The 2010 Winter Olympic Games

[Dantius]

Originally Posted By: Ephesos

You want goaltending? The women's gold medal match tonight was fantastic... at any given point, no less than three Canadian defenders were always present in front of the goal, in front of the goalie. The Americans never stood a chance, but played well anyway.

Isn't the Canadian Women's team combined scores from all games something like 120 to 17, or some other ridiculous number?

[Swimmin' Salmon]

As is typical with NBC, they decided to not show that game publicly, and being a subscriber to their cable efforts, I missed out. But hey, I got to see Bob Costas drone on and on for at least the length of a hockey game.

[Matanbuchus]

Whoa Finland got *trashed* in hockey.

[Ephesos]

...just a little. Wow.

[Swimmin' Salmon]

Meh, it was only a bad 8 minutes. Otherwise it was a well played game.

[keira]

Aaaaaaarrrrrggghhhhh!!!!

 

I hate NBC. They show all the good stuff on cable and put the crap on the only channel I can get.

 

Tell me how the curling goes, cable-viewers.

[Dintiradan]

Closing ceremonies now.

 

Oy.

 

EDIT: I just watched a bit more and had to stop. If anyone ever took us seriously before, they certainly won't now.

[VCH]

Originally Posted By: Dintiradan

Closing ceremonies now.

Oy.

EDIT: I just watched a bit more and had to stop. If anyone ever took us seriously before, they certainly won't now.

No doot.

[Øther]

What happened? I wasn't watching.

[The Mystic]

Originally Posted By: Other

What happened? I wasn't watching.

I could say that about the entire Olympics, let alone the closing ceremony.

[Synergy]

I'm watching closing ceremony now, but missed the first part. I'm not sure what Dintiradan's bemusement is about.

 

The Canadians have been gracious, good-natured hosts to the world, helping foster a very upbeat atmosphere to the entire Winter Olympic atmosphere this time around. They came back from some disappointing early non-medal winning to winning more gold medals than any other country in Winter Olympic history. (The U.S. won most overall medals ever.) Canada won ice dancing gold for the first time ever. The U.S. beat the Canadian team in hockey during qualifying games, which was shocking, but the Canadians won the gold in the final game facing the U.S. team again today. I'm happy for and proud of our neighbor to the north, and that they have some real victories to celebrate. Congratulations, Canada, and thank you for a hosting job well done.

 

There seemed to be little acrimony or nationalistic politics evident this year, except perhaps, the ongoing disdain for Apolo Ohno by South Korea. They have reason to feel vindicated though. Apolo was disqualified from a silver medal in the 500m short track skate for touching the Canadian skater on the final curve, who then went down. If it hadn't been a Canadian who would win a medal by the decision, it's unlikely he would be have been otherwise dq-ed for such a gentle nudge, but that was the only possible skewed judging I noticed in the entire games. Apolo won a medal in the past when South Korea was dq-ed. He won two or three medals in the games, including securing a bronze for the short track U.S. relay team, so he can retire from the Olympics with his all time medal record happily. I like Apolo, because he demonstrates a sense of calm and good-nature and centeredness after overcoming some difficulty in childhood. I like the closeness and respect between him and his father. Shawn White, the half-barrel snowboarder—he was just downright amazing to see. He absolutely blew everyone else away, being in a class of his own with his ability. Very entertaining.

 

I'm not a fan of sports, per se, at all. What I like about the Olympics is how it brings so many nations together to show off their brightest and best, and engage in mostly good-natured competition. It brings people with common passions together across national boundaries. American skier Lindsey Vaughn is best friends with Austrian medalist skier, er, I forget her name, but she won gold this time in the same event in which she was competing against her buddy. I like seeing friendly rivalry, if there is to be rivalry. I'm hard pressed to think of what else would bring so many nations of the world together for common causes...except warfare. Olympic games are far less fatal. I wish we'd do more international mingling of this kind.

 

Yeah, sports and games are pretty arbitrary in the outcome on any given day. It's not about determining who's "the best" to me, but about the attempt to be one's best and to demonstrate and reward excellence. It's crazy what it takes to be in the Olympics, the years of excessive training, the privilege and funding often required. It's not perfect, but it leaves so many people feeling good. It's good entertainment. It;s good drama. I think it helps foster a sense of world community more than division, though I am not a fan of nationalism in general either. It's good to be proud of what "your" people have achieved, but it's even better to feel one with fellow athletes and viewers from all over the world.

 

May Russia help to further foster a sense of the world coming together to play and celebrate together in four years.

