data-mm-id=”_govsurzxa”>Fans and analysts alike are firing up the creative processes of their brains to concoct a realistic scenario in which professional sports could return in the span of six-to-eight weeks. It's a tough exercise because based off the opinions of various medical experts, things are still in the process of getting worse before they get better. The return of sports may yet be a while coming, but coming up with scenarios in which they return earlier than expected is helpful in keeping us all optimistic. To whit, Jay Williams took a crack at an outside-the-box scenario on Golic & Wingo this morning in which the NBA could not only return, but play a full playoff bracket when June rolls around. How might they do this? By holding the playoffs … on a pair of cruise ships. “You have an Eastern Conference cruise ship and a Western Conference cruise ship… You have the championship game on a cruise ship.” – @RealJayWilliams explains one option the NBA should explore… pic.twitter.com/1AaEW8rgen— Golic and Wingo (@GolicAndWingo) March 30, 2020Here's the essence of Williams' thoughts on this idea: “Maybe you can take two of those massive cruise ships and there’s testing before everybody goes on the ship. You allow the player and their immediate family, being their wife or their kids, are allowed to go with them. You have an Eastern Conference cruise ship and you have a Western Conference cruise ship. Obviously they’re being sterilized all the time and media companies are able to drop their equipment in. You never really go to shore, you stay out on the cruise ships and you build two courts on those cruise ships. I know fans may not be allowed to go, but still, the broadcasting companies could actually broadcast these games, team members and their family members could be isolated to a degree for that span of 40 days, whatever it may be. Then you’re allowed to potentially have these games. You go right into the playoffs, maybe you give a week for each team to prepare, but you go right into that for the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference. Then you have a championship game on a cruise ship. “- Jay Williams First off, I've never seen as many ideas that would benefit cruise ships getting thrown out into the hemisphere in my life than I have over the last several weeks. I must've missed the memo where cruise ships were considered an essential business alongside grocery stores. Williams' suggestion isn't too different from the other "biosphere" ideas that we've seen over the last few weeks. The basic principle of finding an isolated environment for players to play the games remains the same. But it remains a tough sell. In this scenario, Williams says players would be allowed to bring significant others, But cruise ships obviously have a hard ceiling when it comes to max capacity. Even if you only brought playoff teams, that's 15 players per team, most of whom are at least married, if not with children. Then there's the coaches and training staff to account for. If teams went absolutely barebones in terms of personnel, that's still probably about 25-30 people for each of the 16 teams. Then there are the referee crews, TV crews, and maintenance crews in charge of constantly disinfecting the ship. The NBA would surely rent the biggest of cruise ships if they decided to go in this direction, but if they come close to max capacity, who's going to give up bringing a family member along just to play basketball games?That's only considering immediate family, too. Many of these players likely have relatives who are in the most affected age range. If the NBA dictates a player can bring his wife and kids, but not his mother-in-law, would every player still agree to go? I don't find it likely. That brings up the next issue: if, say, Danny Green, a key rotational member of a championship-caliber Lakers squad, decides he'd rather not go, who could the Lakers replace him with? Would they be allowed to replace him at all?These are issues that come along with any isolation experiment, not just Williams' idea. Holding the playoffs on a cruise ship is definitely one of the more unusual ideas suggested, but the core problems remain. As is often the case nowadays, there are no easy answers.
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The FA Cup semi-finals are upon us, as four teams attempt to take that one last step towards the final at Wembley which is where they ll also be playing this weekend. Manchester City and Brighton Hove Albion are set to square off in the first of the two semis later on today, but tomorrow, the attention will turn towards Watford and Wolverhampton Wanderers. These two clubs have been silently battling one another in the race for seventh over the course of the last few months, and now, they ll tussle in one of the biggest games of their respective recent histories.
Watford
Watford have flown under the radar for much of the season as one of the most consistent sides outside of the top six. Everyone was expect…
Real Madrid will play to save their season in Tuesday s Champions League clash with Wolfsburg, according to head coach Zinedine Zidane.
The 2014 winners were surprisingly beaten 2-0 in the quarter-final first leg this week and must win by three goals in the return game at the Santiago Bernabeu if they are to ensure a place in the last four without the need for a penalty shoot-out.
With Madrid facing the prospect of a trophyless campaign and Zidane s future still shrouded in doubt, concerns have been raised that supporters will voice their frustration throughout Saturday s Liga meeting with Eibar.
Zidane, however, says he has no concerns at present over his long-term position at the club and is confident the fans will back them both on Saturday and for Wolfsburg …
Manchester City will take on four-time winners Barcelona in the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League for the second straight year.
City ensured progression to the knock-out stages with a 2-0 win at Roma in their final Group E game.
And they have received the dubious reward of a two-legged tie with the Catalan club, who beat Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 last week to ensure top spot in Group F.
