Thursday, March 12th, 2020 - Two Years Later
I think Thursday, March 12th, 2020, is one of those days people will remember where they were or what they were doing when the world essentially shut down. I remember almost every detail from the night before and the days following March 12th pretty vividly too. The events that unfolded that week and the two years since were unprecedented and included moments that I will never forget.
The Night Before - Wednesday, March 11th, 2020
I was sitting at the desk in my room doing homework when I took a break to scroll through Twitter. Something weird was going on in Oklahoma City when the Thunder were hosting the Utah Jazz on another routine Wednesday night.
Earlier that night, President Trump had announced that travel from Europe had been banned. The term "coronavirus" was still fairly new, and I certainly didn't know what to think about it. All I knew what that an NBA game had been canceled; I thought it was a one-off sort of thing. I was terribly wrong.
Later that night, after it had been reported that the Jazz's Rudy Gobert had tested positive for COVID-19 and that both teams were being held in the area for testing, the NBA announced that the season would be paused after that night's slate of games. The Denver Nuggets were in Dallas playing the Mavericks when the news was announced, and Altitude Sports' Vic Lombardi got Mark Cuban's reaction.
Okay, so the NBA had been canceled. Not too big of a deal for me personally... well not for maybe another hour or two.
CHSAA Speaks Out
CHSAA Commissioner Rhonda Blanford-Green had said earlier that week, "I don’t even think I’m even considering a state championship without fans." She also told The Denver Post, "Unless mandated by a state agency or the administrator and the facilities where we hold our events, we’re going as usual. We’re status quo."
At some point earlier in the week, CHSAA had recommended that those who were "at-risk" consider not attending the Final Four or State Championships games. There had been no restriction on attendance, and I don't think such a restriction was something anyone saw coming.
Soon enough the events of that Wednesday night affected me. Cherry Creek was set to play Highlands Ranch the next night in the 5A girls Final Four, trying to successfully defend their State Championship title from 2019. I was of course going to be at the game to cover it for CCSN, but for a period of time on Wednesday night, I had no idea if I was going to be able to.
After what seemed like a hundred combined texts and phone calls with Mr. Weiss, Cherry Creek admin, and the staff at CHSAA, I had secured a spot inside the Coliseum on Thursday night. It was the first (and probably last) time my parents ever had to sign a "permission slip" for me to cover a sporting event. All I knew is that I was going to the game and that's all I needed to know going to bed that night.
Thursday
I woke up the next morning excited as can be. It was a playoff basketball gameday after all. Little did I know I was waking up to a day I will probably never forget.
Over the course of the day, the March Madness tournament had been canceled, the NHL had joined the NBA in suspending their regular season, the MLB has announced that opening day would be pushed back, and the PGA TOUR canceled the remainder of the Players Championship after the first round concluded.
On the Creek side of things, the girls soccer trip to Grand Junction was canceled, the boys lacrosse trip to California was canceled, and then all spring sports had been postponed. It appeared as if CHSAA was just trying to get through basketball championship weekend.
Things were starting to get serious, like scary serious. Events and games were getting canceled left and right. What was happening? What is this whole coronavirus thing? Why had Cherry Creek High School run out of hand sanitizer?
It was the talk among the students all day, rumors were flying left and right about the cancelation of school and other events. Soon enough I got a phone call from a close friend, whose parents worked at the Cherry Creek School District. He told me to go somewhere quiet with no people around and went on to tell me there would be no school the next day (Friday). At that point, all that information meant was that spring break would be starting a week early.
That news would officially be announced a few hours later and the announcement also included sping break being extended another week.
Everything was moving very quickly. Everything was very weird. There was still a basketball game to be played.
Thursday Night - The Denver Coliseum
Surreal. The entire thing was surreal.
I arrived at the Denver Coliseum well before the Cherry Creek game was scheduled to tip off. I had never been inside an area so quiet or so empty while a game was being played, I wanted to capture the moment, so I went to the very top row and posted this picture on Instagram.
Just a year prior, the entire area was packed when Cherry Creek won the State Championship. Students took over not only their assigned student section but two additional overflow sections as well. When you add the rest of the Bruins' fans along with Grandview's fans and those who were there for the 5A boys game that followed, the Coliseum was nearly full.
There was an indescribable feeling in the air that I don't think anyone can truly describe. Everyone had the feeling of uncertainty in common, but it wasn't uncertainty alone. No one knew what was happening in the world or what would happen in the days, months, and now years to follow.
