I Watched HBO's "The Day Sports Stood Still", You Shouldn't

The documentary opens with a montage of famous sports clips throughout history. We then are treated to a dramatic build up of the events of March 11th in Oklahoma City, OK relating to an NBA game cancellation due to a positive COVID test. Never forget.

Of course early on we are presented with an obligatory reference to Italy and people dying in hospitals last spring. I found that the mention of the Bergamo bell ringing for every death adds a nice touch of color, and of course, ominousness.

Now we're back to March 11th, right after the reveal of the positive test & game cancellation. The documentary has the players recounting how they were kept in their respective locker rooms and the selected clips are designed to emphasize the seriousness of the issue. One player recounts thinking through all the possible contacts he might have had. This provides support to the idea of contact being dangerous and unacceptable.

A female basketball player comments in response to the NBA cancelling the season: "That doesn't just happen for no reason". Well, she is correct, it wasn't "no reason." The reason of course being a bunch of ignorant people got tricked into panicking over a virus with an over 99% survival rate. It's a really poor reason, but it's still technically a reason.

We are provided an obligatory montage of audio clips of news reporters mentioning various sports league & event suspensions. This would certainly make an interesting low-budget disease thriller flick. But as documentary it's not great. Decent propaganda though and that seems to be exactly the point.

We get another quote from the "Doesn't just happen" girl: "These are billion dollar organizations that are now postponing because of a virus. So it smacks you in the face of how real this virus truly is." She sure does love taking cues from giant hierarchical corporations. But she was an American playing in China at the start of the "pandemic" so maybe she's just got a thing for authoritarianism?

I must say, this bit here was a nice touch: They made sure to include the hand sanitizer use prior to the removal of the mask for one of the interviews. Give that propagandist a raise!

Chris Paul (NBA) discusses how he sat outside his house after flying (private) home. He wouldn't go inside because he didn't have his test results yet. He cries remembering how he saw his kids but couldn't touch them. He acts as if he would have guaranteed their deaths. Apparently the pilots and flight crew can go die though.

Another montage of ambulances and coffins and such. Later we get an array of "staying sane and having fun in lockdown" clips. Obviously toilet paper is mentioned.

OMG! Negative test! Hug time! This was accompanied by a video which would seem to imply a house whose footprint could hold every dwelling I've ever lived in. If this thing pivots into systemic racism remember that the dwelling above was owned by a black NBA player.

Mark Cuban, wealthy man-child, comes in to provide more support to "this isn't just another virus" narrative. Thanks Mark, nice to see you.

I forgot to mention: There's a fun little line graph graphic of the deaths & cases that is occasionally brought out to show the increasing death and case totals. Check out that PCR pseudo epidemic!

These two bits are great exemplars for the tone of the film so far:

"I was scared to see our world kinda collapsing" --Big Bearded Dude

OMG! Fetuses getting coronavirus!

Now a player's mother's illness is being used to manipulate the viewer's emotions. (That last sentence sure had a lot of possessives in it.) He recounts why he made a video at the time talking about it: "If I saved one life that's all I ever wanted to do in that video". These aren't sinister and evil people. They're true believers in the greatest mass delusion in human history which was also maybe a Chinese disinformation operation. Sadly she dies, RIP.

Now we get a home workout montage. Someone even lifts a bulldog, how cute. I've totally forgotten that guy's mom died. Oh but lets get a bit serious again: we're now making the lockdowns seem less bad by highlighting connections with family during it.

The sinister line graph is back: 1.4 million "cases" as of May 15th, 2020.

I think we're getting systemic racism! Also a news anchor really goes native when pronouncing "Latino." AOC would be proud. You go girl! Future is Female (of the right color)! I don't think I'm supposed to point out the last part...

"The players are on the frontline here...they would be going back onto the court...ultimately maskless, breathing each other's air...". I know! "breathing each other's air", the horror! Also, this has to have been pointed out before: the NBA commissioner looks like Gollum. Maybe it's just an awful webcam angle.

Oh yeah, we're definintely going to get systemic racism, heres the George Floyd video. So after priming covid's dangerousness (remember "breathing each other's air"?) we're now treated to a montage of protesters crowded together in cities across the nation. There's a hip hop song playing in the background. It's not terrible for hip hop.

China fangirl is back and talking about how she got "chills" after the protests which showed "White Americans the reality in which black and brown people in this country live." Later there's a photo of man-child Mark Cuban doing the "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" pose. Someone tell him that's not an accurate portrayal of events.

Now the woke changes to the NBA which resulted in ratings tanking are being talked up as amazing and necessary. Shortly after, baseball is called a "white sport." We then get a montage of athletes kneeling during the national anthem. One clip appears to show a white teammate kneeling with a black one and the white girls tears are falling like literal rain, visible & glistening in the sun on camera as they drop to the ground.

This next montage showcases a reason why Disney would be so interested in hosting the NBA bubble. We have players, many big into social media, providing video tours of their Disney rooms. Walt would really have appreciated this. He probably would have hated the cozying up to China though!

This is amazing. They're now discussing how they must record their health symptoms every morning, including having some readings done by some kind of Apple Watch for fingers. They mention that if they don't do this, the band on their arm that gives them access to things stops working. How dystopian.

Now Paul is talking about how they will focus on a specific social justice issue each week. Breonna Taylor is mentioned. #SayHerName. I'm still waiting for #AshliBabbit week. Do you all think I'll have to wait much longer?

We're provided with a clip showcasing the creepy screen audiences that have proliferated over the pandemic. Apparently Microsoft helped them with this. Bill Gate's creations really are the greatest aren't they? But who cares though cause OMG virtual crowd containing Barack Obama...and there's Weezy!

Kamala's buddy Jacob Blake makes an appearance. Sometime later we get this gem: "...black men are an endangered species...".

Ernie Johnson offers up his three most memorable sports moments: Magic Johnson's HIV announcement, the banning of Donald Sterling for life from the NBA, and the Milwaukee Bucks boycotting Game 5 over Jacob Blake.

Chris Paul brings up making the NBA arenas voting locations due to covid. Someone remind me: What sport was played at that Georgia arena with the late night under the table "ballot cases" reveal after they told all the observers to go home?

Paul states, "Its amazing to see covid ended up just being the starting point. But its definitely not the ending point." This was seemingly prompted by Paul commenting on how the documentary had originally begun as about covid and then morphed to something else with the focus on social justice. However, it actually proves true in the case of the Transhumanist Technocrats' plans too.

We get a short set of graphics showcasing covid positive tests for the NFL's and NBA's 2020-21 seasons. No bubbles for either. Now the credits are rolling with "Lift Every Voice and Sing" playing. It ends on an audio clip: "There are forces that want to take us back to another place. We don't want to go back, we want to go forward."

While it began as a semi-acceptable disease thriller it ended as a sappy directionless social justice flick. Not recommended.