Bubonic plague is not the most pleasant introduction to sports culture in a post-coronavirus pandemic world, but history suggests it is a matter of how, not if, society changes.
The Black Death of the 14th century did a number on Europe, wiping out perhaps up to half of the continent's 80 million population as the plague spread, altering society beyond the obvious need for more gravediggers.
One consequence of the pestilence was an emptying of the countryside. Survivors relocated from rural areas into cities, where better infrastructure provided a practical sense of security. Many peasants prospered by moving into the empty homes of the recently departed wealthy. (The plague was democratic in its destruction of life; rich and poor suffered together.)
As if death-by-disease wasn't bad enough, people starved as food became scarce, which further altered the culture and economy. Farmers saw their wages more than double even as aristocrats saw their social standing plummet.
What's that have to do with sports? Just this: COVID-19 is a pandemic. Pandemics cause pause. Pause leads to pondering. And pondering produces change. Often for the good.
Jeff Bezos need not worry about losing his $165 million mansion in Beverly Hills to the homeless guy on Sunset Boulevard, but Amazon's founder might see the coronavirus as reason to throw a couple billion in pocket change toward the fight against poverty, considering those down on their luck have been hit hardest by the pandemic.
But I digress. How different will sports look once we exit the era of empty arenas? My hunch is not much, at least not externally. Once a vaccine arrives, or even if no cure is found but we learn to manage COVID-19 with medicine — the way we manage incurable HIV — it mostly will be back to business as usual.
But internally, how different should sports look? An attitude shift goes to the heart of Rob Bell's crusade for change.
Bell, an Indianapolis sports psychologist and performance coach, supports an approach that brings a new twist to an old idea penned by Grantland Rice: "It's not whether you win or lose but how you play the game."
Winning matters, Bell believes. But success is about much more than the final numbers on a scoreboard.
"I can say this, that absolutely we are too focused on the outcome," Bell said.
Before labeling Bell a snowflake, know that he is against awarding participation trophies merely for showing up. His mission is not to determine whether today's athletes, especially in youth sports, are being driven too hard or not hard enough.
"It's difficult for me to say if we're being too hard or too soft," he said of adults in today's sports culture. "But we're definitely too focused on what it all means and how it impacts us, instead of, 'What's the lesson we can learn here?'"
Bell hopes the pause created by COVID-19 creates space for us to evolve as a sports society. It could happen, but it will be an uphill battle getting fans, coaches and parents to exchange the immediate satisfaction that comes from winning today for the deeper fulfillment of being unbeatable a year or a decade from now.
In his new book, "Puke And Rally: It's Not About The Setback, It's About The Comeback," Bell lays out how sports can benefit from pondering, planning and putting new sports priorities into practice.
"During this pandemic there will be people who get better from it and people who get worse," he said. "The people who get worse are the ones who are doing things for appearances, for adulation and immediate results. Fine, but what happens when, like now, there is no immediate goal? They throw up their hands because there is nothing to train for."
Bell hopes the 10% of athletes using the stay-at-home order to push themselves for long-term benefit — i.e., "how you play the game" — over instant gratification grows to 100%.
"That's what is going to last when this is all over," he said. "It's the long play, looking through the telescope instead of the microscope. That's the mistake we make with 10-year-old travel teams.
"Who cares if you win one game? It takes 45 to 60 days to climb Mount Everest, and you're on top for a maximum of 10 minutes. That's why the process is what's most important."
During pandemics, commonly held beliefs are questioned and status quo is put in doubt. What will sports look like when normalcy returns? We can always do better.
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