493 replies to this topic

[dolomite133]

If this were Iran, Russia or China someone would be dead right now. Is the fourth column ever coming out? I look forward to watching the Colbert Report's take on this.

[PseuFighter]

the xx already in a commercial???

[Barbara]

Gordie Howe was born in 1928. He might not be mobile enough to have taken part.

[Infield Infidel]

where is brian orser when you need him

[Buckner's Boots]

Is VP the breatest job on Earth?

(Edit: Breatest? I meant greatest, but I'm so toasty I'm not typing so well...)

Edited by Buckner's Boots, 13 February 2010 - 12:09 AM.

[BigMike]

Oh please, not Joe Biden.

[sachmoney]

Fantastic Chevrolet ad there.

[barbed wire Bob]

Is VP the breatest job on Earth?

Didn't Hannibal Hamlin say the job wasn't worth a bucket of warm spit?

Edit: I'm wrong. It was John Nance Garner

Edit 2: And the correct quote is "not worth a bucket of warm piss"

Edited by barbed wire Bob, 13 February 2010 - 12:15 AM.

[Buckner's Boots]

This looks like an SNL skit.

[dolomite133]

Is Chris Henry's wife driving one of those pickups?

[PseuFighter]

double fisting.

[Buckner's Boots]

Wish I could party with those Vancouverites.

[Buckner's Boots]

Don't know how they could've been "tipped off in advance", Matt. Big glowing columns in an outdoor space that have never been there before?

[cheekydave]

from deadspin...



12:04 AM

Four US is three metric though, right

[mabrowndog]

Don't know how they could've been "tipped off in advance", Matt. Big glowing columns in an outdoor space that have never been there before?

He is such a fucking idiot. One of the things about broadcast media that pisses me off the most is their incessant need to point out and explain the obvious.

[BigA27]

Tipped off?

I was in Vancouver last week. The cauldron was in a gigantic box. You knew where it was, just not what was in it.

[Buckner's Boots]

He is such a fucking idiot. One of the things about broadcast media that pisses me off the most is their incessant need to point out and explain the obvious.

Where in the world IS Matt Lauer?

[barbed wire Bob]

Where in the world IS Matt Lauer?

Is this a new computer game?

[Miskatonic PhD]

Right. So. Engineering fail.

You just know the Chinese would have had five thousand peasants in the basement with rope and pulley in case the hydraulics went out.

[William Robertson]

Well, I thought it was well done. Any Olympic opening ceremony is going to have some silliness in it, and after China it would have been absurd to go for bigger and flashier. I'm looking forward to the games.

And this thread was good for some laughs.

[Buckner's Boots]

Well, I thought it was well done. Any Olympic opening ceremony is going to have some silliness in it, and after China it would have been absurd to go for bigger and flashier. I'm looking forward to the games.

And this thread was good for some laughs.

I'm with you. See you in the curling game threads.

[Nator]

Georgia has had some really bad luck during the last two Olympic opening dates.

[twoBshorty]

Was there some reason NBC let Jacques Rogge speak for nearly 5 minutes in French without translating anything he was saying? I remembered just enough HS French to get most of it, but jeez.

[Sprowl]

Well, the fireworks terrified my dog, so they must have been good for something.

[mabrowndog]

Was there some reason NBC let Jacques Rogge speak for nearly 5 minutes in French without translating anything he was saying? I remembered just enough HS French to get most of it, but jeez.

He basically said the exact same thing he'd said earlier in English.

[barbed wire Bob]

Was there some reason NBC let Jacques Rogge speak for nearly 5 minutes in French without translating anything he was saying? I remembered just enough HS French to get most of it, but jeez.

Bcause French and English are the official languages of the olympic charter. Therefore everybody should know French.

[goyangfc]

Just got back from a bar. Sad that the two Koreas didn't march together. Also sad that Wayne Gretzky got the last touch of the torch. I also thought that the ceremony wasn't as spectacular as the 2008 Beijing Games. In any case, let the games begin.

[sfip]

Looks like the cauldron light picked the wrong week to quit erectile dysfunction drugs.

