So the Olympics are over...
 

i can't believe the amount of money and bullshit involved for a 17 day sporting event. wow. 7 years of living with endless construction, huge rise in cost of living, and all the never ending politics and hype... and now we are going to get hit with a deflation in property value (at least in Whistler). Vancouverites, are you happy it's over?

I will never understand Olympic hysteria. If people actually cared about these sports, they'd be popular, commercially successful sports in their own right.


So what's the next HYPE?

Is there a day, one day, in the year when the Sports Machine is not cradling its balls and crooning?

I know, I KNOW! March Madness. Favorable business climate.

are the homeless let back in or are they still in some camp somewhere?

I dont live there, but I'm sad they're over so soon. I look forward to the Olympics whenever and whereever they are. Watching Curling and Hurdles are not everyday interests of mine, but watching our athletes compete and win on a world stage in whatever competition is a thrill.

Maybe you had to grow up when the world was much larger than it is today in order to appreciate why people make such a big deal over the games.

I thought Vancouver did a great job. I hope they get a big economic boost from the Olympic bump.

finaly, lets see some sales back again

maybe its going to be affordable to get a nice place in van now :)

I never actually watched 1 minute of it on the tv. None of it interests me really. Some of the "sports" at it just seem ridiculous to me...

+1 exactly

I DVR'd as much as possible then would normally fall asleep to it at night and flip it back on when I woke up heh. I love the winter and summer Olympics. Anything thats only every 4 years and features the best athletes in the world is worth watching. :)

I dident even know they had started :(

glad its over

I'm in Toronto. I don't really lose money because Olympics happens. I think I'm not effected.

dude, i went to many of the events, in person. i'm not saying i didn't like them lol, i'm saying unless you've been here and lived it, you can't help but have a public relations, myoptic sqewed view of them, due to the all powerful IOC. the olympics are not exactly the same thing as you see on your tv. there are 3 fucking security fences directly out side my home, and around 100 security cameras in the first 100 feet of my home. they closed our gondola (the entire reason i bought a place so close to the mountain), and installed a super ugly lift to bring spectators to viewing areas for the alpine events. 24 hour police and military, it really is like living in a police state. driving has been a nightmare for years, the construction on the highway, well, i can no longer remember a time when there wasn't delays, pylons and construction. they mowed down several entire forests and paved them. have taken away all free public parking (and it's not coming back). it's nice everyone enjoyed it, but i for one am damn happy it over. of course there is still the paralympic events, but it should be much more chilled out. i'm looking forward to going to some of them as well. /rant lol

I've always wondered what happens to these olympic villages in the time after the events are gone...

what the hell were all the protests about? I heard it was over native land being used for some of the events or something, but i also saw a lot of native support in both the opening and closing events so it couldn't have been that 'tragic' Was there something else going on that i didn't see in the news or what?

Ugh, what a mess! Well I hope they restore some of the reason it was chosen in the first place. I would imagine that's always a challenge for the host city. Kind of hard to unmake parking lots though, that sucks.

I can understand why they were so interested in pushing the summer Olympics to happen in the most unsuitable city summer Olympics could ever happen - Prague.

The traffic overload can't get much worse, total renovation of all the sports venues required, major construction projects required etc.

But there are masters in making a part of any budget disappear without a trace around here, simply lots of kickbacks opportunities to rise the reasonable price for a suitable 10 - 15 pct. to reach the proposed "budget" numbers. No one would care about the hole it would burn, since those pushing it would be those keeping the money.

Fortunately, it didn't work out, it was just too absurd for the Olympic commitee, seems there still exists some form of common sense on the international level.

I'm with you on this one Quiet - the games have become so commercial, not like in the old days that once an athlete went pro he/she couldn't compete any more. I'm pretty sure the IOC rescinded that one so that they could draw in bigger crowds with the "pro" athletes.

I kind of agree, but it got a bit ridiculous when the best in the world at their sports could no longer compete just because they were good enough to get paid to do what they do.

