On March 25, 2021, it was announced that Oscar Frayer, just days after competing in the NCAA March Madness Tournament as a forward for Grand Canyon University, tragically passed away from a car accident in Lodi, California. Frayer’s sister, Andrea Moore, and their family friend had also passed away as they were in the car with Frayer at the time.
Every year during the month of March a college basketball tournament takes place that is called March Madness. This is the tournament where teams from all over the country from each college that is able to participate in this tournament come together and play games to see who is the best college. This year there have been many upsets in this tournament that has left people shocked. The tournament began on March 18 and ended on April 5.
Spring sports started in the first week of April, however, due to COVID-19, the spring season got pushed back because winter sports started in January. It is now April and baseball, softball, spring track, tennis, crew, golf, and lacrosse are all starting up. COVID-19 is still a problem all coaches are thinking about so there are still precautions being taken.
Back before any NFL games were even televised, football was a completely different sport. Players played a more physical game as there were no rules to protect players. It favored the players who played hard nose football and didn’t let up for anything. A perfect example of that is the pre-Super Bowl era Chicago Bears. A team that dominated by any means and made sure they won no matter the circumstances however as time went on, the NFL began to put player protective rules in place.
Tiger Woods is a golf icon at the peak of his career, but it wasn’t always pretty for him. Tiger Woods has had multiple back surgeries and multiple knee surgeries, that affected his game completely because those are major body parts used in a golf swing. HBO premiered the documentary, Tiger, on January 10, 2021. It looks at Woods' highs and lows of his career.
On Saturday, January 23 Conor McGregor fought Dustin Poirier and the fight was definitely one to watch as part of the Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight. According To the official UFC fighting website, “Conor McGregor came out with a bang but so did his opponent, his opponent might have just made a little more effort.”
The Chiefs and the Buccaneers were battling in Super Bowl 55 on February 7, 2021. The Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were both the best teams in the regular season. When they played each other on November 29, 2020 it was a close game but the Chiefs came on top. Fans watching were expecting an amazing game from both the greatest quarterbacks in the league right now. Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs are one of the greatest offensive teams in history.
The NHS basketball season started on January 11, 2021. Since then, the teams have been taking many precautions to stay safe from COVID-19. Just recently, some players and coaches had gotten sick and the season had to be stopped for two weeks. Unfortunately, both the girls and boys teams were shut down and quarantined.
The Pro Bowl is an All Star game played for the NFL before the Super Bowl. The NFC and the AFC teams play against each other with players voted by the fans. Since 1951, it's been a tradition to play the Pro Bowl. Players are excited to compete against other all star players. It was an exciting tradition to see. This year's pro bowl was different. Covid-19 infections have been spreading nationwide and have prevented the game from being played.
As fans and players head into the NFL offseason, many things are uncertain. Some of the league’s best wide receivers hit the market as unrestricted free agents while many teams are just a wide receiver short of being Super Bowl contenders. Along with that, many teams are fielding trade offers for their quarterbacks as almost a dozen teams are in need of a quarterback.
The Nutley girls basketball team has started and is ready to get right into the season. Everyone that's involved is very excited for this to start considering the team was not sure if it was going to commence. All the girls are very excited that this is starting, although there's a lot of things they need to do to keep safe during COVID-19. We are all doing our part to keep safe. The coaches are also doing everything they need to keep safe because we do not want to see the season get shortened because someone gets sick.
There were some major events that did not happen because of COVID-19; the Summer 2020 Olympics was one of them. The 2020 Summer Olympics were postponed until the summer of 2021. This was the first time any Olympic games were interrupted since 1944. With the Summer Olympics only being a few months away now, they are scheduled to take place in Tokyo on July 23rd until August 8th. However, how will things be different with COVID-19?
On Tuesday, March 13 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic halted all lives as it spread globally and caused the Nutley Public Schools to move to remote learning. All spring sports were canceled. As the 20-21 school year approached, there was speculation about fall sports. They were able to take place since they were outside and allowed for easy social distancing protocols.
Week nine is in the books for the NBA Season, with lots of surprises. So far, the season seems to be taking off fast. With the players being forced to follow Covid protocols, there hasn't been much for them to do. This year's draft was virutal and players were able to watch the draft at home. Many are excited to watch their favorites players play at their home stadium.
2020 has been a year of a lot of sadness. To cope with this sadness, people all around the world relied on sports to keep their spirits up. Even though 2020 has been a year filled with miserable moments, 2020 was a pretty good year for sports. The NBA had to enter a bubble in order to continue the season. The NFL and MLB had to follow protocols to be able to play this year.
Kobe was an NBA all-star who retired several years ago. Kobe is a Hall of Famer and was on the Los Angeles Lakers. He was number 24 and 8. A lot of NBA players playing today looked up to Kobe as a child. Kobe passed away at the beginning of 2020 in a plane trash with his daughter and when the NBA season started, the teams waited 24 seconds to do a turnover to remember Kobe’s number.
NFL fans saw the first-ever Super Wild Card Weekend, where there were six total playoff games and many more firsts. The NFL introduced a new playoff structure where 14 total teams made it into the playoffs and only the top team from each division got a bye week. Fans saw things as crazy as a Nickelodeon-themed game that made it child friendly to introduce the younger audience to American football. Each game was decided by 12 points or less and gave fans entertaining, close games to watch all weekend.
The winter is coming which means basketball season is getting ready to be started, but with COVID-19 there's been some changes. Most schools have pushed their following season to start in the winter. Nutley High School’s basketball teams will begin play in January.
The NHS soccer team had many ups and downs during this year's fall season, one being the struggles with COVID-19. Mckenzie Albert, a junior on NHS varsity, scored 21 goals this soccer season to become the leading goal scorer on the NHS soccer team. The teams captain, Anna Contini, helped the girls through a very tough season. The head coach, Mike DiPiano, made sure all the girls played their best. This season has been difficult not only because of Covid, but also because of the season being shortened.
COVID-19 has been a struggle for many people around the world. It also has been especially difficult for athletes because their seasons (if they even have one) are completely different. Nutley High School has taken many precautions so they can have their sports seasons happen this year. Fall sports - soccer, football/cheer, tennis, cross country, and volleyball - were filled with cancellations and extra rules.
