The Party's Over

[Urbane]

Nab I just noticed Jimmy Pattison being interviewed and I think most of us would agree he's pretty savvy. In a nutshell, he said that the Olympics were great for the economy and, as with Expo 86, the benefits would justify the investment.

[animal lover1]

nope....sorry... Grammfreddy, Cateyes and Steven Lloyd know far more than Jimmy Pattison!!!!!

[NAB]

Nab I just noticed Jimmy Pattison being interviewed and I think most of us would agree he's pretty savvy. In a nutshell, he said that the Olympics were great for the economy and, as with Expo 86, the benefits would justify the investment.

Yes Urbane, and Expo (as with all Expo's) was specifically oriented to that commercial end. And I agree Pattison is very savvy. Savvy enough to know that a pro sales(wo)man always makes his/her pitch include "anticipating the sale" from the very start. Much the way politicians approach their "sale" to the electorate.

Nab

[Al Czervic]

I think is fairness you really needed to be in Vancouver in person to see and experience what was going on. Had I not observed first hand what was occurring down there, I don’t think I would have believed it. Nothing prepared for me it. And I don’t believe I will ever be quite the same again. And I don’t think I am alone in that sentiment.

At one point I was so overcome with emotion I wept. I wept for the first time in 16 years since I lost my wife. But I was not alone. Tears were everywhere. Complete strangers. People from Sweden who spoke little English. But over, and over, and over again I heard people saying “I will be back”

Whatever the true impact of the games is, we will not really know for many years to come. I do know from my days in business, that nothing beats a good trade show, and what just occurred in Vancouver over the past two weeks was the greatest trade show on earth and it really could not have gone better for us.

There will always be naysayers in life. People who say “I can’t” But there are also those who find ways to succeed. Those who see beyond “I can’t” and instead say “I can” We do live in the greatest country of them all and my trip has reminded me of that. Sometimes in life I think we forget to take a moment to enjoy and to be thankful. It is easy to get caught up in the moment.

The games were a huge success, and will be for many years to come. But success only finds those who believe. Opportunity will always be what you choose to make of it. If you cannot see that, than it was never there to be had. But for those who have vision and determination it will always be there. Some of you will understand what I am getting at, and I know some of you never have, and never will. For you, the games will no doubt be a failure, but I expect you knew that before they even began. To each his own.

[Nebula]

Thank you, Al.

[grammafreddy]

I think is fairness you really needed to be in Vancouver in persons to see and experience what was going on. Had I not observed first hand what was occurring down there, I don’t I would have believed it. Nothing prepared for me it. And I don’t believe I will ever be quite the same again. And I don’t think I am alone in that sentiment.

At one point I was so overcome with emotion I wept. I wept for the first time in 16 years since I lost my wife. But I was not alone. Tears were everywhere. Complete strangers. People from Sweden who spoke little English. But over, and over, and over again I heard people saying “I will be back”

Whatever the true impact of the games is, we will not really know for many years to come. I do know from my days in business, that nothing beats a good trade show, and what just occurred in Vancouver over the past two weeks was the greatest trade show on earth and it really could not have gone better for us.

There will always be naysayers in life. People who say “I can’t” But there are also those who find ways to succeed. Those who see beyond “I can’t” and instead say “I can” We do live in the greatest country of them all and my trip has reminded me of that. Sometimes in life I think we forget to take a moment to enjoy and to be thankful. It is easy to get caught up in the moment.

The games were a huge success, and will be for many years to come. But success only finds those who believe. Opportunity will always be what you choose to make of it. If you cannot see that, than it was never there to be had. But for those who have vision and determination it will always be there. Some of you will understand what I am getting at, and I know some of you never have, and never will. For you, the games will no doubt be a failure, but I expect you knew that before they even began. To each his own.

First - I am sorry about your wife, Al.

Second - I never wanted these games to be a failure. More than any of you realize, I did not want them to fail because I did not want the taxpayers of BC (and Canada) to have to pay for them from pockets that are already stretched too much. When the crowds roared, I stood and cheered, too. I sang O Canada in my living room loud and strong. I wept with Joannie and I cheered her on. Every gold medal and every little victory over adversity, I welcomed. Every plus I hope will become a credit on the debt side of the expense of these games.

