Vancouver Winter Games

[Bunk]

Um, yea, that um one arm really wasn't supposed to work you see...

Had to be painful standing there holding the torches for five minutes, knowing there's a camera with a closeup on your face, wondering what the fuck is going on.

Otherwise, I'm feeling really proud right now. A few comments on the opening from my perspective (I watched it on tv, I'm not rich):

kd lang doing Leonard Cohen was totally unexpected, but really cool.
That crazy ass opera Olypic Hymn - not so cool.

Loved the whole West Coast forest section with Sarah MacLaughlan and the tap, fiddling and Ashley McIssac performance.

Big thanks to the professional Vancouver protesters for not fucking things up for the rest of us, like we were afraid they might.


Everyone do me a favor, if you want to discus the Georgian luger, please do, but lets not make this a big negative thread about it. It was a horrific tradgedy, but now isn't the time to talk about blame.

Feel free to talk negatively about doped Russian cross-country skiiers if you like though.

[sigil]

I'm just waiting to see who the next to die on that course.

Salt Lake and Torino for Comparison.

[Chimpy]

I watched the opening ceremonies from a bar with no sound on. One thing I do have to ask is who the fuck let Tom Brokaw on the air wearing that sport coat? That was the most hideous thing ever.

[Azaroth]

Pretty sure, if you look it up, it cost $78,000,000, too.

[taolurker]

I watched the opening ceremonies from a bar with no sound on. One thing I do have to ask is who the fuck let Tom Brokaw on the air wearing that sport coat? That was the most hideous thing ever.

Heh, I also watched the opening ceremony on a TV with no sound at a bar.

I actually thought like 50% of the entire ceremony was hideous. What was up with all the garish colors? I understand the Inuit imagery, but most of it was shockingly ugly. The big totem poles raising their arms? wtf? A huge polar bear? What appeared to be a violin playing demon? Plus: The Olympic symbol = stupid.

I am sort of glad I couldn't hear the sound.

[Bunk]

I won't deny a lot of it was a little garish, but the stuff you are picking on was explained if you heard the commentary. The arms extending were supposed to siginfy a traditional welcome. Plus, extending the arms made them look less dildo-ish, so that was good. The was nothing silly about the bear at all. The Spirit Bear is one of the most traditional West Coast symbols we have. There were 200 spirit bear statues errected in BC in 2006 to raise money for disabled children. We take our bears seriously.

I don't get the Oympic Symbol = stupid comment. You mean the five rings? Um, ok.

As for the cost, the estimates on the Chinese opening were anywhere from 100 to 300 million, and it costs a hell of a lot more to do anything in Vancouver than it does in China. When you consider they had 60,000 people there at an average of $1500 per ticket, I'd say it covered it.

Reading the Fark thread on it, it sounds like Bob Costas pretty much made an ass of himself throughout the NBC coverage of it.

[Surlyboi]

Are you fucking kidding? I loved the opening ceremony. It was a lot less over the top than China's and a lot more classy, IMO.

Then again, I'm a sucker for winter olympic opening ceremonies moreso than summer ceremonies.

Playing hockey on NHL rinks rather than IIHF ones makes me a little stabby though.

[taolurker]

I won't deny a lot of it was a little garish, but the stuff you are picking on was explained if you heard the commentary.

Check again where I was only seeing images in a bar with no sound. Only occasionally would I read the CC.

I don't get the Oympic Symbol = stupid comment. You mean the five rings? Um, ok.

[Strazos]

Playing hockey on NHL rinks rather than IIHF ones makes me a little stabby though.

Wat?

[Surlyboi]

The rinks are regulation NHL rather than the larger international standard ones. It was one of the first things I noticed during today's Sweden/Switzerland game. Not enough room behind the goal.

[Righ]

kd lang doing Leonard Cohen was totally unexpected, but really cool.

I liked most of the opening ceremony, but I thought that k.d. lang's arrangement was just horrible. She did a good job of singing it, but she took one of the most emotional, powerful songs ever written in Canada and sucked all the soul and passion out of it. I'm not precious about the song at all - while I do love Cohen's original and live versions, I also love both Rufus Wainwright and Jeff Buckley's versions. However, I would still rather hear lang's lifeless version in the wrong meter than any of the dreadful X-Factor and American Idol versions.

I did find it cute that she borrowed David Byrne's suit.

[Special J]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inukshuk

Yeah I thought it was fine overall. Some parts dragged some but overall pretty decent.

[Paelos]

Nothing you can do in an opening ceremony overshadows the first death in 40 years. Barring a major hockey upset, that's what this entire Olympics will be remembered for.

[Strazos]

The rinks are regulation NHL rather than the larger international standard ones. It was one of the first things I noticed during today's Sweden/Switzerland game. Not enough room behind the goal.

No I get that, just not sure why it matters. Most of the players play on that size rink anyway.

[Murgos]

I'm not sure that events that separate first place and last place by less than a half second should qualify as competition, to me that's variance.

