• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

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

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

We still have time to mess this up!

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Republicans in disarray!

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

This blog will pay for itself.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

I did not have telepathic declassification on my 2022 bingo card.

Mobile Menu

  • Winnable House Races
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Balloon Juice 2023 Pet Calendar (coming soon)
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • War in Ukraine
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • 2021-22 Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Tokyo 2020 Open Thread: Snippets from the Asterisk Games

Tokyo 2020 Open Thread: Snippets from the Asterisk Games

by Anne Laurie|  July 22, 202110:32 pm| 40 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Sports

FacebookTweetEmail

Tokyo 2020 Open Thread: Snippets from the Asterisk Games

(Drew Sheneman via GoComics.com)
.

Disclaimer: I am not much of a sports fan, but I read a lot of news media. I figure anybody who wants coverage or results from the endless stream of events will find them elsewhere (h/t NotMax for the link), so mine will be a random series of links for those human interest and WTF stories that might otherwise slip under your radar.

My favorite was the comment on a tweet from the news platform that just said, “That means there ARE spectators! ??”

— ????????/Elisabeth Kaseda (@elisabethkaseda) July 21, 2021


SRSLY —

The Tokyo Olympics have barely started but that hasn’t stopped the games from experiencing more than its share of disturbances – including a roaming bear that cannot be contained https://t.co/273cnib6nn

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 22, 2021

About 950 people to watch opening event at stadium, official says https://t.co/4OPIuPgYzx pic.twitter.com/3lgYAaWKWk

— Reuters (@Reuters) July 22, 2021

IOC's Bach says he didn't know how complex it would be to stage the Games https://t.co/rDkeIW9oM8 pic.twitter.com/iuztFC3vdu

— Reuters (@Reuters) July 20, 2021

Reuters correspondent Mari Saito’s twitter feed is well worth following:

1/ NEW: It was bittersweet to write about Ted Adegawa, who helped built his town into the surfing destination it is today. First, his torch relay was canceled. Then they banned fans. Now, like everyone else, he'll have to watch the event on TV. #tokyo2020 https://t.co/NZYWyX9xqZ

— Mari Saito (@saitomri) July 21, 2021

3/ Ted decided to move his surf business to Isumi after he saw American soldiers surfing perfect swells there in 1970. It meant so much for him and other locals to host the Olympics' inaugural surfing event here. In anticipation of the Games, Ted even opened a tiny museum here pic.twitter.com/htd1S0Qh9w

— Mari Saito (@saitomri) July 21, 2021

7/ It's all very bizarre. Empty stands in towns that hoped for an Olympic boost with events only attended by dignitaries and athletes.

Many locals seemed hyper-aware of the optics of the event held during a pandemic and were extremely cautious about sounding at all critical

— Mari Saito (@saitomri) July 21, 2021

This year’s Olympics Games are like no other, and it’s apparent from the meticulous procedures people must go through just to get to Tokyohttps://t.co/gIkCZijpZp pic.twitter.com/BarvorHim8

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) July 22, 2021

Our @AFPFactCheck team debunks the no sex on Tokyo Olympics beds story.

I’ve even seen some proper media outlets run this too good to be true story, almost certainly ones that never bothered to hire a Japanese (or Japanese speaking) reporter ??https://t.co/wjqMSfzs9m

— Jerome Taylor (@JeromeTaylor) July 20, 2021

The International Olympic Committee added 18 new events in Japan in a push toward gender equity. There are an equal number of women and men for every sport, excluding baseball and softball because of differing roster sizes.

by @jennafryer #Tokyo2020
https://t.co/HBimIelN2S

— AP Sports (@AP_Sports) July 21, 2021

Olympics Athletes to suffer alongside Tokyoites as Japan's heat soars https://t.co/yUbm0rBddk pic.twitter.com/WkRT1oMyUh

— Reuters (@Reuters) July 22, 2021

Medal count: One prediction has the US winning the most mdeals and most golds in a a wide-open Olympics.

by @stephenwadeap #Tokyo2020
https://t.co/5qCmzoIx1p

— AP Sports (@AP_Sports) July 20, 2021

The Tokyo Olympics open Friday and predicting the overall medal count will be more difficult than usual because of the pandemic and the absence of many qualifying events over the last year.

In one forecast done by Gracenote, which supplies statistical analysis to sports leagues around the world, the United States is picked to win the most overall medals. The Americans are also picked to win the most gold medals. After that, the picking gets more difficult.

China is probably the next choice but many athletes from the country have appeared in few international events since the pandemic. This makes predictions difficult since Gracenote’s calculations are based on the most recent performances in top level events like world championships and so forth.

