Quaker2001

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?

Is there a mathematical formula that should be used to determine what rate of infection makes it either acceptable or unacceptable to hold the Olympics? Sports leagues all shut down when the pandemic started because no one could be sure how to hold events and games safely. We've largely learned how to do that in the past year with increased testing and the proper health and safety protocols in place. And if it weren't for money and all the television rights, we probably still wouldn't have sports. It can easily be argued that it's a reckless and irresponsible decision to hold the Olympics this summer. But the IOC wants their television money, so if that means the Japanese organizers have to put measures in place to best ensure everyone's safety, they'll do that, even if it's going to cost a lot of money. In hindsight, perhaps it would have been wise for Tokyo 2020 to get pushed back another year (although that would have brought another set of challenges), but too late for that now. It's 2021 or bust at this point. Just because COVID is still out there does not imply there cannot be an Olympics this summer

Head of Tokyo Olympics again says games will not be canceled

It won't get postponed to next year. Very highly likely IMO that the Olympics happen this summer. We've heard before about government officials wanting to cancel them. I don't see it happening. They're just saying it to go along with public opinion.

Not until he gets himself an Olympic gold medal. Hard to argue with 5 world championships, but until he adds an Olympic win, he can only be considered one of the best and not necessarily the best.

Wouldn't work if they wanted to keep the full round robin. Too many matches to squeeze onto the schedule, especially since they added the mixed doubles. Right now, it's 12 draws each for men and women to get all the matches in. They'd need 17 draws apiece for 12 teams. Has to stay at 10

4 in the final end against Canada is a good way to do it. That was some impressive comeback by them to win

Similarly, if you go to Gymnastics, there's.. Gymnastics Men's Team Final All Apparatuses Starts at 6am EDT Play Gymnastics video Open info card for Gymnastics Gymnastics Men's Team Final Main Coverage Starts at 6am EDT Play Gymnastics video Open info card for Gymnastics Gymnastics Men's Team Final Team USA Tracker Starts at 6am EDT

My thing especially with an Olympics in Asia is that if something is on TV overnight, I can DVR it and watch it in the morning when I wake up. Can't always do that with the online streams. And better quality picture if it's on TV. But yes, always enjoy the little bonuses that streaming provides (i.e. multiple streams for 1 sport). Need to see how many screens I can have going at once. Might be a good excuse to upgrade my internet speed