Monzanator

Romain Grosjean takes pole for Indianapolis road course race.

V8s convert Scott McLaughlin in 5th to follow up on a great 2nd place at Texas two weeks ago.

50 deaths. Meh, that's nothing. Hamas had to make their presence known during Ramadan again. This stuff is as irrelevant as those mass shootings in USA. Global public doesn't give a damn about Israel vs Palestine Chapter 3647483

8 hours ago, Orangehair43 said:

That’s worrying. The minute USOC or Biden says withdrawal should happen then it will happen. 

Biden is a Big Tech puppet. If NBC tells him US athletes have to take part in Tokyo, he won't have anything to say.

Turns out British Paralympian legend Sarah Storey is another case of asthma TUE glory. And the TUE was granted AFTER she tested for too high salbutamol level. How long this crap will be tolerated? There must be millions in play if thet let these cheaters get away with such obvious rules bending. Good thing Storey isn't Russian or else they'd ban her ass forever.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/disability-sport/57054880

5 hours ago, Olympian1010 said:

I also think the difficulty of the Olympic Games in canoe slalom is relative to how you view it. Yes, there are less competitions than WC or EC, but that also means that’s it’s even tougher to make it (qualify) to the start line. Plus, there’s the added pressure of being your country’s sole representative.

 

I’d love to see more athletes in each event, but that’s just not a realistic possibility at the moment. Hopefully C2 will be given a chance to return in some form down the line because that was a fun event to watch.

No chance slalom canoeing ever wins a competition versus the break dance crap for instance. I fully expect in 10-20 years there will be voices to have canoeing removed from Olympics alltogether as not being flashy & progressive enough

7 minutes ago, dodge said:

I don’t see the problem really. Different sports have different rules and different allowances

 

No harm done

But IOC selects the actual quota? If they say it's one national entry per event no other governing body can do anything about it.

Remember the table tennis controversy when they disallowed the third entry per nation just so China doesn't sweep all the medals everywhere

2 hours ago, rybak said:

Klaudia was so close to medal, 4th place for her 

It's good Zwolinska gets to reprsent Poland at SOG though. Both in men & women the youngsters have beaten the veterans which I find a much better outcome.

Barbora Strycova (tennis) announced her retirement. She is also pregnant

Z European Tour dalej spada 15 ostatnich w rankingu, czy coś się przy COVID zmieniło?

Meanwhile in Texas...

Quartararo struggled with arm pump and tumbled right down to 13th. At this rate Joan Mir will emerge as the most consistent scorer again.

Trzecie miejsce Adriana Meronka na Teneryfie. Tydzień temu był chyba 15? Coś się ruszyło?

48 minutes ago, Quaker2001 said:

It's all about the progression of the pandemic.  A few months ago, who was in better shape, a country like the United States with COVID deaths at half a million or Japan where it seemed to be more relatively contained?  Now look at it where a large percentage of Americans are vaccinated and Japan is lagging behind.  And not only that, but COVID is surging there and the medical system is being overwhelmed.  I don't know if that's their own fault or something they couldn't have controlled and yes it's a bad look.  But that's where we need to weigh pressure and backlash on Japan for not being able to deliver the Olympics and questions of whether or not their current situation is a matter of mis-management.

 

Given the animosity that exists in the world towards the IOC, I don't think they'll get the benefit of the doubt here and I feel like more people will sympathize with Japan rather than to bash them that they are "struggling" to host an Olympics.  That may change throughout Europe the Euro goes off without much trouble.  Sitting here as an American who plans to go to at least 2 of those frickin' baseball stadiums next week after I've reached 14 days past my 2nd vaccine dose, I'm torn between wanting Japan to make this happen so I get my Olympics and having sympathy for Japanese citizens whose healthcare system that would burden.  

People want to see the Games, period. Not even gonna mention the athletes. IOC has a bad press but if the Games are cancelled all the blame will be put on Japan. I have no doubts about it. Every single global event will go ahead starting with Euro soccer in less than 100 days. There will be no excuses for Japan and their struggles.

Cars can be easily rebuild overnight. Since reliability is basically a non-factor in F1 these days (least of all among the top teams) these qual races will be a boring procession all the time IMO. Hell, FIA even said they won't be using this format on all tracks even if it gets expanded. Even Liberty can't sell the "overtaking excitement" on tracks like Monaco or the Abu Dhabi borefest. They know even those mythical "new fans" can't be that stupid.

Brisbane would be cancelled? No way. They are letting crowds back at the V8 Supercars races so I presume they'd go ahead with SOG 100%.

Yep, that's the hidden bonus for Mercedes and Red Bull in particular (not so hidden if you know where to look). Gone will be the days of pit wall screw-ups when team leave their cars in garage thinking the time is safe and then it looks silly when it's not. Sprint quals will make sure all the fastest cars will start at the front of the grid all the time. And Liberty calls this excitement? Bunch of idiots.

10 hours ago, Quaker2001 said:

Thanks, Trump.

 

I had the same thoughts about NPB how if they can have fans, why not Olympic venues.  Not that simple though.  Japan is not handling the pandemic well right now relative to where they were 3 months ago.  That's concerning.  I remain confident there will be an Olympics, but with how many spectators remains to be seen.

This actually means there will be more pressure and backlash on Japan. Because if the main issue is how Japan struggles to embrace the pandemic they will be crushed on the global stage. The entire world is dealing with COVID and their excuse to cancel the Games would be "We are struggling". Bullshit. That's not an excuse at all. It looks especially bad for a country that thrives on extreme job culture and their goal to achieve perfection. Frickin' baseball stadiums in USA will open to full capacity later this month IIRC and Japan "is struggling"? They won't get away with that when it comes to the biggest sporting event of them all.

Yes, if Travis Etienne becomes the next Alvin Kamara like projected then Jax offense will look explosive. And they have the luxury of AFC South being a tire fire right now. Texans are a mess, Titans are limited to Derrick Henry carrying them on his back and God knows if Carson Wentz ever recovers to lift the Colts.

Trevor Lawrence #1 to Jaguars (duh), Zach Wilson #2 to Jets (duh), Trey Lance #3 to 49ers (big swing for the QB with high-upside). I admire 49ers taking such a swing over Mac Jones who is really the fifth best QB in the class but was heavily rumoured to be their choice for weeks.

Is anyone surprised? It's payback time, Democrats waited four years to get the ball rolling. Nothing will stop them now.

30 minutes ago, thiago_simoes said:

Wait, aren't all equestrian events mixed gender?

And there's at least one in sailing, too.

Equestrian doesn't count as it's old school & traditional so doesn't fit with the modern politically correct propaganda

None. Mixed event in judo is just another freebie gold medal for Japan

I don't follow sailing, table tennis & triathlon so don't care about these events much.

NFL draft is tomorrow night. Should be three QBs selected in Top 3 for the first time since 1999.

Americans from Liberty throwing bullshit ideas and trying to lure the mythical "new fans"   I'm totally against the sprint race crap and I hope it fails soon enough. Good luck in trying to force excitement over 10th place in a race where only Top 3 get points. Saving engine & gearbox mileage is paramount so nobody will risk anything in sprint races

IndyCar has had 5 cautions in two races so far and Jimmie Johnson caused three of them   Thankfully he is skipping the Texas races this weekend.