Many sports fans, bless them, are blissfully disinterested in the world at large, a fact reinforced in the days following Johnstowns 1977 flood.

Remarkably, staff were in this papers newsroom (fortuitously located on the second floor of the building) not that many days after the flood, commuting into an otherwise deserted downtown in a van and the driver often me needed a signed pass from the military commander to get past checkpoints.

It was a monumental moment when a makeshift line was strung from the telephone company, across the alley, and into the newsroom through a window. This was a link to the outside world and a conduit to be used to gather information.

Cell phones werent an option then. Remember, 1977 was the year of the very first cell phone call, but it was a time very far removed from the current proliferation of handheld communication devices.

The cell phones of that time were rare and huge, about the size of those military walkie talkies you see in World War II movies.

Eventually, the newly activated land-line phone rang in the newsroom and, when it was answered, a gravelly voice asked Howd the Dodgers do last night?

Imagine that. Many lives had been lost in Johnstown and surrounding communities. Homes and businesses had been washed away, literally. The economic future of the area was uncertain, and this guys most pressing information need was for a baseball score.

Fast-forward to the present and the COVID-19 coronavirus a disease some conspiracy theorists believe to have been genetically engineered for nefarious reasons has pulled an Atlas Shrugged and stopped the motor of the sporting world.

NHL and NBA seasons have been suspended. March Madness is now March No-Go.

Major League Baseballs spring training is on hold and the start of the regular season delayed.

Soccer here and around the world is paused. The PGA, the XFL, theyre not playing. Motorsports such as NASCAR and IndyCar are late arrivals to the postponement crowd, but have joined the club and put a temporary halt to their scheduled events.

This stoppage of big-time sports across the board was a product of momentum, the intangible quality that in a touch of irony so often is credited with deciding sporting contests.

At first there were plans floated to wait and see how the virus infections progressed.

This melted into the possibility of playing games without spectators and, in a sudden rush, games and tournaments were called off and seasons were put on hold.

Speculation in the sporting world now has shifted from trying to identify potential championship teams to wondering when, or if, the whole thing gets going again.

We are left to search for previous experiences as reference points.

One such example was the Spanish Flu outbreak, which hit full-stride in the United States in the fall of 1918.

World War I also ended in November of that year.

Many sporting events were canceled or shortened on a regional basis due to the flu.

Major League Baseball ended a shortened regular season with a World Series contested in September, won by the Boston Red Sox.

As a concession to health concerns, the spitball was banned in that World Series.

Many decades later the NFL and commissioner Pete Rozelle came in for great criticism when the league played on despite the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in late November 1963.

Terror attacks on the United States in September 2001 caused stoppages in sports, but more temporary than what we are facing now.

Uncertainty is rampant now regarding sports and our way of life the near-term future.

If the virus seems to be under control, and if it once again is presumed safe for people to congregate in large numbers to watch events, things could get back to normal in short order perhaps a month.

But what happens if the uncertainty over the spread of the virus still remains months, or even a year, into the future?

This is uncharted territory for sports and for the fans who follow the games and athletes.

And theres not even a Dodgers score to be requested.

Sam Ross Jr. is a freelance journalist who writes a weekly column for The Tribune-Democrat.

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