Monzanator

The decision has been made. Further posting in this thread is officially worthless

The entire world is getting blown out of their safety bubble, that's all. We haven't had a real global crisis since the fall of the Iron Curtain and everyone's more interested in vegan diet than real health crisis. Let's face it, nobody was ready for this and that's why we struggle like that.

Somebody pays attention to Zaglebie Lubin in Slovakia?   It was said Sevela is a high-profile hire given our league standards but of course he took a job with a team that is sponsored by our national copper mining giant

8 minutes ago, LDOG said:

The anglo army came out with guns blazing with their statements and Dick Pound. 

 

It's obvious the game will be postponed, we don't need them to tell us that  it's all about their political sport agenda. Same as in Russia doping case.

 

It's especially funny from UK given they didn't give two shits about the virus like a week ago.

Dont's let facts get in the way of a good story

10 minutes ago, Quaker2001 said:

So is there a reason no one is discussing this right now?...

 

2020 Tokyo Olympics Will Be Postponed Due to Coronavirus, Says IOC's Dick Pound

Because the chase is more important than the catch

Well, the good ole emotional blackmail usually works the way world has gotten soft in XXI century

5 hours ago, Werloc said:

 

For the life of me, I cannot pinpoint the year when I became a biathlon fan. At one point I thought it was 2010 Vancouver, but then I started remembering stuff from earlier seasons and it's a complete mess.

 

I definitely know that I've never seen Forsberg or Liv Grete race and when I started watching, Bailly was probably at the very end of her career, which is why I'm not comfortable talking about their domination since I haven't seen it first hand. 

That's the thing, there was never a Bailly dominance period. After Forsberg retired there was a slew of tep performers like Wilhem, Henkel, Liv Grete or Bailly but the competition was so intense none of them dominated on their own. Even Uschi Disl was never really a dominatrix through 15+ years even though she was always there fighting for podiums. One can argue Martina Glagow or Katrin Apel had higher peaks than Disl and most certainly Henkel & Wilhelm had them as well.

Not even gonna mention the Russians, Pyleva, Koukleva or Zaitseva had the higher peaks while Akhatova and Ishmouratova were the reliable backups. Akhatova had 70+ individual Top 10s in World Cup but only two wins and Ishmouratova finally winning a race at age 34 was quite a story in 2006 (before she won the 15km individual at the Turin OG).

4 minutes ago, ofan said:

 

Not to mention NBC may carry more weight than most. I know you're well versed in the subject and likely have some thoughts on what they're going through atm. 

I'd say the potential cancellation of the NFL season will hit NBC harder than the Olympic delay.

1 minute ago, Quaker2001 said:

 

It'll probably hurt Japan more than it hurts the IOC.  Might hurt China as well, but somehow, I think they'll figure out a way to survive

China won't be hurt by this at all. They could actually gain from all of this as Trump's trade war has very much died in wake of the virus. If everyone loses money globally then China will bounce back the most (plus Russia who always profits from the Western world losing money).

2 minutes ago, ofan said:

And Canada is the first domino to fall. I expect others will follow suit in the coming days, and the IOC will have no choice to postpone. Silver lining is that the IOC is yet again being exposed as the cowardly, corrupt bastards that they are. 

Can't blame IOC for being greedy. Olympics happens every two years, they have to cash in during that very small window. It's not soccer with gazillion games and competitions every month. Pro sports is money and all about the money. Pro sports is not about heath. Then again, IOC survived boycotted Games and the 1972 hostage crisis so Tokyo delay won't hurt them as much on the long run IMO.

2 minutes ago, Quaker2001 said:

 

I don't want to speculate because I don't exactly trust the leadership of this country to know what the hell they're doing and to be able to help manage the situation.

 

As for Japan.. this crept up on them pretty fast, but I think reality is finally setting in that they have to make this work.  Although I'm betting they'll be cursing out the Chinese plenty for unleashing this plague on the world and then screwing up their best laid plans.

