Digital Media Center
Bryant-Denny Stadium, Gate 61
920 Paul Bryant Drive
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0370
(800) 654-4262

© 2024 Alabama Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Navigating Sports Action Amid A Global Pandemic

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Pandemic or no pandemic, European soccer goes on and successfully crowned its latest club champion over the weekend.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

CLIVE TYLDESLEY: Joshua to the far post. And the header is in by Kingsley Coman. Breakthrough for Bayern Munich. And the goal scorer is a Parisian.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Bayern Munich beat Paris Saint-Germain, 1-nothing, in the Champions League Final. The tournament is played each year between Europe's top club teams. Stadium fans, though, were absent for Sunday's global event. Cheers, boos - they were all piped into the broadcast. CBS Sports broadcaster Clive Tyldesley described the scene this way.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

TYLDESLEY: In any other year, the scale of the event would present a unique test of the temperament of those not familiar with such occasions. I guess the eerie, empty stadium is a less intimidating, less nerve-wracking setting for this, the ultimate game.

INSKEEP: Now, how do you do all this safely? Well, the organization that oversees the Champions League, the Union of European Football Associations, issued a 31-page set of safety guidelines. It included this about a time-honored tradition after the game. Players are recommended to refrain from swapping their shirts.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MARC MOSER: MacKinnon in the high spot. Shoots - he scores.

(SOUNDBITE OF HORN HONKING)

MOSER: The Avalanche come right back - a minute, four seconds. After the Tyler Seguin goal, we are tied at one.

GREENE: As we're hearing there, professional sports go on in the U.S. as well - sort of. Hockey's in the middle of playoffs, like the game there between the Colorado Avalanche and the Dallas Stars. Baseball has been back as well with no fans for a month now. Some games have been postponed because of positive coronavirus cases. It is playoff time in the NBA, with players keeping inside a bubble in Florida to avoid exposure.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MIKE BREEN: Doncic pulls up - three pointer. Bang. Bang. It's good. Doncic wins the game at the buzzer.

(CHEERING)

INSKEEP: The NFL is set to begin games next month. Daily COVID-19 testing turned up some positives for teams over the weekend. The NFL is investigating several false positive results from a New Jersey lab. Avery Williams (ph), a linebacker for the New York Jets, told ESPN, this is all kind of, quote, "crazy." But, he says, I just hope we can stay as clean as possible.

(SOUNDBITE OF STAGE KIDS' "12:14:16") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

News from Alabama Public Radio is a public service in association with the University of Alabama. We depend on your help to keep our programming on the air and online. Please consider supporting the news you rely on with a donation today. Every contribution, no matter the size, propels our vital coverage. Thank you.