Sports Perspectives

As rumors swirl, these five factors will decide the fate of the Tokyo Olympics

The New National Stadium, the main venue for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, in Tokyo on Sept. 29, 2020.<br>Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg

As the global resurgence in covid-19 cases reignites debate over whether to hold the Olympics this summer, focus has turned to how the fate of the Tokyo games will be decided, and what they will look like if they go ahead.

Tony Franklin says he left money on the table when he resigned from Middle Tennessee before his contract was up. Franklin says he left money on the table when he resigned from Middle Tennessee before his contract was up.<br>Eamon Queeney/For The Washington Post

PERSPECTIVE

A college football coach's season at war with the coronavirus — and his own school

He's groomed NFL stars and designed record-breaking offenses. But Tony Franklin has never been able to shut up and coach. And this time, he says, he's done for good.

Protesters attempt to force their way through a police barricade in front of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.<br>Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times

COLUMN

Athletes know what nihilists don't: Real power is discipline, not unchecked rage

The difference between a Patrick Mahomes, a LeBron James, a Sue Bird or any other athlete-champion activist and a mere street rioter is that one is an expert in real power and voluntary constraint of it, while the other is an aggrieved raver with an instinct to break down something because he is too weak to build up himself.

COLUMN

Army, 9-2 but without a bowl game, deserves better

Saturday's win over Air Force left Army with a 9-2 record and one remaining question: Who would its opponent be in the Independence Bowl? By dusk on Sunday, the answer had landed with a thud: no one.

Army quarterback Christian Anderson.<br>Army West Point Athletics

COLUMN

Army QB Christian Anderson can revel with biggest win on his resume

Christian Anderson is like every other cadet at West Point, showing character in his willingness to provide leadership to his football brethren and waiting for his leaders, namely the coaching staff, to call upon his services once again.

COLUMN

Tribal sports mascots turned real people into flimsy props — Good riddance to them all

The trouble with an Indian mascot is that it does more than just define others, crudely and cheaply. It turns them into petty collectibles, dime-store stuff to be pinned on a wall or worn on a cap, and therefore it makes them less real, less human.

Atty. Gen. Robert F. Kennedy talks with Capt. Don Holleder, a former West Point football star, during a visit to South Korea in January, 1964. Holleder, commander of A Co., 1st Bn., 31st Inf., coached the 7th Div. Bayonet football team to a 14-game undefeated season and the Coconut Bowl championship in Hawaii the year before.<br>Stars and Stripes

PERSPECTIVE

Army-Navy game brings back memories of Don Holleder's stellar effort in 1955

The night before the Navy game, Army coach Red Blaik expressed concern about having to cross the field after the game to congratulate Navy's Ed Erdelatz for the second year in a row. As legend has it, Holleder spoke up and said: "Colonel, you're not going to have to take that walk!"