Editor's note: Like you, NBC Sports Bay Area insiders, reporters and analysts are feeling the sports void during the coronavirus stoppage. They'll share their thoughts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday in "What I Miss About Sports." Next up in the series: A's and Sharks Pre and Postgame host Brodie Brazil.
Needless to say, the last few weeks have left us far outside our normal rhythms, expectations, and comfort zones. The world instantly changed on a lot of levels, including the immediate absence of sports.
What’s clear already: I miss the personalities.
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Sure, we can keep in touch with our favorite athletes or broadcasters during isolation. In fact, many are doing a nice job filling the void on social media.
But there’s just nothing like these human beings, showing human emotions, while in their element.
There are easy examples.
A Khris Davis home run leads to a salute around third base, shortly after Glen Kuiper declares “That baby is gone.”
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A Logan Couture go-ahead goal and celebration so eloquently detailed by Randy Hahn, whose voice hits a different gear to go along with the crowd and ship horn of SAP Center.
I miss Joe Thornton’s trademark shirtless interviews.
I miss Mark Canha’s statement bat flips.
And on a deeper level, I also miss the personalities of my colleagues.
Curtis Brown and Scott Hannan regularly try to find hockey segments we can “demonstrate” in studio, which usually end in my shame or injury. Producer Jace Griggs is their accomplice. And no matter how it ever looks on screen, I love every second of it.
Bip Roberts, Shooty Babitt and Dave Stewart are guys I spend enough time with during summer months to call family. We’re together many hours across many straight days covering baseball, sharing stories, and trying to make our shows unique.
This should be the busiest time of my work year, alternating teams and games every other day as the seasons overlap. I should be seeing plenty of SAP Center and the Coliseum. The Shark head, and the Treehouse.
[RELATED: Dave Stewart describes coronavirus scare]
But those are just places, and they will be back, and eventually back to normal.
It’s the personalities I truly care about. How they and their families endure the current pandemic. Because I am certain once the time is appropriate, these personalities will help us find the distraction, the normality, and eventually the enjoyment we should never again take for granted.