Oh, Canada! - Page 3

PersonaNonGrata · #1 02-18-2010, 05:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JCL

I'll try not to be too defensive

It hasn't felt like a nightmare. The death of the luger was very tragic. The luge federation inspected the track again, and declared it safe. They reported he had only done something like 16 runs, which makes you wonder what he was doing at the Olympics on a fast track.

The stage show malfunction was handled pretty well, they got the indoor flame lit before the hand held torches ran out of fuel. We heard they had 20 seconds left in each torch. They are pretty high tech, apparently.

I have only seen one protest on TV, and that was led by imported anarchists from the US east coast. Send them home. Maybe we could send them down the luge track first, sans helmets.

Snow conditions on Cypress have been a challenge. Global warming?
We had the warmest January on record in Vancouver. They trucked snow in for weeks. Whistler has been much better, however. They had to postpone two events today at Whistler because of too much snowfall. I guess it is part of the logistics challenge.

We do notice that the media have a certain slant. They seem to be trying very hard to find negatives to report on. Part of the deal, I guess. One example was Steven Colbert (sp?), who many of us don't know. He has been running his own style of stories on Vancouver and Canada for weeks, reportedly. So today he was downtown, outdoors, taping live. A large crowd turned out to welcome him, laughing and singing Oh Canada. Great spirit.

What I have noticed most is the spirit around town. The crowds are universally well-behaved, people are smiling and happy, and it seems to be coming off well. I directed a Swedish contingent to Chinatown today (they were lost, looking at a map), and the Cultural Olympiad has lineups around the block at most sites, with live bands playing every hour.

Anyway, I am probably biased. It feels pretty good here, however. Now we just need a gold medal hockey game for both men's and women's teams.

That's the stuff that makes me wish I was there. It's the energy of the city and the event coming together that would be so awesome to experience. There probably isn't any other event that could be help in Vancouver to rival this Olympics. Not even Expo 86 could compare.

They are showing the "Hello Vancouver" commercials with the Canadian ex-pat celebrities inviting Americans to Vancouver. I must say, from the network coverage I've seen, they have portrayed the city well. I have a feeling that tourism will really see a boost after the games.

My fingers are crossed for double gold a la SLC 2002 for our hockey teams. The men looked quite unstoppable albeit against Norway. Sid and Iginla connecting, Nash blocking out the sun in front, Getzlaf looking healthy, all backstopped by the two best goalies in the game. Bring on the gold!

FSETH · #2 02-18-2010, 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JCL

I have only seen one protest on TV, and that was led by imported anarchists from the US east coast. Send them home. Maybe we could send them down the luge track first, sans helmets.

Yeah, don't take it personally. I would have said the same if it were in the U.S. as well.

The news clip of the protestors I saw was said to be of Vancouver citizens upset about the Olympics disrupting their daily life and crowding the city. I thought there were many protests that actually altered the route of the torch as well.

The luge thing was just tragic. Once again, the news reported that some of the athletes though the track was dangerous. I understand there was probably some operator error on the young, inexperienced lugers part, but the track should still be able to hold them in. If not, precautions should have been taken to keep them as safe as possible if they were to leave the track. Not bare metal poles just feet from the track, IMO. Someone must have determined the speeds were too high for the track seeing as they altered the location of the starting line.

I am not blaming them for the weather, just pointing out it is another hiccup so to speak.

Just saw there was a barrier collapse at a free concert and up to 20 people were hurt and speed skating was postponed 90 minutes mid-competition due to ice surfacing machines malfunctioning. Also heard that two Canadian coach called the biathlon a fiasco because of multiple timing errors in the same day.

Keep in mind, that I didn't search much of this info out. I simply watched it or came across it. Once again, not dogging Canada. Vancouver looks beautiful. A lot of the things I listed are just flat out bad luck, but that is why I was saying it seemed like somewhat of a nightmare. Seems like the bad luck won't stop.

Glad you are having a good time. Have you been to any events?