Four Years Ago Today: NBA Player Rudy Gobert Started The Sports Covid Lockdown

Four years ago today, Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert was trying to downplay this thing called "the coronavirus," AKA "Covid-19," AKA "the novel virus" that was starting to freak people out across the country and globe.

Gobert would end his press conference that night by touching every single one of the basketball reporter's microphones. If that wasn't enough, he also laughed about it as he walked away (OMG!) 

Rudy was immediately criticized for not taking this "thing called Covid" seriously - ‘how dare he!’ the holier-than-thous shouted on their social media accounts (even though many of them were still going out in public themselves.)

Looking back now, it's almost like Rudy Gobert was the first example of what was to come for those who weren't in lockstep with the Covid mandates and restrictions. Gobert was trashed, tarnished, ridiculed, criticized, cursed at and more. 

Goebert was the original Aaron Rodgers when it came to the blame game. 

AND THEN…

The "basketball" would soon hit the fan however, when just two days later, Gobert would test positive for Covid and become the first professional American athlete to contract the virus,, from the four major sports.

Gobert was Patient Zero and it set off a chain reaction that would shut down much of the entire globe for nearly two years.

WHERE WERE YOU THE NIGHT THAT SPORTS STOPPED?

Oddly enough, I remember watching that Jazz-Thunder game live on television and can replay it in my head just as my parents can for the moon landing or JFK. For a millennial sports fan like myself, it's 9-11 and the night sports stopped because of Covid.

Looking back, it's wild how that whole night went. Gobert tested positive right before the Jazz - Thunder tip off. That led to the teams' medical staffs literally SPRINTING at full speed to stop the game from happening. I've always said that it reminds me of the last scene from Star Wars: Rogue One where Darth Vader boards the Rebel's spaceship, and they are running for their lives to hand off the Death Star's plans on how to dismantle it.

Eventually, the teams and refs would peace out to the locker room (without informing ANYONE why. "Welp, see ya later!" ) 

Watch this clip of the game broadcast and the utter confusion and madness:

Or how about the terrified Thunder public address announcer kicking everyone out but not giving them a reason why. Instead, he kept shouting "YOU ARE ALL FINE," over and over as he was reading a scribbled note that was handed to him by someone who also didn't know what they were doing.

RUDY GOBERT GOT UNFAIRLY BLAMED FOR EVERYTHING

Within 24 hours of Gobert's positive Covid test, Commissioner Adam Silver postponed the entire NBA season for at least 30 days and the rest, as they say, is history.

Rudy Gobert, however, became the Scarlet Letter for the Covid hateful. He was the poster child of what happens when people "don't listen to doctors and care about others during a pandemic!"

Things were absolute lunacy at the time when you look at stories like this:

Despite apologizing for touching those reporter's microphones earlier in the week, the social media echo chamber was not having it.

Max Kellerman would go on ESPN's First Take that next morning and call Rudy Gobert "careless" for his actions - even demanding Rudy issue ANOTHER apology for being so inconsiderate. 

It would take years for Gobert to be in people's good graces again - with some still criticizing him to this day.

As we look back four years later on the shut-down of sports - which was a leading reason for other institutions, corporations, schools and entities to follow their lead - it's important that we don't immediately jump in with the mob mentality. Because if we've learned anything - a lot of the time, it's not justified or right.