Looking Back: Olympic Thoughts

With the completion of the Vancouver Winter Olympics [insert here worried glancing from side to side in expectation of VANOC legal goons] I thought I would follow the general trend by sharing some of my thoughts on the events of the past two weeks. So here are 'Tyler's Top Ten Thoughts on the Olympics'...

10. John Furlong's French: Oh, that poor, poor man. I know that Canada has two official languages and they both need to be included in the ceremonies, but does HE need to speak both? I've heard some pretty sad French in my time (some of it coming from me), but his takes the cake. He is a brave man to butcher the French language in front of the entire world.

9. Fun with Stereotypically Canadian Icons: Giant beavers, flying moose, dancing mounties, and jolly voyageurs carrying canoes. It was all in good jest and generally entertaining. One of the best parts of a all around lackluster closing ceremony. Though, Neil Young and Alanis Morrisette were also very good.

8. Canadian Patriotism: I'm not much of a patriot myself, but the sight of Canadians actually showing pride in, and excitement about, their nation was enjoyable. A normally rare sight indeed.

7. Downtown Vancouver: There was a fun, safe, positive, and even electric atmosphere on every corner. Yes, there were obscene line-ups, but good times were everywhere and at times high-fives from strangers were free. Great job playing safe folks.

6. The Weather: Wow! I cannot get over how beautiful the weather was. Sure, not really well-suited for the 'winter' Olympics, but man is Vancouver (and the Fraser Valley) gorgeous.

5. Grossly self-aggrandizing Speeches: Oh, look, it's another speech about how wonderful the Olympics are. Make me gag! By the end of the opening ceremonies, I swear, if I had to listen to another comment from Jacques Rogge about how the olympic athletes are models for us to emulate (or as he put it: "show us how to do good", whatever the hell that means) or how great the Olympics are because they better humanity and bring us together, I would have vomited. Okay, I'll leave it there; probably better not to offend a large portion of those reading this.

4. Curling: Yes, the game is still a mystery to many of us, but it sure is fun to watch. Anytime there is that much curling to watch on television, I'm a happy camper (eg. Brier, Tournament of Hearts, Olympics).

3. A Ready Excuse to Visit Friends/Family (who coincidentally have televisions): When my wife and I called up friends or family to come watch an upcoming event, they didn't even question it. Obviously, since we don't have a television, it makes perfect sense that we'd try to watch it somewhere. Fools! Little did they expect that secretly we wanted to come and enjoy their company.

2. Zach Parise's Tying Goal: Okay, now I'm sure to offend. But with 25 seconds left and the taste of victory ripe on Canadian tongues across our fair nation, this man did the unthinkable. Imagine when the news of the fall of Rome stunned people across the empire back in 410AD... yeah, that's about how his goal hit us. It certainly gave pause to our pomposity, took some sway from our swagger, and brought low our bravado. That's a healthy thing now and again. And, it sure made for an exciting finish.

1. First Nations Involvement: I was very glad to see the respect and place of importance given to the Native people of Canada during the opening ceremonies and throughout. And those drums... that beating stirs something deep in me.


0. The End of It All: Thought it was fun while it lasted, I'm very glad it's over.