In between serving beers to customers during the opening round of the Big East tournament on Wednesday night, longtime Madison Square Garden vendor Gerard Cerda overheard the news he had been dreading all day.
Two fans were discussing the NBA’s decision to halt the season until further notice as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Cerda had been following the spread of the virus in the media, but he hadn’t anticipated that it would wreak havoc on the sports world so quickly. The 45-year-old Bronx resident was smart enough to recognize that the NBA’s indefinite shutdown meant it was a matter of time before the NCAA, NHL and Major League Baseball followed suit.