The Glitch Games

[Captain Awesome]

I think the issue for me is I desperately wanted to see this go off without many problems, and it seems every day there is another MAJOR problem. You have to admit that most of these things are not just glitches.

Once again, if one wants to see something as a glitch or controversy, no one can stop him/her. There were some ridiculous accusations made in the media (and here too). If you count all of them, anything will look like a disaster. Depends how you look at it. Few examples.

You list demonstrations and riots as an item in your list of problems. All I see is people exercising their god given right to voice their disagreement. Plus superb work by police officers in keeping peace and arresting only select troublemakers. I'm sure Olympic Resistance Network is calling international attention to police brutality, but who cares what they think.

Wayne's ride to light the external flame? I think it was the best option give the distance. They let people on the streets see the flame. They didn't delay the lighting by having to run there. What would you do?

Hydraulics didn't work? I think what they did there was simply brilliant. They obviously had a plan B, and managed to coordinate it rather fast without losing the face.

Luger died? I don't want to touch that one. It's rather sad that someone's death becomes a political item to win some media time. Just sad.

Events being postponed due to weather? Every single winter Olympic games had the same issue. So?

Anyways, I don't want to split hairs here. If you think the whole thing is a failure then I won't convince you. But like I said, anyone and everyone can find reasons for something to be bad, nobody is stopping you. I even made up a list, feel free to pass around:

- VanOC is accused of racism by excluding French culture from the opening ceremony! Thousands of people *bleep* off, asking to cancel rest of the events!
- Hundreds of people complain about snow when watching outdoors events! The venues are not properly equipped and people have to stand in the open!
- Homeless people are sighted in Vancouver! This city's priorities are clearly mixed up since this is the only big city with homeless people.
- Homeless people are angry! No one knows why, but Olympics sounds like a good reason!
- VanOC is forced to ask hundreds of people to dance in the streets in hopes of snow!
- Liberal government allows a Nazi carry the torch. Those Hitler-lovers!

[Liberty and Truth]

In conclusion, the bottom line is, your spouting a bunch of rubbish and I am not buying it. GO CANADA.

http://network.nationalpost.com/NP/blog ... gular.aspx

There's much more out there but I don't want to spoil your buzz. Go Canada !!!

Thanks for posting that link SL. I spent some time Down Under (that's Australia in case you didn't know Cateyes) and they have no love for the British down there - their favorite term for them is "Wingeing Pomes" - ie complaining Brits - seems the Brits are known world wide for their complaining. I don't know what has gotten into the British lately, their Canada-bashing is really getting out of control - first I read that idiotic drivel written by the ultra-stupid George Monbiot about how the Oilsands carbon emissions are threatening the entire world (utter crap), and now this bit of journalistic garbage about the Olympics. Jealousy doesn't look good on the Limeys.

[Captain Awesome]

Australians don't like Brits in general, in all fairness.

[LoneWolf_53]

In conclusion, the bottom line is, your spouting a bunch of rubbish and I am not buying it. GO CANADA.

http://network.nationalpost.com/NP/blog ... gular.aspx

There's much more out there but I don't want to spoil your buzz. Go Canada !!!

Oh come now Steven I expect better from you than falling for a bunch of BS from British tabloids.

Nebula actually came up with very realistic points regarding previous Olympics and all the issues encountered and there's more to be found if one but Google a few moments.

I was actually sort of like you and not too keen on the Olympic concept myself but hey they're here and nothing we can do about it so I hope they unfold as good as is possible.

It can't be easy to conduct so many venues in a town while hosting so many visitors so no doubt there will be issues no matter where they are held.

I think it just comes down to perception and how much emphasis is put on the negative.

If memory serves correctly there have in fact been far worse Olympics were deaths were involved (multiple ones even I think) so this whole "Worst Olympics Ever" label is just plain dramatizing and nothing more.

It would be just as easy to focus on the positive aspects.

I feel some of the criticism is completely unwarranted especially that pertaining to the luge accident.

The course may be located in BC but is from what I gather German design and constructed according to IOC guidelines/criteria not to mention that by it's very nature it's an extremely dangerous sport.

5000 or more successful runs made prior to the Olympics and the competitor in question made about thirty runs down the course so I really don't view what happened as something warranting the pointing of fingers at Canada or Vancouver.