Several countries have screwed up more than China tbh. The total lockdown of EU happened too late, European politicians were naive enough this won't spread as much and now they're fucked. Italy is complete shambles and the peak of the outbreak in Europe hasn't happened yet. Quite frankly the China numbers will look very small when it's all said and done IMO.

Dana White said sth about hosting galas in UAE but he thinks throwing money at Middle East will be more important than health crisis. He's a complete moron.

Seems like shit is getting real, Shinzo Abe changed his tune overnight. I'd say Olympics are not going to happen in 2020.

Actually no sporting event probably takes place before September IMO. Dana White talks nonsense about UFC galas but he can be squashed like a bug if some federal law is thrown at him and then UEFA can push with the soccer season in Europe but I'm unsure about that.

2 hours ago, Werloc said:

 

I don't know, I wouldn't put my hopes up for Eckhoff too much. The fact that she had so many wins this season was out of nowhere and everybody was used to her inconsistency especially when it came to standing shooting.

 

Seeing as Vittozzi looked like a shadow of her former self after her super season last year, I'd like to see more proof from Tiril that she is capable of being a consistent competitor, especially seeing how she completely evaporated during the World Championships and came back to her 2018-2019 season during the final shooting in Kontiolahti's pursuit.

 

As for Roeiseland, she might come back even as a bigger 'monster', she can easily reach domination levels of such greats as Darya Domracheva, Magdalena Neuner, I guess Dahlmeier too if we look at what she did during her short career.

 

In all honesty, I think the women's tour is very open right now for top talent. If you'd ask me, I don't really think that Dorothea Wierer is a super excellent biathlete, nor did I ever think that Gabriela Soukalova was too (as both previous winners of the overall world cup). The reason why Doro right now can look so good is because the women's tour doesn't have a Johannes or a Martin, which I think that Marte is capable of taking that place.

 

I think women's biathlon level is really down after the peak days of Neuner, Henkel, Ekholm, Berger, Domracheva, Makarainen, Zidek.

 

Of course, not saying that Doro or Gabi are not talented, just thinking that people perceive that they are much stronger than they actually are, regarding the competition that they are facing. Germany is at its weakest that its ever been with Herrmann being a less charismatic coinflip Gossner and Preuss + Hinz never growing into podium challenging form. French women are on a bit of a dip too, with Braisaz's and Simon's inconsistency. No real external challengers from smaller countries (that was the role that Makarainen, Domracheva and Kuzmina played) and Russia is extremely weak as well. So yeah, I'm really waiting to see if Nilsson can shake things up. 

Berger and Olofsson-Zidek were late bloomers, I mean O-Z didn't start competing in biathlon until she was 29yo! Wierer basically mirrored Ekholm's career but Liv Grete Skjelbreid basically had a better career than both of them with the only problem being she competed at the height of the German & Russian power in women's biathlon and also the tail-end of Forsberg's dominance. I'm not even gonna mention Sandrine Bailly who won 20 World Cup races, who even remembers that? Eckhoff and Wierer won double digit races and it's supposed to be big but Bailly won more than them and literally nobody talks about her at all.

The competition has shrunk because the German women are struggling to provide world class talent and Russia hasn't recovered from the post-doping fiasco. French women are very inconsistent and it seems like we have a ton of women who can get into Top 10 on a good day repeatedly but they're not instant winners.

4 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Yes, Nike is excellent in making people believe they care about important stuff....with the sole actual goal of making more money. It's rather obvious they're not doing it out of the good of their hearts, but it's smart marketing for sure  

Nike thrives on cheap labor overseas. Over 500 manufacturing factories in 40+ countries around the world. In USA they only have the shipping centers and the white collars in Oregon.

