It’s Sunday morning of Memorial Day weekend. Traditionally, on this day I watch The Grand Prix of Monaco followed by the Indianapolis 500, and ….. if I have not totally OD’d on motor sports …. I might watch Nascar’s Coca Cola 600 from Charlotte.
I am so starved for live motor sports, that I would gladly watch all three this year, including all the commercials, but only the Nascar race is being run today. Given my general disinterest in the normal “money sports,” like baseball, basketball, and to a lesser extent, football, I have not really cared that the seasons for those sports have been truncated or cancelled, though at this point in my retirement in place, even baseball might start to be slightly interesting.
Speaking of baseball, I had a really good laugh over the rules that MLB was planning to put into place for re-opening the baseball season. The one that made me chuckle the most was the no spitting rule. I just cannot imagine baseball sans chewing tobacco. What has the world come to? Oh yeah, it’s become a Covid-19, Socially Distant, Virtual World.
Most of the live entertainment I have been watching since the lock-down has centered around home based musical performances, which have been surprisingly good, especially The Rolling Stones predominately acoustic version of You Can’t Always Get What You Want and Bruce’s acoustic version of Land of Hope and Dreams and his version of Tom Wait’s magnificent ballad, Jersey Girl.
The other form of live entertainment I have paid attention to are the morning new shows. In the real, pre-Covid-19, world I never watched those shows. Now I have become a Today Show junkie, something I never would have thought possible, though my ability to continue watching it is in jeopardy. Interestingly, and despite my utter lack of understanding it or expecting it, I do find that I like Hoda.
Some entertainment has actually gotten better this year. Pam and I enjoyed watching the socially distant versions of The Voice and American Idol. Something about the against all odds nature of producing those shows in this environment added to their allure for us.
But what really blew me away was Eric Church’s abridged acoustic set he played in lieu of his cancelled Stagecoach performance. For many reasons, Pam and I never go to music festivals. We had no plans to start this year, even though my favorite country artist, Eric Church, was scheduled to be a headline act at Stagecoach. We have seen him perform live a couple of times, and we love his shows. So as far as I was concerned, his 20 odd minute mini-set that I watched on YouTube, which he never would have produced but for Covid-19, was a real win for me.
So what did I do this morning in the new virtual world? Did I get my motor sport fix? Shockingly, I did. And, duh, it was virtual. I enjoyed watching the F1 Virtual Grand Prix of Monaco. It wasn’t real, but it was fun. I had to laugh, though, at how seriously the announcers took the race. They really brought it to life.
Now it is the middle of the day, and there is no substitute for Indy this year. I am sort of flipping between reruns of the 2006 and 2019 races, but none really hold my interest. At the same time, I am listening to more Covid-19 inspired acoustic performances. Currently, Luke Combs is blasting out of my speakers as I wait for the live Coca Cola 600 Nascar race to start later this afternoon.
While I have enough to keep me occupied this year, I am pretty sure the novelty will wear off real soon, and I hope next year’s Memorial Day will be less virtual and more live.