I just wanted to briefly comment on the Vancouver games because I'm furious at the way people are behaving. This is being written by a non-sports fan, just so you know. I did used to ski a lot when I was younger, though, and my brother was even on the ski patrol.
Canadian sports fans, you're embarrassing me.
At first, our hope was to win one gold medal, since Canada hadn't won a gold at either of the games we previously hosted - summer games in Montreal in 1976 (which was when lotteries came into being, they were so in debt they legalized lottery games for that one time only lol) and winter sports in Calgary in 1988.
Alexandre Bilodeau won the first gold medal for Canada with a jaw-dropping performance in men's moguls. Everybody was happy and excited and proud of this charming young athlete who had finally broken our bum record.
Then the whining started.
Media talking heads began irresponsibly hyping every event and every Canadian athlete as a shoe-in for a medal. When that didn't occur, the tone changed to 'What happened? What went wrong?'.
Nothing went wrong, you wankers, real life got in the way. This isn't a video game or a movie set where you do 100 takes if need be until you get it right. This is once out of the gate and down the hill or around the rink. As I say, real life.
These kids are playing their hearts out on the hills and ice and I certainly hope they are ignoring the media coverage because it's disgusting.
The culmination, for me, was when I read on the front page of last Saturday's Toronto Star that we were promised lots of medals and it wasn't happening, so everything sux. Waaah. Melissa Hollingsworth was supposed to get gold in Skeleton and she only got 5th place, so OwnThePodium.ca and everybody on the Olympic team are big, fat liars. Waaah.
That article infuriated me, but it got worse.
Melissa Hollingsworth held a press conference to apologize, tearfully outlining how she had let the country down, what a failure she was, etc. She appeared to me to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
I was shouting at the TV "Kid! You're a champ! Placing fifth these days is like placing first! You didn't let the country down. These are games, get it? They're supposed to be fun! Somebody has to place first, somebody has to place fifth. Cut yourself some slack!"
The difference between first place and fifth place in Women's Skeleton was .96 of a second.
Get it?
I think we have a few problems here.
1. The ability to measure distance and time is exact to such minute quantities that it's almost become meaningless. Maybe we should be giving out more medals, expanding to 10th place or something.
2. The human body has obviously not kept up with technology.
3. The over-hyping and phoney patriotism* have put nearly unendurable pressure on the kids competing at the games, especially those representing Canada since we are hosting it. Maybe some of these media wankers who are criticizing people's performances would like to try an event. That's if they can pry their weak, doughnut-eating selves away from their keyboards and actually gear up for some outdoor exercise, which is a big 'if'.
Let's try to retain the spirit of the Olympic games - clean competition by the best athletes each country has to enter (I wonder how the Snow Leopard from Ethiopa is making out?). Let's try cheering for the winners, even those dastardly Americans, who finally beat us at hockey after a 50-year dry spell.
Maybe there's hope for the Leafs after all.
Canadian sports fans, you're embarrassing me.
At first, our hope was to win one gold medal, since Canada hadn't won a gold at either of the games we previously hosted - summer games in Montreal in 1976 (which was when lotteries came into being, they were so in debt they legalized lottery games for that one time only lol) and winter sports in Calgary in 1988.
Alexandre Bilodeau won the first gold medal for Canada with a jaw-dropping performance in men's moguls. Everybody was happy and excited and proud of this charming young athlete who had finally broken our bum record.
Then the whining started.
Media talking heads began irresponsibly hyping every event and every Canadian athlete as a shoe-in for a medal. When that didn't occur, the tone changed to 'What happened? What went wrong?'.
Nothing went wrong, you wankers, real life got in the way. This isn't a video game or a movie set where you do 100 takes if need be until you get it right. This is once out of the gate and down the hill or around the rink. As I say, real life.
These kids are playing their hearts out on the hills and ice and I certainly hope they are ignoring the media coverage because it's disgusting.
The culmination, for me, was when I read on the front page of last Saturday's Toronto Star that we were promised lots of medals and it wasn't happening, so everything sux. Waaah. Melissa Hollingsworth was supposed to get gold in Skeleton and she only got 5th place, so OwnThePodium.ca and everybody on the Olympic team are big, fat liars. Waaah.
That article infuriated me, but it got worse.
Melissa Hollingsworth held a press conference to apologize, tearfully outlining how she had let the country down, what a failure she was, etc. She appeared to me to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
I was shouting at the TV "Kid! You're a champ! Placing fifth these days is like placing first! You didn't let the country down. These are games, get it? They're supposed to be fun! Somebody has to place first, somebody has to place fifth. Cut yourself some slack!"
The difference between first place and fifth place in Women's Skeleton was .96 of a second.
Get it?
I think we have a few problems here.
1. The ability to measure distance and time is exact to such minute quantities that it's almost become meaningless. Maybe we should be giving out more medals, expanding to 10th place or something.
