Winter Olympics: Vancouver 2010

Judas, I will be skipping the opening ceremonies to take my lovergirl to see the Wolfman flick. However, beyond that, I've informed my children that the main tv in the house will remain set to the Olympics coverage and if they want to watch their damn Nick and Disney crap they can just get over it. We will be zoning out on the Olympics (with the exception of LOST) for the duration.

I've offered them punch and pie by way of compensation, but doubt that it'll work. They'll just have to complain to their therapist about it when the time comes.

I've always liked the Winter Games better than the Summer ones. By necessity, they're usually in these smaller, mountain-tucked cities with these epic backdrops to them, and the outdoor competitions seem that much more primal for it.

Winter Olympics? More like Spring Olympics! AmIriteguys?

Hilarious weather problems aside, looking forward to hockey and, surprisingly enough, figure skating. Rather a small fan of that sport, though I do not actively seek it out at really any other time other than the Olympics. Oh, and that Vonn woman looks to be filling the massive Michael Phelps shaped void this American team is lacking.

But, a part of me wants NBC to lose so much goddamn money (more than the 200 mil already planned), as retribution for dicking Conan. But hey, Olympics.

Do want Stephen Colbert's Vancouver poster, however.

Count me in for the Winter O's over the Summer O's. The 76' Innsbruck Winter O's were the first O's I ever watched and, growing up in Florida, all those snow and ice sports seemed extra superhuman to me.

As for the ice skating, I personally get more tense and nervous watching a skater perform their final routine than watching any team sport games. You just wait on pins and needles waiting for someone to fall, and it's often brutally nervewracking. Their entire fucking life is often wrapped up in that four minute performance.

For sheer white knuckle excitement, I'll take the Men's Downhill over all Olympic competition. Can't wait to see that in HD.

Otherwise, I'm looking forward in general. Not a figure skating fan, but I'm sure there will be no avoiding it and judging scandals are inevitable.

There's a big Wisconsin contingent in speed skating, so I have some local rooting interest.

Olympic curling always makes me wonder, if I had dedicated myself to some obscure Okympic event back when I was 12, would I be on TV this week?

I've always maintained the Michael Jordan of curling, or luge, or the freaking biathlon is living somewhere in the deep south of the USA and remains totally clueless about their gift(s).

I saw the dress rehearsal for the winter olympic opening ceremony - well worth a look this evening. I just saw the flame come past me where i work downtown, Vancouver has gone olympic NUTS.

By the way, there's shit loads of snow. Don't believe the fucking hype. Watch the skiing and you'll see snow.

There's just no snow in the city - which is why we live here. One of the mountains (cypress) is hosting: moguls, aerials, ski cross, half-pipe, snowboard cross and parallel giant slalom. It's only about 30 minutes away from the city and there's not been tons of snow there lately so that's what the media has seized on, and they have trucked some snow in as a precaution, because it's so warm here at the moment the emergency snow making machines can't work, but it snowed there the last 2 nights so there's no problem. I'm not a ski person but my associate who is assures me that for these events they don't want nice fresh powder, they want hard pack ice as much as possible anyway.

The city itself is gloriously snow-free, warm, a bit rainy in parts but basically in better shape than it was last year.

The events should be great - if anyone needs a local's take on this stuff, pm or post here.

GET YOU COLBERT POSTER HERE!!!

That would actually make a great sports movie parody film. I can almost see a Happy Madison production out of that.

Any idea as to who is lighting the flame tonight?

My wife is obsessed with the Winter Olympics, not so much the Summer Olympics, so I will be watching a ton of this. Oddly, her favorite events are biathilon and cross country skiing. She does neither, but for some reason she totally digs them.

I'm partial to hockey, snowboarding, and curling. Curling should be boring, but I find it very relaxing to watch.

Georgian luger possibly dead after practice crash. CBC is saying "seriously injured" while FOXNews.com is saying he's dead and their source is the Toronto Sun.