I've been a NASCAR fan for years and for all the precautions they take and safety gear they use those guys are doing 200kph+ alongside 40 other vehicles and sometimes someone gets killed.

They know that to be a possibility every time they step into a car but they accept it and go for it.

In so far as these Olympics go the choice of Cypress is one I question as did a number of others on here but there again IOC has the final say with this being their area of expertise and responsibility so if there's any blame to be handed out then they should be in line for their portion.

[refrig_guy77]

The best we can hope for is that no one in their right mind will ever attempt to bring the olympics back to Canada after this mess concludes. Or that the IOC takes future bids from Canada and files them to the shredder!

[steven lloyd]

Oh come now Steven I expect better from you than falling for a bunch of BS from British tabloids.

Are you kidding ??? Are you dissing the British tabloids ???

I was actually sort of like you and not too keen on the Olympic concept myself but hey they're here and nothing we can do about it so I hope they unfold as good as is possible.

Like I’ve said, I’m with that 100%. I am totally against the entire travelling let’s spend billions here, let’s spend billions there elitist Olympic concept where the athletes are nothing more than entertainment for the royalty and drugged masses ( I mean it’s not like it’s the NFL or anything – give me a break ).

However, now that it is here I want it to go off as smoothly as possible. I want my country to be noticed. I am a proud Canadian. But when this is over the bitching starts again as “today is the first day I spend the rest of my life paying for the fiscal mismanagement of this corrupt government”.

If memory serves correctly there have in fact been far worse Olympics were deaths were involved (multiple ones even I think) so this whole "Worst Olympics Ever" label is just plain dramatizing and nothing more.

Maybe, but it’s not our opinion I’m worried about.

I've been a NASCAR fan for years and for all the precautions they take and safety gear they use those guys are doing 200kph+ alongside 40 other vehicles and sometimes someone gets killed. They know that to be a possibility every time they step into a car but they accept it and go for it.

Ya, but that’s NASCAR, and that’s super ubercool
( I assume you have widescreen HD with surroundsound ? )

[Cateyes]

Hey, it's not Canadians bitching about anything other than the price. Put me in that camp. The rest of the world is bitching because they see this for the fiasco it is with all the glitches. London paper calling these the worst games ever. Not just in Britain but all of Europe is starting to say that.

Can you blame them. Luger dies before the games even start. From what I can tell the signs were all there and this could have been prevented. So that planted the seeds of doubt from the get go. Actually even before the get go. Then that embarassment of an opening ceremonies with the dancing faux natives and neckstash boy and goth voilin tap dancers, complex attempt to impress with crystal palace torch, and now the world is murmuring. Then the weather combined with the choice of freestyle venue. The cancelling of training runs and mens downhill. So now the world is thinking......hmmmmm....not going too smoothly.

Weather wise I think we should obviously get a pass even though Vancouver for winter was just dumb all around. A lot of the other things......more that just isolated incidents. Just passing along the message from NBC etal but feel free to play the victim and blame me bringing it up. See if I care :sillygrin:

[LoneWolf_53]

I've been a NASCAR fan for years and for all the precautions they take and safety gear they use those guys are doing 200kph+ alongside 40 other vehicles and sometimes someone gets killed. They know that to be a possibility every time they step into a car but they accept it and go for it.

Ya, but that’s NASCAR, and that’s super ubercool
( I assume you have widescreen HD with surroundsound ? )

There's other equipment out there?????

BTW you watch the Daytona 500?

I loved the finish. Junior went from like 22nd to 2nd in a lap.

Love the new rule they implemented for finishes as I always hated when a race finished under yellow.

[Cateyes]

Snowboarding nonsense is the latest fiasco threatening to make these Games the worst in Olympic history

Lawrence Donegan in Vancouver
guardian.co.uk, Monday 15 February 2010 23.02 GMT
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/fe ... mpics-2010

Flushed by the success in the ski moguls of Alexandre Bilodeau, who on Sunday became the first Canadian ever to win Olympic gold on home soil, the national mint announced today it was issuing a commemorative coin to mark the occasion. What chance an enterprising Canadian carpenter is working on a commemorative wooden spoon for the organisers of the 2010 Winter Games?

