I am thinking that this is absolutely, definitely, unequivocally my final editorial that mentions COVID-19 and the impact of the pandemic on the world of team sports. Maybe.

The unpredictability of COVID has made the lives of our team dealer readers – and our editorial content – equally unpredictable. Dealers and their customers never know from day to day just what is going to happen next when it comes to interrupted schedules, disrupted supply chains and staff getting sick. We have all faced these challenges together and we have felt your pain. Each of us has had our own battles with this pandemic — either ourselves, family members, co-workers, friends or customers. Hopefully, just maybe, we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

I, of course, have my own COVID-19 survival story as I navigated these uncharted waters the past two-plus years. I lost a family member in the early days of the pandemic and most of my extended family has tested positive at one time or another. Thankfully, I have not — the result of extra precaution or plain luck, who knows?

I have worked out of a home office for two decades, so professionally it was interesting to watch so many of my colleagues learn how to work remotely — figuring out technology, learning how to motivate themselves every morning, dressing halfway up for Zoom calls. But we all learned.

I have written in past editorials that what has impressed me most among the team dealers we write for and speak with frequently is their resilience and ability to adapt. Whether it was in the early days of the pandemic when many switched to selling face masks and other protective gear or more recently as we all take tentative steps to a return to some sort of pre-pandemic normalcy, team dealers have proven to be a resilient bunch. No surprise there.

So as I write the final paragraph of my final editorial mentioning COVID-19 and its impact on the team business, I can only think — I hope I am right this time.