The Vancouver 2010 Olympics
 

It's been a few days already and no Olympics thread?! We have to fix that!!

The opening ceremony was very well done I felt. Had everything; Peter Pan, a neckbeard, a violinist devil, floor whales and NO Celine Dion! I really liked when KD Lang sang Hallelujah too.

Now I know everyone is shocked about the Georgian luger's death (and blaming Canada no less) but is it really so hard to think that it's not a very safe sport to begin with? I know the track was fast but other tracks aren't that much slower (maybe 10kph slower at most). So going 135kph instead of 145kph I don't see as being a huge factor. That's faster than most people drive on the highways in their cars, not on a small sled that offers no protection in any crash. It just seems like a disaster waiting to happen to me. I'm a bit appalled they show the footage of him hitting the pole on TV though.

Now onto the main events;
Canada just got their second gold. Womens Snowboard Cross. It was a good race if you missed it. I'm sure if you did you'll be hearing about it very soon on any news channel out there.

First gold being in Mens Moguls as I'm sure everyone heard. It's too bad the 2nd place Aussie guy was such a poor sport about it (didn't smile, and he's a Canadian too! I heard a rumor he's rich from creating Malware too...). His coach was bad talking the Canadian saying our guy shouldn't have won. I think what his coach failed to realize that even though the Canadians run wasn't flawless, he did really well still and was doing a more technical stunts (thus worth more points) and finished about 20 ms faster.

Womens moguls the day before had me on my seat also. I wish we would have got Gold there too but Silver is great too!

I'm excited for the Mens Hockey tonight! Going to be a good game versus Norway (if I recall). Can't wait! We have a good lineup on our team I think, just hoping the goalies pick up the slack they've had the past few weeks.

What else... Mens curling was earlier today versus Norway. Was a close match but Canada squeezed by.

So.. What are your thoughts? Anything you're excited to see? Predictions? let's get this thread going!!

how about WWWWWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!! go canada!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


thinking hockey is russia vs canada in the final, cant wait for the rest of the mens !!!

LOL, 2 Albertans more excited than those living in the Olympic venue.
hmm no Canadian smiley only an American one
Go Canada :cheer2:

what a waste...

this city is such a mess

It's a shame about the death it was a tragic accident but it probably could have been prevented. The wall could have been up before hand as those poles really did look like an accident waiting to happen, especially around the last and fastest corner. I'm no expert but the track may have been too fast, competitors were all saying it was too fast and after the investigation they did conclude it was too fast and made corrections including starting everyone from the ladies start point. Also going around that corner that fast puts tremendous G forces on the body, enough to make you pass out. From the footage it seems to me that the guy passed out before he was thrown from the track. 10km/h difference may not sound like a lot but it could be the difference between pushing though the G forces or blacking out from them. These athletes are pushed to the extreme limit and it doesn't take much to cross the line.

Oh and yeah that Australian is a real douche-bag, it was tight but he was slower and was fairly beaten. He needs to get other that.

Speaking of poor sportsmanship I've noticed a lot of it this time around. Lots of competitors are dropping out and not finishing their events because they no longer have a shot at a medal. Like many of the speed skaters dropped out before the second run forcing others to race solo and in woman's snowboard cross the one women in the shot final went out the gate and then just walked off the course, total BS in my mind.

i dont think that the ladies and junior start gate was great the men starting from the ladies was fine but the women starting from the junior start gate was not so good it caused huge problems and i didnt think it was very fair

We have a 2010 thread on another board since the opening ceremonies. Time we had one here.

OK, thoughts about the Games so far.

The Opening Ceremonies started slow (with the native part - too few performers on too big a stage & with those phallic totem poles) but then it really picked up nicely. Loved the killer whales & spirit bear.

I liked the fact they included the First Nations into the Opening Ceremonies, but I thought it was also misleading, since people who don't know much about Canadian society would get the impression that the First Nations play a leading role in Canada's cultural scene.

The sporting events:

Jenn skiied excellent, but we (my family & I) agreed that the American skier was just a bit better, so Silver was fair. She showed a lot of class in accepting Silver when she went in as the Gold medal favourite.

Soooooo happy that Alexandre beat that traitor from West Van. The pseudo-Aussie is known in the Aussie media as Spam Man since his company produces Spam, Malware & other crap that messes up our computers. He may be rich, but he has absolutely NO class. The pic in the Province newspaper totally shows what a poor sport he is. Even the Bronze winner was smiling, but nooooo..... this traitor was obviously POed & wanted to be anywhere else.

The South Koreans shot themselves in the foot in the speedskating final by cutting each other off or else they would have swept the medals & Apollo would not have gotten a medal.

Happy for the latest Cdn. gold medal winner who snowboarded a perfect race while the last two in her race wiped out & finished waaaaaaaay back. Too bad the men's final didn't produce a gold too since our Cdn. snowboarder lead almost the entire way. At least the nice American won & not the nasty American who wiped out on his own.