EDIT: CBC Updated. He's dead.

Yeah, if a luge run goes wrong, there's pretty much no good way for it to go wrong. That's awful.

He's dead. it's on the news here. The 2010 luge has been designed to be the fastest, longest and most spectacular - people are going to get hurt.

they are keeping the flame thing very quiet, however people mostly think it'll be gretsky.

I'm amazed it doesn't happen more, it'll really throw a shadow over all the celebrations (certainly today). I wonder if they'll say something about it at the ceremony...

CNN.com is just confirming now that he's seriously injured while FOXNews.com and CBC have already confirmed about 40 minutes ago that he died.

EDIT: They finally caught up.

Also, here's a screen grab from the video cameras on the course:

Well we have to win somehow, right?

http://www.ishatonu.com/2010/02/12/l...-video-linked/ my 900th post is of a man dying on a luge. Sorry.

Reports are that at least four of the americans have fallen off their sleds on that track, plus a couple of other (lex) lugers during training runs.

You hosers don't dick around, do you?

I'm sorry to hear about the fatality. It was reported the guy left the track and hit an uncushioned steel pole. Very bad stuff.

ETA: Just watched the video. Shit..one of *those* poles.

The Olympic Torch looks like a gigantic joint.

Why on earth wouldn't they think to put some kind of padding on those poles? Jesus Christ.

The guy who died was on skeleton, not luge. Personally, I think you take certain risks when you participate in a sport with a name that has an open association with death. I wonder if they'll ban it again. ETA: Nevermind, the site I was looking at has also changed it to luge. Weird.

International hockey is more fun then the NHL so I watch some of that, and some figure skating because figure skaters are always pretty.

Hockey and speedskating for me.

Hopefully the powers that be don't crack down all that hard with streaming sites: I'll be pretty pissed if I can only watch one American hockey game (USA-Norway is the only one on the BBC's schedule).

ETA: I wore my new 1960-style US hockey jersey to a party tonight (figuring it was a lot more casual than it was). Felt very self-conscious, then a cute Romanian girl from my dorm struck up a conversation about American patriotism and politics. Weird.

Jesus fucking Christ. He launched off of that thing. He had zero chance to even TRY and brace or save himself. That's instant death. No thoughts of, "yep, I'm gonna die." Just a "Ah..." BAM. Dead.

EDIT: Why is there a Twilight Werewolf Wannabee welcoming people at the opening games?

Holy shit. Talk about Final Destination-level quickness.

Ha, if you go to the BBC site, their hockey page has their call of the Miracle on Ice. Not quite the same, but the announcer does get fired up.

There are going to be some Olympics on your 'Olympics' broadcast, right? Some hamfisted cover of We Are The World? Seriously. Ha...Ha...Ha Ha...Ha iti...Ha iti! (Apparently there haven't been any other humanitarian crises that warranted a music video in a while.)

Whenever the Olympics come to town, my wife turns into a tv tyrant about it. And it's rough. It's not the pomp and, God knows, I love the circumstance. It's the maudlin, sloppy kiss of coverage from the network. It's Bob Costas with his trademark dry riverbed of a voice and inability to shut the fuck up. His constant running commentary of factoids, personal asides and general bathroom reader material drives me nuts.

When I watch figure skating (the only winter events I care for) I like to appreciate the skaters with the music they've chosen. That's almost impossible with Costas and his motormouth cohorts. In this day and age, it could easily be done as a subtitle commentary and not punish viewers who appreciate the aesthetics of it a little more.

They also wheeled Tom Brokaw out of cold storage to garble his way through a tribute to our frosty neighbors to the north. I loved his Flag Of Oceania tie/brown corduroy jacket ensemble.

Like the Oscars, as I've gotten older I've soured on the Olympics (in case you couldn't tell). It's so wrapped in the commercial aspects now (is that why they jerrymandered it into an alternating two year broadcast friendly schedule?) the original point seems to get lost under layers of bullshit. The stagey 'acts' to highlight the ethnic elements that get zero lip service the other 99% of the time are a big part of the problem.

