2010 Winter Olympics Thread

[Baraka_Guru]

Originally Posted by IdeoFunk

The only thing I reckon that will be for certain is that both teams will be revved to the max

Every person in that building will be revved to the max. Right at the drop of the puck at the opening faceoff.

[silent_jay]

Another gold in men's curling today, and Jasey Jay Anderson got one in snowboarding, we're up to 13 gold and 25 medals overall, with another gold coming tomorrow in hockey, been a very productive Olympics for the Canadian athletes.
Best pants of the games ever.

Edit: Finland takes bronze, more Slovak pressure at the end of the game, but they just couldn't pull it off.

[IdeoFunk]

Well I'm off to grab a seat in a pub for this bad boy..... who knows maybe I'll one or two of you downtown if everything turns out okay.

[Baraka_Guru]

We just opened up the scoring on them Yanks.

[silent_jay]

2-0 Canada, they're rolling now.....

What about that bullshit hacking at Louie a good 5 seconds after the whistle blew by Langenbrunner, you can tell there's no fighting in international hockey, the yanks are playing like they have a set in front of the net suddenly.

[shalafi]

Ummm make that 2 - 1

[silent_jay]

Yep, 2-1, and I have no idea why Mcguire is saying that was a 'hard one to stop because Kessel or Kessler touched it', Louie should have had that one, the amount of distance between Kessel or Kessler and Luongo wasn't enough to change direction drastically.

OT coming up, fuckin hell......

[Leto]

A whole nation just said 'Fuck'.

[silent_jay]

You heard that too? Echoed all the way from Hockey Place to Nfld.....

Weber or Nash is going to get the winner.......

GOLD medal, Crosby comes through in the clutch, what a fuckin game......

[snowy]

Wow. Quite a game. Well done, Canada.

[shalafi]

Wow I'm spent just from watching that

[Baraka_Guru]

Our game.

Our golden Olympics.

[silent_jay]

First point for Crosby in 3 games, I'm not a fan of the kid, but damn he sure came through when it mattered most.

[rahl]

Congrats Canadians. I'm sure glad Crosby is a Penguin!!!

[Baraka_Guru]

Sitting pretty at 14 gold medals, Canada now holds the record for the most gold-medal wins in the Winter Olympics.

[silent_jay]

Looks like Chris Rudge should be feeling like a right twat after saying Own the Podium would fail and was out of reach, we may not have won the most medals, but the most golds record sure seems like a win to me.

[Baraka_Guru]

Definitely a win. That gold-medal record has been around since the '70s, I think. That in itself is a feat worth celebrating. Canada should be proud of its achievements. Not to mention the Olympic records in more than one event that were broken as well.

[Charlatan]

Getting up at 4:30am to watch the game was oh so worth it!

Gold for Canada.

Thank you Team USA! That was an awesome game. Well played.

I just wish I was down on Yonge Street with the rest of the Yahoos.

[Baraka_Guru]

Originally Posted by Charlatan

I just wish I was down on Yonge Street with the rest of the Yahoos.

The yahoos are as far north as Eglinton. Flag bearers are on the sidewalks and in cars alike. Horns honking, yahoos ya-hooing.

[Fremen]

Superb game!
Congratulations, Canada!

I'm glad Miller showed up in the closing ceremonies with his head held high, and smiling. He did an excellent job in keeping most of the shots at bay.

The thing that kinda surprised me, was the number of broken hockey sticks throughout the tournament.
I thought they were more sturdy than that.
Goes to show you shouldn't base your stick knowledge off of TMNT.

[silent_jay]

It's the new composite sticks, they seem to break at the worst times, and most of the times for no aparent reason, although they're 'supposed' to make your shot harder, I reckon it's all in the players heads, like when aluminum sticks first came out. Give me an old reliable wood stick anyday, the new composite ones just feel weird.

Edit: "That we're a people who know how to make love in a canoe, which is why our healthcare covers splinters."

William Shatner at the closing ceremonies
Best quote of the game.

[Leto]

closing ceremonies. Neil Young just played Long May You Run , and now Bill Shatner is spouting.

Hope he does Rocket Man

[Charlatan]

Shatner!! FUCK.

I wish I was watching this...

[silent_jay]

And Michael Buble, fuckin love Michael Buble. Also us poking fun at ourselves is hilarious, big ass mountie statues, hockey that ends in a fight, hilarious, biggest game of table hockey in the world, is great.

Closing Ceremonies are on here Charlatan.
ATDHE.Net - Watch Free Live Sports TV

[Leto]

ya, he started with, "Hi I'm Bill and I'm proud to be Canadian".

Now Michael Buble is dressed like a mountie, singing Maple Leaf Forever, with a bunch of babes dressed as mounties behind him.

and now there are about 50 dancers dressed as mounties dancing in formations.

