Navigating Sports Action Amid A Global Pandemic
European soccer crowned its latest champion on Sunday. Every sport, from professionals to high school, continues to weigh traditions with safety in the face of the coronavirus.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Pandemic or no pandemic, European soccer goes on and successfully crowned its latest club champion over the weekend.
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CLIVE TYLDESLEY: Joshua to the far post. And the header is in by Kingsley Coman. Breakthrough for Bayern Munich. And the goal scorer is a Parisian.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Bayern Munich beat Paris Saint-Germain, 1-nothing, in the Champions League Final. The tournament is played each year between Europe's top club teams. Stadium fans, though, were absent for Sunday's global event. Cheers, boos - they were all piped into the broadcast. CBS Sports broadcaster Clive Tyldesley described the scene this way.
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TYLDESLEY: In any other year, the scale of the event would present a unique test of the temperament of those not familiar with such occasions. I guess the eerie, empty stadium is a less intimidating, less nerve-wracking setting for this, the ultimate game.
INSKEEP: Now, how do you do all this safely? Well, the organization that oversees the Champions League, the Union of European Football Associations, issued a 31-page set of safety guidelines. It included this about a time-honored tradition after the game. Players are recommended to refrain from swapping their shirts.
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MARC MOSER: MacKinnon in the high spot. Shoots - he scores.
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MOSER: The Avalanche come right back - a minute, four seconds. After the Tyler Seguin goal, we are tied at one.
GREENE: As we're hearing there, professional sports go on in the U.S. as well - sort of. Hockey's in the middle of playoffs, like the game there between the Colorado Avalanche and the Dallas Stars. Baseball has been back as well with no fans for a month now. Some games have been postponed because of positive coronavirus cases. It is playoff time in the NBA, with players keeping inside a bubble in Florida to avoid exposure.
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MIKE BREEN: Doncic pulls up - three pointer. Bang. Bang. It's good. Doncic wins the game at the buzzer.
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INSKEEP: The NFL is set to begin games next month. Daily COVID-19 testing turned up some positives for teams over the weekend. The NFL is investigating several false positive results from a New Jersey lab. Avery Williams (ph), a linebacker for the New York Jets, told ESPN, this is all kind of, quote, "crazy." But, he says, I just hope we can stay as clean as possible.
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