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Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

Washington Post’s Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

Days Since JD Vance Insulted Women Across America: Zero

Good lord, these people are nuts.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Bad news for Ron DeSantis is great news for America.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Tokyo 2020 Open Thread: The Asterisk Games Begin

Tokyo 2020 Open Thread: The Asterisk Games Begin

by | 15 Comments

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Maybe ‘the triumph of hope over good sense experience’ ?


Congratulations / condolences, Brisbane!

Reader Interactions

15Comments

  1. 1.

    Tony Jay

    I’ve heard all the reasons why the Olympics have become a bloated, corrupt mess that all right thinking people should boycott, but it’s also where the best athletes from all over the world work their arses off to get to so they can have a shot at achieving greatness.

    So, yeah. I’ll be watching all of it I can until the whole thing blows up.

    Currently watching China beat Brazil 25-0 in thundering shots hitting the woodwork while somehow losing 3-0 in actual goals

    4-0

  2. 2.

    Just Chuck

    No rival bids for Brisbane. Looks like cities are waking up to the reality that hosting the Olympics is pretty much a giant scam.

  3. 3.

    Tony Jay

    @Just Chuck: 

    What’s it cost Tokyo? Somewhere north of $40 billion or thereabouts?

    That’s not sustainable. Especially given how difficult climate change is going to make hosting a Summer Games anywhere south of Finland.

  4. 4.

    Amir Khalid

    It’s not a good time to be holding a big sports event. The Euros had reports of Scotland fans coming back from the big England match with Covid-19, and Finland fans coming back infected from Russia. They’ve had to ban spectators from venues in Tokyo, but that still leaves a lot of participants at risk, and the bubble has already sprung some leaks. We may some awesome performances in store, but we’ll also be watching to see who tests positive for Covid. I’m not too happy about that.

  8. 8.

    Betty

    @germy: As someone who has escorted a blind person on an international trip, I cant imagine that it would be safe for her to travel alone.  How utterly ridiculous. It’s called reasonable accommodation.

  9. 9.

    trollhattan

    @eclare:

    That was a shellacking on both ends of the pitch. Horrid effort by the US and inspired play by Sweden, who sent US packing at the last Olympics where we didn’t get so much as bronze. Worth keeping an eye on presuming both emerge from the group.

    Football goddess Christine Sinclair (Canada) has added a goal to her best-in-history international play tally. All hail the queen.

  10. 10.

    germy

    International sporting authorities are really going out of their way to enrage potential new fans — that is the only way I can think to explain the latest athletic news out of Norway. According to the New York Times, the European Handball Federation just fined the Norwegian women’s beach team for wearing tiny little shorts rather than bikini bottoms during a Sunday championship match in Bulgaria.

  11. 11.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Just Chuck:

    @Tony Jay: Here in LA we’ve hosted two Olympics and will be hosting again in 2028.  What we do here is use existing sports facilities for the games.  In 2028, SoFi Stadium will host the opening and closing ceremonies, with the Colosseum and the Rose Bowl also used.   The biggest financial spending will be accelerating transit projects and upgrades to LAX(the LAX people mover is already under construction).

  12. 12.

    trollhattan

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: 
    Megacities seem best suited to host, given their ability to have simultaneous events in existing facilities (with regional help for stuff like whitewater kyacking). But Rio found themselves building all sorts of facilities, some large, that today rot, unused in the tropical heat.

    Sac was an integral part of the SF bid for some games (forget which) and the overall plan should have been relatively affordable WRT new construction obligations.

    I do like how soccer World Cup uses stadiums all across the host nation. It was charming to see WWC matches in Paris, by the ocean, and up in the Alps. (Qatar, I simply don’t understand. Desert, desert, desert, with scattered desert.)

  13. 13.

    rikyrah

    I will never get past how completely unprepared COVID Vaccine-Wise, Japan is. I never ever would have expected it from them.

  15. 15.

    Another Scott

    @rikyrah: Apparently part of the delay was the requirement that any vaccines approved in Japan have to be tested on Japanese people.  At least that’s what I heard somewhere.

    Japan has been doing well recently (more than 1M shots a day) while Korea has been having issues with insufficient supply. Unfortunately, Japan started rolling vaccines out in large numbers too close to the Games.

    But even if they were able to vaccinate 70+% of the population by now, this was destined to be a super-spreader event without strong, months-long, isolation pods (like the NBA did early on) – which was probably impossible for most of the world’s athletes. :-(

    Cheers,
    Scott.

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