Now a bunch of skaters going around to the old HNIC theme.

you should be able to get this on CTV online

oh, it's Peter Puck


by the way, Toronto's downtown is shut down. Yonge & Dundas is a mob scene ever since the end of the hockey game:

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/loc...28?hub=Toronto


eof/

[SecretMethod70]

Yup, these games were a win for Canada and North America as a whole. Canada won the most golds ever, and the US won the most medals ever. Go North America!

[silent_jay]

Evrytime I hear Alanis all I can think of is this

YouTube - Alanis Morissette - Too Hot

YouTube - Alanis Morissette - Too Hot

[SecretMethod70]

wow... I've never seen that before.

[silent_jay]

Haha, it was on her debut album back in 1991, they played it on the radio station back in Ottawa all the time when I was younger, probably one of those wish it would go away moments for Alanis

[Charlatan]

Sadly the CTV website is dead to me. I haven't been able to load video on it for the whole Olympics.

As for the other sites... they are mostly not working. I managed to get the game this morning but that was the first and only time I've managed to get live streaming footage of the Olympics.[COLOR="DarkSlateGray"]

[IdeoFunk]

Wow, I just got back from Yonge St. and it's been crazy there all night. We cruised down from a bar at Yonge and Eg by car right after that amazing, amazing, heartattack-inducing game. The whole of Yonge St was flipping out just minutes after Crosby's goal. I went down to Dundas square eventually after some food, and it was just an awesome time, sure can't remember the last time I sang the Canadian anthem........ but that game was ridiculously though, the comeback goal in the last 20 seconds! I couldn't believe they had 4 on 4 overtimes in the Olympics. That made me so nervous. Still can't remember Crosby's goal as well as I can the celebration! All around great games for Canada

[Radio Monk33]

I live in downtown Vancouver...and what can I say, it's been 2 weeks of madness. Capped off with the craziest celebration this city has ever seen. The streets are full like every man, woman and child in the surrounding cities is here honking, singing and waving flags..

Sad to see it go, but it'll be good for my sleeping habits!

[Leto]

I think the Olympics ended just in time. If heard that annoying "If you Believe" theme song one more time, I was going to snap. That's my only complaint. (if you ignore the British Press and Apollo's sound bites). Does CTV have royalties rights to that song? Every single intro, outro. Not once did i hear the traditional Olympic Fanfare that so hauntingly reminds me of Oh Canada.

NBC did play the Fanfare though, but that network always seemed to be mysteriously absent in its broadcasting. I would flip from CTV, only to find an infommercial on. It seemed that NBC only carried highlight packages.

What I really liked was the way the closing ceremonies conveyed humour. Not sure about you guys, but the Russian presentation was a bit too serious for me. Yes, they have a lot of impressive culture but I think they could take a more light hearted (dare I say fun?) approach. But a fantastic show nonetheless.

My favourite player in the hockey tournament: Ryan Miller. I think he got the tourny MVP as well. That guy is outstanding, and he came to the closing ceremonies. What a class act. I searched all over for more NHL players, but didn't see any, except my wife told me that I just missed Ovechkin. I did see Tretiak tho. Another classy guy.

[Bill O'Rights]

Congratulations Canadians! That was one hell of a gold medal win in hockey. Believe it or not, this American was actually pulling for Canada. In addition to all of your other gold medals, Canada really should pull gold in hockey, right? Oh...sorry, I mean...eh? Watching all of those red maple leaf flags waving almost made me wish I was Canadian. If only it weren't so damn cold up there. Oh, wait...that's right, you guys exported all of your cold and snow to the states this year. Betcha wish you'd have kept some up in Vancouver. See? I told you, earlier this year, to keep it up there.

Congratulations, also, on putting on the best Winter Olympics...ever! Seriously, the Canadians really outdid themselves. The Russians are going to have one hell of a time trying to surpass this one. See you in Sochi.

[silent_jay]

Some more nice thoughts from the Brits and Russian press, maybe the Brits are still pissed about their seizure inducing animation for their games, or there just bitter about the Millenium Wheel, the Russians well they're just bitter all around because of their shitty showing.

Now that it’s over, Canada is looking around like Sally Field, wondering if they like us. Well, do they? Do they?!

That depends. Are you eating borscht right now? Washing it down with vodka? Then, probably not.

Vancouver 2010’s emotional 180 caught some of the world’s press unaware. Our Winter Olympics staggered out of the gate with a fatal tragedy, an embarrassing technical glitch and a series of stuttering starts at the venues.

“Worst Games Ever?” London’s The Guardian wondered on its front page a couple of days in. “Premature” would be the kind way to judge that sort of tabloid grave digging. A two-fingered salute might better capture Canada’s collective response. The Brits jumped on with both feet, and only grudgingly climbed down in the last couple of days – some more grudgingly than others.

A few of the critics were nearly as painful as VANOC CEO John Furlong’s command of French. Russia’s Pravda ripped us early, and, in its own words, it left blowing us “a giant raspberry.” It also accused us of murder, corruption and, worst of all, “insolence.” “Hysterical” does not even begin to cover the tone here.

