A Thought for Patrick Ewing

NBA Hall of Famer and Georgetown head coach Patrick Ewing disclosed that he has been diagnosed with COVID-19.

Ewing, 57, revealed his condition on Twitter stating, “This virus is serious and should not be taken lightly. I want to encourage everyone to stay safe and take care of yourselves and your loved ones."

Currently, Ewing has been hospitalized and is in isolation. No one else associated with the Georgetown program has tested positive for COVID-19.

I hope we will take Ewing's warning very seriously especially those eager to reopen the country to what it was before.

I don't think America understood the full import of COVID-19 until the evening of March 11th. Two things happened that night. Tom Hanks disclosed that he and wife Rita Wilson had tested positive for COVID-19 and the NBA announced it was suspending its season.

While I am a baseball fan, I think basketball is America's national pastime in the 21st century and the loss of the NBA made people sit up and take notice. A hoops hungry nation tuned in by the millions to ESPN to watch the Michael Jordan documentary series The Last Dance. Ewing, who played the bulk of his 17-year NBA career with the New York Knicks and a frequent rival of Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, played no small part in the series and reluctantly watched it.

Ewing is among the most iconic NBA players of his era and is synonymous with both Knicks and the 1992 Olympic Dream Team. His career has now come full circle at Georgetown where he played under John Thompson earning a NCAA title in 1984. With this in mind, I think Ewing's COVID-19 diagnosis will make a lot of Americans sit up and take notice especially if there is a turn for the worse.

Needless to say, I hope Patrick Ewing makes a full recovery and when the time is right can return to coaching basketball at Georgetown for many years to come.