2. The human body has obviously not kept up with technology.
3. The over-hyping and phoney patriotism* have put nearly unendurable pressure on the kids competing at the games, especially those representing Canada since we are hosting it. Maybe some of these media wankers who are criticizing people's performances would like to try an event. That's if they can pry their weak, doughnut-eating selves away from their keyboards and actually gear up for some outdoor exercise, which is a big 'if'.
Let's try to retain the spirit of the Olympic games - clean competition by the best athletes each country has to enter (I wonder how the Snow Leopard from Ethiopa is making out?). Let's try cheering for the winners, even those dastardly Americans, who finally beat us at hockey after a 50-year dry spell.
Maybe there's hope for the Leafs after all.
*
*I say phoney because people are singing the national anthem (off key, of course) and aren't standing. Shows a lack of familiarity with protocol. Screaming zt the top of our lungs isn't the usual way we show patriotism in Canada, folks. And the whining? Don't get me started. Try toning it down a bit, will you?
On the upside, all these newly minted patriotic Canadians might actually start to realize what a fantastic country this is. That could mean they'd start paying attention to what slimeball politicians such as the McGuinty Liberals are doing to erode their rights. They might even make a fuss, maybe even vote them out of office.
Yeah, I know, I'm a dreamer.
On the upside, all these newly minted patriotic Canadians might actually start to realize what a fantastic country this is. That could mean they'd start paying attention to what slimeball politicians such as the McGuinty Liberals are doing to erode their rights. They might even make a fuss, maybe even vote them out of office.
Yeah, I know, I'm a dreamer.
Yeah, but this sort of thing happens -every single time-. Its nothing new. It may seem worse because of the home soil, but all you have to do is look back over the years and youll spot the pattern.
Posted by: unknown | Feb 22, 2010 at 07:00 PM
Yer back!!!
Ive managed to totally avoid the Olympics, haha. The media are foul, they turn on a person faster than an Ontario Lie-beral.
This is Soche, who cannot remember the login for your blog! Sheesh, the mind is failing.
Posted by: unknown | Feb 25, 2010 at 07:00 PM
I know one Champion, that could take the gold everytime. Her dedication & persistance is next to none!
Too bad, Dog Warrior is not the medal list. U is back! YEA!
Who needs the Olympics now, the race to end BSL is now GAME ON!
Posted by: unknown | Feb 26, 2010 at 07:00 PM
Glad to see you back girl! Hang in there, we are all sending you good thoughts.
And may I say that when it comes to WHINING, the good ol USA will always take the Gold in THAT category!! You canuks are tremendously good sports by comparison! Not that that is saying that much... :-)
Posted by: unknown | Feb 26, 2010 at 07:00 PM
I hope Canada comes out on top in Gold, just so you guys can grow a little international spine, as you said, and get credit for being more than just a US suburb who still sort of respects that whole Queen thing.
Down here in the US, the coverage is all about quantity, not quality, and our announcers were giddy ... totally giddy ... about Canada not living up to the "own the podium" back when America had 2 good days in a row and a _seemingly_ insurmountable Gold medal count (we horribly assumed that Vonn and Ohno, et al, were going to get all gold all the time).
It was pathetic. Im an American Patriot, but the coverage was so bogus that we were overlooking our legitimate stars who didnt medal and those who unexpectedly did for the over-hyped athletes who already have endorsement deals, etc.
This has been an amazing Olympics for Canada and America, and the current blather about "damn it, they have more Gold than we do, but we have more medals!! (mind you these are both amazing feats)" is so tiresome.
Posted by: unknown | Feb 27, 2010 at 07:00 PM
Hey Chris,
The only people who think Canada is a US suburb are Americans - who are known for not getting out much.
Lets not forget WWI started in 1914, and WWII started in 1939 - not 1942.
I get it, though, theres way too much whining about medals instead of focusing on fantastic athletes - from all countries.
Cant wait for the hockey game today. You guys knew we had to let you win that other game or you wouldnt have advanced, right? We wanted to keep it in the family for the gold medal game, thats all :>)
Posted by: unknown | Feb 27, 2010 at 07:00 PM
Congratulations on the big win and on taking the most gold. This was truly North Americas best Winter Olympics ever and Canada did the heavy lifting.
It amazes me how many international people dont appreciate how big this is. Ive seen many anti-American posts belittling the total medal count... clearly people who dont know that America has never ever won this honor nor come close.
Same with Canada winning the most golds ever. Anyone who has looked at the historical WO results will see just how significant this is. I think if you asked anyone a few years ago if Canada would ever win the winter olympics, few if any would say yes.
Posted by: unknown | Mar 13, 2010 at 07:00 PM
Hey I hope you get back to writing soon, I miss seeing new posts in my feed reader.
Ive moved the blog to: http://www.astraean.com/borderwars/
Stop over and leave me a note when you update your link so I can add you to my new blog roll.
Cheers!
Posted by: unknown | Dec 11, 2010 at 07:00 PM