Triumph.
Despair.
Cheering.
Protest.
Argyle.
Disaster.
Uppity.
Smart.
And I want one of those flying moose.
Monday, March 01, 2010
Some memories of Vancouver 2010
Triumph.
Despair.
Cheering.
Protest.
Argyle.
Disaster.
Uppity.
Smart.
And I want one of those flying moose.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
And the medal in pearl clutching goes to...
What is with American reporters? Ever since the "wardrobe malfunction" they act like a bunch of blue-nosed church ladies, while the rest of the world just laughs at them.
First they flip out about the "scandal" of Scotty Lago and his medals party:
Oh, the horror! How dare a 22-year-old athlete get it on with a girl!
The US media had spoken, so of course this medal-winning athlete had to creep home in disgrace.
But then the US reporters seemed to think that everybody else should be just as scandalized as they were by athlete behaviour.
They couldn't stop talking about Jon Montgomery carrying a mug of beer around Whistler
He even drank from it, on camera!
And then the IOC was supposedly scandalized by the Canadian women drinking beer and smoking cigars after their gold medal win:
But they weren't, actually. The only people screaming OMG! was the American media. As for the rest of us, Christie Blatchford said it best:
First they flip out about the "scandal" of Scotty Lago and his medals party:
...photos surfaced in the media that showed the 22-year-old athlete hanging his bronze medal over his groin area . . .On a public street!!! OMG ! Here's what all the fuss was about:
Another photo reportedly shows a woman kissing the medal on a public street.
Oh, the horror! How dare a 22-year-old athlete get it on with a girl!
The US media had spoken, so of course this medal-winning athlete had to creep home in disgrace.
But then the US reporters seemed to think that everybody else should be just as scandalized as they were by athlete behaviour.
They couldn't stop talking about Jon Montgomery carrying a mug of beer around Whistler
He even drank from it, on camera!
And then the IOC was supposedly scandalized by the Canadian women drinking beer and smoking cigars after their gold medal win:
But they weren't, actually. The only people screaming OMG! was the American media. As for the rest of us, Christie Blatchford said it best:
Nothing celebrates that spirit better, or more spits in the face of Big Brother, than a cigar enjoyed on the ice.
Great line of the day
From John Cole summarizes recent American republicanism:
an accumulation and defense of wealth dishonorably gained and then wasted.I hope that will never describe Canadian conservatism.
Four-medal Friday
Two golds and bronze in short track, and silver in curling.
Plus the hockey team pulled together and pulled it off!
And you know, I had been wondering about whether the Canadian men were going to survive in short track, where the dominant skaters seem to have to be just a little bit dirty to win, enough to win without getting caught. It seemed like our Canadians were just too nice.
But the relay team played it very smart -- they secretly devised a new strategy yesterday, which they called Operation Cobra, to change their skating pattern at the end of the race:
And it worked -- they won!
Plus the hockey team pulled together and pulled it off!
And you know, I had been wondering about whether the Canadian men were going to survive in short track, where the dominant skaters seem to have to be just a little bit dirty to win, enough to win without getting caught. It seemed like our Canadians were just too nice.
But the relay team played it very smart -- they secretly devised a new strategy yesterday, which they called Operation Cobra, to change their skating pattern at the end of the race:
Teammate Guillaume Bastille said the hand movement the team made, holding their right hands in the shape of a snake, was a signal that their plan, called Operation Cobra, worked.They didn't lose as much time in handovers either, as the other teams were bound to do -- plus f**king with their minds, in a nice way.
Charles Hamelin said the team’s strategy gave them confidence going into the relay. “Our strategy was called ‘Operation Cobra’ which was where François-Louis (Tremblay) had one minute and ten seconds rest before he did the last two laps,” said Hamelin after the race. “And the last two laps were very good.”
And it worked -- they won!
Friday, February 26, 2010
2.2 seconds, 2 rocks
It all comes down to a few seconds, a few inches.
A story in this morning's Star Phoenix, which I cannot find on line, put Canada's "losses" in this Olympics into perspective -- we would have had five more medals in five different events if we had an extra 2.2 seconds, total, to add into the Canadian scores.
And in curling, it all came down to just two rocks. Ours at the 10th end didn't quite make it, and theirs in the 11th end did.
So it goes.
And like Hayley says, get real.
