By Derrick Ow — Reporter
Right now, we should all be enjoying the college basketball action or sitting in baseball stands, but the coronavirus pandemic has brought sports to a screeching halt.
Most sports fans are now bored making TikToks or watching classic reruns of games that you saw as a kid 10 years ago.
However, we often forget the real athletes who have gotten the short end of the stick during this crisis.
It is not an NBA or NHL player who has millions of dollars in their bank accounts. Student athletes nationwide are feeling a sharp pain that they were not prepared for at the start of their seasons.
COVID-19 abruptly ended campaigns for San Jose State and countless universities across the country. The NCAA also announced that it canceled the Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments. A tough loss as the Men’s Tournament alone would have brought in roughly $1.1 billion dollars in revenue.
The rest of the winter and spring championships were also canceled in fear over the highly contagious virus.
Lost among the Benjamins made by the NCAA, are the athletes. Those students who produce those “One Shining Moments,” on the court or on the field. Those players have an uncertain future within their sport.
The NCAA’s Division I Council Committee granted an extra year of eligibility to student athletes who played in the spring.
There is a flipside to all of this.
The Committee will let the universities decide how much scholarship aid to give to student athletes who have received their extra year of eligibility.
This means some could possibly receive no scholarship money.
Student athletes can’t just go and get a job to pay for tuition. Not every player is going to be a Sabrina Ionescu or a Cassius Winston.
SJSU sporting events do not generate massive revenue. But, not every student athlete will head to the professional ranks.
These student athletes prepare for most of their lives to get to the collegiate level. This is one of their few chances to play in front of their families and friends. Now, seniors will have that final opportunity to wear the blue and gold.
But, it seems like the Mountain West and other conferences just followed the NBA without thinking of the repercussions of a canceled season.
Now, school athletic departments will make tough choices regarding the funding of scholarships.
For example, each DI baseball squad gets a maximum of 11.7 scholarships that can be handed out to players.
SJSU coaches have already recruited high school seniors to play collegiately in Silicon Valley. There will be stories of schools that will try and force athletes to transfer to a school that has a bigger checkbook just to continue their career.
The NCAA did the right thing by canceling the rest of the spring season. But, the 2020 season will forever have an asterisk next to it.
The softball team started their season with a 21-5 record. A dominant pitching staff that put the team on their back will not get a chance to compete for another Mountain West title or NCAA Tournament appearance.
SJSU men’s golf led by senior Sean Yu finished in the top-10 in seven events played this season. They were on a cusp of a historic season that ended abruptly.
The women’s golf team was looking to return to the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year.
Humans always fear the unknown. We are always worrying about what comes next. But every athlete’s career has an expiration date. Some careers end in high school and the other ones are remembered in the history books.
Their careers should have a proper sendoff and not an invisible enemy that killed championship dreams nationwide. The NCAA’s decision to grant extra eligibility was a step in the right direction.
Each DI school will face budget issues next year. However, this was the only way to properly accommodate all the student athletes who wish to extend their careers until next season.
Follow Derrick on Twitter @derrickq42
