Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

It goes without saying that 2020 has been a year that most would love to completely have removed from their memories as the entire world is sick of a five-letter word that has forever changed the landscape of everything from sports to work and beyond – COVID.

Now, we are only a mere 48 hours from what is supposed to be one of the most joyous holidays of the year in Christmas and still a majority of people still struggle to see any light in sight to the shadow that has overcome the Earth.

Today’s Sports Chatter may hit on some aspects of sports but also offers me an opportunity to share some thoughts with those who loyally read my writings in this column.

I want to start out by saying that I am so very tired of the talk surrounding COVID as it has impacted so many family and friends and has turned even the best of friends and even church members against one another with such debate as to whether to wear a mask or not wear a mask.

Student-athletes continue to have to wrestle with the discourse of how the virus has impacted their ability to participate in the sports they love.

Local school systems have had to make decisions without any assistance from the governor or TSSAA on how to properly handle situations from the start of the school year to now in regards to sports (and many other decisions, unfortunately).

Athletic Directors have had to make decisions in regard to their athletes to make sure that what is best for the health and safety of those kids whom they are responsible for.

And to make matters even worse, in those decisions there are those who would rather stir up conflict much like taking a stick to a hornet’s nest just to see how many people they can rile up and sting by stinging words that don’t bring any further solution to the issue at hand.

As a Sports Editor, I have said that I love to see kids participate in sports of all types – even those that I might not have as much familiarity in but have learned a tremendous amount about in covering them.

One thing that I have heard throughout the year is the term, “I am all about the kids”.

If that is the case, why does it seem that in what one reads on Facebook as well as hearing the talk when out in public or even in the places of worship seems to sound more like a case of selfishness than being all about these kids.

I get it – I really do get it. Parents, friends, and just pure old fans want to be inside the stadiums, gyms, and fields doing what they are so accustomed to and that is screaming at the officials, cheering on their team, and just being well – normal.

But if we truly mean what we say when we say it’s all about the kids, then its time we quit biting at one another and understand that if for a season to be played – BY THE KIDS, then there is going to have to be some sacrifice as adults that we are going to have to make even as parents of these kids.

When baseball, softball, swimming, and soccer kids walked across the stage to pick up their high school diplomas at the end of the 2019-2020 school year, they did so knowing that most of them did so missing out on their final year of participating in their sport and representing their school.

Football, thankfully, was able to play out their season with some cancellations but for the most part a complete season, and now basketball is staring down the gauntlet of trying to get a resemblance of a full season in.

At the very least, Governor Bill Lee and the TSSAA has stated that they will allow parents into the gym to watch their children play with no other spectators.

I am not so sure why they elected to not allow cheerleaders who work as hard as the other sports to be in attendance as when I covered the Cloudland and Johnson County boys game on Monday in Roan Mountain, the ‘Lander cheerleaders were spread out down where the bleachers normally are and made enough noise for at least 300 people as their team rallied for a big win.

Regardless, I have stated a lot to lead into what I really wanted to emphasize in this – one of my final pieces of 2020 and the one before Christmas – is the fact that what we all need is a simple four-lettered word – H-O-P-E.

As we come upon Christmas, it is the perfect time to remember what Christmas truly is about and that is the HOPE that the Christ child brought to the world when he was born in Bethlehem.

Much like now, the world at that time had little to no hope with things going on, but when Christ Jesus came that all changed as the Prince of Peace came to bring HOPE to a lost and dying world.

And thanks be to Him, we have that same HOPE today which comes only through Jesus Christ!

I found it ironic that so many people went outdoors Monday evening to try and get a glimpse of the Star of Bethlehem, a phenomena scientist say occurs when Saturn and Jupiter get close together to create a very bright light in the universe.

Why did people do this – because I think that people are searching for HOPE. But thankfully, that STAR that shone over the baby Jesus was the only one of importance as it shined on the very One who brought HOPE to the world.

In closing out this Sports Chatter, it is my prayer that as this year closes that each of us can find a new dose of HOPE – it won’t come in a vaccine, it won’t come from wearing a face mask, and it won’t come by shooting fiery darts at those we love and cherish as our friends and family arguing over whether to wear masks, attend a game, or even politics.

It will only come when we look to the one Isaiah spoke of in the Holy Scriptures in Isaiah 9:6:
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called WONDERFUL, COUNSELLOR, THE MIGHTY GOD, THE EVERLASTING FATHER, THE PRINCE OF PEACE.

From myself and all the sports correspondents and photographers, we want to wish each and everyone a very Merry Christmas. Let us all join hand in hand as we enter 2021 with a heart filled with love, hope, and peace.

Merry Christmas!!