It was designed to sell the American people on the NASA space program and, in it JFK challenge the nation to land a man on the moon.

By the end of the decade, the whole thing was powerful, sweeping, painting, a romantic picture of American destiny.

And it worked.

Except then all the government's engineers and aeronautics experts had another problem.

They had to actually figure out how to put a man on the moon.

I've been thinking a lot about Kennedy's Moonshot in terms of the MBA this whole year.

First, of course, when the league decided to put on the bubble and again last night after the players union voted to accept the league's proposal for what next season would look like.

72 games starting December 22nd, playing in home arenas in home markets now on its face.

None of that might Seamus ambitious to staging a competitive playoff island in the middle of central Florida, where Cove it is everywhere else but in a lot of ways, this next season is actually going to be a lot harder.

Task with MAWR.

Complicated stuff to figure out the United States on Lee has more of a coronavirus problem than it did last time.

There will be positive tests.

And unlike the NFL, where teams have six days between games to monitor whether the virus has spread throughout the organization, eh?

NBA teams will be trying to manage those positives while playing three or four games a week.

They will be buying a sport unlike, say, baseball, where players are in a constant swirl of contact, breathing and sweating all over each other.

And they'll be doing all of that in indoor closed arenas.

Which, by the way, is not just a challenge for the MBA's medical folks but for their business folks is, well, we know that wherever they can, team owners are determined to sell tickets and get some fans in the building.

But wherever they can is a really short list.

Our researchers, Michael Schwartz and Cesar Fernandez, looked up the limits on indoor gatherings for each state, the MBA his teams in and here's what they found a quarter of the teams in the league play in states where the limit is 25 people in an indoor space.

So forget fans.

The MBA is gonna need to get some sort of special dispensation just to stage games with two full teams of players and coaches.

All of that means TV really is going to be the main way.

Fans experience the MBA this season, and we've seen in so many other sports during this pandemic, watching games and empty stadiums with cardboard, fans can often feel more like watching directly workouts is the N B A and a mandate that it's 29 arenas all build the extensive video boards that works so well in the bubble.

And what about the games themselves?

We've already heard players saying they expect the short off season to induce Mawr load management this coming season.

But in a year when the MBA is counting so heavily on its TV contracts as its main source of revenue, can it afford having the stars take nights off game after game?

There is still so much to figure out here, and in a really short period of time, you know, the most famous line in that race university speech from President Kennedy was we choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things not because they are easy, but because they are hard.

Last night, the MBA officially chose, and now comes the hard part.

So, Paul, there won't be a bubble this time around.

First of all, nice thio quota President sounding presidential.

Um, there won't be a bubble this time around.

How should the league handle what will inevitably be positive coronavirus tests now that we've seen some other leagues get at it.

Well, you gotta take a sample for what the other leagues air doing.

But you could do it the way you did it in the bubble.

You know, we're gonna have a quarantine period.

Mhm.

And I don't know if that's placing a player at his home, his home home or is he gonna be in the hotel?

But there's gonna be a quarantine, uh, period of time.

But there's gonna be more players diagnosed this year because of the travel.

Because of not being in a bubble, this year is gonna be more difficult than last year because you're gonna have many players missing games because of cold, but it's inevitable.

It's gonna happen because of the travel, the places you stay, the hotels, restaurants, these guys we're going to go to.

It's inevitable.

And so it's gonna be more difficult than last year.

You're gonna have a lot of teams that are gonna lose games because of Cove it coming up.

So you know we're going into another first time thing again.

No longer bubble.

Now we're going into actual games in actual city.

So it's gonna be it's gonna be a tough or it's gonna be a long year.

E think.

I think, though, if any league can pull it off, it's the MBA, right?

We've seen these other leagues, you know, make it through their seasons.

Andi.

I do think that Commissioner Silver was taking a lot of notes, but he's gonna take those notes and combine him.

Combine it with what he knows about his team's this team's travel, what they pulled off in the bubble.

I think they're gonna be aggressive about testing contact, tracing all of those things to really, really try to keep it neutralized.

If it does pop up, you will see some games get postponed but probably played later.

I don't You know, I would not want to see a lot of games get ended or just totally you know where they cancel them.

But that is a possibility.

And so we have to be ready for that.

But you know, when it comes to the fans, I hope they build those video boards.

I love seeing Paul and upsetting.

It was great.

You see, the president, you see President Obama care James Worthy and all of these different people, and I just enjoyed it.

You know, where you see all of these different who's gonna be on their next right.

And so I hope that they do that in the places that they can't have fans just to keep that element of fan participation in.

But a credit to the league into our players, you know that they're gonna put a great product on the floor regardless.

Well, look, they've told the baseball players football players when the baseball, when it was out of the bubble in their home market Look, here are the rules.

We need you all to follow.

And it's a bit of on an honor system, right?

Don't go to parties don't go out to bars.

Don't go out to restaurants when you're on the road.

Don't leave.

The hotel will have everything in the hotel for you.

So you're not mixing with the local community.

All of that stuff.

The question is, cam players do it.

And Paul, there's just a natural fatigue, right?

With guys.

Over seven months we saw I think the Cleveland Indians had two pictures.

Maybe who were on the road and left the hotel.

And I think the rest of the team voted them back down to the minors, right?

I mean, there has been a bunch of issues with guys in a short time.

And look, that's basically what the MBA asked guys to do when they were on excused Lee from the bubble.

And we saw what happened with Lou Williams, right?

Yeah, it's gonna be easier for the high profile guys because they live life in above, like they don't leave the hotel going to roll you because you worry about fanfare and people getting on your nerves are on the road.

But it's the other guys of roll guys and the guys who don't play much who are bored, who are just there to work out and then go sit on the bench and watch the game.

Those guys, when they come in the city, they're gonna be like, Man, I just want to get out the room a little.

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