From here until the end of the Games, I will be making a daily Olympic post. Don’t worry, this space will still have plenty of TFC, MLS and Canadian soccer news, but I am going to take notice of something that a lot of Canadians will be spending a lot of time watching.
Why? Because it’s my blog and having the Olympics in your country is not an everyday experience. Although I’ll admit to kind of cheering against Vancouver during the bid because I wanted Toronto to take another run at the Summer Games – not for Toronto versus the rest of the country reasons, but rather because Canada’s summer sports infrastructure badly needs a boost.
But now that they are on top of us, you can’t help but be a little excited. Yes, anti-Olympic folks, there are problems with the IOC and they are too expensive and all that, but, in the end, the Games are one hell of an athletic event.
I’ve been an Olympic junkie since I locked myself in the living room in the summer of 1984. A tin TV tray in front of our ugly gold rocking chair. David Wallecinsky’s most recent resource book in front of me and a small Canadian flag on the side table, I watched about two billion hours of coverage. When a friend knocked on the door halfway through the Games and asked me to come out to play my mother insisted that I go get some sun. I missed Canada win gold in the rowing men’s 8s. Part of me is still pissed at mom. And, I never made the mistake again.
Sports for me has always been about Canada. It’s how I got into soccer. It’s framed my view of what a fan should be (always loyal, no matter the lot in life you’ve been dealt). Cheering for Canada in international sports can, of course, be humbling. We tend to, to put it charitably, struggle at the big events. Still, it’s provided me with some memorable moments throughout the years. With all due respect to my American readers (who get to see a lot of Olympic glory for their home team), I think you appreciate winning more when it happens less frequently.
When the gun go off, race be over (I don’t care what happened after, watching poor, dumb Ben win in ’88 is still a seminal moment). Donovan Bailey erasing the shame in ’96. Even better, the Canadian 4X100m team – defending world champions at the time – shutting NBC up with their talk about getting Carl Lewis his record breaking gold medal (I watched that one at a summer camp I worked at in a room full of screaming children – awesome, awesome moment). Mark Tewksbury’s reaction in ’92 (when I went to Barcelona many years later I insisted that I see the swimming venue to pay homage). Clara Hughes finally winning gold in ’06 (the most underappreciated Canadian athlete of all-time – she’s the only person in the world to win multiple medals at the summer and winter Games). Simon Whitfield’s gold in Sydney was great; his silver in Beijing was even better (and if you get why, you get what makes the Olympics so compelling). I could go on and on...
As always, it will be a hell of a spectacle starting Friday. Do spare a few moments of your non-football time during the Games to enjoy them for what they are – one hell of a great sporting event and the best reality TV show the world has ever seen.
Tomorrow: Who should light the flame?
Basketball: Just desserts ...
2 days ago
7 comments:
Duane
Please don't drink the olympic Kool Aid also!!!
Way over budget, that we as Tax Payers (I assume you pay tax)will pay for for years.
No snow at Cyprus, a venue that was clearly pointed out years ago as problematic, with wild weather patterens. So we truck and fly snow in at what cost?? Good bye green olympics.
1 week out most Vancouver resident's not excited and put out by travel restrictions.
The butt of US jokes as we are called "The Doom and Gloom Olympics"
Extremely onerous security compariable to the worse days of Munich 72.
A Canadian Pavillion that well, IT'S A TENT OK!! A F*CKING TENT.
How about the cruise ship they wanted to park in Vancouver to serve as a 5 star floating resort. Couldn't sell those 750.00/ night rooms, even after they cut the price in half.
Annoyed people, who did pay, indicationg they would never come back to Vancouver!!
Lots of tickets for most events available, and there are even hotel rooms in downtown Vancouver.
Only in Vancouver can we politicize the "Tourch Relay" (a Nazi invention, by the way)Globe Madia reporters, execs and anyone vaguely related to anyone paying for the games getting to run the tourch. In fact some reporters being ordered to run!! Joey Saputo got to run it for God sake!!
Ask the native poeples about the Hudson Bay Company ripping off their designs for clothing and not paying thema dime.
Ask whre they've cleared the most vunaerable, the drug addicts, homeless, when told to get off the street.
You ask who should light the tourch, how about Bernie Madoff!! Because this is the biggest Ponzie Scheme I have ever seen.
But I'm an optimist.
Duane, ignore that guy ^^^.
The 4x100 gold in 1996 is the greatest sporting memory of my life.
i'm super excited
i'm dragging the whole family down the street to watch the tourch run by on the 11th. i'll be their cheering. i might even go watch the govanator run on the 12th.
i love our new skytrain line, i love our new sea-to-sky highway, i love the olympic oval, i love the new olympic village. this is going to rock and i'm trying to go to as many free events as possible.
The tourch relay was an invention for the Berlin games by the Nazi Party.
Tourches where also used to burn books and during Crystal Nauct!
Poor dumb Ben was framed, sort of. He was taking drugs, but not the ones they claimed he took. More importantly, 4 of the top 5 finishers have, at one time or another, been caught taking preformance enhancing drugs.
The guy who got the gold, that damn yank, was actually caught by the US olympic committee before those very olympics. However, they sent him a letter essentially saying "We caught you, but shhh! don't do it again...please?"
Everybody was doing it back then, but Ben's the only person who gets roasted for it. Especially here in Canada, which is really quite sad...
Anon @3:20 PM
that was a long time ago. it's time to let that go.
we are allowed to re-invent events and give them new meanings.
if you are still thinking about nazis when a tourch runs by, you have problems.
Way to follow through Duane! Loving my Tuesday dish right now.
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