Daily Schmankerl: Hoeness urges everyone, “stay home and play Monopoly,” Jude Bellingham weighing offer from Bayern and others, and more!

Uli Hoeness makes passionate coronavirus appeal (SPORT1)

Bayern Munich’s honorary president, Uli Hoeness, called in to SPORT1’s “Doppelpass” program yesterday and delivered an impassioned appeal for viewers to be patient and take all necessary precautions to slow the spread of the disease.

“I think it’s important that we now pause and all think about what is going on in the world. At the moment, we all must learn to be patient,” Hoeness said. He praised Germany’s government for their response to the disease. They are doing,

...a sensational job. Think of Italy, where a doctor has to decide whether he turns off the respirator for an 80-year-old woman because it’s reserved for a 55-year-old man. Those are essential problems — and so we don’t need to get upset over when the Bundesliga starts again.

Hoeness emphasized that everyone has “to slow down to 0 until the numbers fall”:

It’s now necessary that every citizen in the whole world collaborates with discipline, because there is no handbook to consult for this situation.

The DFL will soon decide what to do about the Bundesliga season, but Hoeness doubts the feasibility of making decisions about an uncertain future:

In a situation in which you don’t know how many coronavirus cases there will be tomorrow or in a week, you can’t decide anything. I think it’s really important that everyone ensures in his private circumstances that no infections happen. If we’re going to get this number under control at some point, then we can talk again about when soccer will be played.

Hoeness feels the Bundesliga and Champions League should take priority over the Euro 2020 — “It makes no sense at all to hold the Euro championship,” he said.

We finally have to look reality in the eye. And reality is this: we have to wait four weeks now — and then decide how things go on, if at all. Perhaps we won’t be able to play soccer even in October — nobody knows!

I think it’s charlatanism to say today what people are supposed to do in four weeks. We all have to dial it down... We have to give the scientists time now to find a vaccine. Everything else is just blustering.

Hoeness concluded by urging solidarity —

The big must help the small, Germany must help Italy. I cannot speak for FC Bayern. If they ask me, I’ll hold the standard high.

— and urged the viewers to prioritize their health:

I’m also in favor of bread and circuses, but nothing at all has happened yet. We can’t have games before the bread is used up. People have to learn to stay home and play Monopoly. I can’t have a plan up my sleeve if I don’t know when I’m going to act on it.

Hoeness reiterated many of the same points in comments to kicker later:

It is now essential that everyone ensures and does their part in their own circumstances so that there are as few further cases of infection as possible. Everyone must come to the realization that we are just at the beginning of this problem. Our society has to become completely sensitized to what is going on here, and all over the world.

Jude Bellingham debating between Bayern and three other top clubs (Mirror)

According to the Mirror, 16-year-old Jude Bellingham has his pick of four clubs that have all agreed to meet Birmingham’s asking price of £30m. They are Manchester United, Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund, and Bayern Munich.

The fee reportedly consists of “a £15m down payment and £15m in performance related add-ons.”

An interesting additional factor is Jude’s younger brother Jobe, Jobe is also a promising youth player who has been called up to the England U15 team recently. His parents will have to decide what is best for him if Jude makes the leap across the Channel to Germany.

Listen to Basti and Ana

UEFA to postpone Euro 2020 (ZDF)

UEFA will recommend to the national leagues and the European Club Association on Tuesday postponing the planned Euro Championship. ZDF has learned this from people close to the federation.

Vertonghen’s family robbed at knifepoint

Bayern Basketball set for €1 million+ in losses due to Coronavirus

With the coronavirus causing cancellations all across the sporting world, basketball in Germany and across Europe was not spared. In a recent interview with Sport1, Bayern general manager Marko Pesic estimated that, if the teams do not return to the court until April 19 as planned, the Bavarians are looking at missing out in over €1 million from ticket sales alone.

In self-isolation? Dance!

Dance with the Götzes while you’re at it!

Keeping that Dad Bod in shape while Serie A is on break

Hull City defeats Bayer Leverkusen 4-0 in Twitter Connect-4

Seriously, reddit even made a gamethread and did a postgame thread.

And now for something completely different

Now, a message from Bayern Frauen