A story in this morning's Star Phoenix, which I cannot find on line, put Canada's "losses" in this Olympics into perspective -- we would have had five more medals in five different events if we had an extra 2.2 seconds, total, to add into the Canadian scores.
And in curling, it all came down to just two rocks. Ours at the 10th end didn't quite make it, and theirs in the 11th end did.
So it goes.
And like Hayley says, get real.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Olympic commercials
At his Fourth-Place Medal blog, Yahoo Sports blogger Trey Kerby says this is quite possibly the best Olympic commercial ever
Well, I don't know about that, but I do know that there is something great about this year's crop of Olympic commercials -- I've seen each of them a hundred times and I am not sick of them -- in fact, some of them I actually enjoy -- BC Tourism's "You gotta be here", and Coke's hockey crazy, and Air Canada and RBC's little man, and even Walmart's hockey mom and that hockey dad with a twist, where the kid is teaching Dad to skate.
Don't miss Maclean's "Morgan Freeman vs Donald Sutherland " mashup.
The only Olympics ads that are really starting to annoy me are Chevy's talking cars, mainly because what they're talking about is really BORING! But then again, what did I expect from a talking car anyway?
Well, I don't know about that, but I do know that there is something great about this year's crop of Olympic commercials -- I've seen each of them a hundred times and I am not sick of them -- in fact, some of them I actually enjoy -- BC Tourism's "You gotta be here", and Coke's hockey crazy, and Air Canada and RBC's little man, and even Walmart's hockey mom and that hockey dad with a twist, where the kid is teaching Dad to skate.
Don't miss Maclean's "Morgan Freeman vs Donald Sutherland " mashup.
The only Olympics ads that are really starting to annoy me are Chevy's talking cars, mainly because what they're talking about is really BORING! But then again, what did I expect from a talking car anyway?
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
A Three Second Sport
One of the commentators in the freestyle aerials tonight described this as a "three-second sport" and I thought it was a particularly memorable term for an extremely difficult sport.
Congrats to Canada's aerialists who qualified tonight for three of the twelve spots in the finals.
And just to prove to Canadian fans that any country's athletes can choke, blow it, screw up, fail to execute, or whatever you want to call it, tonight the top freestyle aerialist in the world, Belarus's Anton Kushnir, tilted during his second jump and then blew the landing. So he finished 15th.
Congrats to Canada's aerialists who qualified tonight for three of the twelve spots in the finals.
And just to prove to Canadian fans that any country's athletes can choke, blow it, screw up, fail to execute, or whatever you want to call it, tonight the top freestyle aerialist in the world, Belarus's Anton Kushnir, tilted during his second jump and then blew the landing. So he finished 15th.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Wow
Gold for Virtue and Moir
And I liked their costumes and music too -- no chiffon fluttering and strings flapping around, no weird colours or distracting bangles, no jarring musical transitions or audience clapping along.
Just skating, perfect skating.
And I liked their costumes and music too -- no chiffon fluttering and strings flapping around, no weird colours or distracting bangles, no jarring musical transitions or audience clapping along.
Just skating, perfect skating.
BFF doesn't mean what it used to
Just six months ago, the Conservatives were BFF with Canada's military, patting themselves on the back for buying the military a batch of combat vehicles.
Then two days after the Haiti earthquake, we found out they had quietly cancelled the purchases.
So today the Conservatives are BFF with Canada's athletes -- patting themselves on the back for how proud they are of the Canadian athletes who are competing with the world's best.
Athletes, don't quit your day jobs...
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Misbehavin' women
Over at Kos, blogger Angry Mouse has a brilliant post that absolutely demolishes every single argument the IOC has thrown up to bar women from ski jumping.
One fact that I hadn't realized was that ski jumpers who are smaller and lighter will jump farther -- so this means women ski jumpers may well beat the men if they are ever allowed to compete. Now, far be it from me to entertain a conspiracy theory, but could this explain why the IOC has been so stubborn on this issue?
Dick Pound's remarks were particularly offensive:
So will the IOC approve women's ski jump for 2014? "We'll have to wait and see," IOC member Dick Pound said in an interview for an MSNBC.com documentary on women's ski jumping, Frozen Out of the Olympics. "If in the meantime you're making all kinds of allegations about the IOC and how it's discriminating on the basis of gender," he warned, "the IOC may say, 'Oh yeah, I remember them. They're the ones that embarrassed us and caused us a lot of trouble of trouble in Vancouver, maybe they should wait another four years or eight years.'"Nice little event you've got here, girls. Be a shame if we delay approving it until all of you rabblerousers are too old to compete ...
