Do you not play well with others? We have the sport for you! Table tennis is traditionally an individual sport. When played in a team format, individual players are still competing by themselves, with their cumulative results combined to simulate a simultaneous collective effort. The exception is doubles. Only then, with two players working in tandem, physically cooperating in real time, are the minimum criteria for teamwork fulfilled. Therefore, the level of teamwork in table tennis may be adjusted to suit one's social preferences. In contrast, many sports can only be played as a team. While it is theoretically possible, for example, for an antisocial football player to kick the ball, catch it, self-tackle, hike the ball, catch it, throw it, run in the touchdown, snap the extra point, catch and balance the ball on end, run back and kick the extra point, pigskin purists would certainly decry such a display as blasphemous. Similarly, basketball can be played one-on-one but the true game exists with five clearly defined positions, each performing different but complementary tasks. The highest praise for basketball players, at least among coaches and fellow players, is that they are working toward team success rather than individual accolades. Thus, it should not be surprising when NBA players transfer this team mentality to other sports, even those favoring rugged individualists. This tendency was preemptively addressed by NBA as the league scrambles to salvage the season, on hold since March 11 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to resume play, the NBA has designed what seems like a bizarre sociological experiment or, far worse, a reality TV show. Enter "The Bubble" --but, actually, don't, because you can't. That's the whole point: it's a bubble. The NBA is inviting 22 of the league's 30 teams (those already in the playoff picture, or not yet mathematically eliminated from contention) to check into Disney World in Orlando, Florida. There, each player will be individually tested for COVID-19 and quarantined to his room. Once a quorum of players from each team passes physicals, official NBA play will resume, leading toward playoffs and a championship. Of course, strict hygienic protocols will be implemented. The NBA issued over 100 pages of guidelines to which all players, coaches, officials and other participants must adhere. While some measures were predictable, such as wearing masks when not playing or eating, others have caught players by surprise. One rule in particular has gotten the NBA community talking: doubles table tennis is banned. "Until directed otherwise by the NBA, players should play singles only so that they can maintain six feet of distance from each other," the guideline reads. While this rule is already familiar to ITTF players, owing to the impossibility of maintaining social distance from a teammate, the inherently social NBA players are still wrapping their heads around it. Utah Jazz swingman Joe Ingles facetiously tweeted to his teammate, guard Jordan Clarkson, "Damn, we can't team up for ping pong." Their center, Rudy Gobert, promptly roasted them both. "You'll lose one after the other," he counter-tweeted. "It's cool." Of course, center Rudy Gobert was also at the center of controversy months ago when, unaware that he was carrying the COVID-19 virus, he mocked social distancing guidelines and touched reporters' microphones. While the suspension of the season was inevitable, Gobert's foolishness made clear the need for immediate action. Now, in this time of mass confusion and hysteria, the gradual return of sports offers some glimmer of hope that we can all figure out how to move forward. Even if we are forced to stay in individual isolation, it is for the benefit of the team.

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