CUT YOUR LOSSES

There's no getting around it, the time has come to bite the bullet

There's no getting around it, the time has come to bite the bullet
Now fans are barred from all Olympic events. Image via: Wiki Commons.

Earlier this week I wrote that the 2020 (now 2021) Olympics organizers blew it by not postponing the already postponed Games by another year.

Now I'll double down: organizers need to cancel the Games, send all the athletes home and just take the loss. I believe these Olympics will not cross the finish line.

Toshiro Muto, head of the Olympics organizing committee, has said he isn't ruling out a last-minute cancellation of the Games before official opening ceremonies Friday. A recent poll shows that 83 percent of Japanese do not want the games to be held over COVID concerns.

I'd say these Olympics are plagued but that would be redundant. Tokyo's rate of Coronavirus infections hit a six-month high this week. The rate has tripled in the last month as Japan's fifth wave of infection, boosted by the highly contagious Delta Variant, roars through the Asian nation. Only 20 percent of Japan's population is fully vaccinated amid reports of vaccine shortages and bottlenecks in supply.

Tokyo is under a state of emergency. Athletes are instructed to stay in the Olympic Village, only to leave for training or competition and must depart Japan within 48 hours after their event. Public watch parties have been canceled. Media members are not permitted to ride public transportation, eat in restaurants, visit tourist attractions or walk around town.

Several months ago, organizers hoped that 10,000 fans – all local residents - would be allowed in the main stadium. Now fans are barred from all events. However, a few thousand sponsors, officials and athletes will be at opening ceremonies.

These will be some opening ceremonies. Last February the head of the organizing committee stepped down after creating a furor with his comment that women talk too much. Then the opening ceremonies music director quit after it was revealed that he bullied disabled classmates when he was younger. This week another ceremonies director was fired after it was revealed that he told a joke about the Holocaust in a comedy routine 23 years ago.

Emperor Naruhito will attend opening ceremonies but will leave out the word "celebration" as is traditional in his remarks.

This week, the Czech delegation has been accused of not taking necessary precautions on its chartered flight to Tokyo. Now five members, including three athletes, have tested positive.

Athletes are not required to be vaccinated to compete. So far, 79 athletes, coaches or staff have tested positive for COVID. U.S. swimmer Michael Andrew said, practically bragged, that he is not vaccinated. He said, as an elite athlete, he didn't want to risk a single day of training in the event he had a bad reaction to the vaccine. He is staying in the Olympic Village with 4,000 other athletes.

The original budget for the Tokyo Olympics was $6.7 billion. Costs have soared four or five times that. And now there will be no money from ticket sales.

Toyota has dumped all of its TV commercials showcasing the Olympics. Instead the carmaker will air generic commercials. Despite a rule that prohibits athletes from making any political or social actions, the Tokyo Olympics will allow athletes to take a knee or raise a fist during introductions of their event. This will not go over with some back in America. Already the U.S. women's soccer team took a knee before a match. So did the other team. So did one of the linesmen.

And now here's Frank with the weather: temperatures are predicted in the high 90s – the hottest Olympics ever – with super drippy humidity. The Olympic stadium does not have a roof.

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Braves beat Houston in extra innings, 5-4. Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images.

Marcell Ozuna hit his major league-leading eighth homer and Orlando Arcia’s RBI single in the 10th inning lifted the Atlanta Braves to a 5-4 win over the Houston Astros on Wednesday.

It completes a three-game sweep of the struggling Astros and is Atlanta’s fourth straight victory.

The Braves scored two runs in the eighth inning to tie it at 4-4. Michael Harris II started the 10th as the automatic runner on second and there was one out in the inning when Seth Martinez (1-1) intentionally walked Matt Olson.

Ozuna lined out to right field to send Harris to third base. Arcia then singled on a ground ball to left field to score Harris and put the Braves on top.

Pinch-runner Jake Meyers was on second when Kyle Tucker walked with no outs in the 10th. Meyers moved to third on a fly out by Yainer Diaz but Jeremy Peña grounded into a double play to end it.

A.J. Minter (3-1) got the last two outs of the ninth for the win and Raisel Iglesias earned his fifth save.

Reigning NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. added his first homer of the season to help the Braves to the victory. Ozuna also leads the majors with 23 RBIs and he extended his hitting streak to 16 games, which ties his career best and is the longest active streak in the majors.

Yordan Alvarez and Mauricio Dubón both homered for the Astros, who fell to 6-14 and are last in the AL West.

There was one out in the first when Alvarez connected on his homer to the seats in left field to put Houston up 1-0.

Ozuna opened the second with his 432-foot shot to left field, which bounced off the wall and tied the game.

Acuña put the Braves up 2-1 when he sent the first pitch of the fifth inning to straightaway center field.

The Astros tied it on an RBI single by Alex Bregman in the fifth and Kyle Tucker’s RBI double came next to put the Astros up 3-2.

Dubón hit his first home run of the year off Jesse Chavez to start Houston’s sixth and push the lead to 4-2.

Harris singled to start the seventh before a ground-rule double by Austin Riley. Olson reached, and Harris scored on a fielding error by first baseman José Abreu when he couldn’t grab a routine ground ball.

There was one out in the inning when Riley scored on a sacrifice fly by Arcia to tie it at 4-all.

Houston starter J.P. France allowed four hits and two runs in five innings.

Max Fried gave up seven hits and three runs in five innings.

UP NEXT

Braves: Atlanta is off Thursday before opening a series against Texas on Friday night with LHP Chris Sale (1-1, 4.58 ERA) on the mound.

Astros: Houston is also off Thursday before ace Justin Verlander will make his season debut Friday night against Washington. The three-time Cy Young Award winner opened the season on the injured list with inflammation in his right shoulder.

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