Indianapolis — A few fans lingered outside, snapping photos in front of the brick arena adorned with the Big Ten logos. There was no shouting, no noise at all. They looked like tourists, posing at some historic marker.
This was the day the cheering died, for now, maybe for a while. It was a day unlike any other, amid a crisis unlike any other, somber, sobering and difficult to fathom. In an extraordinary sequence of events, no sport was spared. One after another — the Big Ten basketball tournament here, all conference tournaments, the NCAA Tournament, the NBA, the NHL, major league baseball, all college spring activities — shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic, leaving emptiness and sadness in places they’re not supposed to be.