Party on Robson
What a great shot on this morning's Globe and Mail webpage showing
Juggler David Aiken - a.k.a. The Checkerboard Guy - performs two shows a day. Mr. Aiken said the atmosphere at Vancouver's Olympic epicentre is electric. A veteran street performer, he said it's a joy to watch people from different nations converge in one spot and enjoy one another.We always liked "Robsonstrasse" -- we like to stay at the Blue Horizon when we can. Next to Davie, it's one of Vancouver's most liveable streets.
"There's a palpable feeling of patriotism, but not in a bad way," the spectacled performer said after a lunch-hour show. "People from Canada and Germany and Denmark are coming together and wishing the best for everyone."
UPDATE: Correction made -- Vancouverites identify the photo as Granville Street. But we still like Robson, too!
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Pie fight and bad faith
It's hard to have a civilized discussion when someone has just thrown a pie in your face.
The Olympics protestors are finding this out.
The Tyee seems to be just about the only press outlet reporting on the Olympic protest movement. The latest is that they tried to have a meeting on Wednesday to discuss next steps, when someone threw a pie in the face of BC Civil Liberties Union executive director David Elby.
I would imagine it highjacked the debate.
Elby, you see, had spoken out against Saturday's violence and this offended other protestors' sense of decorum and proper behaviour:
Oh, I know, when it comes to politics, any expectations of consistency are bound to be disappointed. But it seems that protest organizers are also frustrated by the difficulties of solidarity:
They convinced a lot of good people that the Games themselves were awful -- that it was impossible to negotiate any positive changes with the Games, they were too expensive, too elitist, too corporate, too objectionable.
But did the anti-Olympics protest leadership ever attempt to work in good faith with VANOC to improve the Games, to make them more socially and economically responsive?
Or was it bad faith from the beginning? Where they actually trying to hi-jack the international visibility of the Games to develop a political or ideological agenda?
If so, this was not only wrong, but doomed not to succeed -- however laudable these long-term social justice goals are, such bad faith would result in a gaping hole at the core of the anti-Games protest, a hollowness which was bound to be exposed.
The Olympics protestors are finding this out.
The Tyee seems to be just about the only press outlet reporting on the Olympic protest movement. The latest is that they tried to have a meeting on Wednesday to discuss next steps, when someone threw a pie in the face of BC Civil Liberties Union executive director David Elby.
I would imagine it highjacked the debate.
Elby, you see, had spoken out against Saturday's violence and this offended other protestors' sense of decorum and proper behaviour:
it violated an agreement -- tacit or not -- that no group should publicly criticize the actions of others.Gee, isn't this exactly the kind of corporate orthodoxy and groupthink that the anti-Games protestors had found so objectionable about the Games themselves?
Oh, I know, when it comes to politics, any expectations of consistency are bound to be disappointed. But it seems that protest organizers are also frustrated by the difficulties of solidarity:
The divisions and anger created by Saturday's riotous protest threaten to destroy a social movement years in the making, [Chris Shaw] fears, and those types of marks don't come out easily in the wash. . . .This quote inadvertantly points out, I think, one of the basic problems in the anti-Olympic protest -- was it ever actually about the Olympics?
Many observers agree the past few years have seen a remarkable trend. A diverse collection of civil society actors, critical native voices and more-militant activists have united against the Games. In a city known for fractious politics, this was quite a feat, Shaw said.
But as the events of Wednesday evening showed, those alliances might be more fragile than they appeared. "I saw fractures starting to form again," Shaw said. "My hope was that we'd built a nascent civil/social justice movement that would last beyond the Games... Otherwise we're back to fighting our own lonely little battles."
They convinced a lot of good people that the Games themselves were awful -- that it was impossible to negotiate any positive changes with the Games, they were too expensive, too elitist, too corporate, too objectionable.
But did the anti-Olympics protest leadership ever attempt to work in good faith with VANOC to improve the Games, to make them more socially and economically responsive?
Or was it bad faith from the beginning? Where they actually trying to hi-jack the international visibility of the Games to develop a political or ideological agenda?
If so, this was not only wrong, but doomed not to succeed -- however laudable these long-term social justice goals are, such bad faith would result in a gaping hole at the core of the anti-Games protest, a hollowness which was bound to be exposed.
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