Edited by sfip, 13 February 2010 - 12:39 AM.

[mabrowndog]

I also thought that the ceremony wasn't as spectacular as the 2008 Beijing Games.

Considering the staging of the Beijing ceremony cost around 10 times more ($400 million vs $40 million) are you really that surprised?

[gaelgirl]

I went over to a friends' to watch the opening ceremonies and she fell asleep mid-way through the projected Rockies part, so I went home... and missed the amusing portion of the whole thing, the malfunctioning ice penises.

We liked the giant bear at the beginning, though. And the whales.

Nothing will ever be as spectacular as Beijing. But, Beijing and Vancouver are even on pre-ceremony deaths, sadly. Poor Georgian dude. Horrible.

[ToxicSmed]

Bcause French and English are the official languages of the olympic charter. Therefore everybody should know French.

And the two official languages of the host country.

[Orel Miraculous]

If I'm Justin Morneau I'm pissed. I'm Canadian like Steve NASH, an MVP of a major North American non-winter Olympic sport just like Steve Nash, I've got a big fucking maple leaf tattoo on my bicep in color, and I dont' get invited to the closing ceremony?

[I am an Idiot]

Is there anywhere I can check out the video of the torch lighting? Not on NBC, not on youtube, not even on demand on the olympics section.

[Fred not Lynn]

Is there anywhere I can check out the video of the torch lighting? Not on NBC, not on youtube, not even on demand on the olympics section.

I've seen several re-runs on CTV. You know, that delay while they waited for the fire-breathing phalluses to be erected must not have been as bad as it seemed at the time...strangely it isn't really that long at all in the re-runs.

[trekfan55]

I feel for anyone that set a DVR recording of this and missed the torch because it ran two minutes over due to that malfunction...

Holy crap!

I am watching the DVR right now. What will I miss?

Edited by trekfan55, 13 February 2010 - 11:40 AM.

[dolomite133]

Considering the staging of the Beijing ceremony cost around 10 times more ($400 million vs $40 million) are you really that surprised?

What they should have done was:

(a) Have a regular rendition of Oh Canada!,

(b) Created more organized presentations. Compare the precision of the Chinese performances to the rag-tag entrance/dance of the natives. That's not a difference of money there,

© Ditched the pop stars. Or, in this case, quasi pop stars. And had Neil Young play an acoustic version of Heart Of Gold, with a montage of Canadian history running beneath him. Maybe something like the Chinese scroll (from the Beijing games). Only it would move from east to west, so to speak, ending in Vancouver. That would have been way better than the retarded looking kid staring off into space,

(d) Saved the snowboarder for the closing and have him jump through the rings and light the torch. Hell, they could have extended the ramp system and had him jump through the rings, up another ramp, over a cauldron, and he could have dropped the torch into the cauldron. It could have burst into flame behind him,

(e) Then, with just a simple cauldron in place -- instead of that convoluted contraption that came out of the floor -- the four famous Canadians could have come out, lit new torches, driven to the outdoor cauldron together, and lit it.

(f) ... not including Michael J. Fox was a sin. A marketing sin. A purely crass marketing sin. However I am grateful Barenaked Ladies and Nickelback were not included.

Edited by dolomite133, 13 February 2010 - 12:14 PM.

[Barbara]

I rank the game thread more entertaining than the opening ceremonies. I wasn't looking for something as awesome as China, but last night just had no pizazz. The guy skiing (snowboarding?) down the mountain was the best part.

I learned today that the 4 giant post thingies supporting the cauldron were supposed to represent a tepee when they all came together.

[Barbara]

What they should have done was:

(d) Saved the snowboarder for the closing and have him jump through the rings and light the torch, [hell, they could have extended the ramp system and had him jump through the rings, then up another ramp and over a cauldron, and he could have dropped the torch into the cauldron and it could have burst into flame behind him],

(e) Then, with just a simple cauldron in place, instead of that convoluted contraption that came out of the floor, the four famous Canadians could have come out, lit new torches, driven to the outdoor cauldron together, and lit it.