Did you Canadians know you have honest-to-God, authentic aboriginal peoples? Thanks Bob Costas! Ha...Ha...Ha Ha...Ha iti. Ha iti!

Sure, it's cheesy as hell. But I can afford 14 days out of every two years to be a little less cynical and embrace the spirit of world competition for the betterment of all.

That being said, I wonder what odds I can get in Vegas for the Ethiopian skiier or the Bermudan luge guy to medal?

The Brokaw thing was weird, but it was a refreshing change from American broadcasters referring to us condescendingly or as a fucked up nation of horrible socialists.

Actually when your brace yourself, your chance of injury is more because when you're relaxed, your body can absorb shock better. Thats why little babies survive accidents when the entire family dies, cause they have no idea whats really about to happen. That said, according to that video, I don't think he could of survived either way.

Well it's official. These might just be the first (Modern) Olympic games that I'll ever see. I have some stuff to do over the next hour or so, but after that, I have every intention of bringing my HD TV downstairs and watch live some feats Olympic derring. I've never really experienced "Olympic Fever" first hand, but now that the epidemic is settling in for winter, why not embrace it and comedown with a case of Olypi-mania myself? At least, I can't see any harm in it.

With that said, I didn't always see my night turning out this way. Growing up I never really cared much about the Olympics. People like Michael Phelps do not do much for me. Shaving a fraction of a second off some time because you wear a fancy swim suit or whatever, fine... you may be the "fastest" in the world, but you're only the fastest at some predetermined activity. You're the fastest in a pool at a set distance. It's not a real world setting. I was always more impressed by the astronauts who went out and landed on the moon. They did something tangible. Armstrong, Aldren and Other Guy made that voyage,and because they did right now at this very moment there is a flag (it doesn't matter that it's American, it was made by human hands) on the surface of the moon. When Phelp's finished his aquatic feat, what did he leave behind? Hopefully nothing that won't be scrubbed out by the filters or killed by the chlorine. But you get my point (perhaps)


When I got older and I developed a passing curiosity for the knowledge of what it's like to sit around watching the olympics. But events conspired against me. I was either too busy, or it was the summer Olympics


Because of my genetics, I tend to sweat when the temperature gets above 75 degrees. Just thinking about running and jumping about in the baking sun of the Sydney Olympics (or other such summer time games) makes me feel physically unwell, as if my core temperature is even now rising and the menace of heat stroke threatens to set in . Without much imagination on my part, I can already feel the choking sensation as I struggle to breath oven hot air rising off the scorched outback. The psychosomatic effect of this daydream puts a very real fear into my reptilian brain stem, the fear that my nervous system will rapidly begin to shut down unless I seek shade like the noble Kangaroo. I know that for me (like the Kangaroo), Olympic feats are an impossibility in the noon day sun, and my best bet for survival is to lick my paws and forearms in an effort to use convection to lower my blood temperature.... and that's just from THINKING about competing in summer olympics. Watching them on TV? I expect that experience would prove entirely overwhelming

Even when I finally got up the will power to consider watching the summer games, politics prevented it. The 2008 Shanghai games I was forced to boycott, and I refused to watch one minute of the coverage. Indeed, I think it was very shameful that Former President Bush attended. What the Chi-Coms were doing to the Tibetans that year, and what they're doing in general, was unconscionable and I could not endorse the games with my viewership. Even if the political situation had been fine, the choking china-smog that hung like a haze over the "birds nest" (one of the ugliest structures ever erected by a species other than a bird) gave the competitors a funereal pallor in all the photographs I had seen. Hardly the best setting for watching the Human body achieve physical perfection. My cousin got to go to those games, but even I did not envy the opportunity to choke on the noxious gagging fumes of a nation stuck in a perpetual industrial revolution


That's not an obstacle this time.

