(This article was originally published on March 19, 2020) ------------- E veryone is frightened right now. All of us. While we wait out the pandemic and pray for the best, the ultimate escape from everyday worries in the United States — sports — is also on hiatus. How many of you had today and Friday reserved for vacation? Given this would have been the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, probably a number of you were expecting to enjoy two whole days and evenings of the buzzer-beaters, blowouts and upsets that have made March Madness a worldwide sensation. Not this year. No NBA. No MLB. No NHL. No college sports of any kind. We’re all in a fear-induced holding pattern. And we can’t turn to sports as an escape vehicle. It could be a lot worse, though. Many years ago, my dad spent several weeks on an island in the South Pacific while in the U. S. Army. It was a place called Iwo Jima. Dad was part of an American invasion force called Operation Detachment. The objective was to take t...