Meanwhile, in the NFL ...

It is a burden, seeing all this bleak around you. Reality sucks eggs sometimes -- especially when so many people wish you'd just go away already with your icky reality.

So let's start this look at the Nash-unal FOOT-ball League by saying not every player has taken a peek at this season and said "uh-uh."

Most of the hired hands in the Kingdom of Roger Goodell are still committed to playing,  even as the Hall of Fame game goes away and the preseason largely goes away and baseball, upon whose bubble-less model the NFL is building, unravels before our eyes. The season will go on, by God, because this is the NFL. No stinking killer virus would dare mess with it.

Well ... maybe.

But like the college football players who are questioning the wisdom of their elders, some of the Shield's hired hands have decided the game isn't worth the candle. They're opting out of the season. And even if it's just a relative handful so far, their absence will impact the outcome of the season.

Start with the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. Sure, Patrick Mahomes is still around, but he won't be handing the ball off to his leading rusher and one of the stars of the Chiefs' Super Bowl victory (Damian Williams). He'll also be without one of his starting guards (Laurent Duvernay Tardif).

The New England Patriots, meanwhile, will soldier on without a starting safety (Patrick Chung), their starting right tackle (Marcus Cannon), a starting inside linebacker (Dont'a Hightower) and one their key running backs and kick returners (Brandon Bolden).

Nate Solder will not be around to anchor the offensive line for the New York Giants. The Ravens will be without their lead returner, De'Anthony Thomas. The Bears' defense will be minus Eddie Goldman, expected to be a key component; the Broncos' D will be without Kyle Peko, starting nose tackle.

Michael Pierce, meanwhile, would have been the starting nose tackle for the Vikings. But, like all the others, he's opting out of the season.

All of them, and more, are doing so for a variety of reasons. Some have small children. Some have wives who are expecting. Some have had family members die from the Bastard Plague or are caring for family members who've contracted it. Pierce suffers from asthma; Solder is battling cancer.

In large ways and small, the absence of these players -- and of the players who have not yet opted out but surely will -- alters the landscape of the NFL this season. That's assuming there is a season once everyone starts jetting around the country breathing on one another.

The Blob is betting that won't last very long before it all comes undone, just like baseball.

But even if the Kingdom of Roger gets lucky, and we don't wind up with two third-string quarterbacks and a bunch of practice players squaring off in the Quarantine Bowl?

Well. The 2020 season will always wear an asterisk of sorts anyway.

If it doesn't already.