- Reaction to the Opening Ceremony seems to be a bit mixed. Personally, I thought it was a little too subdued. Vancouver was ready to party, and that wasn't the great celebration of Canada I had hoped for. More images of Canadian greatness were needed. Paul Henderson, Gretzky to Lemieux, Sale and Pelletier, and especially Terry Fox would have brought huge pops in the audience and at home.
- I've heard a few people complain about the musical choices. What did you expect? Nickelback? BTO? Trooper? Neil Young? Stompin' Tom would have been cool, even Great Big Sea.
- Vancouver 2010 Olympics really have gotten off to a disastrous start, and hopefully not an ominous one. Obviously the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili is beyond terrible. Then the Olympic cauldron malfunction was amongst a few glitches on day one. Hopefully things improve quickly. Saturday saw weather and protestor violence take over the headlines.
- What I don't understand about the protestors is they while they are anti-Olympics, theydon't seem to have any collective issue. There's a whole bunch just trying to grab some Olympic spotlight to further their causes. Which is absolutely fine if done peacefully. I respect your right to protest, but not to break stuff. What's most amazing to me is they're breaking windows and kicking over mailboxes and they don't even to seem to really know why they're anti-Olympics
- Watched some women's hockey on Saturday. Sweden looked strong but the Swiss did not look out of place. Good to see UBC's Thunderbird Arena looking mostly full, too. And what can you say about Canada's 18-0 win over Slovakia? It's a good thing Canada didn't get a hold of Bulgaria. Remember, in 2008 Slovakia defeated Bulgaria 82-0, outshooting them 139-0!
- Also watched a bit of the ski jumping and saw Georges Laraque learning how to speed skate.
- By the way, the hockey blog reading community should count itself quite fortunate to have as many good bloggers as we do. Greg Wyshynski and Neate Seager are doing an amazing job at Yahoo!'s Olympic blog Fouth Place Medal. But some of their writing co-horts are downright brutal, esepcially covering general stories about Vancouver and Canada. Inspite of the good hockey coverage, Yahoo!'s noble blog attempt won't be earning any medals in these Olympics.
February 13, 2010
Olympic Slap Shots: Day Two
Time to put the puck on the 'Net
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I didn't mind the opening ceremonies at all. I thought the toned down nature of it was a great counterpoint to Beijing. I also have a massive preference for less tax money spent on national edification, so YMMV. Oh, and the music, everything was pretty much par for the course with sentimental pop tunes from well known stars, but the punk/primal themed piece in the middle there was pure awesome, even my kids loved it. I think they peaked it a bit early, but that's a technical disagreement on the pacing of the show, not the music per se.
Glitches? What do you expect when a lot of your personnel are working rotating 12 hour shifts for 10 on 2 off. (Source is anecdotal, but extremely reliable)
Protesters... gah. I opposed the Olympics in Van since it was first announced, fortunately I no longer live in Canada and don't have to worry about my tax money being wasted (I'd rather the Chinese wasted theirs). But as you say, the whole 'anarchist' stupid wing should pack it up and leave the masses to their circus without a bunch of knownothing thugs getting in their way. Vancitydan over on 'nucks misconduct mentioned that there have been ongoing debate/dialogue on the subject for months (years). That is always the way to go.
Oh, and thank for an amazing blog. I've been an on-again off-again reader since you did the profile on Botta Skaare, the fact that you actually profiled one of my hometown heroes as a kid (I saw him playing for Bergen-Djerv when I was 7 or 8 I think) was amazing and brought back some amazing memories from my childhood.
Thank you.
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