KOJO NNAMDIYou're tuned in to The Kojo Nnamdi Show from WAMU 88.5. Welcome. I'm broadcasting from home. Later in the broadcast for sports fans hungry for action can Esports replace the real thing? But first the sports world has come to a standstill. Professional and amateur leagues have been suspended or postponed indefinitely. So what are the teams doing? What have you been doing? Where have you been getting your sports fix? Have you been watching rebroadcasts of classic games? Give us a call. Joining me now is Tori Huster who is a Team Captain for the Washington Spirit, D.C.'s soccer team. Tori, thank you for joining us.

TORI HUSTERThanks for having me. Happy to be here.

NNAMDIThe National Women's Soccer League has postponed its season and has issued a moratorium on practices. What was your response when you learned that both training and the season were affected?

HUSTERYou know, it was pretty disheartening. I think, you know, we wait all off season to finally get going again and once we did I think it was only a short few days afterwards that the moratorium went into place. So we just kind of had to adjust. We were down in Florida and the adjustments happened pretty quickly, but we're trying to make the most of it.

NNAMDII know that some of the Spirit players live together in apartments so they can potentially still train together, but some like you do not. How are you keeping up with training?

HUSTERI think that being a veteran player I think I know how to train. I'm used to training in the off-season by myself as well. But, you know, our club has been trying to give as many resources as possible. And whether that's individual workouts or technical just exercises and drills, I think I've just been trying to stay on top of it. And keep my mind as well healthy. I think that in this moment is very important.

NNAMDIHow has team moral been among Washington Spirit soccer players? What are you doing to connect with them?

HUSTERInitially when this all kind of started happening we were all down in Florida. So we kind of bonded over the experience. And I think returning to Maryland and actually returning to the reality of the situation has been a bit difficult trying to get onto fields and getting kicked off of them even if we're just by ourselves has been really difficult. But I think we're all trying to support each other in every way. Our staff has been great about communicating, and, you know, we realize that this is something that's happening globally and that, you know, we aren't actually technically at risk for the virus or anything.

HUSTERSo like, I said before, we're just trying to make the most of it. And trying to be as positive and take the opportunity to continue to maintain our fitness and all of that. So we've dealt with it pretty well I think.

NNAMDITori, is the team holding any virtual meetings or practices with coaches?

HUSTERWe actually this week have been given some different challenges that we can complete individually and then we'll see who the winner is. And I think there might be a price at the end. I specifically in the leadership group, which involves Andi Sullivan and Aubrey Bledsoe, we've jumped on a few Zoom calls with our staff. And then I actually had a Zoom call with our Spirit Squadron. So we've been trying to engage with each other as well as with our fan base still. And just try to, you know, try and make everyone happy that is maybe in a hard situation right now. But we are trying to connect in those different ways.

NNAMDIRhiannon Walker is a Washington Football Reporter for The Athletic. Rhiannon is back with us. Rhiannon, thank you for joining us.

RHIANNON WALKERKojo, you know I would join you any time you ask. You already know. How are you doing?

NNAMDII appreciate it. Thank you very much. Overall, Rhiannon, it seems like the pros sports world has come to a standstill. Which leagues and D.C. teams have been affected?

WALKEREvery single one of them.

NNAMDIHow about all?

WALKERYou named it. I mean, nobody has been spared the wrath of this virus because, obviously, the concern is over the public health first and foremost. You have all these venues with thousands and thousands of people there, which goes in complete contradiction to what the CDC is recommended with social distancing. Obviously there's no six feet apart at a stadium. You've been to plenty of athletic stadiums. There's no six feet there.

WALKERThen, of course, there's the athletes, the staff, the people that work there. I'm sure you saw the story about the Giant store clerk, who actually died of the virus recently. She's an essential employee working at a grocery store. So I mean, they're just trying very hard to make sure that there aren't any situations where people are overexposed to this unnecessarily. So every sports in the DMV area has been affected by this. Even the NFL, which you know isn't in season, has been affected by this.

NNAMDIBut it's my understanding, Rhiannon, that just about every day over at The Athletic you get a memo with what different leagues are doing. Does that memo vary a lot these days? What are different leagues doing?