A team from Russia, host nation Japan and Britain are expected to be among the top five…

Gracenote has projected the United States to win 96 overall medals. This is down from the 121 the Untied States won five years ago in Rio de Janeiro. Gracenote has the United States winning 40 gold medals, 27 silver and 29 bronze…

Just yesterday!

Tokyo 2020 chief does not rule out cancelling Olympic Games https://t.co/RXRkdlkYSO

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) July 21, 2021

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Repubs For Whom It Is Impossible to Feel Sympathy, Pt. II: Pandemic Edition
Next Post: On The Road – Steve from Mendocino – We Have Cats 1 of 4 On The Road - Steve from Mendocino - We Have Cats 1 of 4 6»

Reader Interactions

40Comments

  1. 1.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 22, 2021 at 10:44 pm

    It was a brown bear? the report I saw said it was an Asian black bear.

    In 2020, bear sightings reached their highest point in five years, with more than 13,600 reported sightings across the country from April to September.
    At the time, experts said the increase could be linked to the coronavirus pandemic, which saw residents confined to their homes in an effort to beat back the illness — leading to the animals venturing out into spaces to search for food that would usually be populated with humans.
    “Bears might have expanded their areas of activities after not seeing humans around during spring and early summer season,” Shinsuke Koike, an associate professor of ecology, told Bloomberg Green.
    In June, authorities confirmed that hunters shot and killed a brown bear in the city of Sapporo after it went on a rampage through residential streets and stormed a military base, wounding four people.

    I did not know there were brown bears in Japan

  2. 2.

    NotMax

    July 22, 2021 at 10:45 pm

    Tokyo Olympics.

    Where we find out what happens when five rings are simultaneously thrown into Mount Doom.

  3. 3.

    HumboldtBlue

    July 22, 2021 at 11:04 pm

    Radioactive plague-ridden feral bears roaming the countryside? You don’t say. We’re gonna soon learn Godzilla was ursine in lineage and not an awkward looking dinosaur thing.

    Normally I’d be all over the Olympics, particularly summer, but I haven’t watched a second. The games should not have gone on.

  4. 4.

    Mathguy

    July 22, 2021 at 11:04 pm

    The predictions for the medals is amusing. Two sports I actually know something about, track and field and cycling, have some very lazy picks for medals.

  5. 5.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 22, 2021 at 11:07 pm

    @HumboldtBlue You don’t say. We’re gonna soon learn Godzilla was ursine in lineage and not an awkward looking dinosaur thing.

    I really want to watch that movie

  6. 6.

    NotMax

    July 22, 2021 at 11:14 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Bearnado!

  7. 7.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 22, 2021 at 11:18 pm

    @NotMax: I may finally have found my path to Hollywood!

    Bearzilla, Bearnado, BearZombies, The Bearbadook, Child’s Play 2021: The Bearening.

    A whole Bear Terror Network. Underwritten by Stephen Colbert.

  8. 8.

    Doug R

    July 22, 2021 at 11:20 pm

    Well, at least the games won’t be unbearable.

  9. 9.

    NotMax

    July 22, 2021 at 11:25 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Winnie the Poohminator. “I’m here to eat honey and kick some butt. And I’m all out of honey.”

  10. 10.

    Major Major Major Major

    July 22, 2021 at 11:36 pm

    Was surprised how many people bought that bed story.

  11. 11.

    Brachiator

    July 22, 2021 at 11:40 pm

    I am not a super sports fan, but hell, I went to the 84 games in Los Angeles.

    I can’t get interested in the Tokyo games. Really wish they had delayed them.

  12. 12.

    HumboldtBlue

    July 22, 2021 at 11:45 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    While Bare Naked Ladies play in the background of a Bareback Mountain setting?

    Kinky.

  13. 13.

    trollhattan

    July 22, 2021 at 11:53 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    They are delicious!

    #WhalesMoarTenderThanBear

    I’m watching. Because Olympics. Besides, the Tour ended Sunday.

  14. 14.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 22, 2021 at 11:59 pm

    Joe Biden un-sleepily leaves a ‘reporter’ stammering. Gonna recheck that thread to see if she gets ID’d. My first thought was Fox, of course, then I remember those other Fox wannabes.

  15. 15.

    trollhattan

    July 23, 2021 at 12:00 am

    We demand the right to endanger children not our own seems to be trending.

    Two parent advocacy organizations announced Thursday afternoon that they are suing California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state’s top health officials over the statewide mandate that children wear masks to school regardless of their vaccination status.

    The lawsuit, filed by Let Them Breathe and Reopen California Schools in San Diego County Superior Court, names Newsom, Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly, Public Health Director Tomás Aragón of the Department of Public Health, and Dr. Naomi Bardach of Safe Schools for All as defendants.

