Quaker2001

It was a little tone deaf from Coates and Bach to talk about sacrifices, but right now the Japanese need to turn on Japanese leadership that have allowed themselves to be overwhelmed by the pandemic. Not the IOC's fault that many countries have progressed much better through the pandemic than Japan has. Case in point the United States which is almost starting to look semi-normal when it comes to sports.

My few cents.. I've seen way too much people trying to paint the picture that the Olympics are somehow evil, that the IOC is forcing this upon Japan. There's some truth to that, but it's not their fault that Japan seemed to have things under control and then it has all gone wrong the past few months. That's not the IOC's fault. I can understand where Japanese citizens are coming from that the Olympics are no longer being held for their benefit. But they need to pipe down with the idea that the Olympics will worsen the pandemic. That type of fear-mongering needs to stop. It is probably somewhat reckless for the Olympics to be held in a country where the healthcare system is under such tremendous strain. Again, not the Olympics' fault. And selfishly, I'm glad that Japanese leadership wouldn't dare admit their mistakes and say they can no longer hold the Olympics. So yes, any talk of the current circumstances resulting in the cancellation of the Olympics is a waste of keystrokes.

That's the graph with the start of NPB season. I've made that same point a bunch of times on Twitter. Clearly "playing sports" isn't a deal-breaker for Japan, so if they can play NPB through the worst part of this pandemic, why not Olympic baseball? If health and safety protocols are followed - and yes, that's a big if - the Olympics are not a danger as a super-spreader. How many sports events were played in the United States with more more COVID floating around with zero major hurdles. Tougher for the Olympics where it's a much tighter schedule, but we're also much deeper into the pandemic than last year's baseball or football season where testing and vaccines are more advanced than they had been. Even if Japan hasn't quite gotten the memo yet.

deGrom hitting the IL is more than an odd blip.

He's right. The threat of the Olympics becoming a super-spreader event I think is relatively low. The question is how are those safety measures in a country where the number of daily cases went way down from January to March and then has been steadily climbing ever since.

A lot of people are convinced it will become a super-spreader event. That shouldn't be a major risk so long as health and safety protocols are followed (easier said than done). I completely understand why Japanese citizens want it cancelled. They have a very strong argument that it's taking resources away from where they are needed. But yes, to Vic Liu's point, the situation would have to get much worse before they would consider a cancellation at this point.

That's my question as well. Why are these numbers overwhelming the Japanese healthcare system? We see that the numbers have gone up, but it still is low per capita compared to other developed countries

And you know they'll push that narrative pretty hard that it was the Olympics that are responsible for the situation Japan is in now, just like they'd probably over-play hope much the 2004 Olympics contributed to Greece's economic struggles. Whatever they can do to grab onto a narrative. Really would love for the Olympics to go on, for it to NOT be a super-spreader event, and to offer up a massive "I told you so" to everyone who said it can't be done.

Oh, well familiar with those douchebags. They raise valid points about the negative aspects of Olympic hosting that don't get highlighted, particularly in a place like Los Angeles which is probably the best example of how a city can host an Olympics and not go deep into debt. Those guys need to find a better hobby though. Make the case against potential hosts that have no business hosting an Olympics. Ask for reforms to the IOC and to the Olympic movement that are desperately needed. But at the end of the day, do better than to make this another case of cancel culture where you're trying to destroy something because you don't like it.

If proper health and safety protocols are in place, the risk of the Olympics being a super-spreader will be minimal. There's way too much fear-mongering that the virus is going to come into Japan from all corners of the globe. As long as athletes are tested, that shouldn't be a major issue. Tokyo just held multiple test events with zero positive cases. It can be done. The bigger concern is the availability of medical resources in Japan as the pandemic is worsening there. But that's on them, not the fault of the Olympics. I'm torn between having sympathy for the struggles of Japan and questioning why they are having these struggles when a lot of other countries are on the downswing from the fall wave. Maybe it's my viewpoint as an American where the case load here is the lowest it has been since late last Summer and restrictions are loosening because so much of the country is vaccinated.

It's both. The flu is not a long term issue for most people who get it, but for some, it can still be deadly. If the vaccines can reduce the overall severity of symptoms, that's a huge win, but the idea is also to reduce the number of potential carriers. May not be able to reach herd immunity since that would require literally billions of people to be vaccinated, but as long as we're trending in that direction, we're slowly but surely getting to the other side of this pandemic.

