Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Well, they called it. March Madness is called off. Feels as if the world has shifted on its axis somehow, right? Europe travel restrictions and phrases like social distancing have come into the conversation. Stories keep coming fast and furious about the virus that can live in the air for hours and on some surfaces for days; a cruise line is ceasing operations for months to get a handle on it; and school closings, event cancellations, and empty venues continue to pop up as COVID-19 spreads.

But hang on, wait a minute.

Couple that with the NBA’s suspension of the season, and it may seem like:

All the news made Twitter come alive with pop culture references about how the world is coping. The world was still hopeful …

Yep …

But then the other shoe dropped.

We culled social media to find the sadness about the madness. Because while COVID-19 is serious business, one does have to keep things in perspective.

For the cat fans:

For the dog fans:

For fans of “The Avengers”:

Can’t forget about the retailers:

Of course, there are the seven stages of grief:

Which end with acceptance:

And the videos abound:

But then Tom Hanks announced that he and his wife, Rita Wilson, have the virus … and things got real, for real.

Well-wishes continue to stream in for the actor …

And lest we forget, Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz has been diagnosed too.

And the hits keep on coming …

Needless to say, we’re all glued to our streams of information to stay on top of it:

Be safe. Wash hands accordingly. Or instead of citing “Friday Night Lights” Coach Taylor’s team rallying cry: “Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose.” Maybe it should be: “Clean hands, untouched face, can’t lose.”

[email protected]