+1
and on top of that we will have to pay for 30 years and we had no choice.
IOC is a $ making scam committee.
here: http://www.thefiveringcircus.com/5ring.swf

At least someone knows what these "GAMES" really are

1. the best mogul run was the american who crashed, that dude was going for the gusto!

2. Not happy about the luge being pushed down to the ladie's, people have trained on this coarse for awhile now. A bigger fence to keep them in the track would suffice. Where he hit was very strange and the angle's seemed just right to cause the outcome.

3. why the heck is boarder cross even in the olympic's , keep that crap to x game's. throw in a street style coarse or even set it up to be more like a mogul compition so them loser's actually have to do a trick. its been dead since shawn palmer left.

4. the half pipe comp mens is over before it starts

This will be my second Olympics that I am part of. It didn't hurt Calgary in fact it gave it a real boost (just before the price of oil started to climb again). The early 80's were not good for the oil patch and Calgary suffered from that much like what has happening now with BC's resource based economy. So hopefully we will see a shot in arm for our economy from the Olympics. Be proud of your city and being Canadian.
My 2 cents worth.:smile:

Even if we didn't have the Olympics ........ the City would still be the same.

Cheers,
Vic

My now unemployed friends, arts funding and the 800 teachers who lost their jobs would disagree

What? You bring this up while curling is in the mix? Come on, it's fast, exciting, and dangerous. I think you need at least 2 of those 3 to make it an Olympic sport, curling offers none, except for perhaps exciting if your life is that dull.

For crying out loud. Give it a break. Cant you guys just discuss the topic. Sheez, what part of no political in the lounge is a problem.

And thanks for that Steve. Just because some like curling, they have a dull life.

Likely curling is in there because its competitive in most countries that compete in the winter olympics. Just guessing here but sounds reasonable to be. Better than some, which results in huge beatings, and ends up only between two countries as always.

Have to admit, although not a real snowboard fan, I love those races and am becoming a fan. Great to watch an actual race in a competition. I think its as much or more of a winter olympic sport than some of the others. And this is from an old fart. :lol:

I'm probably in the minority but I'm not really a big fan. I tend to get a lot of work done around the house during the Olympics because my wife takes control of the remote. She was watching on four different channels last night! lol

Oh come on Doug, don't get me wrong I don't have a problem with curling, it's a fun sport but along the same lines as bowling which I really do enjoy playing. But honestly if you can watch curling on TV and get excited by it then yes IMO you need to get out more, just saying. As far as an Olympic sport it just doesn't make sense to me, we might as well add bowling to the summer Olympics, or actually even better let's add lawn bowling.

Rather than bringing in curling they should have brought in something like, I don't know, WOMENS SKI JUMPING!

I have mixed feelings about curling. I consider it more a winter activity than a sport. It does take a certain amount of talent and planning though. I believe it was added more to the Olympics to get a certain crowd to watch, who aren't into the higher adrenaline sports to watch (my parents and grandparents love curling!).

I'm pulling for the 100m Downhill Crazy Carpet for the 2014 Winter Olympics!

BTW, Hockey last night wasn't even a fight. But Team Canada had some really nice plays! I think we have a great line this year with Nash, Crosby and Iginla!

I'm a huge fan of the Olympics and enjoy pretty much all the events. Hockey, skiing and speed skating being my favourites but I can happily sit through a curling match as well.

We have to find a Canadian hockey player named Stills to replace Iginla. Than that line could be Crosby, Stills and Nash. :mrgreen:

Well my life is not dull but I happened to turn on the TV last night (before my airport run) and watched some of the game between Canada and Norway. I watched our skip make a fantastic shot in the 8th end for three points. When he made that shot I jumped out of my chair with my arms in the air like I made that shot myself. Now I have never done that watching NCIS, or 24, or "Lets make a deal" LOL.
Kevin

I find that the good thing about the Olympics is that there is a sport for almost everyone and really when your county makes a big play or wins a medal in anyone of them then you get excited.

I have screamed at the TV and cheered out load a few times and can say that never happens in regular TV viewing.

Even my boys 5 and 2 are into it they want to watch and like to cheer for everyone.

Oh love that they have to bring out the 15 year old Calgary Zamboni to clean the ice for speed skating.

I was proud as a reefer that our first gold came in "moguls" even though it had nothing to do with metal halide lighting :D

Ya, not very good advertising for Olympia. I bet their sales just took a nosedive! It still boggles my mind why they didn't have a backup.

And I have to agree totally. The Olympics is about offering things that appeal to a broad audience. Curling might not be super intense but if we win medals in Curling I'd be just as happy. I challenge anyone to try curling once, if you haven't. It's a LOT harder than it looks. I think it's also more of a sport where a poorer country has just as much chance of winning as the next guy (don't need hightech speed suit or expensive custom gear to play). It really all comes down to skill.

ok i was watching the canada/finland game last night and I know that iggy got the hat trick on the last deflection but today I see he only got credited for 2 goals? whats up???