[Ingmar]

The rinks are regulation NHL rather than the larger international standard ones. It was one of the first things I noticed during today's Sweden/Switzerland game. Not enough room behind the goal.

No I get that, just not sure why it matters. Most of the players play on that size rink anyway.

Would this be ok: "Well, sorry guys, we only have the track set up for a 100 yard race instead of a 100 meter race. Oh and we got the shotputs in and they're all a half pound too heavy, again, little oversight sorry. And the javelins are all 3 inches too long. And we're moving the 3 point line in basketball to something that doesn't match international play."

Just seems kind of odd that hockey is having its parameters changed like that when it likely wouldn't be allowed for most sports, that's all.

[Special J]

Except that in your examples you don't need to change the parameters of your entire stadium.


Hey it beats what they're going to do in London:
"I say, we don't much feel like building a baseball/softball diamond."

"Done! Those events are toast."

Well, not that Canada would ever drop hockey.

[Bunk]

Never even occured to me that someone had a problem with the Inukshuk design. It's a little man, and it tells you where to go.

I could comment on the paisley pajama ski suits the Americans are wearing. I know its covered in little stars, but really, they make it look paisley.

My heart just broke watching the women's moguls. The worst part being, knowing that the last skier had won without waiting for the score - her run was that good.


As to the hockey - I fully get what you are saying, but I really don't care, because I really hate watching the oversized ice surface. So much space, nobody forechecks.

[ghost]

The opening ceremony had some interesting and cool visuals, but holy shit it was boring.  The opera chick's hair was very cool, however, lending some credence to the entire bit.

[Fordel]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmp1sJAJTCw !

[Surlyboi]

Yeah, bigger rink can sometimes mean less forechecks, but it also means more wide-open hockey. I kinda like it fast. Plus, I'd like to see Ovechkin really open it up.

[Nerf]

Phil and I watched Arissa Mirano do the moguls last night, that alone made the olympics worth it for me.
Yes, Arissa Mirano is Japanese.

The skinny downs kid running through a field on wires was pretty  .

[Surlyboi]

Phil and I watched Arissa Mirano do the moguls last night, that alone made the olympics worth it for me.
Yes, Arissa Mirano is Japanese.

The skinny downs kid running through a field on wires was pretty  .

"Arisa Murata"

[Phildo]

Some of you might remember this year's Olympics for a guy dying before it actually started, but for me it will be Koreans in 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in speed skating until two of them wiped each other out and let the Americans medal.

[Trippy]

That sort of thing is not uncommon in short track speedskating. Apollo's first Olympic medal was won in a race where the entire field but one skater crashed (the gold medal winner) and Apollo happened to be the first of the crash victims to crawl across the finish line for the Silver.

[Abagadro]

That Nordic Combined race was very compelling, particularly in an event that doesn't make much sense.

[murdoc]

Being Canadian, I love the winter Olympics. Can't really get into the Summer games the same way.

Thought the opening ceremonies were boring, but I find most things like that boring. I usually just watch to see the athletes march in and to see the final destination of the Olympic Flame. Can't imagine how awkward it would have been to stand there waiting for the arms on the Cauldron to lift. Nancy Greene said later that they figured they had about a minute before the torches would go out as they ran out of fuel.

The women's moguls last night were awesome, I'm a sucker for those types of events. Moguls, anything snowboard related, freestyle ski jumping. It's amazing how much of an 'expert' I become while watching an event I'll watch every 4 years for an evening.

[Special J]

That sort of thing is not uncommon in short track speedskating. Apollo's first Olympic medal was won in a race where the entire field but one skater crashed (the gold medal winner) and Apollo happened to be the first of the crash victims to crawl across the finish line for the Silver.

Was that the one the Aussie won?  The look on his face was priceless.  "I...I won?!?"

[Trippy]

That sort of thing is not uncommon in short track speedskating. Apollo's first Olympic medal was won in a race where the entire field but one skater crashed (the gold medal winner) and Apollo happened to be the first of the crash victims to crawl across the finish line for the Silver.

Was that the one the Aussie won?  The look on his face was priceless.  "I...I won?!?"

Yup that was Steven Bradbury.

[Paelos]

That Nordic Combined race was very compelling, particularly in an event that doesn't make much sense.

Yep, I was actually out of my seat screaming, "GO YOU BASTARD, THERE'S A FRENCH GUY!"

[Bunk]

All of Canada can now breath a sigh of relief as we finally win a gold (Men's Moguls). For those of you who didn't know, we had never won an Olypic gold on home soil (despite hosting two previous games).

[Sir T]

Congratulations

[Viin]

That doesn't mean you should expect more. You have your gold, now we (USA) need 35 more.

[Paelos]

That doesn't mean you should expect more. You have your gold, now we (USA) need 35 more.

We win all the weird events though that involving jumping over shit with guns and skating for speed. Can't we just win a freaking hockey game?

[Azaroth]

Admittedly, good story and good kid too.