The Party's Over

[NAB]

This thread is entitled "The Party's Over", so if ya want to continue peddling optimism and happy days take it to one of those threads where you can discuss to your hearts content with only those who see it your way.

Nab

were it actually the case - post anything postive on other threads and the Black Cloud Gang descends upon you with their standard blathering about "who is going to pay" garbage. If everyone stays on their own threads, then yeah, fine - I'd be happy to let you guys have a giant bag of rain party over on this thread. Doesn't seem to work out that way unfortunately.

Not quite the case L & T. In case you hadn't noticed the "Black Cloud Gang" as you call them effectively got kicked out of any "positive" threads due to an over the top pro-whiner some time ago. So a thread was started where all comers are welcome - this one. ;-)

Nab

[Liberty and Truth]

were it actually the case - post anything postive on other threads and the Black Cloud Gang descends upon you with their standard blathering about "who is going to pay" garbage. If everyone stays on their own threads, then yeah, fine - I'd be happy to let you guys have a giant bag of rain party over on this thread. Doesn't seem to work out that way unfortunately.

Not quite the case L & T. In case you hadn't noticed the "Black Cloud Gang" as you call them effectively got kicked out of any "positive" threads due to an over the top pro-whiner some time ago. So a thread was started where all comers are welcome - this one. ;-)

Nab

well I still see the over the top anti-whiner appearing everywhere and continuing to post complete garbage - so what can you do.

[NAB]

Not quite the case L & T. In case you hadn't noticed the "Black Cloud Gang" as you call them effectively got kicked out of any "positive" threads due to an over the top pro-whiner some time ago. So a thread was started where all comers are welcome - this one. ;-)

Nab

well I still see the over the top anti-whiner appearing everywhere and continuing to post complete garbage - so what can you do.

Well, it's only garbage if you make it so L & T, so why should you "do" anything? It was made clear (by Jo) that she would decide how to deal with any further off topic issues, but up to this point I don't know of any ruling that says people cannot respond negatively in a positive thread (or vice versa) provided it is "on topic".

Just the same, those of us who would like to fully explore both sides of an issue (positive and negative, not just one side or the other), are probably staying away from those threads now for the most part.

Nab

[Captain Awesome]

Ya just gotta love it when everyone's opinions are deemed "idiotic" except your own or those of folk who agree with you. I guess the Olympics induced phoney love in for your fellow man is truly over, and all that is left is getting rid of the hangover produced by drinking too much of the spiked Olympic KoolAid.

NAB,

Listen, all opinions are great. Tell me Olympics will be expensive. Tell me our kids will be paying for it. Tell me we shouldn't be getting too excited or focused on medals, and I'll have a discussion with you.

But when you bring in somebody who:
- Compares Canada to Nazi Germany
- Calls last two weeks "an overwhelming chauvinism"
- Brings athlete's death to light to paint Canadians as "callous"

... I want to question your senses and call the story "idiotic". Cause only an idiot would compare Canada to Nazi Germany. Some idiot from Texas who calls Canada "too patriotic". Irony, eh?

[NAB]

Ya just gotta love it when everyone's opinions are deemed "idiotic" except your own or those of folk who agree with you. I guess the Olympics induced phoney love in for your fellow man is truly over, and all that is left is getting rid of the hangover produced by drinking too much of the spiked Olympic KoolAid.

NAB,

Listen, all opinions are great. Tell me Olympics will be expensive. Tell me our kids will be paying for it. Tell me we shouldn't be getting too excited or focused on medals, and I'll have a discussion with you.

But when you bring in somebody who:
- Compares Canada to Nazi Germany
- Calls last two weeks "an overwhelming chauvinism"
- Brings athlete's death to light to paint Canadians as "callous"

... I want to question your senses and call the story "idiotic". Cause only an idiot would compare Canada to Nazi Germany. Some idiot from Texas who calls Canada "too patriotic". Irony, eh?

Captain: If you had read carefully, you might have noticed that I expressed shock at the article, particularly the comparison to Nazi Germany. Now you might question why I introduced the article, and that is fair game. I chose to do so because I thought it was important to do so for purposes of forum discussion. It is up to you to decide whether you feel you wish to comment on it or not. But when your comments intrude only on the rights of others to express their opinions or introduce an article or topic for discussion, that to me is not on. Frequently it is called censorship.

Nab

[MJC83]

Haha, why am I not surprised that the aftermath of the Olympics would bring 12 pages of bitching and complaining? It's so hard pressed to find anyone positive on these forums. Wah wah wah. Man, you guys complain allot.

