikes!

What else should we be watching? I’m glad you asked! You have thousands of options with this modern era of streaming, and yes, I have some options for you to consider.

Currently, on a week-to-week basis, I’ve been watching Homeland (Showtime) and Better Call Saul (AMC). If you liked Breaking Bad, and have yet to get into the prequel Better Call Saul, you can catch up with past seasons on Netflix. Like Breaking Bad, the first couple of seasons are painfully slow, but it’s outstanding television. Perfect for a self-quarantine!

Since my wife isn’t as keen on endless Afghanistan battles and the New Mexico drug enterprise, I’ve thrown her a bone and watched Love Is Blind on Netflix with her as well. It’s a decent “turn your brain off” and/or “hate watch” show. It’s like Bachelor except there are multiple couples who meet by getting to know each other without seeing each other. Oh, and since it’s Netflix, they drop f-bombs.

Homeland should be incredible, but it has a few flaws that make it wildly entertaining, but pretty ridiculous. The two main flaws are that the main character, Carrie, has a significant mental health disorder, yet is continually put in command of major national security issues, and that she continues to sleep with suspected terrorists and other inappropriate individuals. Other than that, it’s great!

I’m going to check out Uncut Gems (available for rent or buy on places like Amazon Prime and iTunes), which has a sports angle. It’s supposed to be very good.

Parent corner. For those of us with little ones, the prospect of no school for a least a few weeks and possibly a few months is … well, interesting. We’re a few days into a quasi-quarantine with our 4 kids ages 4 to 11 and it seems like we’ve already exhausted all activity ideas that we had in our back pocket. Here in Florida, the pool has warmed up enough to use at least. Things like bike rides, Disney+, swimming in the pool, and backyard trampoline have been effective, but potentially another 4-5 weeks of this? Whew!

Other ideas I’m planning to deploy: wash the cars, book reading followed by a book report, math worksheets that are printed off the internet, and I’ll scour the various entertainment services for some movie options. If I’m really desperate, we might do some backyard camping overnight. But I’d have to be really desperate to pull out the tent (I’m not a huge camper).

Musings on the news and world. While the degree of the public health crisis that is playing out is still a bit to-be-determined, the economic shutdown we are seeing is nothing short of historic. For entire nations to essentially halt commerce, it’s absolutely historic stuff. We’re undoubtedly entering or already in a global recession (economic contraction). A lot of friends often ask me if they should be putting cash at play in the stock market since (as of writing) we’re essentially 30% off the all-time highs experienced earlier this year. I think the answer to that is yes, if you know you’re not going to be tempted to sell if the market drops another 15%, 20%, whatever. Investing is just about managing yourself and your emotions as it is about managing your money. Obvious disclaimer: I’m not an investment professional or advisor.

The worst part (economically) is that small businesses everywhere can and are likely getting hit pretty hard. While I think people need to be isolating themselves more than most people are, finding ways to support these businesses is huge! One great suggestion I heard about was you can buy (ideally, digitally) gift cards at your favorite local restaurants to be used later. This helps the restaurants by injecting cash into their business now while letting you continue your quarantine and maybe visit the eatery after everything clears up. Love it.

If you have friends and family who work in healthcare, send them a note of encouragement. The medical professionals are key to fighting a pandemic, and in hard-hit areas, many are exhausted and likely at more risk than people like me.

Lastly, if you have elderly friends or family, offer to pick up their groceries for them when you make your run. They’re way more at risk than the young and healthy. It’s a simple way to be a tremendous help without adding any inconvenience to your schedule.

Useless rankings. Ranking things that don’t necessarily need to be ranked…

 

Back to SEC and college football. We here at SDS are doing our best to increase the content available for readers and fans during this time where it might make sense to reduce content. While there is undoubtedly less going on and less to discuss, our aim is to provide SDS fans with more content to consume and help make a tougher time more enjoyable.

So, what does that look like? Well, first, our podcast is going from 1 episode to 3 per week. Click here to subscribe (also available on Spotify and other places where you can find podcasts). The guys will be discussing classic games, holding debates over big picture and historic subjects, and have a few episodes that are probably just weird and discuss all kinds of random things. We hope you’ll hop on board and join in on the fun.

Also, be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram, where you’ll find other new forms of content coming out in the days ahead. And we’ll keep you posted as our team navigates this unusual time alongside all of you. Thanks for reading, wash your hands, and be kind to each other.

Oh, and release the Jordan documentary.