6 minutes ago, Olympian1010 said:

Well, SoFi wasn’t ever built for the purpose of hosting the Olympics (though it has been designated and lined up for that purpose now). Public money isn’t spent on the land/stadium, but it will be spent on all the supporting infrastructure in the area. I really don’t know where you got this ridiculous idea that the NCAA are funding anything outside college sports. Kroenke isn’t funding the games either. LA made our bid becuase we were the last Olympic host to successfully turn a profit, and we had the majority of the infrastructure already needed. Of course that’s without mentioning our desirable weather, high rate of freedom, appeal to culture, and large population base. The NCAA isn’t a powerful as you think they are. 
 

You know I honestly don’t care what you believe. I’m more pissed off about how constantly just take massive shits on everything. Have you ever made a positive comment on here? Look, I know Poland isn’t rainbows and sunshine, but show some fucking decency every once in a while. I’m not the only user that finds it hard to tolerate your constant negativity either, so don’t act like it’s just a “me” problem. 
 

I’ll also make an awesome, kind suggestion for you. How about we talk about the issue this thread is meant to address. 

I told you before I'm a cynical realist. Take it or leave it.

As for this thread I said before, it's gonna be late May at earliest when Japan makes some kind of decision. Yeah, Japan, not US Track & Field or whomever else. If you wanna waste two months on dabbling what the decision will be, it's your choice. Shinzo Abe has said the preparations for the Games will continue despite the virus outbreak. That kills any sort of discussion for now. Everything else is pure speculation and unneccessary drama I prefer to ignore.

3 minutes ago, Olympian1010 said:

I love when you talk out of your ass. This statement is laughably overdramatic about the Olympics hosting situation in the United States.

Overdramatic? Then why is SoFi Stadium scheduled to host opening, closing ceremonies & the soccer games at the OG? How much PUBLIC money was spend on purchasing the land and building the stadium? NCAA revenue is north of 1 billion dollars, Stan Kroenke's net worth is 10 times as much. No wonder Los Angeles made the Olympics hosting bid. When was the last time NCAA and Kroenke LOST money? If you believe Kroenke won't strike business deals with official Olympic sponsors then you have no idea what's going on.

24 minutes ago, Quaker2001 said:

 

The United States and France are able to willing to host because they have the majority of the needed facilities already in place without having to spend billions to build new venues with no planned use for after the Games.  That was the problem with cities like Rio and Athens which in hindsight were poor choices to be Olympics hosts.  Hosting the Olympics will lose money if it's planned and executed poorly.  Unfortunately, it's extremely difficult to plan and execute them well.  Let's see how that works out for Los Angeles in 2028 where the baseline for them will be the 1984 Olympics which made a profit.  And it's hard to measure the long-term benefits of hosting an Olympics.  Ask LA 1984 and Barcelona 1992 how that worked out for them.

 

What we're seeing with the Winter Olympics is that the only cities that might want to host now are those with facilities in place.  Which for the most part means cities that have host an Olympics before.  Somehow, Italy stayed in the running for 2026, but they have many of the needed venues already in place.  Yes, if no one else bids, maybe Qatar offers up a trillion dollar bid and the IOC has said yes (although after the impending disaster that is the 2022 World Cup, let's see how that goes after that).

Yes, having facilities in place gives certain countries a clear advantage over some others but Los Angeles will make money from hosting the Games because:

a) Memorial Coliseum is tied to USC & NCAA which makes a ton of money and probably has a bigger budget than 75% of the world. NCAA is the most dysfunctional organization in sports which pays absolutely nothing to the student athletes. Therefore they have money to spend on the Olympics.

b) Stan Kroenke and his SoFi Stadium will combine the Games with private business. So it's no longer a public event where people make a choice. Kroenke will probably sign billionaire deals with Olympic sponsors and get back all that money he invested in building the stadium. This goes beyond the country's budget, outside of China and Qatar which other country could afford to basically leave the hosting process in private hands? Probably none.

Rio, Athens, Barcelona, Cortina whatever, they had to pour public money into the Games, USA/LA basically leaves the lion's share of this process to NCAA and Stan Kroenke.

