AWORLDWITHOUT SPORTS
cheering at the games would weaken the throats of the spectators, thus making them more susceptible to the disease.” Nationwide, hundreds of college games were canceled. Nonetheless, as flu cases subsided in
The first wave of the flu arrived in the U.S. in the spring of 1918, but the second, stronger wave hit right at the onset of the college football season. Given the shortage of players due to the war, discussions to cancel the 1918 season were already underway when the flu returned. Michigan had played only one game when the governor shut down public gatherings. A game against rival Michigan Agricultural College – now Michigan State – was postponed for concerns that “prolonged Could, over time, the steady threat of global calamity also relegate our current conception of sports to ancient history? Sports went on to endure both World War I and the 1918 flu pandemic. The ranks of college football players, for example, were vastly depleted, with many student-athletes going into active duty. Others joined the newly established Student Army Training Corps on their campuses and were often kept out of practices and games. Still, the games went on, with freshmen permitted to fill the rosters. Overseas in Europe, millions of American troops continued to engage in baseball, football and boxing behind the front lines as a respite from the drudgery of trench warfare. Sports and athletics, according to historian Steve Pope, became “central components of military life.”
November 1918, Michigan was able to play four more games. Undefeated Michigan and Pitt were titled co-champions, despite having played only five games each. BRINGING THE COUNTRY TOGETHER Following the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, some wondered whether it was even appropriate to hold sporting events. Then President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent the so-called “green light letter” to Major League Baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis in January 1942. In it, Roosevelt wrote that “it would be best for the country to keep baseball going.” The people, he added, “ought to have a chance for recreation.” The 1942 season went on as scheduled. Women’s-only baseball leagues also became popular during this period. At its peak in 1948, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League attracted close to 1 million spectators. More recently, 9/11 presented a major challenge to sports. As sporting events could present perfect targets for terrorists, security concerns and costs skyrocketed. On the day of the attacks, Major League Baseball immediately postponed all 15 games
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April 2020
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