717 replies to this topic

[Sparky]

Men's Curling 9th end Men's Curling 9th end Canada 6.......guys in pajamas 3. This could take us to 13 Gold Medals. Bernard's predictions are about to come true.

[Sparky]

Yippee #13....add a little hockey gold to that tomorrow and we got ourselves a record breaker.

[sebberry]

Yippee #13....add a little hockey gold to that tomorrow and we got ourselves a record breaker.

Quite a difference from where we were a couple of weeks ago, having never won gold at home

[VicHockeyFan]

Check this out:

http://www.vancouver...xhibition-gala/

16:30:00 Olympic Fanfare
16:30:20 Opening Production with Live Singer Oh Canada performed by Marc Ferland
16:37:20 Presentation of all Skaters Bang the Drum
16:42:40 EDWARDS Madeline / PANG Zhao-Kai Canada Tango Innominato, Minor Swing
16:46:39 TAKAHASHI Daisuke Japan Luv Letter by DJ Okawari
16:51:09 PANG Qing / TONG Jian China Adagio by Albinoni
16:55:47 ANDO Miki Japan Requiem by W. A. Mozart
17:01:18 FAIELLA Federica / SCALI Massimo Italy Quel Posto Che Non C'e di Negramaro
17:06:12 CHAN Patrick Canada Yesterday by The Beatles
17:09:57 SAVCHENKO Aliona / SZOLKOWY Robin Germany Bad Day by D. Porter
17:15:08 ROCHETTE Joannie Canada Vole by C. Dion

[...]

I wish I could go to a rock concert and they'd have all the songs planned out to the second, I'd know when to go to the bathroom or the beer line...

[Sparky]

Check this out:

http://www.vancouver...xhibition-gala/



[...]

I wish I could go to a rock concert and they'd have all the songs planned out to the second, I'd know when to go to the bathroom or the beer line...

Good call VHF....I want the person that planned that to be in charge of my liver transplant.

[VicHockeyFan]

This is a pretty good article about Canadian TV coverage of the games.

I have really appreciated the official Olympic website (except the athlete mug-shots), very easy to navigate, not too busy, right to the point. That and a "gadget" I added so easily to my home Google page, and I was in good control.

[LJ]

[quote name='spanky123'][quote name='LJ']

It is $25K for a gold not $10K[/quote]

The only one I heard publically state they would give it up was a bronze medallist.

[piltdownman]

The coverage is way better than NBC, but still not as good as I would like. For example today there was many problems. At once point the curling was on CTV, and both TSN and Sportsnet had chatter leaving OLN to have the bobsled. Not a problem for most, but OLN isn't HD. At another point both CTV and Sportsnet were showing the speedskaters doing their victory lap, and had TSN had chatter while the Bronze and Gold medal Snowboard Slalom was on. Only after we won gold did CTV switch over to "report live" to show the last run. It wasn't live though it was a minute or two behind, and the website had already updated the winning time just before CTV aired it. Same thing with the womens Speedskating relay. Their live coverage was a race behind. Meaning the race was over by the time they aired it. And with no indication that they were going to air it anyone following on the net would already know the result. Thats been the really frustrating thing with the Olympics, at the start TSN, Sportsnet and OLN had set events and CTV was kind of a roving reporter. Somewhere along the line unless it was hockey or curling they all became these roving agents, with more replays and chatter than live sports. For the games I have a dedicated tv set up on each of TSN, Sportsnet and CTV, so I can figure out what to put on the big screen and there have been too many frustrating moments when every screen has chatter or replays while there is something live that I want to see.

Could be alot worse. NBC is still stuck in the 1980s. Where they don't expect you to have the internet or a mobile phone and you just sit in your home and only get your Olympic news from them. Almost nothing is live, and all they do is show extended highlights.

[piltdownman]

I have really appreciated the official Olympic website (except the athlete mug-shots), very easy to navigate, not too busy, right to the point. That and a "gadget" I added so easily to my home Google page, and I was in good control.

I agree the website is great. One things I have notice from following alot of sports at work is that the live updates from some sports is way better than others. For example in the speed skating they have the oval thing showing status and multiple timing points. But for curling all the see is the 'baseball scoreboard', and no indication of whats going on other than that.

[VicHockeyFan]

I agree the website is great. One things I have notice from following alot of sports at work is that the live updates from some sports is way better than others. For example in the speed skating they have the oval thing showing status and multiple timing points. But for curling all the see is the 'baseball scoreboard', and no indication of whats going on other than that.

Yes, that's true. And I'm used to "watching" NFL or NBA online and they have great data displays to see what's up. Heck, I can even "watch" a Seals baseball game, because the tracker they use has all the inputs for the scorer and they input them in real time, so you can follow each pitch, it's pretty cool.

BTW, locally, Jack FM has been broadcasting all the PBP for the Canadian Men's hockey games, in case anyone has to be on the road.

[Holden West]

Quake spares family, friends of Chilean athletes

An Olympic skier from Chile will participate in the closing ceremony after learning her family and friends were safe following the massive earthquake in her country.Noelle Barahona of Santiago had planned to return home Saturday but could not get a flight.

Chile brought three athletes to the games, all Alpine skiers. The two others skiers had already left Vancouver before the quake struck — Maui Gayme for France, Jorge Mandru for Seattle.
The delegation still in Vancouver includes a team spokesman, coach and physical therapist. They planned to be part of Sunday's ceremony.

