As these strange times continue as if we are all living a sci-fi movie for real, here are some more notes to show where playland intersects reality:

First, where was Nashua’s Tim Neverett, now a Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster, when the plug on baseball was pulled?

He was, believe it or not, in Las Vegas, having lunch.

“I had a couple of days off, and figured I’d drive up to Vegas to see my son Matt, who’s now with Oakland’s Triple A club there,” he said. “We had a game in Peoria with the Mariners, drove to Vegas, and spent a couple of days with Matt (also a broadcaster). And we all (at the lunch) looked at our phones at the same time.”

Neverett had gotten an email from the Dodgers saying that spring training was discontinued, to contact the team’s travel department, and “they’d get me home as soon as they could.”

As Neverett was reading that, his other two lunch companions saw similar things on social media and MLB’s overall announcement. Neverett basically excused himself and said, “Look, I’ve got to go right now.” And he said his good-byes, hopped in the car, and made the four-and-a-half hour drive back to the Phoenix area (the Dodgers train in Glendale, Ariz.).

The Dodgers booked a flight that very night from Phoenix to Boston, so he packed up, returned his rental, and arrived at Logan at 7:30 a.m.on March 12. And he’s been in Nashua ever since.

“The Dodgers said they’d check in with me, and just told us to report anything if we had any symptoms,” he said. “The Dodgers jumped on it pretty quick. Fortunately they haven’t had any reported cases in the organization, that I’m aware of.”

And now he and his wife are doing what everyone else is doing, staying put in Nashua at home, save for occasional grocery trips or taking the dog for a walk.

“Just waiting like everyone else to see what’s next, but it looks like it’s going to be awhile,” Neverett said. “I thought at one point a couple of days before they suspended spring training that they’d probably have to shut it down temporarily anyway. … Now they’re talking, who knows, May, June, July. … baseball is preparing for every single contingency they can.

“The only thing we can do is sit and wait it out.”

Neverett brought up a good point, especially related to when the NBA shut down.

“You think about that, it’s not just the one player on the court,” he said. “They share charter planes. When I was with the Red Sox, we used to use the same planes that some of the NBA teams did. I think the Milwaukee Bucks used to share the ones we used. I know what that’s like, and what those planes are like.”

—- The NCAA today is slated to vote on their plan to reveal extra eligibility for athletes due to the COVID-19 related cancellation of the entire spring sports season nationwide for all three divisions. There are a lot of questions about it and details that schools need to be sure of.

For example, will it just be seniors? Or will it include juniors, sophomores and freshmen? It should include all, as all classes were robbed of a chance to play a full spring season. There are also questions involving redshirts, grad school transfers (you’ll likely see a lot of that), etc. There are also scholarship/financial issues that will involve Divison I and II schools. None of that will have to with a Division III school like Rivier. The problem those with extra eligibility will have is cost. Nashua South grad A.J. Mele, a catcher at Riv, says he plans on taking advantage of it. “I plan on playing four years,” he said.

And that’s a great opportunity. But Riv volleyball senior Francis Kokoros and Souhegan High School baseball coach Tom Walker had the same thought: Will this clutter up the chain of players, with the increase in fifth year seniors taking playing time from younger players?

“I’m figuring the extra year might screw up things for them,” Kokoros said when asked if he was coming back, saying no.

And Walker had those words of wisdom the other day when talking about Saber Daniel Trzepacz heading to the University of Delaware next year to play baseball.

“Players like Danny would be going into a program that probably would be graduate six, seven, eight guys,” he said. “And if they stay, a school would be bringing in six, seven, eight scholarship guys. Then all the guys in the middle. That would impact a freshman’s ability to get on the field, when otherwise he automatically would get a good look.”

Interesting thoughts. Walker knows the seniors deserve another year, but he’s warning freshmen and underclassmen they’ll need to step up their game with the potential logjam. We’ll see what happens.

—- Have to hand it to Goffstown TV and student Broden McCune for its virtual rendition of a potential Bishop Guertin-Goffstown High School Division I girls basketball championship game that aired in Goffstown and also on Nashua ETV on Friday night.

McCune did a great job, using one of those NBA video/virtual games and transposing it for girls hoop, although the players he admitted were men in pony tails (there was no WNBA version he could use)

But here’s what was even better – he did what he could, and when speaking to his dad, Goffstown TV coordinator Adam McCune earlier in the week, it seemed that Goffstown would assuredly win (which likely wouldnt at all be the case if they actually met, given BG’s dominance that included a 70-36 win over the Grizzlies earlier in the season.

But lo and behold, the Cardinals won in a lower scoring game than expected, 64-57, snapping a 57-57 tie in the final minute with a 7-0 run. And the dagger was an Erin Carney three pointer from the left side.

Pretty darn realistic, don’t you think? You could tell from some of the twitter reaction when the idea first became public later this week that some of the Cardinal fan contingent was a bit annoyed. Please, we know it is frustrating that the tourneys were cancelled.

It turned out to be really fun to watch. Caught the last few minutes and you found yourself hooked.

The Memphis Grizzlies court with a Grizzlies logo was the setting. And the animated rendition of a bearded Goffstown coach Steve Largy was, well, pretty spot on.

Great stuff.

Tom King can be reached at 594-1251, tking@nashuatelegraph.com., or @Telegraph_TomK.

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