One day later you're probably already sick of the Olympics, but here is my collection of parting thoughts--good and bad--on Vancouver's games.
1. It's not about you guys in suits. VANOC CEO John Furlong opened and closed the games with extremely long speeches that would've put a Red Bull addict to sleep, marked by some of the worst French I've heard since Stockwell Day ran for prime minister. I realize he poured his life into this venture, but, dude, ease off a little--we see ya. It ain't your show. As for IOC president Jacques Ragge, his egomaniacal need to appear anytime someone muttered the word "Olympics" like he invented the games is so petty I think he needs a lesson in humility from some of the athletes. Both of these gentlemen appear to need a reminder as to who these games are for.
2. Own the Podium. Call me ignorant, but I missed the fine print: I thought the goal of this program was to have our best Games ever, not to win it all. So when Chris Ridge--another camera-hog in Armani--threw in the towel half-way, I was pretty disgusted. Sure, maybe it worked as reverse-psychology, but it came off as a set of misplaced priorities. Fourteen gold, there, Chris. Even if I were to believe that winning is everything, I'd say that the Yanks may own the pode, but we've helped ourselves to the top tier.
3. The Weather. I was amused by an article I read that criticized the games early on: "If you're going to host the Winter Games, please ensure you get winter." Funny, but thankfully it improved. How are we going to perpetuate a stereotype if the igloos keep melting?
4. What it's all about. When North Vancouverite Maelle Ricker was set to mount the awards podium at Whistler, the Swiss bronze-medallist Olivia Nobs waved her hands to work the the hometown crowd into a roar for their girl-done-good. 100% class, kid. Somebody get Nobs to teach a course to Dale Begg-Smith.
5. Curling. I know how to curl--it's mandatory in Saskatchewan--but I've never really enjoyed it. I guess it's taken on a huge following this time out--the boys on Wall Street were hooked on it as soon as trading ended, riveted by the "chess on ice." I've always believed that curling is like golf: anything my grandpa can best me at shouldn't be a sport. And thanks to the Norwegian team's wardrobe, the two sports are that much more comparable.
6. He's everywhere! Yes he should be making an appearance, but did Stephen Harper really need a ticket to everything? Especially when he's under heavy criticism for his choice to prorogue Parliament for most of the winter? He made sure he was seen with Wayne Gretzky a lot, which to me looked like currying favour with sports-fan voters. Or maybe Gretzky's our next senator . . .
7. Jon Montgomery. Had I known there was a sport where you could be named after He-Man's nemesis, I never would've finished high school. Jon Montgomery's celebration--strutting out of the gondola to chug a pitcher of beer on the streets of Whistler--after winning the gold in skeleton earned from me the utterance: "Now that's Canadian."
8. Hockey. The rest of the world quipped: "It's just a hockey tournament to Canada." I cringed, because I am the first hockey fan to remind people about the other athletes, even the curlers. That being said, it's this country's favourite sport. Nobody knocks the Austrians for tuning in by the million for downhill skiing, or the Norwegians for skipping work to cheer on their super-human biathletes. We love hockey in Canada, and this tourney--both the men's and women's--was, as they say in cheesy sports lingo, "one for the ages." My friend Hayley was adorned with her fourth Olympic medal, her third straight gold--and even though I really haven't got much good to say about him, the PM had her jersey on at the game. According to CBC Radio this morning, 20 million of us will always remember where we were when Sidney Crosby scored in overtime. Me? Somewhere in the air between couch and coffee table.
9. CTV/TSN. I'm a CBC man, but the commentators--especially CBC-trained Brian Williams--held up admirably for seventeen days. The exceptions: the air-filling morning crews and the dunder-heads at TSN. Canada AM was rife with navel-gazing and celebrity-oogling, with comments like, "We need to cheer more like the Americans," and the treatment of Ben Mulroney as if he's a credible journalist. Shameful. And having the likes of Bob Mckenzie, Pierre McGuire and Nick Kypreos delivering commentary on the hockey tournament did a number to the Olympics' world-class credibility. C'mon, hire some decent journalists--it's the OLYMPICS!
10. Ceremonies. I liked the tongue-in-cheek closer the best, but I think the artistic display of these two ceremonies added veracity to the statement that these were "Canada's Games." People are still talking about K.D. Lang's performance, and that whole beaver/lumberjack/Mountie/Buble schmoozle was genius. I was most moved by my hero Neil Young's rendition of "Long May You Run"--NERD ALERT: it's a song about a dead car, played across the street from GM Place; there are no coincidences. Seeing the old hippie caused me--yet again--to ruminate on the trouble I've had being socially-conscious but an Olympic fan at the same time.
I became a bit of an Olympic junky, I'll admit. I'm glad they're over, and as a hockey fan I'm most looking forward to four years of "Yay!" rather than four years of so-called analysts debating what went wrong again. Yay, home.
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