Not long ago, we'd line up at stadium gates eager and excited, decked out in fan gear and ready to tailgate. If we felt any anxiety, it was the healthy kind that breathes life into sports. We always knew, deep in our hearts, the stakes weren't life-or-death.

The anxiety is different now. Many stadiums and sports fields around the world are converted to different purposes. They are field hospitals or coronavirus test sites. Some shelter the homeless. Others are used to feed the hungry. Some are morgues.

But their concrete facades, raised hoops, hardwood floors and green grass remind us of what we had, and of the promise of what's waiting just on the other side of this pandemic.