A perusal of the various newspaper sports sections shows that everybody is scraping the bottom of this particular barrel: There's the endless conjecture on the future of Cameron Smith, written like a murder mystery, as if Smith and the Storm administration don't know exactly what the plans are for this iconic player.

Others are speculating that the reason Penrith are doing so well is because they're not having to travel as far as the other sides. Heady stuff - and flawed, because of its implication that a million dollar player isn't kicking very well because he doesn't live next door to the park. Nonsense.

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V'Landys has announced the intent to trim $80 million from the top end of the administration, which begs the question: What type of debacle has the league been operating in order for such an enormous lopping to be both required and plausible?

In other news - players are being traded, some suspended awaiting legal action; contracts have been broken, coaches sacked, their potential appointments pondered... It really is just the same old, and very little about the game itself, presumably because of the mechanical nature of what's happening on the field.

The stories not being printed should probably be concerned with what type of future our game has on its current trajectory.

Rugby league is now a spectacle performed by "other people" - uniformly big, strong, fast blokes, increasingly Pacific Islanders - because, as well as being big and fast, they tend to be big and fast earlier in life and so get swept up in the scouting/recruiting processes - who are being seriously injured.

You have to wonder how long it can go on, particularly in light of the recent revelations as to the extent and repercussions of concussions in players from older eras.

Do we end up with American style protective gear? Helmets? I don't know.

Football's always been tough - it's a big part of why we love it - but there was a place for smaller, skilful, quirky players which I think is being eroded.

Would Allan Langer get a start these days? I don't think so, and the game is poorer because of that.

Serena Williams is progressing through the early rounds of the US Open. If she wins the tournament she will equal Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slams.

Court's overt intolerance has made her an unpopular figure, and so Williams' achievement chipping off a bit of Court's prestige would be welcomed in the sporting community. But, still, you have to ask, should it count? Really?

French Open title holder, Ash Barty, isn't competing. With the global pandemic meaning a player of Barty's calibre is unable to play in the US Open you have to ask, should this really count as a Grand Slam? The men's Open is lacking Federer and Nadal.

The AFL grand final is going to be played in Brisbane. The Melbourne Cup? Still completely up in the air.

The Tour de France is doing its damnedest to go ahead, but with the infections tally rising in France it is possible they may not make it to the end.

Golf majors? The British Open's been cancelled. The Masters has been moved to November. The US Open happens in a couple of weeks but with several top ranking players either unable or unwilling to compete.

Does winning a major count for anything this year? Should it?

It seems to me that a Grand Slam title won in 2020 will be looked back upon as "the major you have when you don't have a major" ... a Clayton's title.

The prestige of winning a Grand Slam event is given because you've beaten the best. If some of the best haven't been able to get there then I don't think it's going to be considered to be the real thing.

The same for the Cup, the AFL, the NRL and all the rest.

So why persevere? Why not just stop and say, this is too hard for the moment.

It's tiring just reading about the hoops V'Landys is continually jumping through in order to keep the rugby league show on the road. The other sports heads are doing the same.

What drives this tenacity? Is it a testament to the value of sport in our society? That even in the midst of a global pandemic we consider it vital that our sporting events proceed?

Perhaps sport is integral to our fabric, and we need it, and the regularity of the landmark events to help get us through these weird times. It's a nice thought. But the alternative viewpoint is simply that the sports have become such big business that they just can't pause.