So I know we have a thread around here on the Olympic Hockey tourney, but was curious what everyone was feeling about the Olympics in general..
ie... your thoughts on the opening ceremonies, the death at the sliding center, broken machinery and weather causing delays in various events.
Do you feel that we're doing a good job of putting our best foot forward hosting these games?
To be honest, I have really mixed feelings. After China and considering the logistics of hosting such an event, the occasional hiccup or disappointment can be expected, but there's a few things that just don't shine the brightest light...
- late arrivals of key guests to the opening ceremonies caused confusion
- the inability of the flags to wave on their wind-generating poles
- the rather slow pace of the opening ceremonies and lack of energy in many of the musical numbers
- the broken couldron
- the 10 minute DRIVE(?!) to the outdoor couldron
- the death of an unexperienced georgian luger.. resulting in men starting from the women's start, and women starting from the junior start (which many women weren't happy about).
Then when you actually get into the events, you have the weather that's not cooperating (you can forgive that)
- broken zambonies futzing up the speed skating oval
- Curling rink that wasn't ready more than a couple days ahead of actual competition
- and then the medal expectations.... can we really own the podium?
I was really hoping that we'd be putting on the best show and showing everyone what canada's really about, but I don't think we're cutting the mustard in hosting these olympic games.
what do you think?
Well.. we can in no way compare this Olympic ceremonies to the Beijing ones. Beijing used the Olympics as an excuse to completely up root and redesign the infrastructure of that city. They kicked millions of people out of they're shanty towns to make way for buildings, transit and walkways. Beijing now functions on a level it never did. Vancouver wasn't using the Olympics the same way as China was.
So waiting for busses, over used highways and a lack of places to stay just aren't things people could say about Beijing.
it just isn't apples to apples.
Not to mention the amount of money Beijing put up was almost triple what Van city did.
(I think)
The cauldron fiasco was something we just didn't see. It was a fluke and the guys that spent 4 years designing, implementing and creating the ceremonies did the best they could. Sometimes "s*** happens"
I watched the ceremonies from Arizona, and the NBC guys had nothing but nice and supportive things to say about our country, the friendliness of our people, and the beautiful ceremonies.
The weather, even my brother in laws wife couldn't control that.
Thing is, China could do what they did because the authorities there controlled everything except the weather (and if you recall they actually banned cars from the area around the games for a period of time to try and deal with their smog issues)
As to the pacing of the ceremonies, I think that comes down too the Canadian Way of trying to be "everything to everyone" great theory but in practice? Mah...
As to the mechanical malfunctions that comes down to things that couldn't be forseen (who would have bet that one of the cauldron arms would refuse to rise?) to decisions that were made in order to look good that backfired (Green ice scrapers? Uh say what? Just gimmie a Zamboni and be done with it FFS <_<)
The luge accident? The track was approved by all the governing bodies every step of the way, you can't tell me now that they are unhappy with them. As tragic as the death was, I doubt that little could have been done that would have saved that luger from horrific injuries, at the very least.
If there is anything about this games I'm not thrilled with it's the lack of showing the medal ceremonies, I mean c'mon do they really think that we don't wanna see the ceremonies? :rolleyes:)
NefCanuck
I hear ya Nef... they could definitely show a medal ceremony or two.. I was all confused just seeing the guys get flowers on the podium!
I agree that you can't compare this to Beijing, and most people accepted it, but for the couldron not raising -- sh-- does happen, but that was something that likely shouldn't have happened. There were riskier couldron lightings than raising a hydraulic set piece (ie, the LA games lit by a flaming arrow -- that archer practiced that shot till it was beyond doubt).
And Anthony, you're probably right -- except for the luging accident, most competitors and foreign officials seem impressed by the folks in Vancouver.
As for the Luging accident -- that luger probably shouldn't have been competing in these olympics. He was inexperienced, and he even vocalized his fear of that corner -- his head wasn't in the right place and he was placed in a situation he wasn't ready for.
They say that we expect up to 12 medals in the last 4 days of the games -- so that should be interesting... but I enjoy the games a bit more when I wasn't expecting too much.
but looking forward to tonight's first hockey game -- go Canada!
I'm guessing I'm one of the very few that really dosn't care about the Olympics being here in Canada, more so as all the spending related to getting everything together for what ammounts to little more then 2 weeks use of all the built projects / housing / Venues that will end up only bennifiting vancouver in the short term after all is said and done. I think more better use of the money could have gone towards dealing with the gangs / street violence / homeless / street workers etc.. etc.. that has plauged Vancouver for decades.... they had years to deal with these issues to help the less fortunate in Vancouver's lower east side before the olympics came, but they didn't. I honestly think it's a major embarrassment to Vancouver to still have done little to change it's image, or to help it's people other then to fence them off.
darkpuppet,Feb 16 2010, 05:50 PM Wrote:I was all confused just seeing the guys get flowers on the podium!