    “It’s clear that (the health the department) has chosen to ignore the overwhelming evidence that show children are at a very low risk from being infected with COVID-19, transmitting it to others, or becoming seriously ill from COVID-19,” Reopen California Schools founder Jonathan Zachreson of Roseville said in a statement. “A return to a normal school year is crucial to the mental and physical health recovery for students across California who have endured months of isolation and a majority of who spent last school year entirely in distance learning.”
    https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article252967063.html#storylink=cpy

  16. 16.

    WhatsMyNym

    July 23, 2021 at 12:03 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:  The brown bears would be in Hokkaido (as is Sapporo).  The second largest island is  north of the main island and mostly rural with rugged terrain.  Did I mention that it is also cold in the winter?

  17. 17.

    trollhattan

    July 23, 2021 at 12:05 am

    @WhatsMyNym:

    Gamera is from Hokkaido. He’s the children’s friend, so only adults will be consumed by bears.

  18. 18.

    piratedan

    July 23, 2021 at 12:15 am

    @trollhattan: note to self… watch some mst3k this weekend

  19. 19.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio

    July 23, 2021 at 12:16 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: The comments to that tweet include one of the best Clippy memes I have ever seen.

  20. 20.

    Another Scott

    July 23, 2021 at 12:34 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Nice that he (the Twitterer) is pushing Shontel for Congress, too.

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  21. 21.

    Chetan Murthy

    July 23, 2021 at 12:40 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Q: “Mr Biden, have you picked a running mate yet?”

    A: “Yes I have [wait a beat] YOU!” (pedals away)

  22. 22.

    Jay

    July 23, 2021 at 12:50 am

    The plan today, was to go to the Chehalis, watch the water run, fill our heads with river song.

    Didn’t happen. Fire alarm tests in our building, followed by an injury to one of the testers, so a new team had to be brought in, so 6 hours flushed, with constant annoying alarm sounds.

    Instead, we ran up Pipeline Road to the Coquitlam River.

    It’s become a bit of a dumping ground, Covid party zone, but it was still nice to watch the birbs, dragonflies, and hear the river song.

    After lunch, and a rest time, we decided to walk up the road a ways and check out the access points. There was an SUV parked at one of the points, guy inside, windows down, pointed towards the river, enjoying some of BC’s finest. We got within 20 feet, and she said, “that’s a big dog”. As it’s butt passed behind the SUV, I said, “no, that’s a Bear”. Just after I said it, the bear fully reared up to see where the voices were coming from, right by the drivers side front windshield. Taller than the SUV.

    So we carefully backed up all the way to the truck.

    Drove up to the gate, dude was still toking with all the windows down. I don’t think he ever saw the bear.

    Nice day though.

  23. 23.

    Major Major Major Major

    July 23, 2021 at 1:05 am

    pic.twitter.com/d8hsxGNB7P

    — ☕️ Tynan ? (@TynanPants) July 23, 2021

  24. 24.

    CaseyL

    July 23, 2021 at 1:07 am

    Lots of bears, and bear stories, tonight.

    My neighbors, spending the weekend at their place in Ocean Shores, had a black bear come wandering by their back yard, along the canal.  Ray took photos, and said at one point the bear stood up right outside the sliding glass door.  The bear then continued his/her stroll along back yards the rest of the way up the block.

    There’s still a fair bit of wilderness in that area, and I’d heard there were bears about, but this is the first time someone I know saw one.

  25. 25.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 23, 2021 at 1:21 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    A whole Bear Terror Network. Underwritten by Stephen Colbert. 

    Yes, please!

  26. 26.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 23, 2021 at 1:25 am

    @a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio: LOL!  That’s so good!

  27. 27.

    JWR

    July 23, 2021 at 1:42 am

    Probably already mentioned, (posted yesterday), but what the heck, it’s kinda slow tonight, and this fits:

    Man rescued after weeklong struggle with bear at Alaska camp, writing ‘SOS’ on shack

    An injured man was rescued Friday after reportedly fending off a bear for a week at a remote mining camp in Alaska, officials said.

    The man, who was not identified, was spotted waving his hands in distress as a helicopter crew from the Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak passed overhead, according to a statement from the Coast Guard on Tuesday.

    Yeah, he bearly made it out alive.

  28. 28.

    Martin

    July 23, 2021 at 2:08 am

    Reminder: all of the major venues for the 2028 Olympics are already completed.

  29. 29.

    JWR

    July 23, 2021 at 2:17 am

    Today’s Background Briefing with Ian Masters was quite good:

    McCarthy and the “Political Terrorist” Jim Jordan’s Trolling of the January 6 Select Committee – with James Thurber
    Already Fox’s Tucker Carlson Has Slandered Tuesday’s First Witness – with Eric Schickler,
    Michael Bender on Frankly We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost​

  30. 30.

    sab

    July 23, 2021 at 4:19 am

    @Major Major Major Major: Your grey kitty is more gorgeous than my grey kitty, who I used to think was the prettiest kitty I had ever seen.

