The last headlines of the year make you thoughtful, and anyone who doesn't like looking back at 2021 has little reason to look ahead optimistically. Is everything getting better? At some point it will, but probably not so quickly in 2022 either. The uncertainty was not so great even a year ago, when it had not yet been decided what would happen to the European Football Championship and the Olympic Games. This time there are not only difficult travel destinations in difficult times with the winter games in China and the soccer World Cup in Qatar. Omikron shakes the sports calendar, no matter how much officials turn a blind eye to it.

It is noticeable that reason quickly comes into play where money does not play the decisive role. The hockey world championship for junior women, which was to be held in South Africa, was canceled in a very short time a few weeks ago when Omikron was discovered there for the first time. The ice hockey world championship for juniors in Canada has now been canceled due to increased corona cases with consideration for the health of the participants. Sounds conclusive, farsighted, understandable - at the same time the North American professional ice hockey league has modified its corona rules. But in the other direction: Players who tested positive can now return to their teams after five days of quarantine if they have been vaccinated and present a negative test or a test with a low viral load. Long Covid? Back on the ice!

The NHL is not an isolated case, all associations want their operations to continue. The fact that this happens regardless of the actors - who in some industries are still being rewarded royally and despite all the financial losses caused by the pandemic - can most clearly be seen where the most money is. The Covid numbers may go through the roof, the infections in the clubs are piling up - the Premier League in England, for example, is sticking to the tight football calendar. After all, they do not go as far as the North American basketball league NBA, which is currently staying afloat with short-term professionals from lower leagues or reactivated old stars so that the game can continue, albeit as a sham.

The sport plans everywhere as if everything would just go on, as if nothing were a problem thanks to the hygiene concepts, and where something is obviously missing, as is the case with darts, nobody cares.

The World Cup has record ratings.

So soon the Africa Cup of football, the handball European championships in Hungary and Slovakia, the global tennis season will start - and meanwhile schools are preparing for distance learning again.

Besides greed, do the sports associations have more to offer than the vague hope that things will somehow work out?