WALKERIt varied a lot at the beginning, because, obviously, some leagues were a little slower to make decisions on different things. And one for instance we just got one on the MMA and their decision to move forward with -- I forget which one specifically. But they're still booking to host one of their main events in California. So it's just to keep us all informed, because, obviously, I focused on the one team that I cover. It's very easy to have a memo and see like, Okay, the NBA has decided that they're going to move from playing basketball games in front of no fans to just not playing basketball games at all to they're just going to postpone and see what happens by I think it's May, June. And NHL similar thing.

WALKERMajor League Baseball decided that, okay, we're not going to do spring bowl. We're going to shut that down as well too. Or with football, obviously, the team I cover was the first one to make the decision to bring their scouts home and to tell people that they needed to start working from home and say, hey, we're not going to put people on our side at risk. And then the NFL making the decision that there should no teams at their practice facilities, at this point, you all need to work from home.

WALKERAnd to think what, yesterday or the day before announcing -- Washington announcing that they're going to be the first team to have the virtual draft. So it's -- like, I said it's just out of concern to trying to minimize this and kill the curve essentially.

NNAMDIAlso joining us is Dan Kolko. He's the host of Nats Xtra, the pre-game and post-game show for the Washington Nationals on MASN. Dan Kolko, thank you for joining us.

DAN KOLKOMy pleasure. Good to be here.

NNAMDIDan, what's the morale like among the players and coaching staff of the Washington Nationals?

KOLKOIt's hard to say. I think it's kind of on a case by case basis. I've been in contact with some players. The Nationals Manager, Davey Martinez and General Manager Mike Rizzo and I think everybody understands just the world wide situation that we're in. And, obviously, they'd love to be out there playing. Their situation is different than the 29 other major leagues teams in that they're coming off a World Series Championship. And this last weekend, I guess now two weekends ago, the Nats were supposed to be raising a championship banner at Nationals Park and giving away their World Series ring.

KOLKOSo there's some disappointment about that not being able to happen in front of 40,000 screaming Nats fans and get to revel in all of that, but at the same time, like I said, everyone understands the situation that we're in as a country, as a world right now. And there are bigger thing that we need to take care of. You know, make sure that everybody is safe and healthy and then we'll go from there.

NNAMDIWell, the ongoing hope is that all of that will happen at some point in the future. We just don't know exactly when, but we stay ready. Dan, how are the Nats training now that they can't play together?

KOLKOWell, that's tough. And it's tough in baseball I would say maybe more than other sports, because you have pitchers that need to make sure that their arms are in playing condition. It can be pretty dangerous for some of these guys that are throwing, you know, upwards of 100 miles an hour when they're gearing up in spring training. They're getting ready for the season. And then all of a sudden there's a total halt. So I think a lot of the veteran guys have an idea of how best to train, how to get their bodies ready for a season. But what they're used to doing is knowing the date that they're going to show up to spring training and the date that they're going to start playing regular season games.

KOLKOAnd now there's just all this uncertainty. They don't have those dates that they can prepare for. So you go about it the best that you can. You get in home workouts. I've seen guys on social media posting videos of them doing a lot of the same type of stuff that we as non-athletes are doing. You know, doing home workouts and training in our driveways.

KOLKOAnd our -- you know, running in the neighborhood as safely as possible, and things like that, but, again, they're making due. But it's the uncertainty and the lack of a firm date that is making this kind of all the more troublesome.

NNAMDIHere is Serene in Takoma Park. Serene, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

SERENEHi, Kojo, and team out there. I run a non-profit that is sports based. And we work with refugees, youth overseas. And as we're all experiencing COVID-19, we put together this global platform where, you know, professional athletes, amateurs, the common person, the family to submit videos on how they are staying active during this time in their homes. And it's been really inspiring to see some of the posts and the way people are garnering together. What we found is it's really connecting people. And I was wondering if any of your panelists would be interested in submitting something.

NNAMDISubmitting something to -- what's the name of your organization?

SERENELasis and submitting something to this -- it's a YouTube channel where they would just talk about, you know, one of your guests was talking about a challenge that you're doing amongst your team. You know, is there a fun thing you're doing with some of your teammates that you're doing through video share that you could share with our global community.

NNAMDIOh, cool. All right. Well, all of our guests have heard you and they know how to contact us and we know how to contact you. So there might be some follow through on that. Tori, can you tell us a little bit about what the Spirit's Squadron is doing at this point?

HUSTERThe Squadron I think they're kind of all over the place. They're actually geographically all over the place too. I think they -- I was on a Zoom call with them the other day. And they all looked in good spirits and we're trying to connect with them as much as possible.

