The 2020 chapter

Hindsight is quite a funny thing. 

I ended a lengthy post on New Year's Eve 2019 with this line: "Cheers to 2020 and the next decade of work, friends!"

Looking at that now, a year later, saying cheers to 2020 seems absolutely ridiculous. Who would want to toast to the year that gave us a pandemic? As my dad has said for months, 2020 will go down as the year where nothing happened. 

I guess it's true that the world didn't completely shut down, but what a whirlwind of differences. I think many of us can agree that time played tricks on us this past year, or some would say that time means nothing in 2020. Working from home, what day is it? A 60-game baseball season ended this fall but made me think it was June. I felt like I got my weekends back, without work/sports, while many friends felt the opposite and more overwhelmed. 

Baseball returned... eventually
Reflecting at year's end is quite common, and I'm proud of what I wrote last year encompassing my work over the decade. As for this year, I'd also direct readers to my post from July titled Pandemic Projects where I detailed many of the things that occupied my time, work-wise and otherwise, throughout the spring and early summer before baseball started. 

The only real sense of normalcy since the pandemic started came with that 60-game baseball season from the end of July through September. Covering games again was so nice, even if it was all from the comforts of home instead of only the road games from home. It was odd watching games played at Target Field on TV, and even in the final week of the season I always had to remind myself when a new homestand or road trip started so my pregame work routine wouldn't get messed up. 

The Minnesota Twins finished with back-to-back American League Central Division Championships, getting another stellar year from designated hitter Nelson Cruz, phenomenal pitching from Kenta Maeda (including a near no-hitter) and a few Bombas thrown in, too. Max Kepler started the season with a home run on the first pitch he saw, after all. We don't need to get into the postseason, except to mention that the playoff format changed a bit and teams played in bubbles in California and Texas. 

A busy, pre-pandemic winter
When it comes to my writing this year, let me back up to pre-pandemic times. One of the first things I covered in 2020 was a Minnesota Wild outdoor practice in St. Louis Park. It came right after the announcement that the Wild were *finally* going to host a Winter Classic, scheduled for Jan. 1, 2021 at Target Field. Oh man, I haven't thought about that in a while. My baseball and hockey worlds were going to collide, and I was so ready for it. Of course, the pandemic canceled that fun. 

Also in January, I filled in covering a few Gopher men's basketball games, including an upset of No. 19 Michigan. I continued my work with Minnesota Hockey Magazine as a Wild beat writer and a contributor to NBC SportsEngine covering high school hockey games. 

Since Hockey Day Minnesota stayed local in Minneapolis this year, I covered my first HDM. Fun fact: It's more than one day. Despite the very cold, snowy and windy weather at the outdoor rink, I covered two high school games Thursday night, featuring local schools Holy Angels and Blake girls' hockey teams each hosting an opponent. On Friday, I watched the women's all-star game with Minnesota Whitecaps, NWHL and former Gophers players. Saturday, the Gopher women hosted a game. Each of those brought features for the spring 2020 issues of Minnesota Hockey Magazine. 

The main events on the sunny, but chilly, Saturday were great match-ups between boys' high school hockey powerhouses. I covered Blaine versus Blake. Conditions weren't ideal, but I had a great time running around the rink, talking to players and watching outdoor hockey. 

Hockey, hockey, hockey 
Among the bigger stories on the Wild beat last winter, top forward Jason Zucker got traded to Pittsburgh and coach Bruce Boudreau was fired on Valentine's Day. That's still an interesting move to ponder. I also wrote a story on the 40th anniversary of the Miracle on Ice, jumping on a conference call with other media and Al Michaels, who had the famous call. 

As the prep hockey season wound down, I covered section finals for the Star Tribune, then put on my Minnesota Hockey Magazine cap to cover the boys' and girls' state tournaments. Breck won yet another Class 1A championship, while Andover knocked off three-time champs Edina in Class 2A on the girls' side. The Andover boys' team finally made the tourney, only to be upset as the top seed in the quarterfinals by St. Thomas Academy; Hill-Murray won it all in Class 2A, and Mahtomedi finally broke through for a championship.

I followed the Minnesota Whitecaps for their second season in the NWHL, covering their 1-0, overtime, semifinal victory in March. They were supposed to play the title game a week later. A title game that never happened. 

I kept somewhat busy during the pandemic with feature stories for USAHockey.com and SportsEngine. Then there were winter preview stories for Breakdown Sports. Throughout the year, and especially this fall, I put together a couple dozen feature stories for the Otter Tail Lakes Country Magazine, focusing on communities throughout Otter Tail County. 

A few of the most fun projects for me this year came out of some pandemic creativity as I strived to determine how to keep busy, keep writing and keep focused on sports. I had so much fun writing the 14-part series for three sports movies: A League of Their Own, The Rookie and Angels in the Outfield. I turned them into a combination of summary, sarcasm and asking questions about why certain things were done in the movies. 

Finding the good in 2020
So, those were some highlights of my year. Was it fantastic? No. Was it terrible? Also no. I'm blessed to continue writing. I've seen a lot of takes on social media lately as the year 2020 wraps up. Some people want to make it clear that just because the calendar flips to 2021 doesn't mean everything goes back to whatever normal will be. Others don't want to hear about good things that happened to people, because the year was so bad for many; others have the opposite view and want positive vibes.

For me, I wanted to share some of the good things. Part of it is a way to look back and realize what I've accomplished, especially when work is slower and motivation can be light. I'll also admit that I've felt the pandemic fatigue lately. It can be tough missing traditions we used to have, missing sports seasons that are normally in full swing, missing friends, missing simple things like getting together in-person, wondering when things will return to whatever definition of normal. 

But there's always hope. For whatever is going on in your life, clinging to hope and faith is huge. And if there's one thing a new year can bring, it's hope for good things. 

Thanks, as always, for reading. Let's connect on Twitter and Instagram; I'm @hlrule.