Bulls and Bears: ‘Vladdy’ and his fellow young stars are shining bright for MLB
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Toronto Blue Jays’ own Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. had himself a bullish week, becoming the first Blue Jay ever to be named All-Star Game MVP, and doing so at the age of 22.
Author of the article:
Tom Mayenknecht 
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Toronto Blue Jays rounds the bases after hitting a home run in the third inning during the 91st MLB All-Star Game at Coors Field on July 13, 2021 in Denver, Colorado. Photo by Matthew Stockman /Getty Images Article content Bulls of the week
For Major League Baseball, the glass half-empty relates to average All-Star game television audiences of about eight million in the United States this week, down significantly from the 36 million who watched in 1980, the 22 million tuning in before the strike of 1994 and doping scandals of the late 1990s and 2000s and audiences that never dipped below 10 million until 2016.
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The glass half-full, however, is about a sensational new crop of young stars, including the charismatic Fernando Tatis, Jr., modern day Babe Ruth Shohei Ohtani of Japan and the Toronto Blue Jays’ own Vladimir Guerrero, Jr.
“Vladdy” had himself a bullish week, becoming the first Blue Jay ever to be named All-Star Game MVP, and doing so at the age of 22.
An anti-Olympic activist holds up a placard with a slogan reading “No Olympics” during a march to the offices of the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo in July 16, 2021. Photo by PHILIP FONG /AFP via Getty Images Bears of the week
Media negativity is par for the course on the eve of any Olympic Games but the Tokyo 2020 Games are setting new standards of chaos and concern with one week to go before the opening ceremonies on Friday.
Typically the scrutiny leading up to the Olympics is caused by massive cost overruns, delayed construction at venues or just plain politics. Yet these Games are being defined by what seems like a growing state of desperation among all involved as Tokyo takes on its fourth state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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A fourth wave of the coronavirus caused 1,300 new cases Thursday, the highest in six months, and those numbers are being set against weak vaccination rates in Japan, where only 18 per cent of residents are fully vaccinated. That’s about one third of Canada’s 54 per cent and the 53 per cent levels in the United Kingdom, where London was one of 11 host cities for the recently-completed European Cup soccer championships.
One would think the ability of UEFA to pull off those kind of logistics on the way to Italy’s penalty kicks win over England in the Euro finale last Sunday would make Olympic organizers more optimistic in Tokyo. Yet the context of Euro 2020 pales in comparison to the gargantuan task that lies ahead for Japanese organizers.
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It’s one thing to manage 24 national soccer teams playing in 11 different venues over the course of one month; it’s quite another to contain the coronavirus with about 30,000 visitors — including more than 11,200 athletes — representing 205 countries, all converging on Tokyo and its satellite cities over the course of two weeks of competition at 42 Olympic venues.
One week out from the Tokyo Games, seven Olympic teams have been hit by outbreaks or close contacts — including Brazil’s judo team and Olympians from Uganda, Serbia and Israel. Meanwhile, staff in at least one Olympic hotel have been quarantined in the midst of physical distancing, mask mandates and daily testing, hardly the best environment for an Olympic Games.
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With no fans in the stands for most Olympic venues, no international fans permitted in the country — including no families and friends of Olympic competitors — restricted retail capacity and limited sponsor activations, it is certainly not the Olympics that Tokyo signed up for and poured about US$27 billion into venues and infrastructure.
Still, the Olympic juggernaut moves forward on a hope and a prayer, with International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach preaching a zero chance of local residents being infected by incoming Olympic participants. That’s Olympic-branded KoolAid.
Marketing communications executive and sport business commentator Tom Mayenknecht is a principal in Emblematica Brand Builders and the host of The Sport Market on BNN Bloomberg Radio 1410 and TSN Radio nationally. Follow Mayenknecht at: twitter.com/TheSportMarket
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