The Olympics... and beyond

Last week I spent a good deal of time discussing the Olympic rabbit hole that I went down, reading tons of information on Olympic bids from various cities, including winning hosts Beijing, Milan-Cortina, Paris and Los Angeles. It was a great way to kill time, but unfortunately got me thinking about some deeper questions like whether or not I'd even have my job back next summer when the Tokyo Olympics take place or whether the Olympics would even be able to take place as planned in Tokyo next summer. Of course, in case you didn't know, I'm bored out of my mind. I've watched a lot of television and most of it is just rewatching shows I've seen before. However, I was online last week and noticed a schedule from NBC Sports Network that noted they would be running highlights from the Summer Olympics over the course of the next few weeks. I promptly went into my DVR and set it to record as many of the episodes as I could. Most of the first week was dedicated to recaps...

The late great Kenny Rogers once sang, "the boredom overtook us, and he began to speak." The boredom is real in this time of quarantines, self-isolation and pandemics. Add to all of that, the fact that I am not working, and things can get really boring, really quickly, as I've mentioned more than once. This morning, sitting on my couch listening to the radio as is my (new) normal routine following my morning walk, I finished checking e-mail, reading the Union Leader and the sports section of the Boston Globe (online), I found myself looking for something to keep me occupied for a little while. I listen to the local radio show until 10 a.m. and then I listen to a satellite radio show from 10 a.m. to noon, so I don't have to turn on the television before noon. But while I'm listening, I like to have something to do. Back in the "olden days," I would listen to these shows in my office, but since that is no longer an option, I sat on my computer looking f...

This is traditionally a blog about preparing for the Olympics and eventually covering the Olympics, but occasionally it veers into different territory. With the (hopefully) temporary layoff now a week old, I've been searching for a way to at least write once in a while and get stuff out there, so this is the space. To someone who is a creature of habit, used to working more than 50 hours a week, creating a routine that is timed to perfection every morning, throwing the wrench of no work, no gym, really no anything, into the mix is just a gut-punch. I've been doing my best to try not to think about it too much, but I obviously miss sports. Of course, my livelihood depends on sports, but there's also the professional sports that I would watch on a regular basis. This would be the first month of baseball season, which is such a harbinger of spring. And as my favorite sport, baseball is badly missed in this corner of the world. But high school sports play a big part of my l...

On Monday morning, word came down that the Tokyo Olympics had a new start date. On Wednesday morning, word came down that impacted life in a more personal and much more impactful way. The organizers of the Tokyo Games came out on Monday morning with an announcement that the Olympics would start on July 23, 2021. That date was one day less than one year from the original planned starting date. This is good news in many ways, since that time of year is best in my schedule as far as having some free time. This also gives the world a lot of time to rebound from this pandemic that has caused all the problems. Media members received an e-mail on Wednesday morning from the people handling the accommodations that they would be in communication with the hotels that were housing the media and would let us know if it was possible to keep all our planned nights in the media housing. This was all good news, but it was later Wednesday morning that the news that wasn't so good came along. Wi...

It's been a tough week in the Olympic world, with the announcement that the 2020 Summer Games have been postponed, with the July start pushed ahead into the next calendar year. With the social distancing still in place and working from home a thing, I've had a lot of time to think about all this stuff, which probably isn't good. I should probably be focusing on something else, something on the positive side. As I sit here now in my apartment, NBC Sports Network is airing a special Olympic event with interviews with lots of different athletes who are impacted by the postponement and with an opening interview with Thomas Bach, the President of the International Olympic Committee discussing the situation.  As I've spent hours being bummed out about not being able to go to Tokyo (never mind the three other trips I had planned between now and then), I've been seeing lots of social media posts from athletes who have been impacted by this and it got me thinking that t...

The word is out that yes, the Summer Olympics are going to be postponed. Scheduled to start on July 24, it became increasingly obvious over the last few weeks that the coronavirus pandemic was going to be an issue when it comes to the Olympics. The IOC held firm for a few weeks, stating they were hopeful that they wouldn't have to change things, but as more and more countries and/or athletes spoke up, it became obvious that a change was going to be needed. First and foremost, bringing together thousands of people from around the world into one location certainly was not the ideal move. Secondly, with the virus forcing the causing many places to close and events to be cancelled, the chance that athletes had to qualify for the Olympics were being called off, meaning they would have to be rescheduled before the Olympics and that was looking less and less likely to happen. It just wasn't going to work out and that became pretty obvious to everyone on Sunday. While I was not com...

As I write this on Thursday, Feb. 20, it’s been almost six years to the day since my first Olympic experience drew to a close. That was in Sochi in February of 2014 and it was an experience that I will always remember. It was my first time covering such a huge event and in many ways, it was overwhelming. However, I learned a lot in that first time out and when it came time to head to PyeongChang four years later, I had a much better idea of what to expect and it made the great experience I had the first time even better. Now, as I prepare for my first Summer Olympics experience, I am concerned a bit about the sheer massiveness of the summer games compared to the winter games. However, that’s a story for another day. What has been on my mind lately has been the whole threat of the coronavirus and how it might impact my Olympic trip. Going back to 2014 before I traveled to Russia, there was a lot of talk about security concerns and what Russia was doing to prepare. There wer...