    ETA We have six cats. Others are nicer cats, but Shadow is the best looking.

  31. 31.

    WereBear

    July 23, 2021 at 5:12 am

    @sab: Some of my cats are prettier than others, but I honestly find them all beautiful :)

  32. 32.

    Geminid

    July 23, 2021 at 5:42 am

    Whatever happened to the Overton Window? I used to hear about it all the time. Was there a recall?

  33. 33.

    Baud

    July 23, 2021 at 6:31 am

    @Geminid: 

    I hope it’s been smashed into a million shards.

  34. 34.

    Geminid

    July 23, 2021 at 6:50 am

    @Baud: It may have been. But it might reassemble itself like that robot in Terminator II.

  35. 35.

    NotMax

    July 23, 2021 at 6:56 am

    @Geminid

    Superseded by the Overton Arrow Slit.

  36. 36.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    July 23, 2021 at 7:15 am

    this Olympic opening needs some fireworks

  37. 37.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    July 23, 2021 at 7:17 am

    the thing is overton’s window failed. it was designed to manufacture public consent to privatize Social Security in 2005. Yet it got into the orange blood stream and for awhile you couldn’t hear the end of it.

  38. 38.

    Geeno

    July 23, 2021 at 7:46 am

    @mrmoshpotato:

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I would be glued to it

  39. 39.

    Uncle Cosmo

    July 23, 2021 at 8:34 am

    @trollhattan: ​#WhalesMoarTenderThanBear

    Ever had whale?

    In August 2000 above the Arctic Circle in Tromsø, Norway, I’d wandered down to where an Irish festival[1] was in progress, and as I stood just inside the entrance to the tent where food was being cooked, a fellow pushed a plate toward me and said, Try this.

    I looked at what looked like thumbsize pieces of well-done sauteed round steak. What is it?
    Whale, he replied.

    I figured, Wayull[2], s/he’s already dead and cooked, so what the hval[3]…

    It was just like well-done sauteed round steak – if said meat had been soaking in a vat of cod liver oil for a week.

    I picked up a pamphlet with a couple dozen recipes for cetacean cookery (just as a bizarre souvenir), bought a beer, moved toward the band and started singing along[4] while thinking of bumperstickers for Norwegian autos:

    HVAL – IT’S HVAT’S FOR DINNER

    FRY WILLY

    Etc.

    [1] Anyone know the Norwegian for “go figger”? I’ll take it in either bokmal or nynorsk…[2] Pronounced, per my WV cousins, i.e., “whale”.[3] In at least one version of Norwegian, “whale.”[4] The songs were the same classic Oyrish choons I’d learned in years hanging out in the Hibernian pubs of Baltimore. At the break I discovered the band members were all Norwegian – when I expressed surprise they said they just liked the music. [Insert Norwegian for “Go figger” here.]​​​

    (ETA: Have I beeched recently about what a PITA it is to have to edit a post in Text mode, which jams all the paragraphs into one? Grrrr….)

  40. 40.

    Miss Bianca

    July 23, 2021 at 9:48 am

    @HumboldtBlue: BEARZILLA!!

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

2023 Pet Calendars

Pet Calendar Preview: A
Pet Calendar Preview: B

*Calendars can not be ordered until Cafe Press gets their calendar paper in.

Recent Comments

  • sab on Late Night Open Thread: Debating The Dubious Privilege of Being Obnoxious in Public (Feb 6, 2023 @ 5:06am)
  • Tony Jay on Late Night Open Thread: Debating The Dubious Privilege of Being Obnoxious in Public (Feb 6, 2023 @ 5:02am)
  • 206inKY on Late Night Open Thread: Debating The Dubious Privilege of Being Obnoxious in Public (Feb 6, 2023 @ 5:01am)
  • NotMax on Late Night Open Thread: Debating The Dubious Privilege of Being Obnoxious in Public (Feb 6, 2023 @ 4:58am)
  • Tony Jay on Late Night Open Thread: Debating The Dubious Privilege of Being Obnoxious in Public (Feb 6, 2023 @ 4:49am)

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
We All Need A Little Kindness
Favorite Dogs & Cats
Classified Documents: A Primer

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)

Front-pager Twitter

John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
TaMara
David Anderson
ActualCitizensUnited

Shop Amazon via this link to support Balloon Juice   

Join the Fight!

Join the Fight Signup Form
All Join the Fight Posts

Balloon Juice Events

5/14  The Apocalypse
5/20  Home Away from Home
5/29  We’re Back, Baby
7/21  Merging!

Balloon Juice for Ukraine

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!