[sebberry]

Years of planning, building, spending, promoting and it's all over Sunday.

I can't believe how quickly the games have come and gone, feels like I was watching the opening ceremonies yesterday.

I have always been glad the Olympics came to Vancouver, never had an interest in going over until it was pretty much too late. I think it would have been fun to watch some of the Whistler events and spend an evening up there but I get lost on a good day and transportation would have been a nightmare.

We may not have come first in medal count but we came first in GOLD medal count. It's hard not to be proud of our athlete's achievements and I am glad all the protestors seem to have taken a back seat during the games.

The games have brought out a lot of cheer and positive energy to Vancouver and hopefully it gives Canadians something good to hold on to while the world struggles with war and financial crisis.

[sebberry]

Ok, I am getting sick of the "Investigate 9/11" posters being held up in the crowd behind Bill and Pamela on CTV news..

This isn't the time or the place..

[http]

Silver means first of the losers. Bronze is the losers' silver.

This Olympics sure made me a fan of the short-track speed skating. I love the speed and the strategies and the relays are a blast with many bodies out there. Great stuff!

And the perfectly formed legs have nothing to do with it, nooo.

[Holden West]

Saturday Night Live did a skit where a Latin American TV network covering the Vancouver games were incredulous at the tragic conditions of the venues, like how the shuffleboard courts were apparently accidentally flooded and frozen over and the ski ramp must have been only partially built because it had a giant gap at the bottom that the poor skiers had to jump over.

[Bob Fugger]

[quote name='spanky123'][quote name='LJ']

It is $25K for a gold not $10K[/QUOTE]

I was at Italy House last night at the Roundhouse in Yaletown toasting the Italian gold medalist (Men's Slalom) - where they presented him with a novelty-sized check for 100,000€. With that one could not only own the podium, but also own the guy who built the podium!

[Bob Fugger]

But there was much more to win in the long end, if we would have focused more on hosting the Games the best we can. Like being flexible with some administrative rules. Because the stickiness of the red tape countries experienced will be remembered.

No truer words have been spoken re: lasting memories of visiting countries than this. A lot of people (especially volunteers - I think I am allowed to offer critique, as I am one) abandoned common sense and discretion in their blind deference to 'the rules'. I can't say I've ever met more little Johnny and Janey Sticklingtons at once.

Case in point: I was assigned as the driver/translator/gofer/assistant to the IOC Member from Italy (and quite famous, there). Italy wins its only gold medal of the Games yesterday in Men's slalom and so she wants a photo with the winner. I was not allowed by a gaggle of volunteers to take the photo because I was not a journalist. You could imagine my shame having to explain to an IOC Member that I was forbidden to take a photo at HER request, because this group of volunteers wouldn't let us.

I don't know if it was a case of having bestowed upon them a little power which they weilded like little Napoleons or their Nuremburg-like defence of 'just following orders', but these idiotic little thing will form the basis of the general comments people give about us and their experience of Canada's Games.

[VicHockeyFan]

^ The control of still iamges seems lame. I can see they need to control video to protect the broadcasters, but ordinary pix?

Fugger, did my taxes pick up the bill for your "volunteering"?

[Bernard]

Vancouver has pulled off an amazing games, there were fewer hitches or problems than other games in the last 20 to 30 years. Yeah, the weather was not wintry, but nothing had to be canceled.

The event attendance was much better than ever before.

Transportation has not been an issue even with bigger crowds than the most optimistic projections.

The public crowds were bigger than anything ever seen before.

No positive doping tests have come in.

The TV audience has been huge in Canada and big elsewhere in the world.

Canada not only finally won a gold at home, we topped the medal standings, the first time a home country did that in the winter games since 1952. We also broke the record for gold medals for the host country which was 10. We have tied the record for most golds in a winter games at 13 and could break that later today.

Vancouver is no larger than other cities in the recent past where the winter games have been held:
Metro Vancouver - 2.1 million
Turin region - 2.3 million
Salt Lake City area - 1.1 million
Nagano area - 2.2 million

At 13 gold, 7 silver and 5 bronze, Canada did very well in the games. Keep in mind that a number of Canadian gold medalists did not win any medals in their events. The medal total as this games was not a freak home games boost like can be seen in many years (though the US and Norwegians also under preformed in 2002 and 1994 respectively).

Canada could easily have won another 10 to 15 medals in these games if things had gone the right way.

In 2014 in Sochi Canada will be one of the countries favoured to win the medal standings along with Germany and Norway.

In 2014 Canada will be much more dominant in all the sliding sports. Canada will also likely have the start to a world class ski jumping team.

For the first time ever, Canada is a world power in something, and it is something anglophones and francophones are united on

[VicHockeyFan]

http://www.timescolo...4240/story.html

Now here is a strange paradox of event ticket holders.

You can bet that 90% or more of ticket holders that are refusing to sell their tickets today, would not, if faced today with buying those tickets at the value they could now sell for (for example, $2500 each) would pay that price for a ticket today.

ie. if they had no ticket today, they would not pay $2500 for one.

But, they in effect have in their hands an item that could be sold, immediately for cash in that amount.

And in a few hours, that item they have in their hand will be worth nothing.

I can't think of another comparable situation. It's wacky.