(d) - Exactly. And if he had failed, it would have been truly epic instead of a boring engineering malfunction.

(e) Not driven. On a sled pulled by huskies or some such.

Or something with Gretsky shooting a flaming puck. What Olympics was it when they lit the cauldron with some guy shooting an arrow? That was drama. There was simply no drama (except who) with those 4 people quietly walking over and gently touching the structure with the torch.

[Hendu's Gait]

holy smokes, DVR with the live show extension and quadruple speed fast forward is awesome, able to seamlessly skip through the junk between the whales and the snowboarders.

That ceremony must have been the worst since Sarajevo, I can't recall a worse one than last night's between Calgary and Beijing.

Was Mario not available? Should have went with him or Bobby if going nationwide, or Neely/Trevor if needed the Vancouver connection (which factor I admittedly overrated).

Karma's position on the decision to pick Wayne: NOT the Great One.

But most importantly, those mini-skirt-jacket thing-a-majings on the girls holding the country-name banners: Friggin' HOT!

[dolomite133]

(d) - Exactly. And if he had failed, it would have been truly epic instead of a boring engineering malfunction.

(e) Not driven. On a sled pulled by huskies or some such.

Or something with Gretsky shooting a flaming puck. What Olympics was it when they lit the cauldron with some guy shooting an arrow? That was drama. There was simply no drama (except who) with those 4 people quietly walking over and gently touching the structure with the torch.

You have a point. But if he failed at any point during the ceremony it would have been epic. And supporting my idea, remember Lillehammer had a ski jumper deliver the torch (although he handed it off in the landing area to someone else, who lit the flame). Having a snowboarder fly into the arena, then jump over the cauldron and land with an explosion of flames behind him ... that would have rocked.

Sled dogs would have rocked too.

The flaming arrow was Barcelona. That was totally awesome. I know the flame is probably rigged to light not matter what, but he absolutely nailed the shot.



EDIT: OK, it didn't hit the mark, but it wasn't supposed to. "The Olympic flame cauldron was figuratively lit by the Paralympic archer Antonio Rebollo, who shot an arrow lit by the last torch runner into it. (In reality, Rebollo deliberately overshot the cauldron for safety of the spectators and the flame was lit by other means, as ceremonies producer Ric Birch explained in his book 'Master Of The Ceremonies - An Eventful Life'.[1])"

Edited by dolomite133, 13 February 2010 - 12:33 PM.

[Hendu's Gait]

(d) - Exactly. And if he had failed, it would have been truly epic instead of a boring engineering malfunction.

(e) Not driven. On a sled pulled by huskies or some such.

Or something with Gretsky shooting a flaming puck. What Olympics was it when they lit the cauldron with some guy shooting an arrow? That was drama. There was simply no drama (except who) with those 4 people quietly walking over and gently touching the structure with the torch.

Barcelona

edit: beaten by dolomite

Edited by Hendu's Gait, 13 February 2010 - 12:14 PM.

[mpjc]

Is there anywhere I can check out the video of the torch lighting? Not on NBC, not on youtube, not even on demand on the olympics section.

Gawker has it here.

[JimD]

I remember watching the Barcelona torch lighting at the time - that was jaw-droppingly cool. I'm still waiting for some city to top that.

The Vancouver 'torch' is an epic abortion even without the malfunction. They should have had one end of the arena with an opening wall or roof to reveal the actual torch. Absent that, they should have announced up front that the 'real' torch was a few blocks away and had various Canadian luminaries run the flame through the arena and back out, with hand-offs down the street and ending with Gretzky (or whoever). Having him ride in the back of a pickup truck down the street was an embarrassingly amateur finish - it looked like they fucked up and forgot to light the outside torch and had to scramble at the last minute.

[Dick Pole Upside]

Whole thing was boring.

We Are The World part deux is just about the worst thing I've ever seen.

Someone earlier mentioned seeing Vince Vaughn in the background... the only thing that made it redeemable was the appearance of The Dude (Big Lebowski).

The Dude abides...