US Lacrosse Magazine welcomes ESPN play-by-play announcer Anish Shroff as a contributor for the 2020 college season. Shroff’s columns will run every Tuesday on USLaxMagazine.com, including “Deleted Scenes” from ESPN broadcasts and weekly top-10 rankings.

It was the right thing to do.

But it hurts, nonetheless. This is bigger than sports. But this is when we need sports the most.

We’re trapped in an unprecedented reality and our escape room won’t open.

Black Thursday hit every sports fan with multiple haymakers. No March Madness. No Championship Weekend. No College World Series. The NBA, NHL and MLB all suspended their seasons.

Sports largely exists in a vacuum. Wins and losses equate to life and death, but without the consequences. “Do or die” has always been hyperbole. The vanquished always rise again — be it the next day, the next week or next year.

But sports do mean something. Our allegiances in sports first forged our identity politics. Want bipartisanship? Conservatives and liberals cross the aisle at every sporting event. Their unified banner may read “Hopkins” or “Maryland” or “Syracuse” or “Virginia.”

Sports allows us to explore the full spectrum of human emotion but without real impact to our daily lives. Triumph. Loss. Agony. Joy. Heartbreak. Exhilaration. We get it all. It’s the greatest roller coaster ride of all time and just when you think you’ve been on every twist and turn, 2019 Virginia asks you to hold its non-alcoholic beverage.

We’re all still processing. Something was taken from us. We can’t watch Michael Sowers break ankles and spirits. We can’t watch Grant Ament thread a phalanx of poles to find Mac O’Keefe. We can’t watch TD Ierlan win another faceoff.

We can’t watch. Period.

We cut production in the middle of building up the plot points. The narrative had just begun to take shape. Now we’re told we’ll never get to see the ending. We understand the reasoning. We’re still allowed to pout at the consequences.

For the players and coaches, this is a significant piece of their universe. Allow them room to feel robbed, devastated, angry and shocked. They are allowed to process on their own terms, too.

There will be stickier plot points to sort out later. The NCAA issued a statement expressing a willingness to grant spring sport athletes an extra year of eligibility. That’s the right thing to do. But how does that impact scholarship numbers? How does that impact the incoming freshmen? Will returning seniors be able to transfer upon a return?

These are only some of the logistical questions for the NCAA. There’s time to figure it out. We can and will bother with that, too. But we’re still in the early stages of grieving.

These are uncertain times. These are the times when we turn to sports to turn away, even if only for a few minutes or a few hours.

Medicine game, right? But that’s off the table. TV, movies, books and video games may fill some of the void. Maybe we’ll start talking to each other on the phone again. Maybe we’ll put down our phones for a little bit, too.

The world will be different on the other side, but we will get through this. We’ll bring out the best in each other. We’re all on the same team now. We each have a part to do. We can overcome the opponent if we work together toward a common goal. And when it’s over we’ll hear the cheers again, too.

After all, sports did teach us something.