From The Sidelines

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LETTER FROM THE EDI TORS H ello Readers!

I n this edition of From the Sidelines, we will be looking at health in sports. Specifically, we will cover the COVI D-19 pandemics effects on sports, nutrition, the offseason, and the different technologies used on the road to recovery. We have been able to collaborate on this magazine via zoom.

By sharing many documents with each other and giving each other honest suggestions, we were able to create a magazine that incorporated all of our ideas together. The feature stories and I nfographics were created individually; however, we all collaborated with each other for the editing process. Many of the other elements seen in the magazine were created by the whole team.

Together, through discussion and cooperation, we decided on many items such as fonts and titles.

Our team went through a very methodical and systematic process of choosing the small details like fonts, color scheme, and titles. One thing we are very proud of is our team bios. We each wrote a paragraph about ourselves individually. However, together we created a unique way to integrate these team bios. We all helped contribute to the trading card design you see today. We thought that this design would be a unique way that we could tell you a little about ourselves.

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As a team it took us a long time to come up with the title we would use for the magazine. The title is one of the most important aspects of the whole magazine because it is the first thing the reader sees when they pick it up . We wanted to come up with something that was both professional and yet playful. We thought we were able to capture this sentiment in our title, From the Sidelines, because it is clean and simple, while its design on paper has creative, eye-catching elements. From the Sidelines, signifies the professionalism of journalism, while still including the excitement and enthusiasm that fans bring to the game. We wanted our magazine to show you, the reader, our enthusiasm for the subjects we write about in a polished and adept way.

We hope you enjoy reading this edition of our magazine as much as we enjoyed making it!

Sincerely,

The From The Sidelines Team

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Th e Start

Car eer St ar t s in t h e Nat ion al

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Sou r ces: Pr o Foot ball Ref er en ce 2021

Gr aph ics by Oliver Wells

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M ost Sack s in a season

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A Year Year To To Remember Remember (and (and A

Sports i n a Pandemi c The ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex is in Orlando, Florida. It hosted both the NBA and MLS bubbles in 2020

by Travis Edwards, Graphics Editor t is Game Four of the first round of the NBA Western Conference Playoffs. The Mavericks break their huddle after a time out. With 3.7 seconds left in overtime the Los Angeles Clippers are up 133-132. Luka Doncic gets the ball off the inbounds play.

He dribbles up to the three point line. Three 27 seconds left. Luka

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crosses over. Two seconds to go. Luka sets his feet and gathers the ball in preparation for his step-back three. One second. He lets his shot fly over Reggie Jackson. The buzzer sounds. Swish! And the crowd goes crazy! Scratch that. The crowd is strangely quiet. No fans were allowed in attendance due to safety protocols.

"I t is weird," said Katie

Edwards, the president of the Dallas Mavericks Foundation and senior vice president of communications for the Dallas Mavericks. "This year was so hard for all of us, especially us in sports. We were one of the first professional sports leagues impacted."

Those three words, I t is weird, describe what 2020 has been like in the world of sports. On March 11, 2020, Rudy Gobert

Forget) dd Forget)

said. "We heard the very first thing that happened was that California shut down all of their public events? that really kicked off a discussion about if that is competitively fair for that team to not have fans and was the NBA going to be making some changes for all of us?"

The NBA finished the 2019-2020 season in a bubble at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Most of the time, only players, coaches, and trainers were allowed to be in attendance. The bubble provided the unique challenge for organizations, such as the Dallas Mavericks, to be able to keep their fans engaged without any of them being able to come and watch the game.

Courtesy of Josh Hallett

of the Utah Jazz tested positive for COVI D-19, prompting the shut down of many sports leagues such as the NBA and MLS. The sports world seemed to change overnight in the spring of 2020. Katie Edwards can remember the day COVI D changed the NBA. "There were rumblings about this virus and nobody really knew what it was," Edwards

guys fishing and here's the guys in the pool, helping to give our fans the inside experience, because, for me, I think that is fascinating. I t just makes everybody feel like they belong and they're part of that inside group."

The NBA was not the only professional sports league to have a bubble. The MLS utilized this strategy as well in order to keep their players safe. They also had their bubble in the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex.

I smail Elfath, a referee for the MLS, got to experience this first hand.

"I t was an interesting experience," Elfath said. "For me, personally, I had been to FI FA tournaments and CONCACAF tournaments in the past. I t was a little bit similar because you go into a hotel, you go to training at that

"We were developing all this digital content and ways for people to be engaged with us on social media and still be in Ismail Elfath (Center) seen here after the bubble," officiatiating a soccer match. Ismail Elfath Edwards is a referee for the MLS and FIFA said. "We did a lot to try to Courtesy of FIFA and Ismail Elfath humanize our guys same facility or a and get to know them more short bus ride away, behind the scenes. We did a lot 28 from the bubble like: here's the then you go do your

matches."

Though this experience was similar to tournaments in the past, the MLS bubble was still new for everyone. Only a select few individuals have been able to live and know what life was like inside a bubble.

"I nside the bubble, it was safe to have recreational sports and hang out. I t was a great experience.

I t was too long," Elfath said.

"40 days is a long time to be gone from friends and family, but we were just really really excited to just get back on the field and referee games. The bubble allowed us to do that.

The MLS is Back tournament was a very successful tournament."

bench and the guys not on the court are cheering," Edwards said.

