March 12, 2020
Dear CSBL members, players, referees and friends:
I hope this email finds you and your family well. At a time when I would otherwise find myself whiling away the hours thinking about our CSBL playoffs, NBA playoff races or NCAA tournament pairings I instead am consumed with the insidious spread of the COVID-19 virus and the plunging stock market. My wife reassures me that both these things will pass, and to that extent I can breathe a sigh of relief. In the meantime however this Coronavirus pandemic is making all of us rethink our choices.
To that extent, after very careful deliberation during an extended telephone conference call this afternoon the full Board of the CSBL has unanimously voted to cancel the remainder of our season. Effective immediately there will be no tournament games played, no Challenge Week and no year-end banquet. We did not make this decision lightly, we weighed all our options, which quite frankly were becoming limited, but I confidently can say we made the decision that we felt was in the best interest of all our members and our members’ families. As the medical professionals have been advising the public during this ordeal a person, or persons, can have contracted the virus yet still remain asymptomatic (not displaying any symptoms) and therefore could unwittingly pass the virus to another. As each day passes we are seeing reports of more and more people in our immediate area testing positive for the virus – and what’s true in North Atlantic ocean navigation is true in the pandemic spread of a virus: what you see is merely the tip of the iceberg. While we recognize that there are probably some in our ranks that take a stoic approach to these types of things it is clearly best that we adopt a conservative, common sense approach to this decision. It is far better to act on the side of caution.
The Board will hold a special meeting at some point in April to determine what to do regarding the 2020 Tournament – whether to reschedule it in the fall, or to cancel it all together. We will also determine the financial implications of this cancellation – what expenditures were avoided and what refunds could be applied toward next season. For the men who purchased squares for the Challenge Week 50/50 Fund Raiser I will be mailing that money back to you.
In the meantime we have two regular-season champions to crown: Albany RV and Lark Tavern! Congratulations, gentlemen on a great season! We will proceed with ordering your jackets and we will get with your captains over the next few weeks to determine when the jackets can be awarded/distributed. We also have the matter of Divisaions of Play to ponder during this off-season. I hope you all had an opportunity to read my email on the matter. The Board will be deliberating this topic in the off season and we will keep you all posted. Finally we will be contacting the captains to engage them in the effort of collecting jerseys, so when you are contacted by your captain please make every effort to return your jersey to them in a reasonable time.
Stay well this off-season, make sound choices and keep yourself in hoop shape! I look forward to seeing you all on the hardwood in September!
Best Regards,
Andy Kramarchyk
CSBL Commissioner