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Sunday Sundown Rundown - 5/17/20


3 Up

1. Graduate Together 2020 - As someone who works in higher education, I have witnessed and experienced the hurt that is the graduating class of 2020. It might not be much, but the show and celebration coordinated by LeBron James and company for the class of 2020 was a nice gesture, and quite frankly, quite cool (and uplifting) to watch. We need it.

2. Sports Return - Yes! Sports returned this weekend as soccer, golf, and NASCAR all went back to the competition - of course, without fans. As we move forward in what feels like more to come, especially the anticipated MLB (more on that in a bit) and NBA return, I'm looking forward to more opportunities to help the mental health disaster that has been quarantine - more so, 2020.

3. The Last Dance - It finished up tonight, and it was fantastic. Epic, epic stuff. I loved every minute of it.

3 Down

1. Breanna Taylor - So, so, so sad. Another black body killed at the hands of the police. There are so many ways to go with this. While I highly doubt we'll see any sort of indictment or true justice (even in the Ahmaud Arbery case - don't hold your breath), just add "sleeping in your own home" to the list of things people of color cannot do without having their life snuffed out.

BTW - It's even harder to stomach these killings as of late when we see footage of folks across the nation protesting and shoving law enforcement in their "efforts" to pretest state-wide lockdown protocols. The hypocrisy is maddening - but that's America.

2. "Re-Opening" - Speaking of... Look, I want the country to reopen - I really, do. I've said it before, I think there is not enough focus on the economic plight that really has put many individuals up against a wall. Having the country get back to work ASAP - and safely! - is so vital to not just the economy, but indeed as a part of public health. However, the recent "reopening" scenes around the country this weekend of bars being packed, people already on top of one another, and so on, is frustrating. What is wrong with us?

3. Possible MLB Dispute - Ok, so it's not exactly a sure thing that we're going to have a labor dispute, BUT, there is already smoke (see: Blake Snell's comments). I get the point of the risk involved for the players, and the need to cover finances for the owners - but the optics of billionaires vs. millionaires public spat over a game when millions have lost their job is the worst kind of appearance the game needs right now. Baseball has a chance to really capture the country in an epic way. If I'm being honest, I just have a feeling the NBA will find a way to fill this void more so than MLB. We'll see.

1 Really?!!

1. Eric Trump - Ugh. Can we just stop with the theories of COVID being weaponized for politics? I'm not naive that this is an election year, and it's obvious our President hasn't lost sight of that in the midst of this pandemic. But my goodness, 80K+ people are dead! Empathy has been completely missing from our leadership throughout this entire time.
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