In sports, the typical timeout comes when a football team is driving late in the first half or late in the game and you need to stop the clock. In basketball, the team calls a timeout to set up a game-tying or winning shot. For hockey, it’s when a team is down by a goal and the coach wants to draw up a play and make plans to pull the goalie.

But these days, a timeout in sports is more than just thirty or sixty seconds.  It’s become a long-term hiatus for everyone associated with professional, college, high school, middle school and community sports. 

In our house, the plan for the spring and summer of 2020 was basically the same as a year ago. My younger son was registered for little league baseball in the spring and was also looking forward to playing in a local street hockey program. My older son was registered for the USA Football U.S. National Team Regional in New Jersey.

As a family, we were looking forward to what has become our annual trip to Canton for Middle School Bowl Game Series but obviously, all of these plans are currently on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic. 

When the pandemic began to take shape a few weeks ago, I had a feeling we were heading in this direction so my wife and I started to talk to the boys about the possibility that our plans could be suspended or possibly even canceled. With school currently being closed, there is also the possibility that the lacrosse season will not take place. So, we’re doing our best to try and stay positive while looking towards the future. 

It’s been hard on our boys. They can’t really see their friends other than Facetime or maybe from a distance when taking a walk around the neighborhood. Their sports activity has been limited to just us in front of our house or in our backyard playing football, basketball or whiffle ball. We’re trying to make the best of it and stay optimistic that they will be able to step onto a field sometime soon.

Playing some sports video games and watching some old games on YouTube are also helping fill the void. But it’s not the same as stepping up to the plate and lacing the ball into right field or scoring a goal in street hockey. It’s not the same as taking a face-off in lacrosse and going through football drills while wearing a “USA” jersey.  

Calling a timeout is a very important aspect of sports, but this current stoppage in play is not something that we’re enjoying at all, especially the kids. The best thing to do is to just keep them active as best as possible and to talk about what lies ahead. 

Peter is a sports anchor for the CBS Sports Radio Network, FOX News Headlines 24/7 and WCBS 880 Radio in New York.  His son Bradley plays middle school football on Long Island and is a participant in the U.S. National Team program while his younger son Jared plays flag football.   Peter, his wife Sheryl and the boys are busy cheering on the New York Jets and the XFL’s New York Guardians when they’re not at a youth football field.