Congrats to Canada! :thumbsup

How dead is Vancouver today? :1orglaugh

yes i am..

Quiet how much was it to see the events? Was there like a all you can eat type pass or a "per event" type option?

I do understand your point Elli, but when the pros come back there are that many less spots for the up an coming atheletes. The new atheletes are the ones that need the exposure.

I'm not a huge fan of the Winter Olympics but the Vancouver games were probably the best yet.

I could not agree more. I've been to an Olympics in the past, I know full well how it changes a city/community and not always for everyone's best interest, BUT... in my opinion it's worth it. Extra security? tough, it's needed. The last thing Canada would want is to have the games ruined on our soil or have another "Munich" happen here. It's always better to have too much rather than too little secuity.

I watched upwards of 90% of the events this time, if not live then on VOD through my cable provider. Loved every minute of it.

The games -- huge undertaking, yes
huge expenditure, absolutely
massive crowds + huge international influx of people to your city, indeed

... but eveyone I've talked to who went has agreed it was so worth it.

I'm not going through Olympic withdrawal.

olympic withdrawl? more like post-olympic euphoria lol.

nah, you had to pay ala carte (one event at a time). my girl works for Intrawest (which owns Whistler/Blackcomb), so we got quite a few free tickets to the events (men's luge, women's super combined, men's downhill, women's slalom, cross country). we also got free tickets to several awards ceremonies, saw devo, blue rodeo, bare naked ladies, usher. they run anywhere from a hundred bucks to thousands depending on the event and the viewing area. of course the hockey (we avoided vancouver as it's such a pain in the ass to get around a couple of blocks here, let alone heading to van) was out of sight expensive. they were selling tickets for 5K+ for the gold game.

I'm kind of bummed out the olympics are over! Man the last 17 days were awesome! I have to say that the NBC coverage (and most of the USA coverage for that matter) was kind of horrible. The CTV coverage was incredible and the analysts were great on pretty much every event.

I think these olympics unified a nation (without that sounding to hokey). The spirit across the country in Toronto is incredible and everyone is on a high because of it. It's nice to see that Canada pulled out all the golds at the end and walked away from the games not only as a financial winner.

Quiet I'm sure in a few months good old creekside will return to it's previous glory and all your pothead hippy friends will return LOL! ;-)

most medals USA!!!!!!!!

http://i48.tinypic.com/105wjzd.jpg

lol. just fucking with yah!

glad they finally got a gold in the WO.

lol, yeah, there were actual warnings about not to buy pot during the olympics as you would almost be gaurranted to get arrested. yep, 14 golds is one hell of an accomplishment, will be hard to top. for sure ctv was way better than the american coverage.

Shit, I meant to say I am NOW going through Olympic withdrawals.

:Oh crap

"They" who? Canada has won gold before at the winter Olympics, just never on our own soil.

It's a pretty sickening orgy of money and corruption. I fucking hate Jacques Rogge and the IOC...I have family in Beijing and the things we saw there...

The thing I really hate is how the IOC has it all branded as being some sort of humanitarian and noble experience. It's a fucking colossal business, nothing more.

Thank god it's over, I fell like I can breathe again.

Didn't spend not even one minute watching those bullshits

I wish there would of been better coverage. IMO, NBC did a horrible job at this and their online video was shit.

If they Olympics ever came to my area, I would move. I had friends that lived near previous Olympic spots and said it fucked everything up... all food, hotels, entertainment went through the roof. Bars seemed to double their prices overnight

cant really blame them tho, if i was having some 10 million people in my area, I would milk it for everything its worth

i thought the Russian anthem in the closing ceremonies was awesome ...

Yup.

Kind of reminds me of some of those songs the Klingons sing on Star Trek. :D

Sporting events that no one outside Olympic nerds really gives 2 shits about either. Curling? Mens figure skating? LMAO

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

If by "dead" you mean "hung over".... :)

I'm not happy it's over... that was an amazing 2 weeks..