The Olympic Hangover Begins

With the dust settling from the 2010 games, I can see from here that the enormous Canada flag has been taken down from Athlete's Village, Abbott Street appears as though it may be hours away from being open to through traffic, and I suspect that at least in Vancouver - if not nation wide - there has been a record level of absenteeism this morning; there is little doubt that Canada brought it's Eh! game to Vancouver over the past two and a half weeks.

There was much political anxiety leading up to the games; protesters variously got their message out, looked like fools, caused despicable violence and for the most part shortly sat down and shut up.  The "Olympic Tent Village" (Heard of it?  Yeah, it didn't get much attention after their first night.) is visible from the window where I sit and write this.  Last night the police were well in evidence around them.  I bet the protestors will tell you the police were holding them back...  I suspect the police were in fact making sure somone was there to protect them.  Had the protesters even tried to raise their voice anywhere near Robson and Granville last night they probably would have been torn limb from limb - if the ecstatic crowd could have been convinced to look.

We should never forget the luge tragedy that preceeded the opening ceremonies, but neither that tragedy, nor the death of a VANOC bus driver, nor the loss of Joannie Rochette's mother should dampen the overall sense of Canadian victory that has been sparked by the 2010 games.  As it stands, they have all made up part of the greater narrative that has concluded gloriously.

Premature declarations from Blighty that the Vancouver games were the "worst games ever"; scoffing from competing countries about Canada's "jingoistic arrogance" and "pathetic, ineffectiveness" (most loudly from Americans); and grumpy Russians, unhappy that things weren't going their way, only served to spur Canada onwards defiantly.

John Furlong's clunky French could not deflate the power of his words.  I haven't personally had much to say for his ability to speak publically.  His opening ceremonies speech was dull and cliched, but he could not have said it better last night when he defined our golden bookends: "Alexandre, your first Gold Medal gave us all permission to feel like and behave like champions. Our last one will be remembered for generations."  The narrative of Bilodeau's medal winning performance was fantastic on the day - our first gold medal on Canadian soil.  How naive we were.  Before the dust had settled we would have heard our anthem played more times than any country in these or any winter games, and that last gold medal... "Henderson Scores!" is no longer the call behind the greatest goal in our country's history.

From my apartment in Gastown, these games were a success.  Listening to my firends who were working on the inside, they were a success.  Walking down Granville Street last night before and after the closing ceremonies - there is little doubt that the people who came to Vancouver and those who merely "came downtown" thought it was a success.

People came to Canada during these games and we brought Canada to the world.

We opened the games by showing the world the Canada that truly is.  The one that lives behind the cliches.  We kicked a lot of sporting ass during the games - I shant belabour that point more than I already have elsewhere.  By any report I have seen, we were excellent hosts.  And when all was said and done, we winked.  From bringing out Catriona LeMay Doane to (finally) light her pillar of the olympic cauldron, to the over-the-top march of Canadian iconography with the cliche's literally inflated to absurd proportions we demonstrated one of the greatest of Canadian cliches - we don't really take ourselves that seriously.

Yeah, I cringe at the oatmealy uninterestingness of Nickleback; Avril Lavigne is only a little ahead of the curve for her category of teener-pop; and K-OS is not my kind of music at all... but honestly, I have to recognize that Spirit of the West, Rush and The Hip would have been seen as 'old hat.'  Neil Young did a fine job of filling the rock dinosaur hole.  Indeed, I've never much liked Neil Young, but he was perfect last night.

The numbers will follow.  No doubt there will be reports about how the grotesque over-spending is going to take years to recover from.  It may be true.  But I don't think there can be any doubt that these games have been far more successful than could have been expected.  We may even look back in future years at the recession that made the lead up to these games so financially painful and declare that in the long run, the success of the games gave us a leg-up in the slow climb out.  I am no economist.  This could go either way, but had you asked me before the games, I would have not have been able to tell you with a straight face that a positive outcome was financially possible.

Vancouver, Whistler and Richmond respectively will get the direct legacy of the Athlete's Village, the Sliding Centre, the Olympic Centre and the Oval; as well as the various other indirect items that were piggy-backed onto the games - the Canada Line, the new Sea-to-Sky highway, the Vancouver Convention Centre.  It's going to be a long time before our taxes catch up with those.  But, I doubt Vancouver (and by extension, Canadian) tourism could possibly have benefited more, both immediately or in the long term. 

Canadian sport will never be the same.  If you'll forgive the allusion, Calgary was a shot in the arm, but Vancouver will be a full-on massive steroid program.  Children who were inspired by Calgary Games athletes competed here and won.  In the years to come we will see the effects of this Olympics on our youth. 

Canadian spirit has shifted too.  I don't know that there is any price that can be put upon a feeling of pride in your country.  May we maintain a sense of humility as we move forward, but the patriotism displayed on the streets of Vancouver since February 12th feels very very good.  That may be why Neil Young was so perfect last night.  "Long May You Run."