2 things here.. 1) How could they limit the number of athletes? Who are they telling they're not allowed to come to the Olympics due to trying to limiting the number of people who are there? As noted, everyone will be encouraged to not hang around that long, so there will likely be some athlete who are gone a couple of days after the Opening Ceremony and others who might not arrive until the 2nd week of the Games. 2) You can't compare Tokyo this summer to Rio in 2016. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but Rio has a pretty strong nightlife scene. Definitely a place to party. Tokyo normally would be, but it certainly won't be this summer when the athletes are in town. Much less opportunity to have a situation where an athlete does something crazy or regrettable. Sure, athletes will probably hook up with each other, but if they're doing that in the village and they don't have COVID in the first place (which they'll be tested for frequently), that's not going to be the kind of super-spreader event some are fearing.

Can we stop with the narrative that the Olympics are going to be a super-spreader event and that it's a threat to the rest of the world if they're held? That's ignorant garbage. All of these athletes are going to be monitored and tested regularly, so the odds of them bringing COVID to Japan or taking it home to their own country is minimal. The much bigger issue is what it's doing to medial resources in Japan, but that's a different story altogether. Speaking as an American where we did a piss poor job handling the pandemic early on, all of our sports leagues are running now with few if any major problems related to COVID. This was after many people were saying to shut it all down because it's not safe to play sports during a pandemic. That seems pretty ridiculous now. NPB is playing through their season with fans in attendance, so obviously "we can't play sports" is not the issue. I can't speak to what's happening in Japan and why they're struggling so much while many other countries seem to have better control over the pandemic. Most countries experienced the fall wave that most experts said was going to hit, but many of those countries are seeing reduced COVID cases and not necessarily just the ones where vaccines are availalbe. We all get this is being done for TV money at this point, as is much of the sports world. Again though, we all thought Japan was the right place to be able to handle COVID and at the same time be a relatively safe location to hold the Olympics. Why is it they are no longer capable of doing both when 3 months ago that looked to be the case?

Agreed. Supply is starting to exceed demand in the United States, so they can definitely start looking elsewhere for people to vaccinate. Kudos to Pfizer

Quarantines are not as necessarily with frequent testing. We don't need to talk about India pulling out of the Olympics as if there's no way of knowing who does or doesn't have COVID and we won't know for 2 weeks. As long as health and safety protocols are in place and followed (that's much easier said than done), the risks can be minimized and the fears of the Olympics being a super-spreader event will be unfounded. The strain it puts on the Japanese medical system is a separate issue, but certainly one that needs to be dealt with.

The Olympics are a bigger event than anything else in the world, so it's a much bigger show to put on than something like the Euro, which at least gets spread over multiple cities and countries. Yes, people want to see the Games, but you can be sure that Japan will point the finger at the IOC if the Games need to be cancelled and I can definitely see more than a few people taking their side on that one. Again, I'm torn between Japan being able to do this, but without it coming at the expense of their citizens. Because that's the message that's going to resonate with a lot of people, the same way that the Olympics have imposed upon a host city and country in the past and you can be darn sure it's going to fuel the NOlympics movement.

And look at how the United States has progressed through the pandemic since his fat orange ass was voted out of office. I was saying last year that Japan seemed like a good place to be put into this position that they're trying to deliver an Olympics during a pandemic. Up until a few months ago, I still thought that. Now, not so much. It's pointless to try and bring up the hypotheticals of which country would be able to handle this the best. We'll never know the answer to that. But again, it's a legitimate question right now to ask why Japan is facing these troubles when it seemed for a while that they were doing better than most countries, especially this one in their response to the pandemic.

Travel restrictions seem to magically disappear when it's convenient. That won't be an issue with regard to these Olympics. As long as there are testing protocols in place on both ends (before athletes leave their home country and upon their arrival in Japan), the same rules don't apply to everyone else who isn't following those safety measures.

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.

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.

Not a huge fan of the Etienne pick. They have a RB. James Robinson was one of the better players on the team last year. Sure, it's a nice story for Etienne and Lawrence to stick together, but the Jaguars had more pressing needs. Although you're right, that division could be theirs for the taking sooner rather than later if Lawrence is the real deal.

At some point, it's going to happen than an athlete can't compete in their event because of a positive test. What I'm curious to see is what happens if multiple athletes in the same event test positive.. do they then change the schedule of that event because of it?

Aren't they telling athletes not to come early? I don't think that's going to be the solution. If athletes and other officials are being constantly tested, then the usual rules about 14 days aren't as important.

This is extremely cool! Thanks for putting this together, especially with a lot of the sports and sessions broken down by individual event.

No we won't. How many countries are playing sports right now, many with a higher COVID case count than what they're dealing with in Japan?