September | 2021 | Highly Annoying

Jumping into covering softball and baseball at the Olympics from the tech beat back in San Francisco was a smooth transition because I am a big fan of bat-ball sports and had the extra year to prepare when the Games were postponed. There are three overarching highlights from Japan:

One was on the field. Experiencing up-close the dominance of these softball players was awe-inspiring. And as one of the only journalists who is watching in person all 33 softball and baseball games at these Olympics, I tried to capture that for readers by describing their repetitive mid-inning routines, their unchecked emotions on the mound and how they keep themselves psyched up by writing messages on their mitts. In the case of baseball, these aren’t the best players in the world – and they admit that – but that does not mean they are trying any less to impress. Just look at how dejected Israel was with its elimination from the Olympics.

Off the field, I cannot say enough about the gracious hosts who taxied us, interpreted for us, rushed water and ponchos to our outdoor desks, wrapped TVs and ethernet cables every night to protect them from humidity and done tons more to try to make the experience comfortable. These softball, and especially baseball games, were in uncomfortable heat and support staff and volunteers fought through it more than anyone else here to put on a good show for the media and officials in attendance and also for those watching on TV. In addition, as evidenced by my presence, Reuters brings together a global team of journalists from various beats to help cover the Olympics. The pandemic means we couldn’t all meet, but I was privileged to work on the bat-ball action alongside Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Jorge Silva.

On the tech side, it was wild using face match everyday to enter venues after writing about facial recognition a bunch but rarely experiencing it in daily life. The WiFi on buses was a lifesaver and I am still stunned by how well it worked. The press conferences were streamed for journalists on Microsoft Teams, which was great because I could remotely ask questions to some players while waiting to interview others in a different area. The experience largely was error-free. I tried to keep my eye on tech stories while there, which is why I wrote about potential bias in archery’s new heart rate tracking, a noisemaking gadget that keeps us safe from foul balls and the low-tech measures that make the ball here the “best in the world.” I’m also returned home with some story ideas based on the incredible usage of Google Translate, Google Lens and Yahoo Weather that I saw among visitors and locals alike. I should mention that the robot that entertains during halftime at basketball games, which somehow can swoosh a mid-court shot with ease, was just as creepy in person as everyone on social media thinks it is.

One regret: Some of the bat-ball games were in Fukushima, which is rebuilding from the devasting tsunami a decade ago. Coaches and players talked up the peaches of Fukushima ad nauseum. The prefecture government even showed media a video about their peaches and other agriculture, including what was described as the nation’s finest rice. But unless I missed a big bowl somewhere, no peaches were offered to media. The peach-pie lover in me is excited to return in the years ahead for some fresh pickings!

Highly Annoying

But Definitely Life-Changing

Monthly Archives: September 2021

2020 Tokyo Olympics coverage