It played out like one of those disaster movies in which the threat is first noticed on a TV news report in the background. The main characters mostly ignore the danger and continue on with their lives as normal. Then, suddenly, the menace is thrust into the foreground, all heck breaks loose and nothing is normal.
The novel coronavirus was a terrible thing happening Over There when I was at Braves spring training in Florida last year. Less than four days later, COVID-19 was a terrible thing happening here, there and everywhere. The virus was spreading exponentially. Tens of thousands of people were dying.
Soon our sports leagues reluctantly accepted that the games could not go on under those conditions.