Writing, watching and looking ahead

 During the busy high school season, Sundays are the day when I do my most writing. I try to keep up with things during the week, but usually by Sunday I have a number of stories to write and my deadlines start on Monday, so the stories have to be finished.

Today, I had two basketball stories, two hockey stories and about half a dozen alpine skiing stories. Plus, I had to edit a few stories from other writers, but all told, I spent about eight hours working on stories on my couch. While I was working, I had the television on watching a bunch of broadcasts that I had recorded during the week, including snowboarding, biathlon, luge and alpine skiing World Cup races from all around Europe. As I've mentioned before, I spend a lot of time watching these competitions over the last few months and I really enjoy them. Unfortunately, NBC Sports Network is going off the air by the end of the year, which means the broadcasts of the winter sports will probably fall to the wayside. That is pretty disappointing for me, but that's the way it goes. And for whatever reason, the Olympic Channel isn't included in my DirecTV package.

As I was watching (and writing), the announcers were talking about the competition and getting ready for the Beijing Olympics, which will be coming around in just more than a year from now. And later this week will mark three years since I left for PyeongChang and seven years since I left for Sochi. It certainly doesn't seem like that long ago. Then again, it doesn't feel like the Winter Olympics will be here in just a year.

And of course, all the discussion of Olympics got me thinking about my plans in the coming year-plus. Obviously, Tokyo is technically still in the cards for this summer and I've submitted my credential application for the Beijing Games in 2022. I've always been a bigger fan of the Winter Olympics than the Summer Olympics, so I've already developed a little excitement for the next Winter Olympics.

That being said, I am still hoping that this chance to attend the Summer Olympics this July comes to fruition. The chance to experience a Summer Olympics is something I am really looking forward to. Obviously there is plenty of apprehension and questions, but those are things to be addressed another day.

This past week, I received an e-mail from the media office at Tokyo 2020, telling us that they will be holding an online meeting next Wednesday morning to share with the media who have credentials the start to their plan for handling media in Tokyo this summer. According to the e-mail, "This session will provide an introduction to the plans that are described in the Playbook for Press for a safe and successful Games." I am intrigued about what they have to say and I hope I will get a better sense as to what the plan is for this summer.

The IOC has made a commitment to hold the Olympics this summer. If all goes as planned, this is just one of the venues I will be seeing.

Six months out?

Tokyo has been in the news a bit this week, and honestly, it wasn't terribly encouraging. But then again, that's pretty much been the case ever since last March.

It was reported by one news outlet that officials in Tokyo were likely going to cancel the Olympics, which have, for the first time ever, been postponed from last year's scheduled dates to this coming summer. It didn't take long for officials from both the Tokyo Organizing Committee and the International Olympic Committee to deny those rumors and state they are planning on moving ahead with the competition coming in July.

Obviously, for me, this has been a pretty frustrating year for many reasons. Of course, the layoff back in April was a big part of it, but also a big part of that was the cancellation of five different trips I had planned, including two huge ones, Ireland and Tokyo. I was really looking forward to spending a few weeks this past summer covering my first Summer Olympics. But, that didn't happen. 

But, beyond me and my, on a larger scale, very small issues when it comes to the Olympics, the focus needs to be on the athletes and the work that they have put in working up to the Olympics. A lot was made when the Olympics were postponed last March about how athletes would adjust, since many of them plan out their competitions, practices, workouts, etc. with an end goal of the Olympics every four years. There was a lot of talk about the adjustments they've made and how they are adapting to their plans being a year off. 

So, if the Olympics are cancelled, what becomes of these athletes and all their hard work? Too many people have too much riding on this series of competitions and to deny them the chance to see the culmination of their hard work would be a travesty. There needs to be a way to make this work for their sake.