I searched the net for just abit and see that some papers say he got 3 goals and then I check the olympic website and it says 2?

maybe someone can enlighten me

The first Olympia puked all over the ice. The back-up Olympia then chewed the ice up. Then they had no choice but to go with the Zamboni from Calgary.

Oh and the 3rd Olympia messed up the ice also, they had three, all of them failed

Wow! Olympia failed big time on that one for the entire world to see. I didn't know they had 2 backups and they ALL failed. If I was Olympia I'd be pulling some crazy PR stuff right now, otherwise they just advertised expensive ice paperweights.

And as for Iginla's goals there was debates last night too. There's question if he deflected the puck or not. CTV was saying afterwards the same thing; that the Olympics were bouncing back and forth between 2 or 3 for him. Last I heard it was 3 but I guess they decided on 2?

Alrighty. Looking forward to that. :mrgreen:

Hey now, treading on curling is one thing but lets leave bowling out of this. 5 pin bowling in the games would be good. It just so happens I have a Canadian gold, so even though over the hill, ya never know. :lol:

And I,m in agreement. Womens ski jumping should have been in. 100%. Even though our ladies hockey is hallowed ground, besides Canada/USA, not much competition. It may wind up going the way of ladies fastball from the summer games, due to lack of it, if something does not change.

Say what you want about curling but its very competitive between most countries entered, in both mens and womens.

You should have seen the young Russian women at the Sochi House promoting the 2014 Winter games :)

Cheers,
Vic

I have mixed feelings about these games.

First of all the Canadian team have come out quite outspoken about "we are going to own the podium". There have been interviews where people from the Canadian team are predicting Canada will place first in the medal standings. I think they are shooting themselves in the foot. If they place first they come across as braggarts, if they don't they look foolish. It all seems too American for me. Underpromise and overdeliver, don't tell me how good you are, show me.

Second the Georgian luge competitor decelerated from 80 mph to zero in maybe a tenth of a second. If there had been a barrier running lengthwise alongside the track between the track and the metal posts, he would have hit the barrier longwise and at an oblique angle and slid along it rather than stopping immediately. Instead of being dead he would have maybe survived with serious injuries. I don't know if the track is dangerous or if it was just a freak accident, it just seems obvious that you don't place large immobile objects next to a high-speed track just waiting for someone to smack into them.

Third the Roman Empire kept its citizens happy by providing circuses, gladiatorial combat etc. rather than attending to the people's true needs, providing food, education, health care etc. It seems like more of the same to me. My spouse is likely to lose her job thanks to healthcare cutbacks, meanwhile we are blowing ? how many billion dollars on pageantry to entertain the mob for a couple of weeks. Some may be fooled by this, I hope some are not.

now the speedskating is having troubles with there timer... wow

I agree. The expense is excessive given all the other problems that need dealing with and a lack of funding for health care and education. I have nothing against the games in principle but why does it have to be such a big expensive show and have caused so much inconvenience for Vancouverites for the last few years. Why not light a torch, let the athletes compete and that's it? Instead we have to always have one upmanship with respect to the last olympics and put on an even bigger more impressive show and get to spend the next 30 years paying for it. Let's not forget that Montreal just finished paying off the last debt for the '76 games a year or two ago :sad:

Good point, as well as selling us an infrastructure at x20 price tag!

More like a shot in a head ! :lol:

You can't compare 2010 to 1976 at all. First, the summer games are much larger and come with a greater cost. The Montreal games were held prior to massive sponsorship and tv rights money being infused to help offset the cost of hosting the games.

The money paid for the 2010 games would never have gone into health or education. It's not like the money spent is being flushed down the toilet.

It can be debated to death about the need to upgrade the sea-to-sky but the Canada Line was well needed and will be used for generations. Again, debate the need of the convention centre. The NDP turned down Steve Winn years ago when he offered to pay for the convention centre with his own private money with the contingency that he was allowed to include a casino. Look at all the casinos in town and it makes you shake your head (yes, I know that it wasn't the NDP who allowed that expansion).

Speaking of the NDP, the champions of health care and education....they were the party in power that got the ball rolling with the bid.

Aside from Canada Line and S2S, what inconveniences did it cause for the last few years? Both of those are infrastructure investments that will be beneficial moving forward.

Wow. Shaun White was something to watch last night. Simply amazing.

Yeah he sure sets the standard for that competition. I think he was even holding back a little but still almost obtained a perfect score on that last little joy ride.
I swear the judges get put that Fin in there to break up the podium, I'm not sure how that run scored a 45! Even the guys face when he got his score was like WHAT?? A good run but not second best, that's for sure.

How about the womens downhill? That was certainly entertaining, even got some ski jumping in there.

I personally am tired of talking about them. I just wish they would go away! In my eyes, they are a disaster.