The former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch had a habit of signing off at the closing ceremony of every Olympics by calling it "the best Games ever", regardless of what had happened over the previous two weeks. But in the real world there is another epithet up for grabs that is both unofficial and unwanted: worst Games ever.

It is hard to believe anything will surpass the organisational chaos and naked commercial greed of the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta or the financial disaster of the 1976 Games, which bankrupted Montreal, yet with every passing day the sense of drift and nervousness about the Vancouver Games grows ever more noticeable.

The Canadian mint may be working overtime making coins, Canadian politicians may be working overtime issuing congratulatory statements about medal-winning performances by home athletes and the official website of Vanoc, the Games' organising committee, continues to pump out celebratory tweets on its Twitter feed: YAAAAYY! GOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD.

Such euphoria – or faux euphoria – may be the message that Vanoc wants the world to hear and it may help buoy the spirits of the organisers and volunteers but every nugget of good news has been followed by the hard rock of bad news.

Today it was that 4,000 ticket holders for snowboarding events at the Cypress mountain complex would have to be refunded their money.

Torrential rain had washed away snow, making it impossible to build spectator viewing areas that would be safe, organisers explained. The loss of ticket revenue amounted to $400,000 (£243,000). The loss of face was immeasurable.

"Cypress is like your special child," explained Renee Smith-Valade, who sounded more like a social worker at the end of her tether than the head of communications for Vanoc. "Your special child that is bright and talented and good-looking and causes you all kinds of worries. But they are still your special child."

Did the IOC make a mistake in giving the Games to Vancouver, the warmest city to be granted the " honour"? The question has already been posed by some and it might be described as unfair. After all, unlike the organisers of the Beijing Games, Smith-Valade and her colleagues are not in a position to control the weather. But what about the transportation system, which some would call sporadic and others would describe as chaotic? And the same goes for the electrical wiring on the Cypress mountain, which blew a fuse at the weekend and closed the concession stands?

"We want to make sure that anyone who comes to an Olympic venue has an opportunity to enjoy it fully and that includes having something to eat and drink," Smith-Valade said, before offering an explanation of the myriad transport difficulties that caused, among other things, the Premier of British Columbia, Gordon Campbell, and the chiefs of the four host First Nations to miss the singing of the Canadian anthem at Friday's opening ceremony.

It was the fault of protesters who blocked the bus route, apparently. ­Unfortunately for Vanoc, there were no protesters inside the BC Place stadium to blame when the hydraulics used to construct the torch bowl failed at the climax of the event.

The ceremony itself was dedicated to the memory of the Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, who had died earlier that day during a training run at the Whistler sliding centre. That was judged as a fitting gesture but it has not stopped questions about the safety of the sliding track and the culpability for the Georgian's death.

Most worryingly of all for the organisers in Vancouver, Vanoc has failed to quell the growing sense that the 2010 Winter Olympics will be remembered as something substantially less than a triumph.
0

Another glowing "Glitch Games" review from the Associated Press.
http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/olympics/new ... &type=lgns

[Nebula]

Steven, if you post one more time that the British trash is calling these Olympics THE WORST OLYMPICS EVER! I'm going to beat you severely with a seal pup.

[steven lloyd]

Ya, but that’s NASCAR, and that’s super ubercool
( I assume you have widescreen HD with surroundsound ? )

There's other equipment out there?????

BTW you watch the Daytona 500?

I loved the finish. Junior went from like 22nd to 2nd in a lap.

Love the new rule they implemented for finishes as I always hated when a race finished under yellow.

46" widescreen w/ surround sound and volume to the top. My wife just doesn't get it :129:

[steven lloyd]

Steven, if you post one more time that the British trash is calling these Olympics THE WORST OLYMPICS EVER! I'm going to beat you severely with a seal pup.

"Don't be fooled. The seal pup is just under my desk."

[mountain_climber4567]

46" widescreen w/ surround sound and volume to the top. My wife just doesn't get it :129:

What doesn't she get? That you have such a tiny widescreen? :dyinglaughing:

[Nebula]

I'm going to append my previous post to add: ...or post that stupid cartoon again...

(Seal pup still applies.)

[steven lloyd]

46" widescreen w/ surround sound and volume to the top. My wife just doesn't get it :129:

What doesn't she get? That you have such a tiny widescreen? :dyinglaughing:

Sorry. I just don't have a ready retort for that.