Bryson’s First Pitch: Resorting To Imagination

Bryson’s First Pitch July 2020: The sports dimmer switch is dialed all the way up. Just when we thought we were out, it pulled us back in.

As coronavirus cases rise throughout the state, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom scales back that sports “dimmer switch”, the July 20 target date for the CIF to make an announcement regarding fall sports seems a lot closer than some of us might want.

Just like the spring athletes waited for word with a nervous feeling in the pits in their stomachs, there are certainly some fall athletes who have begun to fear the worst. We’re right in that boat with you.

And it’s what led me to write the first piece of fiction in SportStars’ 10-year history.

As much as we look forward to covering football, the reality that it may not happen during its usual season seems more likely by the day. Which left me wondering: How is a fall without football likely to look? What might the sports dimmer switch effect be on other fall sports?

Which in turn led to me to ponder: What are scenarios that could ensure THOSE sports to take place?

In the end, partly for fun and partly to calm that nervous anxiety, I came up with the idea in Bryson’s First Pitch to imagine a narrative for a fall sports recap. Thus, you can turn to Page 16 of our July magazine and skip ahead five months in the calendar for a vision of a very different fall season than we’re all used to.

If it doesn’t include your sport, it’s not personal. But at this point, we’d all be shocked to see a regular slate of fall sports played as if nothing had changed. Hopefully, those sports are able to still be fit somewhere in the academic calendar.

Our story is just one version of how things could play out, and it’s probably a more optimistic vision than what transpires. Hopefully there’s some eventual truth in it somewhere.

All is not grim, though. This issue does include a feature on Anson Aroz, a touted Placer High-Auburn baseball recruit. Aroz has actually been able to compete this summer. And we also write about some East Bay Little League chapters who are trying to find ways to get kids back on the field, even if it’s just to practice.

Maybe the most comforting part of imagining our version of the 2020 fall sports season is this: High school sports WILL be back eventually. The sports dimmer switch will end. They may not be exactly what we remember. There may be a longer wait than we hope, and perhaps a lot of adapting will be necessary.

But at some point we’ll see them again. And it’ll feel good.

Bryson’s First Pitch and other features this issue-

And introducing SportStarsNow App!