Manuel Pellegrini s men will be out for revenge in the tie, having suffered elimination courtesy of a 4-1 defeat to Barca last term.
Barca s arch rivals Real have been drawn against Schalke as Carlo Ancelotti s men continue their bid to defend the crown they won for the 10th time in May.
That tie is also a repeat from the previous campaign, when Real hammered t…
Carlo Ancelotti has backed Karim Benzema to play a big part in Real Madrid s end to the season.
The French striker has come in for criticism as Madrid have struggled for goals domestically in recent weeks, despite his brace against Liverpool in their 5-2 win at Anfield in the Champions League last-16 first leg.
Ballon d Or holder Benzema has scored 11 goals in 15 LaLiga games but has not netted in his last three in all competitions, and he will be missing from the team for Saturday s home game with Espanyol because of an ankle injury.
He was a key player for us [last season], he performed incredibly, scored more than 40 goals, Ancelotti said at a press conference on Friday.
It affected us a bit [earlier this season] because he couldn t reach his top lev…
Heimir Hallgrimsson would be delighted if Iceland emulated Leicester City and secured an unlikely triumph at Euro 2016.
Iceland, appearing at their first major tournament, reached the quarter-finals of the European Championship with a sensational 2-1 win over England on Monday.
Their charge to the last eight has drawn comparisons to the surprise exploits of Leicester, who shocked the football world by claiming a maiden Premier League title in 2015-16.
The two places have a similar population around 330,000 and joint-coach Hallgrimsson admits he does see comparisons between Iceland and the English champions, and would love to see a similar story play out in France.
I really would like things to end like they did with Leicester, said Hallgrimsson at a med…
Custodio insists Portugal will fight for their place in the Euro 2012 final ahead of their semi-final clash against holders Spain.
The last time the two Iberian rivals met in a competitive game was in the 2010 World Cup, where Vicente del Bosque s side ran out 1-0 winners over Portugal.
Many have put Portugal down as the underdogs for Wednesday s game, but midfielder Custodio feels there are no favourites between the two sides.
Spain favourites? I cannot quantify who is favourite, the Braga man said.
I do not know if we have a 20, 30 or 50 percent chance of going through. What I know is that we will fight hard to get a place in the final.
Will this be Portugal s year? I hope so, we will fight to make it so.
Spain are a great side who…
Mauricio Pochettino said Tottenham supporters should be optimistic about the future as he set his sights on making a quick return to the Champions League final following a 2-0 defeat to Liverpool in Madrid.
The Spurs manager admitted his side s game plan was undone when Mohamed Salah scored a penalty for Liverpool after two minutes of the showpiece at the Wanda Metropolitano.
Divock Origi s late strike put the game out of Tottenham s reach, but Pochettino had nothing but praise for Tottenham s efforts.
We can be proud of the effort, how we fought to arrive at this final, Pochettino told BT Sport.
We were very unlucky we conceded a goal from a penalty but to the end we were alive, fighting, I think we played so well. It was a tough situation that changed…
Montpellier president Louis Nicollin announced on Tuesday he will quit the club at the end of the 2014/15 Ligue 1 season.
The outspoken owner of Montpellier almost single-handedly dragged the south-eastern French club into Ligue 1, taking charge of the then-amateur outfit in 1974 and becoming the sole shareholder 15 years later.
In 1987, Montpellier returned to the French top tier and went on to the win the Coupe de France in 1990 and the Ligue 1 title in 2012.
Nicollin was crucial in rebuilding the club that almost went bankrupt in the 1970s but he revealed on Tuesday that the upcoming season will be his last in charge.
I am stopping here, on the day that the club was founded 40 years ago, the 71-year-old told French radio station RTL.
I will g…
The Italian Sports Court has decided to suspend Milan Brazilian Ronaldinho for an incident that occurred in the Coppa Italia match against Lazio on December 3, 2008.
In the 70th minute, Ronaldinho elbowed Lazio defender David Rozenhal in the face and the panel has deemed that the movement was quite clearly intentional, mostly due to the unnatural height and movement of the ex-Barcelona player s elbow on the play. Dinho has been banned for the next three matches in Coppa Italia, that means in the next season, as far as Ac Milan lost 2-1 to the Biancocelesti.
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Bolivia and Peru stand against each other in Copa America s Group A second round. Bolivia were comprehensively beaten by event hosts Brazil, while Peru played a goalless draw against Venezuela.
Bolivia
Bolivia didn t fare well in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, and it s worth remembering that they failed to get through the group stage of the Copa on six of the last seven editions of this tournament. They can be very tricky when playing at home, but that won t help them here.
Before the Brazil defeat, they lost three pre-tournament games to South Korea, Japan and France. They failed to score a single goal, and carried that form into their opener against the hosts with Philippe Coutinho and Everton Soares making sure of that.
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