Mark doesn’t entirely remember the moment his world fell apart. Shortly before the first game of the Big 10 men’s basketball tournament, the walking beer vendor was stocking his tub at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, when he heard that the coronavirus’s spread had ended spectator sports for the foreseeable future.
The public-address announcer delivered the bulletin, or maybe it was the employee intercom. The doors were still closed, or maybe fans were streaming into the arena.
“It’s fuzzy,” says Mark, who asked to be identified only by his first name because he has been asked not to speak to the press.