Just in case you did not notice, it’s been a long and trying year in sports.

Here are some positives:

•Dutch Fork High’s magnificent Silver Foxes won their 5th straight state championship. Wow!

No other school, coach or team has ever done that.

Many have won 4. But 5?

That’s incredible.

And the way Tom Knotts has his players developing, I wouldn’t be surprised if they made it 6 in 2021.

I don’t what he’s feeding those kids but if you find out, order me a truckload.

•Clemson lost in double overtime to Notre Dame with a rookie freshman quarterback. Now they have their star Trevor Lawrence back. He threw for 322 yards and 2 scores and rushed for a TD in Clemson’s 34-10 win over Notre Dame Saturday.

Lawrence has earned the Heisman Trophy and Notre Dame doesn’t deserve to be in the top 4 in BCS ranking.

•A new day is ahead for the Gamecocks with Shane Beamer at the helm.

Shane grew up in a football family and learned a lot from his legendary father Frank, Steve Spurrier and other coaches he’s had the privilege to work with.

We wish him and the Gamecocks well in 2021.

Who to blame?

Now, I’ll lay much of the blame in 2020 where it belongs – the power-hungry, corrupt Chinese Communist Party and the oppressive, totalitarian government they run.

They could have alerted the rest of us knowing what they unleashed inside their country,

No. They didn’t.

They actually did worse.

They shut down domestic flights to halt the spread of the virus in China but let other flights go all over the world, spreading the covid-19 disease globally.

This all but shut down sports and the rest of our world economy, cost thousands of lives and millions of us our jobs and incomes.

Think about that the next time you are tempted to buy a pair of sneakers or any sports equipment with “Made in China” on it.

It’s not impossible for China to poison everything they send us. Don’t expect our government to protect you.

Join me in this: Be mad at China, but be grateful, too.

This year could have been worse for many of us. Think of those in the hospitality business. Thousands of them are out of work and many of their employers are out of business.

But we Americans are resilient people. We learn to adapt. We’ve suffered pandemics, wars, economic depressions and more.

We always come through when the going gets toughest because we are tough when we have to be. Look at what this year has brought us amid the gloom and doom we hear daily.

How do you feel about this? Write me at ChronicleSports@yahoo.com .