OffThePost.org

So I was just reading an article in the paper where Will Ferguson is asked about his take on the reaction the Closing Ceremonies (which he was head writer for) had garnered, and he mentioned that his favourite bit actually didn't end up happening. Apparently Martin Short was supposed to do a monologue on Canadian inventions in which he walked out wearing a bra over his shirt.

There's no way that could have sucked. I guess Martin Short dropped out with two days left.

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Injustice? Cobain died and Eddy Fucking Vedder lived to haunt us with his shitty fucking voice, trite lyrics and his Eddy Vedderness.



- Ancient Chinese Proverb

http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/03/01 ... ge-be.html

Apology given already, sort of. Sorry about the Nazi reference, but the claim we were a bunch of homers still stands.

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Bah...what a shallow and outright hypocritical piece that was. If Canada was being "Nazi-like" in their fervor, then Texas is guilty of the same EVERY DAMNED DAY. Hell, most Americans are.

The only criticism anyone can legitimately level at the flag-waving rah-rah sort of patriotism the Canadians displayed in Vancouver is that it's too, well, American. And I won't level that nor should this moron since we'd be complete and utter hypocrites to do so. In fact I don't see any problem with Canada showing a little swagger on the international sports stage. Why not?

And the Nazi reference was weak, and he's playing like he knew it wouldn't strike a nerve. Bullshit, this guy's not completely stupid. If he hadn't gone there he might have made a more legitimate point, but it got lost in the shock value he was attempting.

The one criticism I WILL level at all the Maple-Leaf waving is that I totally agree with Ian in that these games were way too much "Canada" and not quite enough "British Columbia." To me it's important a host city get to showcase it's very unique culture and characteristics rather than feel the need to showcase the entire nation's.

He's still a douche.

As I recall, when the Olympics were in Atlanta, and Salt Lake, American homerism - er - patriotism was in full force. Did we complain? Okay, we did but I don't believe we called you Nazis for it. I find this statement a little perplexing:

Ummm... No. In the Olympics, every country is represented by its athletes... You tell them apart by what flag they wear. If the Olympics were meant to be 'a celebration of the entire world', then ask Michael Phelps to share his 14 gold medals with every athlete that ever donned a Speedo or TYR suit. And tell Shaun White or Lindsey Vonn or Apollo Ono that they no longer competes for Team USA but Team Everyone. Douche.

Funny, I remember Atlanta for:

- Mohammed Ali lighting the torch
- the bomb
- beach volleyball being introduced
- Clara Hughes winning her first medals (hey, I did watch the track cycling, thought it was bizarre)
- Donavon Bailey/relay team
- Coca-Cola
- beach volleyball

I obviously watched other things, but that's what I remember 14 years later. I was limited by CBC's coverage and shoddy pictures (yay, farmervision), but that's what I remember. I don't really recall the crowds, overbearing patriotism, or things of that nature. Maybe because it wasn't out of place, possibly. In Canada, seeing those things really does stick out, although living here I wasn't that surprised by it since we are generally obsessed with our identity.

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Injustice? Cobain died and Eddy Fucking Vedder lived to haunt us with his shitty fucking voice, trite lyrics and his Eddy Vedderness.



- Ancient Chinese Proverb

I still remember quite clearly during the gymnastics competition the overbearing American crowd cheering "U-S-A! U-S-A!" incessantly, even when girls from other countries were in the middle of a routine. I remember both my father and I were quite irritated as it made us all look like a bunch of moronic rednecks.

I can't imagine how stupid we must have acted during the '84 games.

BTW another completely unfounded and weak-ass argument is the focus on Joannie Rochette. He even admits he had no idea who or what NBC covered while he was in Vancouver. Well dude, they covered Rochette a ton too, because it was a compelling story no matter who the audience was. So to pin that on some sort of perceived Canadia-centric bias is fucking pathetic. Rochette received FAR more coverage than either or our American skaters, and yes, more coverage than Kim Yu-Na.

One bit of props I must give NBC for all their ridiculous missteps is that they gave quite a bit of airtime to Swiss ski jumper extraordinaire Simon Ammann, a compelling character if there ever was one.

Some positive foreign press about winter 2010 http://sites.google.com/site/winter2010reviews/

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GO CANUCKS GO!

He's of Cajun origin, and wrote a follow-up piece [edit: I see E.L. posted it] saying he's very proud of his Canadian heritage, yadda yadda (apparently he didn't read the chapter where the English kicked out his ancestors and they went to Louisiana, I guess). But he didn't really apologize.

I too thought the Games were way too Canada-focused and said so several times in this thread (ceremony-wise I wanted more West Coast content, but overall I do agree that these things shouldn't be about the host anyway; and I don't think they usually were before this). All that said, the comparison to Berlin was out of line, because the reasoning for the ultra-nationalism in Berlin was completely different, and government-directed.

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so apparently Matt Lauer enjoyed his stay a little too much and dipped his weiner in some west coat tofu and now his wife has left him!

way to go Matt!

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"if your parachute doesn't open up while skydiving, don't worry, you have the rest of your life to figure it out"