After Dale Earnhardt died in a last-lap crash in the 2001 Daytona 500, his fellow drivers, including his own son, decided to return to the track the very next weekend. When Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez died in a September 2016 boating accident, the team canceled that night’s game but resumed play the next night. When President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, the NFL played games the very next weekend, and when Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash, the NBA played games that same night, two decisions that drew intense criticism.
Grief works at its own pace and in its own time, which means sports leagues — defined by rules, schedules, tradition and order — are uniquely ill-suited to handle the intrusion of the real world on games.