A pro H-O-R-S-E tournament on ESPN? Has it really come to this?
With COVID-19 running rabid throughout the world, sports fans in quarantine seem to be clawing at the walls in desperation and are counting the minutes until it’s safe enough to head over to their nearest ballpark or football stadium.
But just HOW desperate are they?
According to the NBA and ESPN — insanely desperate.
The league managed to throw together a last-minute NBA 2K tournament that features stars battling it out virtually as fans at home are able to witness just how horrible their favorite player is at video games.
And on Saturday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted out the league’s newest quarantine brainchild:
A game of H-O-R-S-E.
And, of course, the Sports Twitter world hilariously reacted.
Several high-profile NBA players and former players have already been rumored to join in on the national television fun.
Even former Boston Celtics great Paul Pierce tweeted two simple words at Wojnarowski: “I’m in.”
While the players won’t be able to compete on the same court thanks to social distancing rules, they will be able to take part from the comfort of their own home gyms, according to Wojnarowski.
But does that make it more or less entertaining to those die-hard sports fans who have gone nearly a month without the sweet release of a real-life competitive game?
Sports commissioners from major sports leagues took part in a conference call held by President Donald Trump on Saturday to discuss the future of sports and when they should resume. On the call, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said that sports should “lead the way” when the nation gets back to a more normal way of life, ESPN reported.
“NBA commissioner Adam Silver told those on the call the leagues were the first to shut down and that the leagues would love to lead the way in starting the economy once there was an, ‘all clear,’ from public health officials, sources familiar with the call told ESPN,” NFL Insider Adam Schefter and Woj said in a joint report about the details of the call.
As of Monday, WNBA players could be involved in the potential H-O-R-S-E competition as well, according to New York Post sports media columnist Andrew Marchand.
While this might not be everyone’s cup of tea, it’s still better than marble racing.
This story was originally published April 6, 2020 at 11:36 AM.