DC ExtraTime: Swayleigh Meets The Lakers Boss Lady

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

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When MTV's The Challenge: Total Madness began on April Fool's Day night, it was in the midst of something not seen by our generation: a pandemic shutting down just about everything we had in our plans for the start of this decade of the 2020's. Concerts, weddings, graduations, trips, major events and just about everything else that was scheduled to take place this year have either been called off or pushed back by the COVID crisis, something that, unfortunately, is starting to pop up once again, as America is also facing the racial tensions spurred by the Black Lives Matter movement.

Something that's been affected deeply by COVID has been of the sports world being put on hold everywhere from America to Europe to down under in Australia. A boatload of major events were nixed for the first time since World War II, and one event that was supposed to be going on right now, the Tokyo Olympics, have been postponed to next summer. And it's only now that sports is getting back to normal: UFC, NASCAR, soccer and golf started things out, and by this weekend three of the four major sports will be in action, with the fourth in the NFL to follow shortly after.

Of all that's happened at the intersection of sport and COVID, it can point to that March night in Salt Lake City where a player from the Utah Jazz was hospitalized before a game that ultimately was abandoned, sparking an unprecedented domino effect. It has been a key moment in what has been a rough season in the National Basketball Association, including the passing of a former lawyer who helped turn the league into a global powerhouse in former commissioner David Stern. And his successor, Adam Silver, has faced the tough task of restarting things, like all other sports, although he may an upper hand thanks to placing everyone inside the bubble of Walt Disney World.

But the passing of Commissioner Stern pales in comparison to what has to be one of those days that's burned in the memory bank of every sports fan the world over of that gloomy last Sunday in January, where the tragic death of one of the most iconic athletes of our time united this divided world. The untimely passing of Kobe Bryant has overshadowed everything else, other than the virus, of the NBA season... but thanks to two weeks of training camp and scrimmages at Mickey Mouse's house, things are finally set to get back in motion this week with all eyes set on crowning a champion.

And while NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo has been able to spend this lockdown watching The Challenge & other MTV Reality matters without missing a minute on the court for the Bucks, there's one other important link between the Association and the fifth major pro sport. And as hoops fans everywhere prepare for the NBA restart this Thursday night, you can thank a guy who's a basketball enthusiast through & through and his Big Brother wife to help us introduce you to one of sports' most powerful women: the Boss Lady of the Los Angeles Lakers.