NNAMDIGot to interrupt, because we've got to take a short break. But the Spirit Squadron for those of you who don't know are a supporters group for the Washington Spirit. We're going to take a short break. When we come back, we'll continue this conversation. I'm Kojo Nnamdi.

NNAMDIWelcome back. We're talking about what this Coronavirus pandemic means for D.C.'s sporting teams and their players. We're talking with Dan Kolko. He's the host of Nats Xtra, the pre-game and post-game show for the Washington Nationals on MASN. Tori Huster is a Team Capitan for the Washington Spirit, D.C.'s soccer team. And Rhiannon Walker is a Washington Football Reporter for The Athletic. Rhiannon, a couple of teams were already playing like the Caps and the Wizards. They had their season suspended. What will it mean for those teams momentum with what could be a long break in the season?

WALKERSo with momentum it's one of the things -- with the Wizards, obviously, the team wasn't doing well. This was --

NNAMDIThey didn't have a whole lot of momentum. Right.

WALKERRight. There wasn't a whole much of momentum to speak of. So for a team like that it's interesting because momentum, it can look different in a number of ways. It's not just wins. But, obviously, for a team that's in a rebuild if you do start to string together some wins -- let's say, obviously, they're not going to make the play offs. But then let's say they have a really good draft. Then let's say they bring in some really good free agents. They have a very good summer league. All of those things turn into momentum going into the next season.

WALKERSo, obviously, fans would love to see that presently. But it's one of the things where you have to keep in mind that the ball can keep rolling even when it's not necessarily on the court. And from the Capitals it's one of those things where a lot of the players felt like they were in a position to start turning some things around and make a push for a Stanley Cup, because they, obviously, were very upset about how they finished last season with a loss in the first round coming off of winning the Stanley Cup the year before. So for a team like that where there is that possibility to go into the play offs and make some noise. It's very difficult. It's just like when you play a pickup game. You can win a few games on the court and then you take a little break that's a little bit too long, you don't have enough bodies to play another game and suddenly you're cold.

WALKERIt does make a difference when you're playing sports. So that's really where it can come into play is that for the Capitols it might affect them when they do get back out on the ice in terms of trying to pursue a Stanley Cup. For the Wizards, it's just one of the things where they really should be looking ahead anyways. Again, free agency, the draft, summer league, trying to create the momentum. Taking what they can get from this season and carrying it over into the summer, the off season.

NNAMDITori Huster, the Spirit have added 11 new players to the roster this year. Are you worried about how they're fitting in when you haven't had much time to play together with them on the field?

HUSTERI'm not so worried about the cohesiveness of our group. I think I'm just a little disappointed for them. I feel sorry that there are first year players in our league and this is kind of how it's kind of panning out. I think our staff has done a really great job recruiting really great players on the field, but also they take into consideration the character of every player that they recruit as well. So I'm not too worried about how we will get along as a team or that our chemistry will be bad or anything. I think it will be great. So I think that's definitely something to look forward to when we do get started because I know we do have a good group. It's just a matter of this waiting game that we have right now.

NNAMDIGot a tweet from Abby who says, "We're avid football fans. We start every Saturday at 7:30 a.m. with the premier league and when there's a crossover to NWSL or MLS, we go to the game or catch it on the tele. We have resorted to documentaries about football." Of course, she's talking about what we call soccer. "Going cold turkey is not good," says Abby. I do understand that. Dan Kolko, while the Nationals players might not be at Nats Park, we know one person, who is there, Jose Andres. What is he doing there?

KOLKOHe's doing something great, Kojo. He has partnered with the Nationals, who obviously have great resources in terms of kitchens and abilities to produce food at their ballpark. And so Jose Andres and the Nationals have partnered along with the World Central Kitchen. And they're preparing food. As of yesterday they are preparing meals for families that are, you know, food insecure in this time. Yesterday they made over 1,000 meals. They believe that once they get their services fully up and running they'll be able to make up to 50,000 meals in a given day that they can provide throughout the D.C. area.

KOLKOSo I think there's so many examples in this difficult time of how people are coming together in some ways. People are doing things above and beyond what they might normally in order to help others. And I think this is a fantastic example of Jose Andres continuing to do really good things in the D.C. community and beyond. And the Nationals allowing their services there at Nats Park to be able to help in this endeavor. And it's through their Nationals Philanthropy Foundation they've also donated over $100,000 to various area groups to help provide food to those who need it.