"They're up on their feet. They're yelling. They are giving to each other, because that's part of the back and forth and the interaction you have."

sports leagues allowed teams back in their home buildings, fans were not allowed into the stands. Arenas that were once packed with people shoulder to shoulder were now eerily quiet.

"I have been with the Mavericks for seven years.

Mark, our owner, is very into the experience you have when you go to a Mavs game," Edwards said. "We want to give you the absolute best experience, whether we win or lose. All the things we're doing to create that for our fans, just completely changed - K ati e Edw ards, Presi dent of th e M av s f oundati on when there are no fans in the building." location, the two bubbles were not equals.

The Mavs started to allow "The NBA, because their budget is fans back into the arena this season.The Mavs are allowing 10 times bigger than ours, they only in 10-20% of capacity. were able to bring in, towards the later stages of their tournaments... To the average fan on TV, the crowd is not much of a factor family members of some of the in games, since it is so small. teams that made it to the later Though both the NBA and MLS hosted their bubbles in the same

" To me i t w as a real l y bi g real i zati on th at th e pl ayers do recogni ze th e f ans. I t i s th i s back and f orth . Th ey can h ear us and th ey can see us. I t does contri bute to th ei r ex peri ence."

With no fans allowed to cheer on their team, players on the bench had to become their very own fan section.

"They had to become much more engaged themselves as a team.

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stages of the playoffs," Elfath explained. "We did not have a chance to do that. That was probably the toughest thing, just being there for so long on your own."

Even though at the beginning of the 2020-2021 season, most

"Even when we started to bring back fans into the building last month in February, it was at a very limited capacity," Edwards said. "We're talking about an arena that has 20,000 seats, had 2,000 people. I t looked sparse."

Even though The American Airlines Center is the the crowd Dallas Mavericks' Arena. In 2021 the may seem Dallas Mavericks have started to let insignificant fans back in to watch the games. while watching a game on a TV, both Katie Edwards and I smail Elfath can attest to how even the smallest crowd can change the atmosphere of a game.

Courtesy of Jeff Attaway No matter the size of the crowd is, fans are able without the fans." fans. With more people being to provide players with a vaccinated against COVI D, burst of energy. though, many are hopeful that Edwards shared similar the day when stadiums can fill sentiments regarding As a referee, Elfath can bear professional basketball players. up with fans again is not too far witness to the difference off. Elfath is looking forward to "We had players like Tim there is for players when they the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Hardaway Jr. coming over to the play with a crowd and soccer's biggest festival. Even side, and he is interacting with without one. with things changing, the effects the crowd. He's telling us, 'get on of this time in sports could be your feet, let's get going!' They felt for years.

"Players are humans, so they were into it," Edwards said, "To feed off the passion of the me it was a really big realization fans," Elfath said. "Let's say that the players do recognize the "We still may be wearing masks. you make a call against them I think it's forever changed as fans. We do contribute to that and if 40-50 thousand people far as how we keep things clean experience. I t's not just a show are booing the call, the player and how we have safety," that we're there to watch. I t is would feel obliged and Edwards said. " I hope that we'll this back and forth. They can empowered to complain be able to be back in the hear us and they can see us." more, but there's no one arena...we for sure want to be there. We notice that they able to get back to Most teams this 2021 season are doing that." move on quicker from 30 still playing with limited to no situations than they would

Graphics by Travis Edwards

Home FIELD Full Capacity Limited Capacity No fans

I n th e NFL I n th e 2021 season, teams pl ayed i n stadi ums w i th mostl y l i mi ted f ans.

Th e h ome teams h ad a combi ned record of 127-128-1, w h i ch w as th e f i rst ti me h ome teams l ost more games th an th ey w on Sources: The Ringer.

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The year 2020 in spo the stands, it seems game as they had in see how much sport

DADVANTAGE

orts has been like no other. With no fans in s like players aren't even playing the same n the past-- is it really the same game? Let's ts have changed with no fans.

I n compari son to pl ayi ng w i th f ans, M LB h ome teams got si gni f i cantl y more w al k s on av erage th an th e aw ay team i n 2020,. Th e season w as mai nl y pl ayed w i th out f ans.

Sources: TeamRankings

I n 2019, th e l ast ti me th ere w ere f ans i n th e stands, h ome teams i n th e WNBA w on ov er 60%of h ome games, compared to 50%i n 2020 w h en th ere w ere no f ans.

Sources: ESPN

Th e l ast ti me th ere w ere f ans f or NBA games, th e h ome team sh ot consi derab l y b etter th an th e aw ay team. Th i s year, w h en th ere h av e been no to l i mi ted f ans, h ome teams sti l l sh oot j ust as w el l , b ut aw ay teams are now sh ooti ng al most th e same percentage as th e h ome team.

Sources: TeamRankings

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HALFT IM E ANSWERS ANSWER TO TRIV IA: B Hu s k e r s While the Title of the Film is Hoosiers, a common misconception is that is the name of the mascot of the high school. The mascot is actually the Huskers.

The name Hoosiers is really just a reference to the film being set in Indiana.

M YSTERY ATHLETE: T OM BRADY Cl u e 2 ANSWER:(12, t o) AND (7,M ) c LUE 1 ANSWER: (4 0 , br ) c LUE 3 ANSWER: p ICK 199 (6 6 , a) (111, d ) (22, Y) h INT aNSWER: t OM bRADY / t AM BA bAY (t b)

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" I t's not w h eth er you get k nock ed dow n; i t's w h eth er you get up" - V i nce Lombardi

Courtesy of James Stanelli and Neon Tommy 34

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