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I agree, they should give the guys varying sizes of beer kegs or champagne bottles (just like in racing).
I'm not big on the olympics... but you said it well there Steve! I am proud however to see our current standings, and having won gold on home turf has been great to see... i'm just hoping the list of disappointments don't grow further.
The problem with the Olympics in Canada, at least recently, is that it's not really a nationalized thing. Sure, there's a bit of support from top-level agencies and funds, but not enough for our best athletes to live off of. The athletes who are promising end up having to spend most of their time arranging funding to support their training and development requirements. Endorsements only come AFTER the Olympics, so there's the chicken-and-the-egg scenario.
But when it all adds up at the end of the day, it's just schoolyard bragging rights. Does it matter if we're better at hockey than Bulgaria? No. But we think it matters. And therefore, we have the Olympics. It's a quick uptake of national pride, watching someone else do something well that you yourself cannot likely do.
So where do you stand? Do you let your enmity of the situation force your hand and admit your dislike of the Games? Or are you a fervent support of blatant nationalism, crying for more funding for athletes so they can "SMASH THE COMMIES"? I couldn't care either way, except for the fact that once again, my tax dollars are spent on something which I have zero control over.
NOS2Go4Me,Feb 17 2010, 09:08 AM Wrote:So where do you stand? Do you let your enmity of the situation force your hand and admit your dislike of the Games? Or are you a fervent support of blatant nationalism, crying for more funding for athletes so they can "SMASH THE COMMIES"? I couldn't care either way, except for the fact that once again, my tax dollars are spent on something which I have zero control over.
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NOS,
Don't forget that throughout history governments have spent money on causes that not everyone supports (The "You can't please all of the people all of the time" issue) so I think that arguement is a bit weak per se (I mean there are people who would absolutely freak for example about "their tax dollars" are being used to fund the government contributions to the Registered Disability Savings Plan, for example)
Now as to whether these Olympic Games will make a lasting positive impact?
History shows us that in Canada anyways <b>if</b> the games are run well (the before and during) that there can be positive outcomes (Calgary) and negative outcomes (Montreral) Where Vancouver will fall in the grand scheme of things, well only history can judge that IMO.
NefCanuck
I would of liked to see an "un-interupted" opening ceremonies as opposed to seeing our Athletes eating an egg-McMuffn every ten minutes. Then when they would cut back they'd (broadcasters) rush you through the teams you missed.
The other part I had a chuckle was when the comentators were commenting on Wayne Gretzky's "special" torch that aparently burned longer then the regular torches. LOL I guess the commentors missed the exchange of a fresh new torch being passed to Wayne from the back of the pick-up.
Dimitri,Feb 17 2010, 02:06 PM Wrote:The other part I had a chuckle was when the comentators were commenting on Wayne Gretzky's "special" torch that aparently burned longer then the regular torches. LOL I guess the commentors missed the exchange of a fresh new torch being passed to Wayne from the back of the pick-up.
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I was laughing at that too! Script reading gone wild... lmao
Dimitri,Feb 17 2010, 02:06 PM Wrote:I would of liked to see an "un-interupted" opening ceremonies as opposed to seeing our Athletes eating an egg-McMuffn every ten minutes. Then when they would cut back they'd (broadcasters) rush you through the teams you missed.
The other part I had a chuckle was when the comentators were commenting on Wayne Gretzky's "special" torch that aparently burned longer then the regular torches. LOL I guess the commentors missed the exchange of a fresh new torch being passed to Wayne from the back of the pick-up.
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gretzky burned through at least 3 torches.
They handed him a fresh one before he left the building.. then in the truck.. and that truck ride was pretty long -- I'm sure he had at least one more before lighting the outdoor torch.
NOS2Go4Me,Feb 17 2010, 10:08 AM Wrote:But when it all adds up at the end of the day, it's just schoolyard bragging rights. Does it matter if we're better at hockey than Bulgaria? No. But we think it matters. And therefore, we have the Olympics. It's a quick uptake of national pride, watching someone else do something well that you yourself cannot likely do.
So where do you stand? Do you let your enmity of the situation force your hand and admit your dislike of the Games? Or are you a fervent support of blatant nationalism, crying for more funding for athletes so they can "SMASH THE COMMIES"? I couldn't care either way, except for the fact that once again, my tax dollars are spent on something which I have zero control over.
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the olympics are a lot better endevour to invest tax payer's money than, say fighting a war in Iraq (granted I support the afghanistan mission, but it's time to close up shop there soon too). It's about time some money went to positive endevours, even if it's only temporary. I'm rather proud to be hosting such an event.