Every single protocol for the game that night had changed from the Great 8 game a week before. The limited number of fans all entered through the same entrance media traditionally uses and was there to see the team take the court. The view below shows that scene as it unfolded, and you can hear the "Cherry Creek" roars from those who could attend.
That moment was the most emotional one of the night for me. It was so cool how everyone was gathered in one spot and how they were all thinking the same thing. We didn't know what was going on outside of the stadium in the real world, but we were all gathered at the Coliseum because we were the biggest supporters of the girls basketball team that there was at the time.
The moment was way bigger than sports because at that time I could sense it might be one of the last times I would be in a large group for a little while and with that specific group of people. It felt communal, perhaps even intimate, and it left me with tears rolling down my cheeks behind the camera. I've talked time and time again about how amazing the 2019 and 2020 girls basketball teams were both on and off the court, and how the level of support they got from those who actually went to games was unmatched by any other group at Creek.
Sports bring people together. That was the case on that last night before the world shut down.
The Game
The biggest thing I had to figure out that day was how do you cover a sporting event when only a very small amount of people could be there? How do you up to your coverage when you have one of the very few accounts of the game?
I think my role as a broadcaster and journalist has always been to bring people closer to the game for readers, viewers, consumers, etc. When we did football later in 2020, with virtually no one in the stands, I took the role of bringing football into the homes of the Cherry Creek community very seriously because we better understood the stakes. The thing I wanted to figure out is how I could get as many people as possible to see and understand exactly the weird environment that was the Coliseum that night.
I figured the best way for those who couldn't be at the game to understand what was going on was to simply give them the raw, unedited footage that night. The coverage would consist of what was going on basically through my eyes and ears. I wanted the exact echoes to be heard, the chatter on the benches that could be heard across the court, every dribble, cut, everything.
What’s weird is that I remember almost every play from every playoff game at the Coliseum during the 2019 championship run. I remember very little about the specifics of the Final Four game against Highlands Ranch that night. I remember the feelings and emotions I was going through, but very little about the actual game besides that Cali Clark had 20-points and that I interviewed her after the game (the interview never aired when it was supposed to, I would end up showing it on an episode of CCSN Weekend Update a month later).
After the girls had won the game, they posed for a picture just like they always did after a win at the Coliseum. Little did we know, it would be the final time they assembled on the court as a team.
It was just about an hour later when eveything changed.
Complete and Utter Shutdown
With the snap of a finger, that was it. It was all over. I saw the news while ordering food in a drive-through and didn't think it was real. I looked at my phone and said, "What do you mean canceled?"
At that point in time, all anyone had was a million questions and very few of them had answers. It would be the first time ever that there would be no basketball champions crowned in Colorado, the season would come to an end without a culmination.
I didn't sleep well that night into Friday morning, I don't know how anyone could of. It was before the sadness and grief had set in, the only thing going through me was pure shock. There's a reason that the phrase, "unprecedented times" became perhaps the most popular of the pandemic.
Within 48 hours the cancelations of the NBA, NHL, March Madness, and everything else had made their way to Colorado and Cherry Creek. March 12th was just the beginning of a period we will never forget in our lifetimes.
There was no one I felt worse for than these three. I had just watched their careers in a Bruins uniform end without even knowing it. They had been on the court for the final time not knowing it either. It wasn't fair, of course, it wasn't, but I wish more than anything else they could have run it back one more time.
Later in the summer of 2020, the team got together for the final time during a banquet I was graciously invited to. It was a night of celebration and family that I'm so thankful I got to be a part of. It was the final time I got to see three of these players at the same time.
In the two years since I've had so much fun following the paths of all three of them. Cali has made me into a slight CSU fan (I come from a Buffs family), Carly is the reason I can tell you where Hays, Kansas is, and Jana... well Jana has won a National Championship if you didn't know.
What happened on that night in March 2020 was really the ultimate bonding experience for me, without knowing it. If I was told, "You have one night live before you can't go out for a while," I wouldn't have spent it any other way than in the Denver Coliseum watching Cherry Creek High School Girls Basketball. I've said it time and time again, including earlier this week that this team was so easy to be around and so easy to love. They were always gracious and made it so easy to cover them.
The sights, sounds, and emotions of March 12th, 2020, will stick with me for the rest of my life. I say "for the rest of my life" a lot in these From Ben's Desk because I've truly had moments in high school that will stick whether it's the lessons I've learned, people I've met, or things I've encountered.
Let's hope we never go through a night like this again.
Ben Parris
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