 

These are my concluding thoughts after two weeks of observation. My regrets—thought I watched a good bit of the airings each day, I didn't see any curling, alas. NBC seemed to do a rather lackluster job of commentary and analysis and onscreen tagging to help me know what was going on sometimes. I read that NBC bid a lot of money for the rights to airing back before the world economy tanked, and with declining viewing of Olympics in general, was expected to lose money on the whole affair. I'm not sure if that wound up being the case. I hope Vancouver made money on the affair. They deserve it. If not, it's hardly a debacle. We spend insane amounts of money to send people and hardware into space. We spend insane amount of money and human life on warfare. It's nice to see us spend a lot of money on something that feels so good for so many and makes the world feel a little bit tighter.

 

That's my two cents, in my usual two hundred dollar fashion of wordiness.

 

Oh, Canada, thank you. And thank you world for playing. See you again in four years. Cheers to all.

 

-S-

 

 

[VCH]

Vancouver certainly didn't make money on the games. Nobody ever does.

 

Dintiradan was talking about all the goofy stereotypes in the closing ceremonies. We aren't all about mounties, beavers and bacon.

 

Edit: BTW Vancouver is part of the Province of British Columbia, so BC lost money not so much Vancouver. But this is nothing new, the rest of province bankrolls Vancouver all the time.

[Synergy]

Yeah, I'm watching the William Shatner/Catherine O'Hara/Michael J. Fox tribute speeches right now, and I am having multiple reactions: wincing at some of the cheesy, self-deprecating stereoptying stuff, but enjoying the genuine spirit of hospitality that Canada embodies. Canadians do seem to have no trouble not taking themselves too seriously, which I think is a laudable quality. Anyone who is ready to laugh or joke is on the right track, if you ask me. I note that a lot of popular "American" comedians come from Canada. William Shatner is one of them.

 

Really, Vancouver is often subsidized? It's such a thriving metroplex. I'd have thought it was serving more the other way around for at least B.C. if not provinces beyond—being a cash cow.

 

-S-

[Monroe]

Originally Posted By: VCH

Vancouver certainly didn't make money on the games. Nobody ever does.

So what's the damage? Does it look like 30 years of darkness like you feared?

[Dintiradan]

I didn't get a chance to watch the entire ceremony, as I was juggling television with other stuff and we had company over as well. I did catch the final act, which was break-dancing accompanied by a Stomp-esque group. Nice. I also caught the last fifteen seconds of the Neil Young performance -- why do musicians have to get old?

 

I saw the last couple minutes of the Russian performance, and then the first part of the chief organizer's speech. Yes, his French was halting and he spoke mostly in English. Not a problem, as he was an Anglophone in an English province, but you can be sure there will be more fallout from Quebec.

 

I came in later for Shatner's speech, reminiscent of Molson's

. Later, I watched Catherine O'Hara walk in, evoking Sandra Schmirler. Huh, nice touch. She launches into her act. At first I'm cringing because a lot of it could be taken offensively, but hey, this is stand-up, that's what it's supposed to do. Then I realize that all the comedians I've seen only deliver in English. Again, more Francophone fallout, especially since comedy doesn't translate as well as other performances would.

 

Next bit I catch is Michael Buble performing The Maple Leaf Forever. Obviously he's not doing the first stanza, as it tells how Wolfe kicked French butt in 1759. He's doing it in an RCMP uniform -- hmmm, would the force be fine with that? Since it's Buble, you know he's going big band for the chorus. But as the curtains split to reveal the other musicians, women in strippertastic Mountie uniforms appear and tear the clothes off him. Joy, more fallout.

 

I got a chance to see one more thing when the ceremony was running live. I don't want to describe; suffice to say it was the most kitschy ballet imaginable. I'm as much for self-deprecation as Synergy is, and hey, kitsch is tolerable in small dosages. But this is ridiculous. We are Flanderizing ourselves here.

 

Man, the Olympics bring out the cynic in me. I wish it didn't, but there you have it. Mostly, I'm grumpy that the Opinions sections in the paper will be flooded with one topic for the next couple of days. At least the return of Parliament means that we will be able to move on to other stuff quickly (and I'll finally be able to ditch this avatar).

 

--------------------

<img src="http://dintiradan.ermarian.net/images/2112.jpg" alt="2112" title="ATTENTION ALL MEMBERS OF THE SPIDERWEB SOFTWARE BOARDS. ATTENTION ALL MEMBERS OF THE SPIDERWEB SOFTWARE BOARDS. ATTENTION ALL MEMBERS OF THE SPIDERWEB SOFTWARE BOARDS. DINTIRADAN HAS ASSUMED CONTROL. DINTIRADAN HAS ASSUMED CONTROL. DINTIRADAN HAS ASSUMED CONTROL."/>

[Student of Trinity]

It's sometimes tricky how to quantify the economics of cities. I remember reading a Paul Krugman article to the effect that the US trade deficit would go away if you subtracted New York City, because NYC consumed an awful lot of goods, and produced practically none. But his point was that NYC simply traded services for goods.