But - I still want to know how the hell we're gonna pay for them without seeing more cuts and more taxation. I don't have a good feeling about Thursday and we've been given a clue that the happy champagne glass you're all drinking from is about to shatter.

[Cateyes]

nope....sorry... Grammfreddy, Cateyes and Steven Lloyd know far more than Jimmy Pattison!!!!!

bhahahaha...

Actually I agree with Pattison. The Olympics were good for business.......his business! Which was the whole point of this fiasco. The big business people did very well. Everyone got a piece of that 9.2billion dollar pie so of course they are happy. And they will continue to see more business for awhile. All courtesy of the taxpayers. Will some of it trickle down? Sure, like pee down Pattisons leg. They don't call us working stiffs pee-ons for nothing ya know.

[westsidebud]

i would like to know how steven an gf can post like they have run a country or a national bank ? lol.

expo did create wealth and investment for bc like nothing else has, ever been to false creek? ever see all the rich ppl that came from hong kong and started companies here?

i lived in van before expo and after expo, the change was night and day , before expo we were a northamerican province, after expo we were a international province. but my point still is profit, breakeven, loss, the games were worth it.

you want new money for canada legalize weed, end of story

[westsidebud]

I think is fairness you really needed to be in Vancouver in person to see and experience what was going on. Had I not observed first hand what was occurring down there, I don’t think I would have believed it. Nothing prepared for me it. And I don’t believe I will ever be quite the same again. And I don’t think I am alone in that sentiment.

At one point I was so overcome with emotion I wept. I wept for the first time in 16 years since I lost my wife. But I was not alone. Tears were everywhere. Complete strangers. People from Sweden who spoke little English. But over, and over, and over again I heard people saying “I will be back”

Whatever the true impact of the games is, we will not really know for many years to come. I do know from my days in business, that nothing beats a good trade show, and what just occurred in Vancouver over the past two weeks was the greatest trade show on earth and it really could not have gone better for us.

There will always be naysayers in life. People who say “I can’t” But there are also those who find ways to succeed. Those who see beyond “I can’t” and instead say “I can” We do live in the greatest country of them all and my trip has reminded me of that. Sometimes in life I think we forget to take a moment to enjoy and to be thankful. It is easy to get caught up in the moment.

The games were a huge success, and will be for many years to come. But success only finds those who believe. Opportunity will always be what you choose to make of it. If you cannot see that, than it was never there to be had. But for those who have vision and determination it will always be there. Some of you will understand what I am getting at, and I know some of you never have, and never will. For you, the games will no doubt be a failure, but I expect you knew that before they even began. To each his own.

ty for saying what iv been trying to say

[Al Czervic]

I decided to delete this post.

[steven lloyd]

Nab I just noticed Jimmy Pattison being interviewed and I think most of us would agree he's pretty savvy. In a nutshell, he said that the Olympics were great for the economy and, as with Expo 86, the benefits would justify the investment.

Yes Urbane, and Expo (as with all Expo's) was specifically oriented to that commercial end. And I agree Pattison is very savvy. Savvy enough to know that a pro sales(wo)man always makes his/her pitch include "anticipating the sale" from the very start. Much the way politicians approach their "sale" to the electorate.

Nab

Nope, sorry. Animal lover sees through that savy. Doesn't understand what simple posters here post but but can't get conned by a con.

I think if other posters here read more than just a few of my threads (like maybe more than just the ones that ticked them off) they would recognize that I haven’t just arbitrarily chosen to be exclusively anti-Olympic here. After a rough start I am proud of the job VANOC, and more importantly Canadians (locals, visitors and volunteers) did in pulling it off (even voted good job VANOC on that one thread). I am extremely proud of our athletes – even the ones who didn’t win medals – and I recognize what an emotional boost this can be for people. I’m not going to be negative about the whole thing. My concerns and criticisms come from a place of acknowledging reality. I may be wrong and there may be some flood of Olympic-generated revenue, but I realistically doubt it will anywhere near match what this has cost and suspect the benefits will be targeted among relatively small areas and groups. I would love to be wrong about this, but precedent tells me that is unlikely.

