LANSING – 9 year old Phillip sits in his basement playing Call of Duty on PlayStation 4 with his friends. On a Wednesday night at 9:00pm, this R.C Buckley Elementary School student would normally be getting ready for bed to wake up early for another day of school the next morning. Not under these circumstances though. With the Covid-19 virus running rampant throughout the country, the Michigan school district which RCB belongs to, among many others, recently announced its complete closure for the time being. Many people wonder what affect it will have on the children going forward, and how they should account for lost time in the classroom. Phillip, however, hasn’t broken a single bead of sweat.
“This has been the best time of my life,” the Presidential Fitness Award student said. “I just play games all day. Like when it’s summer.” When asked about how he feels about missing school work, he responded, “I forgot to do my homework that my teacher, Ms. Grace, gave us. We had to read a book, and then we had to write about our favorite part about it, and then we had to draw a picture about it, and then we had to talk about it in class, and then-” Clearly a strenuous amount of studies. But once he heard the news that he wouldn’t have to go to school for at least the next month, or until just the absolute worst person you know finally gets the attention of the WHO with another Facebook post about how “the curve has been flattened” and “it’s time to open America again!”, he had a huge sigh of relief. “I hate reading. I hope I never ever have to do work again. Now my teacher can’t write my name on the blackboard because I didn’t do my homework.”
90 miles away, Detroit Tigers pitcher Matthew Boyd and outfielder Christin Stewart sit in the team clubhouse. After only a couple weeks in Florida for Spring Training, Major League Baseball decided to suspend the season indefinitely due to the spread of the coronavirus. Boyd and Stewart, two of the Tigers’ emerging young stars, made the trip back to Detroit for one last look at their home field before returning to their actual homes for good. While looking out at the empty seats and perfectly manicured grass, Boyd sighed. “Boy am I glad we don’t have to step out there this year.”
“You said it,” said Stewart. “I fucking hate playing baseball. [Tigers manager] Mr. Garndehire makes us do these drills in practice. And then after we have the practice, we have to play against these other guys, and they’re on the Yankees. And they have this one guy who throws really hard. And it’s really hard to do good against them. And I can’t do it. I don’t want to do it.”
“Yeah,” Boyd added. “And then when we don’t do good, the people yell at us. And then Mr. Gardenhire yells at us. Now we don’t have to play baseball ever! Now they can’t yell at us!”
So while many of you may be at home worrying, when will you get to go out? When will you get back to work? How will you survive this? Just think of those who perhaps caught a lucky break with all of this – like Phillip, who forgot to read his section of The Hungry Hungry Caterpillar. Or the 47-114 Tigers, who can finally go one Spring without being curb-stomped by any halfway decent team and being laughed at off the field by the entire sports world. There are winners and losers in every scenario. And this time, for once, the Tigers can finally tally one up in the win column.




















