Olympic Fever
Still got it.
posted by Invisible Shield at 12:42 AM
Monday, March 01, 2010
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21 Comments:
I was going to create a new post, luckily Luke has saved me the next 20 minutes as I won't have to decipher how to do it. Anyhoo, just wondering what everyone thought of the closing ceremonies specifically or the Olympics generally?
Hockey game was crazy! Didn't watch much else, except for everything Apolo Ohno-related (of course).
My favorite part was the Hymn of the Soviet Union repackaged as the National Anthem of Russia.
...sorry, that's "favourite part"
Hin-Chay repatriated as an American?
That Soviet chant was the sweetest. I know Janes loved all that Ruski stuff, but it freaked me out enough to give me visions of Dr. STrangelove and P-Dubs SS class.
My thoughts on the closing ceremonies are well known. What I think is truly remarkable is that Vancouver survived disaster at each turn, not unlike a teetering bobsled team.
Short track was sweet. Apolo can suck it. Snowboarding was wicked. I only got to watch the last hockey game without streaming it in low quality, but it was worth it, obvs.
Mom and Dad kept rubbing it in how CTV's coverage was like the second coming: 20 hours a day, all sorts of cultural/man on street coverage. I just learned to dislike NBC and Bob Costas most of all. I can't believe I was yearning for CTV!
Luke, don't you mean "bobSLEIGH?" :P
I loved all of it. My fave Olympics ever. My students and I really enjoyed discussing it each day and looking at all the pictures I cut out of the newspapers.
Key moments for me:
Christine Nesbitt's race (she really deserved that gold!)
Men's Hockey, the Gold game
Jasey-Jay's Snowboard and Montgomery's Skeleton golds.
Also, CTV sucked the big one on coverage. CBC FTW!
As always, I loved the Nordic Combined, Aerials, and Biathlon. Didn't watch as much curling as normal, because Martin was just too good, and those Norwegian pants were distracting.
What's this "Ice Hockey" I kept hearing about, anyways? Never heard of that one before...
Closing ceremonies were bullshit, in terms of the music. Liked the Neil Young and La Bottine, but come on...Simple Plan AND Nickelback?
Forgot to mention:
My new favourite sport is Ski Cross. Dat shit is whack, yo.
CTVs coverage was crap: between the insane celebrity gossip in the mornings, the lame Harper "interviews", the repeated attempts by various CTV anchors to try and say how a new patriotism had emerged from the Canadian people that no one had ever seen before (wtf?), and the abuse of the "I believe" song, I couldn't stand the CTV coverage. Give me the staid professionalism of CBC over CTV any day.
Relative to NBC, CTV was clearly supperior. Relative to CBC I would say it's difficult to compare. You have to keep in mind that CBC can normally only have so many camera's, only has their one spot in the media centre and normally only has one channel to air it on. Because it was in Canada CTV/TSN/Sportsnet had virtually unlimited access so they could produce as much content as they wanted and they had many different stations to put it on.
They definitely overplayed the whole new patriotism thing but there is some truth to it. From what I read/saw this Olympics was far different from Calgary and it was largely due to the expectations of winning in so many events.
"I Believe" was played 1000 times a day which was annoying but it's better than Bon Jovi (which I've been subjected to the past 3 days in my carpool).
Ski and Snowboard Cross are both very wack. Way better than Trampoline.
As for the closing ceremonies, I still don't know what to make of the whole "Canada Parade" thing. Of course the Nickelback onward music was pretty shitty but you can't deny Buble was on fire!
I think there are three differences between now and Calgary: 1) we've taken sports a little more seriously, 2) men's hockey, 3) Vancouver's not freezing fucking cold in the winter.
1) Sport has definitely become more important generally speaking than it was in the past, which I think can be coupled almost directly to relative affluence of the country and also population growth. Given the relative increase in sport competence by Canadian athletes, it's actually fun to watch them in just about any given sport, which it wasn't back in the day.
2) Recall in 88, there were no NHL players at olympic hockey, and it was thus awarded significantly less attention than it is now. Everyone was constantly pumped about Canadian men's hockey this time around, even compared to how pumped they were about the olympics in general.
3) Unlike Calgary, Vancouver is a fun city, and the weather in the winter is also excellent, again unlike Calgary. This means people are happy to be outside having a constant party all the time. The same is not true in the freezing fucking cold. All you have to do is look at cities like Montreal that are a blast in the summer, and basically shut down during the winter.
Were Canadians pumped about almost every event? Yes. Does this imply somehow that Canadians are now more proud about Canada? I don't think so. We've always been excited about who we are and were we come from. I think the fact that Canadian athletes are actually competent in most sports now is simply a way to show it. I mean, in all honesty, who wouldn't want to get a bit rowdy after a few beers while watching curling?
As for how this relates to patriotism in Montreal in the summer of '76, I don't know, things in the 70s were pretty whack.
I agree with Phil.
Calgary's a shithole.
Glad to see we're all on the same page, Calgary is a shithole and the 70's were so whack that they should never be spoken of.
Speaking of coverage, I'm only now starting to watch Stephen Colbert's episodes at the Olympics.
So far, so hilarious.
Janesy, what are you complaining about on the facebook machine, presumably regarding your school?
So, phil, to sum up, Canada has merely transitioned to a new micro-level of sports-related patriotism? Sounds reasonable to me. Wayyyy too nuanced for CTV.
Speaking of CTV, was there a lot of Seamus O'reagan? I really hope so.
the thing that has blown me away is the "controversy" over Own The Podium. Journalists are such hacks these days. They're twisting that to mean some really terrible arrogance, when it's really just hyperbole ("we own you, mofos" etc.). Maybe the closing ceremony philosophy was right: Canadian culture is so unknown outside the country that we're just a thousand stereotypes. Because obviously "politeness" is tied at the core of the way the world sees us. Ridiculous.
Not that the closing ceremony added any counter to the stereotypes. Flying beavers. . .
Now, Janes tell us about your flying beaver. Why the school rage?
What about Huddle Fever? We still got that?
a fine question, Mr. Hinchey, a fine question indeed.
Did anyone else catch Arribas on "One Chef One Critic" the other night, with segments interspersed with Mary Pratt? When Carl wasn't chewing he was saying annoying things.
I still got the holyrood huddle fever.
Yeah, I'll have to check out that segment, Hinchey...wonder if they broadcast online?
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