Fox Sports Basically Filling Stadiums With Sims to Make Pandemic Baseball Broadcasts Less Bleak

I'm not sure this is reducing bleakness ...
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Baseball is back, and slowly but surely, sports are returning despite a nearly constant rise in COVID-19 cases in the United States—but sports really shouldn’t be coming back, and not just because it’s not safe. Sports are a gift (much like movies), and right now, we don’t deserve the joy of sports.

Despite that, not only are people not content to just let sports go for the time being, but some over-the-top effort is being put in to make the experience seem as familiar as possible: Fox Sports will add in virtual fans on TV so that it looks like the stadium is completely full, with a crowd that reacts to the action. Why? Honestly, who knows?

It’s kind of sad that we’re trying to make it look as if the world isn’t collapsing around us and we’re all just sitting and watching TV as it burns—because that’s what it feels like to see a completely full stadium when we’re all being told not to be around more than ten people. So … adding in a stadium filled with people (even though they’re not really there) is sending some real mixed messages, because you just know there is going to be one person who has no idea they’re computer animated and will complain about people getting to go to a baseball game.

Twitter pointed out just how dystopian this entire situation is because … we’re just pretending like sports are back to normal by digitally adding in people instead of, you know, realizing that there aren’t fans in the stands because we couldn’t take a pandemic seriously for a few months.

It’s a bit wild, right? It’s not like we watch sports for the fans in the first place. If anything, they’re usually annoying because they’re screaming or doing something in the background and distracting from the actual game. And if the players aren’t seeing the stadium filled with people, then what is the point?

Anyway, everything is a mess and what do sports mean anymore? We’re basically living out a disaster movie, and we’re just all looking at a stadium filled with fake people and wondering why baseball is important right now.

(image: Fox Sports)

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Rachel Leishman
Rachel Leishman (She/Her) is an Assistant Editor at the Mary Sue. She's been a writer professionally since 2016 but was always obsessed with movies and television and writing about them growing up. A lover of Spider-Man and Wanda Maximoff's biggest defender, she has interests in all things nerdy and a cat named Benjamin Wyatt the cat. If you want to talk classic rock music or all things Harrison Ford, she's your girl but her interests span far and wide. Yes, she knows she looks like Florence Pugh. She has multiple podcasts, normally has opinions on any bit of pop culture, and can tell you can actors entire filmography off the top of her head. Her current obsession is Glen Powell's dog, Brisket. Her work at the Mary Sue often includes Star Wars, Marvel, DC, movie reviews, and interviews.