No, THIS time it's winter games, and they take place in a city that I have absolutely no problems with. I love wintertime activities. I've been an avid downhill ski enthusiast since elementary school, and a sled and snowball fan for even longer. From snowflakes to snow cones and even snow angels, it's little wonder that Winter is my second or third favorite season. Heck, it used to be my dad's favorite season. I grew up watching ski jumpers at the BAY STATE GAMES, and learned to love the satisfaction I got from braving the bitter cold and embracing winter time athleticism.


I may frequently complain about the cold, but mark my words: I hold it as a point of pride that I can deal with freezing weather. It takes a certain kind of unique get-up-and-go to slink out of bed on a frigid morning in January, and I give credit to the fact that I'm a New Englander born and bred that lets me get not just out of bed but to head out hte door on those coldest of morning. Not everyone can do it. I have friends from LA and other places that show up here for our winters and are quickly laid low by the ice and general winter madness that ensues.

So I think I really can get behind the idea of watching people do Olympics stuff on TV. I have an admiration for people that go out and do cool stuff when it's cold out. I feel like I can relate to what it is that makes them do what they do more than I can to the Michael Phelps of the world who do what they do in the comfort of a heated pool. The Winter Olympians are the ones that most capture my imagination, and while everyone else may have an aspect of the Olympics they most prefer, for me, nothing beats the winter ones

It would be cool to watch it in person, but in way, it's even cooler (no pun intended!) to watch it from the comfort of my own home.

I bought an HD TV, but unfortunately the only things I get in HD on it are Network Television and videogames. I bought and HD DVD player about a month before that whole house of cards crumbled, and I've not been able to bring myself to spend the money on a Blu Raying PS3 when I already own an XBOCKS360.


So this is a rare chance for me to watch some cool stuff and also take my TV for a bit of a test drive.

Anyway, I'll shut up now and return when I've seen enough of the games to comment further.

I'm watching this thing (we didn't get to go see the wolfman flick...got an unexpected road trip to memphis tomorrow) and I'm looking at the Peruvian delegation of three athletes. And I love it. I love that India has, out of 1.1 billion people, three guys that decided to do this. The people that made it here are usually here because it's a calling of their hearts. It's why Eddie the Eagle is still one of my fave sports figures. I love that whether they win or lose on the big stage, they're *here* in the game. That kicks all sorts of ass.

I'm in love with Tina Maze from Slovenia and Iran's first female olympian.

BTW Canada: I just saw your prime minister, Stephen Harper for the first time 5 minutes ago.

Total Tool. He has a Rod Blagojevich haircut

Edit: Donald Sutherland is doing V.O.!

Like they're fond of saying on the broadcasts, for a lot of these athletes, the opening ceremony is their big moment. They're not really in medal contention; hell, they don't even have a chance of even being covered in their event, when you get right down to it. Having the cameras on them for the moment they walk into the stadium is probably the only time their home country will see a lot of these people.

I did not know Donald Sutherland was Canadian. I also did not know that Bryan Adams had enough $$ left for all that plastic surgery.

He and Christopher Plummer are "surprise" Canadians.

This part of the ceremony is strictly for glamour queens.

Furtado's ass is the highlight of the games so far.

And forgive me if I sound cynical, but I wonder how big a spike in ratings the luge will get after the tragedy vs. 2006? Everybody's sad, but who wants to miss the chance to see somebody else die!

edit- C'mon, how could you not know Donald Sutherland is Canadian?

Spirit bear rises!!!

At least Blagojevich is entertainingly insane in the manner of American politicians. Harper's boring AND a horrible fascist dickshit.

I thought that bear was a nod to Coke.

Why were there dancing sperm greeting the Olympians? When they started glowing, I thought I was watching The Abyss.

Whoa! The whales were pretty cool.

Chief Dan George shout out!

Tori Amos is Canadian?

Is a Dog going to get put down during this song?

Bryan Adams reminds me of that line in South Park Bigger Longer and Uncut:

"Now Canada has apologized numerous times for Bryan Adams!"