The Daily Dose/February 25, 2020
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience…
HIGHER…STRONGER…SICKER: We don’t want to see the upcoming Summer Olympics moved out of Tokyo anymore than you do, but the coronavirus isn’t going away and while the death toll is a fraction of that of the flu, we can’t be wondering if the IOC has a plan in the back of a safe at IOC headquarters detailing a plan to move a Games on short notice.
Fly In The Ointment: Officially, IOC officials and Tokyo officials are adamant in saying the Games will go on as scheduled, however, actions speak louder than words and test and qualification events are being canceled or moved from Asia left and right. And it’s important to note Olympic officials trotted out this same line for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, which had its own virus outbreak, not to mention athletes swimming in human waste, and those Games were held at the appointed time and place and it’s possible the Tokyo Games will go off as planned, too. It’s also possible they won’t.
Get Your Notebooks Out…: If they do have to move them from Japan, this would be an excellent opportunity to try out our proposal of having different events hosted by different countries.
…Class Is In Session: For example, track and field can be held in London and basketball and baseball in the United States, soccer in South America, though it is winter there right now, and we can’t see a reason not to hold some of the Games’ oldest sports like wrestling and modern pentathlon in Greece. Non-glamour sports can be held in areas where they are most popular, like central Europe for team handball and wherever the hell archery and equestrian are the most popular. On very short notice like moving the Tokyo Games would be, a plan like this makes sense because it would be supremely difficult to find one city that could accommodate all events, athletes and officials on a few month’s notice.
Dry, Technical Matter: A plan like this also makes sense on a permanent basis because it is getting more and more expensive for one site to host the Olympics nowadays and fewer and fewer cities are willing to submit bids. The fact that Paris and Los Angeles were awarded the 2024 and 2028 Summer Games without competition shows this. The 2026 Winter Games were awarded to Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy almost by default. Five other cities had lost interest and organizers of the remaining finalist’s bid, Stockholm weren’t seen weeping after they lost.
Get Your Official Daily Dose Policy Right Here: We’re not doctors, and Lord knows we’ve never played one on TV, plus we’re lousy prognosticators, but we think it’s 50/50 the Tokyo Games get moved. If they do, a worldwide Olympics would be a sensible solution for 2020 and for future Olympiads, too.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow is unable to help a guest. Today’s Diary.
One gentleman forgot to make ground transportation arrangements to the airport and wanted to know what I could do…We’ve been thru this before: not a whole hell of a lot, except offer moral support…The local taxi company only offers shared shuttle service and the few rideshares that are up here appeared to be taking the morning off…Like some I’ve encountered over the years, he seemed disappointed I was unable to immediately solve his problem, something you run into from time to time in the service racket, but there was literally nothing I could do…I mean, I can’t shit ground transportation…
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On This Date
Great moments in us.
In 1870 – Hiram Rhodes Revels becomes the black to serve in the United States Congress when he is seated in the United States Senate. Revels had been elected by the Mississippi legislature in January but was not seated immediately in the Senate because of opposition from southern, white senators. A minister, Revels served until the end of his term the following year. He was in the Chaplain Corps of the Union Army during the Civil War and died in 1901.
In 1964 – Cassius Clay, later Muhammed Ali, wins the world heavyweight title for the first time, defeating Sonny Liston when Liston refused to come out for the seventh round. Clay would defeat Liston in a first-round knockout the following May and would be stripped of the title in 1967 for refusing to be drafted in the US Army so he could go fight in Vietnam. Clay/Ali would win the heavyweight title on two other occasions.
In 1984 – Van Halen is at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first of five consecutive weeks with Jump. The song also went to #1 in Canada and Italy and peaked at #7 in Great Britain, was Billboard’s sixth-biggest song of the year and ranked 227th on their 60th-anniversary chart in 2018. It was the group’s fourth of 13 Top 40 hits and remains their only #1 song. The synthesizer line had been recorded by Eddie Van Halen in 1981, but the group declined to expand on it then.
Quotebook
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
A man must go to bed with his purpose in order to wake up to fame. – Will Durant, The Story of Civilization, Vol I: Our Oriental Heritage
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
It’s not who you know, but what you know.
The United States has won eight silver medals in Olympic ice hockey, most recently at the 2010 Vancouver Games.
Today’s Stumper
Cheaper than Trivia Night at the bar.
What was Muhammed Ali’s career record as a professional fighter? – Answer next time!