22 minutes ago, Quaker2001 said:

 

Hockey is 1 sport out of many at the Winter Olympics.  It cost them viewers, but if we're talking about major controversies with the games, what about the Russians and doping?  What about North Korea-South Korea relations that created a number of concerns in the lead up?  The NHL skipping 2018 would barely be a blip on the radar so far as history is concerned compared to if the Olympics had to be postponed.  That literally has never happened before in their history.  People will look back on that 200 years from now and wonder what happened?  No one would do the same with 2018 because NHL players weren't there.

 

And I disagree about social media.  In the past decade, we've seen several potential Olympic host cities have to give up because it was put to a referendum or a public vote.  I'm pretty sure that happened with Budapest with their bid for the 2024 Olympics.  My understanding - and you can correct me if this is wrong - is that there were political movements to stop the bid and their efforts succeeded when it was going to force the possibility of city residents rejecting the Olympics.  So yes, that's exactly how social media can influence a decision.

 

You're right that if the Olympics get moved to next year and everyone figures out how to make that work, no one will care.  The problem is now where the IOC is saying they could hold them this summer when it might not be possible to do so.  So if the IOC continues on that path, they're potentially asking for trouble in the midst of a worldwide pandemic like we haven't seen in more than a century

Hosting Olympics loses you money, it has nothing to do with social media. Garmisch-Partenkirchen struck down the idea of WOG bid in public vote because they don't really need to host them and lose a ton of money. They have the Four Hills on New Year and the alpine skiing World Cup. They are very fine with that plus it's a skiing resort for tourists. Winter Olympics in particular are no longer held in traditional winter resorts, there are a few countries willing to host the Games regardless how much money it will cost them China is obviously one, I bet in 20 years time Doha will be awarded Summer Games too. Qatar has hosted every damn World Championships there is, football, athletics, handball, cycling, you name it. They've got the money and they don't care about anything else. Hosting the Games is more about prestige, there are only a handful of countries that pick prestige over money loss, China, Qatar, USA, Italy and France being probably on that short-list.

6 hours ago, Maxim Fastovsky said:

 

I feel like the longer they go without announcing postponement the worst it will get as far as damage to the olympics, and more power those anti olympics groups will get. Just enough to see the replies on twitter to each of their posts about the fire flying to tokyo, and not just by noylmpicsla, but a lot of people calling for that.

Twitter is the LAST thing that will decide whether the Olympics are postponed or not. I'm surprised that people still believe in the social media after the Facebook Cambridge Analytica scandal

This is a bit shocking though she lasted a lot longer than her sisters.

1 hour ago, phelps said:

a few days ago, Dorothea Wierer signed a new sponsorship agreement with Huawei...

 

so, even if she keeps saying that she will decide if she's going to retire or not only in late Spring before the new season's training camp starts, I guess this is a good proof that she's going to continue her career at least until Beijing 2022 (always if this fuckin' coronavirus stagnation is over and she's still fully healthy by that time, of course)...

Yeah, I noticed the Huawei hashtag on her IG account at the end of February so it's obvious with this and Red Bull sponsorship she's not gonna retire anytime soon

People are losing their mind over the whole qualification system like I don't know what? Hell, every fed uses their rankings and it's all fine. It's not like March or April is a MUST deadline for qualifying. You could have taken care of that, like sooner?

Japan has two months to get the official word out. Save the drama for late May when we should have a much better picture what's going on. Right now it's all drama & click-baiting.

The virus could well be contained come November. The spread has shrunk in China already.

Meanwhile Biden has pantsed Sanders in Florida and is set to run away with Illinois too,

Sanders should just run for governor of California, he's getting massacred everywhere else now

Tom Brady is set to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Roland Garros has been postponed to the last week of September.

Dare I say the entire clay season will be scraped soon and quite frankly so will the grass season IMO.