COVID-19 has rained on our parade

They’ve already cancelled New Year’s Day 2021.

Well, not really. The calendar is, hopefully, going to roll over from Dec. 31, 2020 to Jan. 1, 2021. At that point, we can bid 2020 farewell. Anybody up for just doing that right now? I thought so.

But back to that cancellation.

I’ve had the great fortune to attend the Rose Bowl Game eight times. As a kid growing up just outside of Detroit in the 1970s, I’d park myself in front of the TV on New Year’s Day and watch all the college football I could. More often than not, that meant watching Michigan or Ohio State play USC in the Rose Bowl.

I attended my first Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 1988. My alma mater, Michigan State, defeated USC, 20-17. Being in that venue was more amazing than I thought it would be. But I hadn’t been to the Tournament of Roses Parade until about 10 years ago and no matter what happens between now and New Year’s Day, I won’t be going in 2021.

A couple weeks ago, The Tournament of Roses Parade (the Rose Parade, for short) was cancelled for the first time since World War II due to the coronavirus. Now, more than 150,000 Americans have died from the virus. The cancellation of a parade pales in comparison. So, what’s the big deal?

Thanks to the Wisconsin football team’s participation in last season’s Rose Bowl Game (and to my job in the school’s athletic department), I was able to travel to southern California and take part in the festivities. That included attending the Rose Parade.

The parade itself is an experience. The football game is, of course, significant, but so is the parade. In fact, it’s older than the game. And it’s really important to the locals, many of whom volunteer their time and effort to make it the spectacle that it is. I’m sad for the folks who put so much work into it.

But reflecting back to that morning eight months ago (was it really only eight months?), I think about how new everything felt. The first morning of the new year. Sitting together with friends and families in that chilly, pre-dawn grandstand waiting for the first sunrise of 2020. Anticipating the start of the parade and, later, our game against Oregon. It was New Year’s Day and it felt like it. A chance to start fresh.

Of course, every day is a chance to start anew and, these days, it’s helpful to remember that. It’s just that when I saw the news about the parade being shut down, I couldn’t help thinking back to that morning and wondering when I’ll feel like that again.