Many of us used to love Pravda, mainly for the tractor statistics. But it’s going to be hard for Canadians to ever again warm to their strange blend of ruthless totalitarianism and swimsuit shots. Next to them, all the other haters seemed quite reasonable.

“It was a bit too much Canadian, and perhaps not enough international … perhaps, they failed just a little bit,” judged The Guardian’s Lawrence Donegan, who was the one crowing early about “worsts” and “evers.” Little of that by the end, thankfully.

If Donegan was tough but fair, The Times of London’s Rick Broadbentpreferred tough, full-stop:

“Alas, not all of Vancouver's problems can be dismissed with a mime artist. A man died, the weather played havoc with the schedule, a mountain was a near disaster of a venue, and the Olympic flame, a beacon of sport's importance to all, was locked away behind a wire fence. The British media was hammered for reporting this, but it merited it.”

It gets worse. Here’s Broadbent’s colleague, Simon Barnes, the Times’ chief sports writer:

“Canada has not come of age in Vancouver 2010. Canada has regressed into a sneering but ultimately impotent adolescence. It’s been — well, rather unattractive on the whole.”

This is coming from a fifty-something guy with a ponytail, so, whatever.

London, we see you over there, jumping up and down and waving your arms. Sorry we stole your thunder for a while. We’ll quiet down for the next couple of years. That soft, metallic sound you hear is us sharpening our knives.

Our neighbours to the south chose to focus on the uplifting finish, rather than the downbeat start.

On USA Today’s Olympic blog, readers were judging the Vancouver games the best ever.

“Well done, Canada,” the Washington Post wrote. “Now turn out the light.”

Yahoo’s Fourth-Place Medal wrote that these games were “filled with sadness, joy, inspiration and thrills,” calling them a “flawed success.” They also declared that Canada actually finished second in the medal standings, rather than third, thanks to some sabermetric rebalancing of the charts.

We give the Americans an unholy amount of stick, but it’s hard to beat the feeling that one of the spin-off winners after this whole thing is Canada-U.S. relations. The Bush years were tough on our friendship, but throughout these past two weeks, it felt like the Stars and Stripes had our collective back.

Take Bill Plaschke, who makes his living eviscerating people in the L.A. Times’ sports pages. Even this noted curmudgeon ended the games with a moving paean to Canadian kindness.

“Canada, you were gold,” Plaschke summed up, prompting Kobe Bryant to wonder if Plaschke will ease up on him, too. Unlikely, Kobe. You never made Bill’s daughter fall in love. Canada did that.

Sports Illustrated’s in-house conscience, S.L. Price, bet that absence will make the heart grow fonder. “(Canada) made itself known. Here's betting that, come 2014, it will be missed,” Price wrote.

Hear that, Sochi. Better make sure your spiffy ice-rink amphitheatre on the seaside doesn’t flood.

Not that we’re hoping or anything.

Brits, Russians grumble as Games end - Vancouver 2010 Olympics - thestar.com
Why are Brits writing about the winter games anyways, they don't even have enough plows to clear their roads, hell their trains don't even work right in the snow, maybe they should write about the rain olympics, something they actually have a clue about.

[Glory's Sun]

I married a Brit.. she's not as bad as a lot of them, but I do know quite a few that find the smallest things to complain about.

Sochi is going to be boring. Over the top and serious.

About the hockey game, of all fucking people to win it, the goddamn golden boy II. Fuck.

[ASU2003]

Shatner should of done this speech. (Although how Canadians know how to make love in a canoe was pretty funny.)

YouTube - I am Canadian

YouTube - I am Canadian

[Wes Mantooth]

Outstanding game yesterday! Growing up in blustery northern Maine I grew up playing hockey on frozen lakes and have loved the sport ever since. So I'm really glad the US team brought some exposure to the game and made hockey a bit of front page news story here in the States if only for a short time.

Anyway, despite the overall outcome, the last two weeks have been some of the best hockey I've seen in a LOOONG time and I'm rather sorry the whole tournament is over. Worse still as a Bruins fan, I think I'm supposed to go back to hating Miller again but after such a great performance its going to be a lot harder to do next time Boston plays Buffalo.

Big time congrats on the gold there Canada...But I think a best of seven series in order...just sayin'. Kidding, kidding...but wow what a series that would be huh? Anyway that celebration last night looked incredible!

[silent_jay]

Originally Posted by Wes Mantooth

Big time congrats on the gold there Canada...But I think a best of seven series in order...just sayin'. Kidding, kidding...but wow what a series that would be huh? Anyway that celebration last night looked incredible!

A best of seven would be sweet, but then the Russians would want in, although we could call it the North American Summit Series.

[Wes Mantooth]

Originally Posted by silent_jay

A best of seven would be sweet, but then the Russians would want in, although we could call it the North American Summit Series.

That's a pretty good idea, they should postpone the NHL season another week and have it out starting tomorrow! Actually cancel the playoffs this year and have the Stanley cup decided between the US and Canada, how awesome would that be to cap off a year of hockey?