[Cateyes]

Haha, why am I not surprised that the aftermath of the Olympics would bring 12 pages of bitching and complaining? It's so hard pressed to find anyone positive on these forums. Wah wah wah. Man, you guys complain allot.

Why should you be surprised? We said this would happen day one. We continued to say it as the costs went up. We continued to say it as the slow train wreck took place. Now we are saying see, what we said would happen is happening. It's called consistency.

Now right back at you. Why am I not surprised that some of the same koolaid drinkers praising the games and all the benefits they were brainwashed into believing by the media are now complaining about all the budget cuts and little cost of living increases showing up here and there. And this is just the beginning. The fact all this is hitting basically the day after the Olympics ends means it's going to be pretty bad.

[Al Czervic]

An interesting perspective..

"In these Olympics, Canadians only paid attention to Canada"

""VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- After a spirited torch relay ignited pride in every corner of the country, the Olympic Games began and quickly galvanized the nation.

Flags were everywhere. The country's national symbol hung from windows and was worn on nearly everyone's clothing.

Fervent crowds cheered every victory by the host nation.

But enough about the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

At the opening of these Olympic Winter Games more than two weeks ago, Vancouver organizers expressed the hope that they could show the world a truly "Canadian Games."

That they succeeded in that, there is little doubt.

For 17 days we were barraged with Canadian flags, rode buses and trains with people in sweatshirts and jerseys adorned with Canadian maple leafs, and were serenaded at venues by Canadian spectators, lustily cheering for Canadian athletes.

The first Olympics I ever attended were also in Canada, the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal. For a kid not long out of college, it was a profound experience, seeing Lasse Viren, Alberto Juantorena, Nadia Comaneci-- the athletes of the world -- on the sporting world's grandest stage.

One of the speakers at that Olympics used a phrase that lingers with me still: the family of man.

There is no earthly event that reinforces that notion as well as an Olympic Games. For all of the latter-day Games' inherent commercialism, that ideal persists. I truly believe that.

It persists, despite the overwhelming chauvinism of the past two weeks.

They showed us Canadian Games, all right. And in most cases, nothing but Canadian Games.

Full article and comments:
http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/02/28 ... gger-topic

I found the comments from the head NBC News Anchor and Managing Editor, Brian Williams to be an interesting contrast to Mr. Texan....

After tonight's broadcast and after looting our hotel mini-bars, we're going to try to brave the blizzard and fly east to home and hearth, and to do laundry well into next week. Before we leave this thoroughly polite country, the polite thing to do is leave behind a thank-you note.

Thank you, Canada:

For being such good hosts.

For your unfailing courtesy.

For your (mostly) beautiful weather.

For scheduling no more than 60 percent of your float plane departures at the exact moment when I was trying to say something on television.

For not seeming to mind the occasional (or constant) good-natured mimicry of your accents.
For your unique TV commercials -- for companies like Tim Hortons -- which made us laugh and cry.

For securing this massive event without choking security, and without publicly displaying a single automatic weapon.

For having the best garment design and logo-wear of the games -- you've made wearing your name a cool thing to do.

For the sportsmanship we saw most of your athletes display.

For not honking your horns. I didn't hear one car horn in 15 days -- which also means none of my fellow New Yorkers rented cars while visiting.

For making us aware of how many of you have been watching NBC all these years.

For having the good taste to have an anchorman named Brian Williams on your CTV network, who turns out to be such a nice guy.

For the body scans at the airport which make pat-downs and cavity searches unnecessary.

For designing those really cool LED Olympic rings in the harbor, which turned to gold when your athletes won one.

For always saying nice things about the United States...when you know we're listening.

For sharing Joannie Rochette with us.

For reminding some of us we used to be a more civil society.
Mostly, for welcoming the world with such ease and making lasting friends with all of us.

[Liberty and Truth]

Why should you be surprised? We said this would happen day one. We continued to say it as the costs went up. We continued to say it as the slow train wreck took place. Now we are saying see, what we said would happen is happening. It's called consistency.
.

You call it consistency - I call it a commitment to mediocrity and small-brained thinking. I call it a commitment to stagnation. And most of all - I call it nothing to be proud of.

[Tacklewasher]

From Bill Plaschke

http://www.latimes.com/sports/olympics/ ... 199.column

From Vancouver, Canada

It was after midnight, a week ago, the U.S. had earlier defeated Canada in a preliminary-round Olympic hockey game, the emptying streets wet, the mood soggy.