[steven lloyd]

I never wanted these games to be a failure. More than any of you realize, I did not want them to fail because I did not want the taxpayers of BC (and Canada) to have to pay for them from pockets that are already stretched too much. When the crowds roared, I stood and cheered, too. I sang O Canada in my living room loud and strong. I wept with Joannie and I cheered her on. Every gold medal and every little victory over adversity, I welcomed. Every plus I hope will become a credit on the debt side of the expense of these games.

But - I still want to know how the hell we're gonna pay for them without seeing more cuts and more taxation. I don't have a good feeling about Thursday and we've been given a clue that the happy champagne glass you're all drinking from is about to shatter.

Careful gramma, such a realsitic perception considering both the pros and cons gets you blamed for peeing on the parade around here. No ones ready for real yet.

[Bubalouie]

We never claimed to be perfect.
That means we've learned to be humble.
We say excuse me and I'm sorry.......as well as please and thanks
Even when its not our fault, we apologize
Sure one arm of the torch didn't rise,
But when the earthquake struck Haiti, Canadians raised their hands to say...."we'll help"
And yeah, there is a fence around the torch
But you can walk right up and shake hands with our prime minister and most famour Canadians
(true - while waiting to exit at the Opening, Michaelle Jean, Jacques Rogge and Gordon
Campbell passed our group and took the time to shake our hands, congratulate and thank us)
We put Gretzky in the back of a pick up, in the rain, not surrounded by police......
and he was okay. And by the way, the great one is Canadian...and HE wasn't complaining !!

We do have security at the games, of course, but most people don't even have a gun that
they have to leave at home.
The medals ARE under lock and key but our doors and our hearts are open to the world.
It has been pointed out that some buses broke down last week...but let's not overlook the
fact that our banking system didn't.
We didn't get the "green ice maker" right this time...but we will, eventually
Just like when we invented the zamboni
Citius altius fortius...If you don't reach higher, how do you get faster and stronger.
Was the first quad jump perfect?
Shoud we not have given snowboarding to the world "in Case" it didn't take off??
So big deal...one out of four torch arms didn't rise. Good thing we had 3 more ! It's called
contingency planning!
But remember, the Canadaarm works every time...in outerspace....and insulin turned out to
be okay.

We couldn't change the weather but maybe we can help stop global warming.
We don't have the tax base of the US or the power of the Chinese, but, per capita, we ponied up
for some pretty kick-ass venues in the worst global recession ever.
Sure, some folks couldn't afford tickets , but our health care, is univresal.
We have shown the world that we can rasie our voices in celebration and song but moments
later stand in silence to respect a tragic event...together...spontaneously...and
unrehearsed.

What's more, we don't need permissin from anyone to have a slam poet, fiddlers with piercings
and a lesbian singer tell our story to the world while our mulitlingual female Haitian - born, black, head of state shares a box with her first nations equals.
We've shown the world that it doesn't always rain in Vancouver, that you can strive for excellence
but not get hung up on perfection
And we've learned what it feels like to be picked on by some NO name newspaper guy and we
don't have to take it lying down.

So the point is not the snow, or the hydraulics or a couple guys being 5 minutes late to a ceremony
We know we're lucky that these are the biggest problems we had to deal with in the last couple of weeks.
So take your cheap shots.....Guardian newspaper, naysayers and cynics of the world.
We're bigger and better than that.
What's more.....we're finally starting to believe it !!

DO YOU BELIEVE????

[Queen K]

nope....sorry... Grammfreddy, Cateyes and Steven Lloyd know far more than Jimmy Pattison!!!!!

Okay, he must know more than me too. But Jimmy P, a billionaire through ruthless tactics, will never wonder if he qualifies for legal aid, if he can get homecare, if he will have a long wait for surgery, if he can afford the new ferry increases, and most of all, if he has to decide between rent or food. Sure he has great capacity to say, "these games were great for business" and I'm sure he is correct. But please do not lump Jimmy in with ordinary B.C.ers trying to navigate a new reality.

[MAPearce]

Whatever the true impact of the games is, we will not really know for many years to come. I do know from my days in business, that nothing beats a good trade show, and what just occurred in Vancouver over the past two weeks was the greatest trade show on earth and it really could not have gone better for us

I'll say it again....The Party has just begun.I'm glad that people remember Expo 86.Did any one see the story about the Slovakian nordic team setting up a permanent training camp at Silver Star??
Gotta be worth some bucks to the locals!!!!