Brooklyn Nets star point guard Kyrie Irving had yet to play in a home game this season, and with the playoffs looming, they will now be getting him back full time.
On Thursday, March 24, New York City Mayor Eric Adams lifted the Covid-19 vaccine mandate for professional athletes – at last, allowing them to play in home games. The mandate did not allow for unvaccinated persons to enter private businesses, encircling athletes and performers in the process.
When Major League Baseball ended their lockout, the focus immediately shifted to: will unvaccinated Yankees and Mets be eligible to play? Currently, the MLB has the lowest vaccination rate of any professional sport.
His long-term contract negotiations still unfolding, Yankees All Star Aaron Judge has continuously dodged the fated question. With free agency pending, it’s imperative the outfielder plays in as many games as possible for all parties involved.
Had the mandate remained in place, Judge – presuming he is as unvaccinated as his failure to answer the questions indicates – would possibly have missed out on 81 home games, plus six at the Mets’ Citi Field; not to mention, nine across the border in Toronto..
Simply put: the big teams need their big stars. Once a dynasty in the making, the Nets have had a down year – and need Irving on the court regularly to field the championship-caliber club they thought they had constructed. Their home record before Irving was issued permission to play: 16-19; but now, with Irving back for the count and aiming for the crown, the rest of the Eastern Conference will be on high alert.
This same sentiment can be said about the Yankees. His astronomical power at the plate and sterling defense aside, everyone can agree the Yankees are more feared with Judge in the lineup than whey they are without him – on sheer stature alone.
Judge is not the only Bronx Bomber whose vaccination status has been called into question. Fellow outfielders Giancarlo Stanton and Joey Gallo have both similarly evaded inquiries, both replying “we’ll see” when pressed about the now squashed-potential of unvaccinated players being barred from the Yankee Stadium grass.
Meanwhile, in Flushing, the Mets may have narrowly avoided being without a big bopper of their own, first baseman Pete Alonso, also rumored to be unvaccinated. According to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman, “around 10” unvaccinated Mets players would have been affected had the mandate remain unchanged.
It was a strange mandate. Irving, though unvaccinated, was, in fact, permitted to sit in the stands, unmasked, as a spectator – but could not step onto the court of play. Even more head-scratching: the mandate, as it applied to the Yankees and Mets, who’d obviously play their games outdoors, where the risk of exposure and spreading would be considerably less severe.
Another curious aspect: the mandate did not apply to visiting players equally unvaccinated. Those players could have strolled in normally, on and off of the playing surface while a hometown hero would be denied that same luxury? Makes sense.
They say all’s well that ends well, and with the mandate now a thing of the past, championship contenders have grown vindicated enough to redistribute their passions properly.
Sports are back in full swing, and fans are champing at the bit. Beyond the Yankees’ obligatory postseason run, get ready for the year of the Nets, the Mets, and hopefully the Jets.