I was returning from our nightly visit to the giant four-pronged Olympic flame with my 15-year-old daughter, Mary Clare, who was wearing an American flag like a cape, and a smile like a necklace.

It was one of the first times she wore something that didn't represent her high school or favorite sports team. It was one of the first moments she may have realized the pride in being an American.

And here came the Canadian.

He appeared to be in his late 20s. He was wearing a scruffy beard, a pale bandanna, and wild stare. He jumped in front of Mary Clare on a darkened patch of sidewalk and started shouting.

"Eh, eh, eh!" he said.

She froze. Her brave and resourceful father also, um, froze.

At which point the man stuck out his hand.

"High-five, eh?" he said. "Great game, America. You won fair and square. We'll see you in the finals."

Before disappearing into the shadows, the man looked back at me with what appeared to be a wink.

"I know what you were thinking, but that's not how we do it here," he said. "We're Canadian."

I thought of this incident later when, spying on Mary Clare's Facebook page as all brave and resourceful fathers should do, I came across a line about her Olympic experience that stunned me in its simple honesty.

"I love Canada," she wrote.

Come to think of it, so do I. Forget the medal counts and podium ceremonies, there was only one true winner here, the beauty and breadth of its land equaled only by the daily kindness of its people.

Canada, you were gold. For two weeks, you lived your anthem, your hearts glowing like that moon that hung nightly over the Burrard Inlet, a light on the front porch of a house that felt like a home.

There was tragedy here in the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, embarrassment in the opening ceremony torch malfunction, carelessness in the ice resurfacing machines that broke during long-track speedskating, crassness of a gold-medal- winning Canadian women's hockey team celebrating on the ice with booze and cigars.

None of it was the fault of the Canadian people, who turned the Winter Olympics into the Warmer Olympics, filling the city with friendliness, filling the stands with good cheer even while booing the USA hockey team, sharing not only their streets but themselves.

There were women giving me directions as if they were my mother reading me a recipe, hand on my back, walking me toward my destination -- "OK, now, you go down here a little ways, pass that cute little syrup store, make a left at that fountain."

There were guys who, standing in one of the endless lines here that the Canadians accepted with such good humor, would ask me if I'm having fun, and did I need anything, and oh, here, let me explain curling, everyone a cousin, every gathering a family reunion.

Then there was the Canadian who literally gave me the shirt off her back. She was a manager at a local bakery that properly boasted of Vancouver's best cheesecake. After a couple of memorable visits there, I wondered whether they sold T-shirts featuring the name of the shop.

The manager went into the back and came out with red shirt that looked similar to the one she had been wearing. Take it, she said. No charge. Thanks for coming.

Finally, there was the ski lift.

I may be the first person in Winter Olympics history to admit this, but I'm terrified of ski lifts. A horrible experience on a long and rickety Alaskan lift 25 years ago made me swear to avoid them forever. Imagine, then, my nerves upon learning that in order to cover the Alpine ski events here, I had to take a ski lift up to the media center.

Sitting next to unsuspecting colleague Chris Dufresne, I held my breath going up and survived. The problem was coming down. It was late, and there was nobody working the lift. Just riding that sucker was hard enough without figuring out how to climb aboard and pull down the bar and actually get off.

That is when she appeared, a local volunteer returning to her family. As she prepared to board the lift, I shouted for her to wait for me. She did.

I told her my problem. She understood.

She helped me board with my giant briefcase, asked about my family as we rode down through the tops of the trees, then carefully instructed me how to climb off at the bottom without falling on my face, drawing a few deserving snickers from some nearby teenagers.

"Hey, he doesn't do this much, OK?" she said, scolding.

Canada, you were gold.

[email protected]

[Liberty and Truth]

I agree with everything except his shot at the Canadian women's hockey team - that's how we do it here eh? If it had been guys doing it - it would be "cool" - because our hockey chicks did it they are "crass" - but anyway - great article.

[Tacklewasher]

I agree with everything except his shot at the Canadian women's hockey team - that's how we do it here eh? If it had been guys doing it - it would be "cool" - because our hockey chicks did it they are "crass" - but anyway - great article.

Then you mis-read that part.

Try again. :)

[LoneWolf_53]

Definitely some really nice reviews there and I find it comforting to see that in the end the whole thing turned out a great success on many levels. :)

[Captain Awesome]

Definitely some really nice reviews there and I find it comforting to see that in the end the whole thing turned out a great success on many levels. :)

Only for the elite of our society!

[Jo]

Tacklewasher, thank you so much for posting that.