NNAMDIDan, for Nats fans missing baseball, MASN is doing something pretty cool. It's rebroadcasting all of the team's post season wins from last year. And you've started getting involved in your own way on social media. Tell us about that.

KOLKOYeah. Kojo, I don't have a whole hell of a lot going out right now. So I figured I would just --

NNAMDII hadn't noticed.

KOLKOYeah. I'd just go ahead and watch back all of the Nats post season wins along with everybody else. It was a glorious month of October that all Nats fans and those of us that are lucky enough to be affiliated with the team got to enjoy. And so, yeah, normally MASN as the regular season rights holder for the Nats games. We're not able to broadcast post season games, but MASN and the Nationals and Major League Baseball allowed for us to be able to air all of these games again for fans during this difficult time.

KOLKOAnd I figured that since we can't see the fans that we might normally at the ballpark that I would do kind of a live stream while rewatching these games. And I've been joined by my broadcast partner F.P. Santangelo, as well as, the other day I was joined by Nats General Manager Mike Rizzo. And we watched the Nationals game 5 win over the Dodgers, which moved them to the NLCS for the first time in team history. We watched that together.

KOLKOAnd he provided some insight on what he was thinking and feeling during the final couple innings of that comeback win. And I hope to have maybe some Nats players join me for future rewatches here in coming days. So, yeah, can't do our normal broadcast on MASN as far as our pre and post-game shows and airing life games. But figure I might as will broadcast from my couch at home and get some Nat staffers and players to join along with me.

NNAMDIWell, me too. I'm broadcasting from home. Rhiannon, your main beat at The Athletic is the Skins. I know the NFL season hasn't started yet, but the league is already feeling the effects of the Coronavirus and there will likely be consequences for the season as well. What do are you seeing?

WALKERSo right now, for instance, free agency, this is something that came out a few days before that started, and something that a lot of people don't think about is the verbiage when you sign a player or you go into agreement with a player. When you have a player sign with a team they usually have to pass a physical within a team facility in order to officially sign with them, correct? So because of the Coronavirus people were not traveling. And there was a letter sent out by the team doctors president essentially, who was led by Washington, I know that as a matter of fact.

WALKERWhat end up happening is they said that a lot of our resource would be better used towards the general good as opposed to trying to do physicals for players for teams and things of that nature. So one of the things that ended stalling was that there was a lot of agreements with teams, but not official signing until much later when players could get independent doctors to review them for teams and hopefully they'd be satisfied with that. One instance that showed the difference between this year and last year was with the Baltimore Ravens.

WALKERThey signed a player who had an ankle injury the season before and there was an agreement in principle, but contingent on him passing this physical and (unintelligible) okay with the ankle. Ultimately what ended up happening is that the agreement was broke, because they weren't satisfied with it. And he ended up signing with the Los Angeles Rams. Last year that more than likely would not have happened. There was just that delay. And being able to see him being confident and whatever they were getting back from the doctor and ultimately allowing him to move on to another team.

WALKERSo that's one tangible effect. Obviously, Washington has a new coach. They should have started their off season workouts on Monday, but because no players, no coaches, nobody is allowed at team facilities the team has not been able to meet. So usually they would get a three week head start on other teams. Now what they're possibly looking at doing is doing virtual classrooms. They would have to change some of the rules within the league in order to allow that. But players are looking at their playbooks, videos and things of that nature. But not actually be able to come into team facilities. And the draft is, obviously, another where it's changed. OTAs, veteran clinic camps, all of things will more than likely be affected by this. As a team will review it again in late April, May.

NNAMDIAnd the NFL will be conducting a virtual draft for the first time ever this year, right?

WALKERThat is correct. So that -- they have this huge thing, which you know, in Las Vegas, you know, go big or go home. Obviously, you can't go big, because you can't have that big of a crowd. And for the safety of the people watching the people that are going to be drafted, the staff working it. They're going to do the virtual draft. And they're going to watch it from April 23rd to April 25th. But, again, that's another tangible effect of this virus, which they had this huge thing with water and a boat and everything.

NNAMDII'm afraid I got to cut you off, Rhiannon. That's all the time we have. Rhiannon Walker, Tori Huster, Dan Kolko thank you all for joining us. Stay safe. We're going to take a short break. I'm Kojo Nnamdi.