 

But I'd be surprised if Vancouver were actually being subsidized by the rest of the province. It might be subsidized by the provincial government, but that's just because provincial governments can levy income and sales tax, while municipalities are stuck with nothing more than property taxes. I'd bet that Vancouver provides a big fraction of BC provincial tax money, and also constitutes a big fraction of the province's population. And I'd bet that it's really Vancouver that supports the rest of the province, rather than the other way around.

[Slawbug]

William Shatner is neither popular nor a comedian. No offense to him, that's just how it is.

[tehpineapple]

Get off the stage Catherine O'Hara, you are NOT FUNNY!

 

The closing ceremonies were the saddest, most pitifully insulting thing ever. The whole thing was one big, unfunny joke.

 

It's very simple:

 

Bill Shatner, Alanis Morisette, Michael J. Fox = Canadian AND actually talented.

 

Catherine O'Hara, Avril Lavigne, Simple Plan, etc. = Just Canadian

[keira]

I really need to watch a re-run of the closing ceremony. It sounds amazing.

[waterplant]

Even after reading

 

Originally Posted By: Synergy

Canada won ice dancing gold for the first time ever.

 

I'm still somehow not disappointed that me and the 2010 Winter Olympics kind of missed each other...

[Ephesos]

I agree 100% with Jeff.

 

And I think if the polar bear eats you during speed skating, it should be able to take your spot.

[Dantius]

Originally Posted By: Ephesos

I agree 100% with Jeff.

It's interesting that Jeff writes that kind of stuff on his blog. If anyone tried to make that post in the forums, they would definitely be banned in an instant.

[Nioca]

...no, not really. There's nothing against the CoC in there.

[Swimmin' Salmon]

Synergy -

 

It's spelled Vonn, not Vaughn, and her friend is German, not Austrian.

 

You forgot to add his middle name in every instance of his name. Somehow it's important that that get done.

 

If by good-natured competition you actually meant bitter rivalries, than I agree. But watching the Olympics is a lot like visiting Disney. You see all the stuff that you are supposed to see, and never witness the dirty stuff under the surface. There are 4 years between games, and the athletes compete the whole time.

 

What might improve things, and I don't know if Jeff touched on this in his blog, is if the condom deliveries were mandated for all competitions in which rankings were decided. The closeness of the Olympic village seemed to have thawed relations between competitors, and I, for one, would like to see more of that during the Olympic sized intermissions.

[Dantius]

Originally Posted By: Monroe

Originally Posted By: VCH

Vancouver certainly didn't make money on the games. Nobody ever does.

So what's the damage? Does it look like 30 years of darkness like you feared?

To me, it seems more like 30,000 years of darkness.

[Alorael at Large]

Humor excuses many things.

 

—Alorael, who will now tie everything together by saying that Jeff's egregious humor and Canada's self-deprecation might help Russia out a bit. The country seems to need a better way to deal with its impressive but no longer dominant Olympic performance.

[Swimmin' Salmon]

Russians aren't too likely to look toward Jeff for advice. They seem stuck on taking advantage of him in other ways.

[Dantius]

Originally Posted By: Delicious Salmon

Russians aren't too likely to look toward Jeff for advice. They seem stuck on taking advantage of him in other ways.

In a brilliant brainwave, I've just come up with the most epic anti-russian piracy system ever: Sarah Palin!

[The Ratt]

Yes. Let's have Jeff put her in his next game. Maybe she can be the challenge area boss.

[The Mystic]

Originally Posted By: VCH

Vancouver certainly didn't make money on the games. Nobody ever does.

Unless, of course, you own a business selling overpriced food and souvenirs to the tourists.

[Swimmin' Salmon]

Tourists aren't forced. Capitalism rocks.

[VCH]

Originally Posted By: Student of Trinity

And I'd bet that it's really Vancouver that supports the rest of the province, rather than the other way around.

BC has a resource based economy, and well there isn't a whole lot of gold, trees, natural gas, or beef in Vancouver. Now that doesn't mean they don't pay taxes, a lot of taxes. But on a per person basis the rest of the Province especially the North generates the vast majority of the wealth. Vancouver couldn't survive without BC but BC could easily survive without Vancouver. Personally I have no problem with the city itself, it's just that the rest of us contribute a lot more than we get back.

[Swimmin' Salmon]

They give you hockey.

 

IN the awesomely named Canada Hockey Place.

[keira]

Whenever I saw that I wondered if NBC never wrote down the name of the stadium and just called it 'Hockey Place'.

[Swimmin' Salmon]

Corporate naming rights on a stadium will disqualify it from inclusion as an Olympic venue. Rather than build a new hockey place, Vancouver's Olympic committee reached an understanding with the corporation whose name normally adorns the building.