How's that "How's that 'own the podium' initiative working out, Canada?" snarkiness working out for you Brian?

The cherry on the cake.

And really, even without the cherry, it was pretty great cake.

The Only Card in Vancouver

This occurred to me the other day, and watching the curling - the commercials, specifically - just now reminded me.

You may know that Visa is the official credit card of the 2010 Olympic games.  If you are watching the games, Morgan Freeman is reminding you every 20 minutes.

It really is the only card.  Not even debit is usable in olympic venues.  Even theATMs will only take Visa cash advances.  I grudgingly conceed the credit card sponsorship thing, but extending it right down to ATMs seems a bit extreme to me.  At least they still take cash, so planning will avoid the issue for anyone who feels the need to fight the power... mind you I suppose those sorts aren't going to the events anyhow.

Back to Morgan Freeman; that is the thought I had that I wanted to share....

Is it my imagination, or does the wording and phrasing at the end of the commercials seem to subtly imply that indeed there is no other card accepted in the city?

"The only card accepted at Vancouver [insert tiny enjambed pause] 2010 Olympic Games."*

It's that tiny pause and the eschewing of the gramatically obliged "the" that do it for me.  I know it's mostly imaginary, but now that I've heard it I can't not notice it.

*Despite my wrye comment about Morgan Freeman coming on every 20 minutes, it's not true & to make matters more difficult, there are other variations of the commercial.  It took me forever to be listening when the right one came on so I could fact check my quote.

Bilod-AU!!!

A short one this time...

I admit that I leapt to my feet shouting victoriously when Alexandre Bilodeau won Canada it's first Olympic Gold on home soil, but a day later...

It's really nothing more than a Gold - cool and pride worthy as it is.  More than anything its a monkey off our national back.  I even felt pretty much inevitable that it would happen during these games - or is that just me?  Its good it happened early in the games so that one more level of pressure is off our athletes.

A couple of side bars:

It was almost as sweet to see that prick Dale Begg-Smith pout his Silver medal win.  What a knob.

As of this writing, we have four medals in three (still incomplete) days - which is roughly on track to tieing our biggest medal count.  That is slightly misleading as more medals get awarded later in the competition.

You are a bunch of fucking ass-hats, not "Heart Attacks."

Well, that didn't take long.

Morning of day one and the protestors got violent.

What the fuck do they really think they are accomplishing?  Their message - such as it was - has now been entirely undermined by the extremist approach.

Yesterday I went down to Victory Square to see part of the last of the Torch Relay.  Protestors blocked the runner shouting "No Olympics on Stolen Native Lands" - which is such a load of crap, these protestors have apparently not heard of the four host nations... who all agreed to the olympics. 

The police handled things well.  They simply lined up between the procession and the protestors and the relay went around their sit-in... as the runner went past me (I overheard the police plans and thus was able to reposition myself very well), it became apparent that by design (having forseen the likelihood of a protest of this manner at that location) or accident the torch bearer at that location was in fact a particularly jubilant native fellow.  It rather undermined the protest's weight - even if it was a valid complaint.

Yesterday's protestors looked kind of foolish, but they were nothing worse than that.

I believe that protest absolutely can be valid.  But as soon as you are stepping on the rights of others - doing harm to them or their property - you are crossing a line.  That happened this morning.

A group of protesters passed under our window this morning - marching up Hastings St.  As they got to the intersection of Abbott, a by-stander who stepped up and shouted back at the protestors.  What was shouted was inaudible at the 24th floor.  A black-clad protestor actually pushed the man down to the street.  The police at that time did nothing.  I assume this was the same group that would eventually break windows downtown and that can be seen in the video linked above.

Actions like this deflate the opportunity of all protests to have an effect.  Anarchy is NOT an effective platform for change.  It is merely a process for unthinking reactionaries to demonstrate their lack of appreciation for the democracy they do have.

Here is what I have to say to the protestors:
Yes, you have the right to dissent.  You do not have a right to hurt other people or their property. If you really had the courage of your convictions you'd protest with your face, not a balaclava.  If you aren't willing to stand behind your actions you should really take a good look inward at your motivations.  From where I stand you look like a bunch of punks who want an excuse to break stuff, not like anyone who really wants to be taken seriously.  If you are so smart that you are convinced you are right, then you ought to be smart enough to make your argument in a cogent fashion that doesn't require violence.  Your approach is no different than that of school-yard bullies.  You want the world to know that this is your world too, but in the process you are forgetting that it is OURS too.  In so doing you separate yourslf from those of us who you could have counted as allies in a valid cause in a legititimate demonstration.  But as it stands, I will kindly request that you get the fuck off my side.

UPDATE:  Here is the VPD's take on the incident.   and... Lot's of Pictures