Basketball has also changed, like everything else, with the consequences of the covid-19 pandemic and the absence of public in the pavilions has made the screeching of the players’ shoes have acquired prominence in the matches.
Before, the baskets were followed by a sound explosion, in decibels, of the fans that rose above the run-run of the courts. Now, coaches are perfectly heard giving instructions and encouraging their players, while the shoes of the protagonists squeak with each change of direction, with every lock.
As well the way of interacting between referees and players and coaches has changed. In the heat of the battle, the public, the fans, expressed their acceptance or rejection of the different sets of the game and the comments of the protagonists were diluted in that sonorous maremagnun of the pavilions.
Players have had to learn to bite their tongues before any decision, for them unfair, because now you can hear everything. Technical fouls for this reason have grown exponentially.
The absence of an audience in the stands has also changed basketball in the sense that there is not that extra contribution of tension, strength and encouragement that the fans breathed into their players, in a comeback for example.
Many mythical fields, in Spain and in Europe, have lost that halo that made them special. A classic or a derby alone seems less classic or a derby.
Basketball, Nevertheless, has lived on in these difficult times. Television cameras and press reports have brought together the achievements and failures of the teams, keeping alive the flame of passion for a sport that yearns to once again feel the breath of the fans.
The suspension of some matches due to the impossibility of traveling or due to too many positives in the teams, has broken the order of the days and the classifications, but everyone, teams and fans, have had to get used to a chaotic schedule that has had to be changed to accommodate the circumstances.
From the Ohh! and the applause after a triple or a mate we have passed to the thunderous silence of the squeak of the shoes.
The return of the fans to the courts, hopefully very soon, will restore optimal conditions for basketball to shine again. The screeching will be extinguished amidst the noise of the thousands of throats and applause from the audience and each mate, each triple, each basket and each action of the game will once again gain its full meaning.
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