Discussion: Safe sports in this day and age

(Thus is intended to be a lighthearted musing, not a recommendation for anyone to do anything risky.)

With the current concerns about disease transmission, what sports are still safe to do? I'm talking about participatory sports, not spectator sports (being in an audience is a separate issue, but most people getting exercise don't have the luxury of being watched by fans). Mixed martial arts and Rugby seem like poor choices, but there are other things (solo trail running, of course, and orienteering aside) that are completely compatible with social distancing.

Golf: This seems pretty straightforward. Don't get a cart, just carry your clubs (or use a bag with wheels), and nobody shares balls anyway.

Tennis: Each person serves his or her own balls, and beyond that, you only touch the ball with a racket. Spray it with Lysol when you're done. The players always stand pretty far apart. Don't shake hands when you're done.

Fortnite, etc.: Duh.

Bowling: Keep your distance, and only touch your own ball. It's indoors, but other than that...

Skiing: They closed the lifts in Colorado, but you can still skin up and telemark down. Nordic should be fine except that they canceled races because people gather at the start and finish.

Curling: Do those guys wear gloves? They could.

Archery, shooting, etc.: Not my kind of sport, but seems pretty low-risk.

Surfing: If you're worried about microbes being spread in the ocean, we're already screwed.

Sailing: Singlehanded boats should be great. The iceboat crowd in Maine is still out there this weekend, and will be until the ice melts. Works for ice skating, too. And kayaking if it's warm enough.

Cycling: Get out there and go for a ride! No elevated risk that I can think of, if you aren't riding in a pack. On road or off road, you're good.

Hang gliding: It's not often that I get to claim that this is a safe activity. Nancy tells me that I'm dead wrong, though, since from what she's seen, it consists largely of people standing around, kicking rocks, talking, and waiting for the wind to be just right.

Quite a few people skinning or snow shoeing up Vail, carrying their skis if on snow shoes. Perfect day for it. Sunny, 40s, good snow. Bummer to be watching.

I suppose full contact chess is out of the question

Postal chess!

Open water swimming, rowing, canoeing. Cycling is great for me, except it looks like I'll have to skip the coffee shop stop.

Competitive reading sounds like fun.

Diplomacy by email. About as tense as the last innings of a tight ball game.

Is that when you buy a pair of pants that's one size too small?

I thought that was called a "packed lunchbox".

Read it with US vernacular in mind.

I don't understand US vernacular - would you please explain? Isn't innings cricket? Do you guys play cricket?

"Taht buuuhl gaym" (I'm not very good at accents).

FoRtNiTe IsN't A sPoRt

In baseball, the singular is "inning". There are (usually) nine innings, but at the end, they're in the ninth inning.

And on that topic, I forgot to mention baseball, it seems like a good choice. Most of the players stand really far apart most of the time. The catcher and home plate umpire are near the batter but they both wear masks. And almost everybody on the field is wearing a glove. They just need to stop spitting.

But they throw with their non-gloved hand!

OK, and also replace the rosin bag with Purell. (I can see this becoming the new spitball.)

And don't the batters drop their bats before running - who picks those up? Still, it must be more interesting to play baseball than to watch it.

Not really.