I know that in many ways, I have a personal investment in these Olympics, but that's not the main reason I am pulling for the Olympics to happen this summer. I love the Olympics. They are some of my favorite sports competitions to watch every couple of years. While the Winter Olympics are my favorite, I still love the Summer Games as well and look forward to watching them. In fact, a lot of my DVR gets filled up with FIS alpine skiing, bobsled, luge, cross country skiing and biathlon races from around the World Cup circuit, whenever they are aired on NBCSN. Additionally, I've also been watching some swimming competitions lately, so it's not just the winter sports.

The other reason that the Tokyo Olympics were in the news this week was the fact that Friday marked six months until the start of the Olympic Games. I have booked my airline tickets (again) and my hotel rooms are still reserved, so as of right now, I plan on being there. However, if it turns out that I can't go, I am just hopeful it's not because they cancelled the Olympics but rather they are limiting the people that can go. And if that's the case, I can look forward to the possibility of Beijing in 2022.

But for right now, I am looking forward to Tokyo. Watching the Olympics on television is great, seeing them in person is even better. There is no doubt that this could be another fantastic experience in my life. I have been lucky to experience two Olympics in the last seven years, something that I am incredibly grateful for and no matter what, those experiences are something that I will never forget.

NBC has been promoting the Olympics coming in six months. Here's hoping.

The countdown is on ... again

Yesterday, Monday, Jan. 4, marked 200 days until the start of the Tokyo Olympics. Obviously, we had this same countdown a year ago, so hopefully the second time goes better than the first time.

Of course, there is a lot of things that have to fall into place for the Tokyo Olympics to take place as planned. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused much havoc around the world and has forced the organizers of the Tokyo Games as well as the International Olympic Committee, to spend millions upon millions of dollars to make the changes necessary to move the Olympics back a year, an unprecedented move, something that has never been done before.

I believe that keeping athletes, coaches, officials, volunteers and all other stakeholders (including media) safe is a top priority for all the organizers. Obviously, with all the money that has gone into these Olympics, they need to happen, one way or the other. If things haven't cleared up a bit more by the time that June rolls around, I think there may be some adjustments made to the entire Olympics as we know them. To me, the possibility still exists that the number of media who are allowed to attend the Games will be reduced, which could obviously have an impact on my planned travel to Tokyo at the end of July. While this has not been officially floated as a possibility, part of me still believes this could happen. 

However, I think the hope for everyone is that the pandemic is slowed down enough by the vaccines that the Olympics can go on as planned. I anticipate that if we as media are all allowed to attend the Olympics, we will have to get the vaccine before traveling to Japan. This has also not been announced, but it is something that I anticipate happening in the next few months. I am guessing this would be the safest thing for the people of Tokyo.

But, with 200 days to go, there's still time to get it all figured out.

On a somewhat related note, I spent yesterday skiing, which is obviously very much associated with the Winter Olympics, which are now just more than a year out, slated for February of 2022 in Beijing, China. Over the last few weeks, I've been watching a lot of World Cup Skiing, biathlon and more on NBC and NBCSN and on Sunday morning, I watched the men's downhill, which was held in Bormio, Italy. This location is, first and foremost, so stunning. I find any areas of the Italian Alps to be one of the most beautiful places around. The Bormio course is slated to host the downhill as part of the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games in 2026, so I am sure that NBC will have plenty of beautiful footage to feature on the coverage.

I can't lie, I am almost more excited for the next Winter Olympics than I am for the Summer Olympics. Not totally, but even watching at home prior to getting the chance to cover the Games in 2014, I always get more excited for the Winter Olympics than the Summer Olympics. However, I did spend tons of time this summer watching replays from previous Summer Olympics, which was a lot of fun and helped get me through the summer of the pandemic.

For the record, two other upcoming Olympics passed countdown milestones recently. Last week marked 400 days until the Beijing Olympics in February 2022. And just a couple of days ago marked 1,300 days until the start of the Paris Olympics in July 2024.

Monday marked 200 days until the start of the Tokyo Olympics.