Athens 2004

[Pumaman]

i saw the begining but i left the tv as soon as the united kingdom came on.

Yeah, that's usually a good idea when watching sporting events, it avoids the inevitable disappointment.

[edmundito]

i saw the begining but i left the tv as soon as the united kingdom came on.

Yeah, that's usually a good idea when watching sporting events, it avoids the inevitable disappointment.

I have to wait until Venezuela, and that comes after the United States! The problem is that here they'll probably have all cameras pointed for the united states for like 15 minutes, and then they'll skip the rest of the countries like they're insignificant and worthless. Hopefully not.

[DragonRose]

I work at a Greek fast food joint, and everyone (or at least it seemed like everyone) decided that to celebrate the Olympics they were going to buy souvlaki and greek salads. And they were all dressed in Roots Olympic clothing. Followers! Not an original idea among them!

* DragonRose eats a pita while wearing a free Roots t-shirt

Happy Olympics, everybody.

[Grundislav]

The opening parade of Greek History was interesting, and the Parade of Nations was cool too.  Unfortunately Katie Couric and Bob Costas (obnoxious US media personalities) were making silly comments the whole time, and Bob Costas referred to Belize as "an island nation." *sigh*

But how about those Bermudans in their bermuda shorts? Stylish!

[auhsor]

Well they had thee countries come out in Greek alphabetical order so it was all weird. Well its still going now on TV. It up to switzerland now. It was on live at 3 am, but now they repeated it at 11am, and thats what I'm watching now.

I havn't been watching it all, but the whole fire under the water thing was cool.

[Moox]

Katie and Bob had there facts wrong alot, they said that ancient greece is exactly like in the movie troy lol. The trojan civilization wasnt even close to greek civilization. Then they said something like the olympics was started by the minoans. Crete is no where neer olympia

[Kinoko]

Normally, I'm not one to say this sort of thing but...


I thought this was the greatest Olympic Opening Ceremony - ever. (That I've seen in my lifetime) Ever.

I can't just say that "blah was okay" because I thought it was amazing. I was just hoping beyond all hope it wasn't as wanky and long winded as the Sydney one, and thankfully it wasn't. Everything was tasteful, and classy, and the parade of ages thing was just SO COOL >_< Beat the crap out of our flying fish.

I too saw the replay, I just fell asleep before the live ceremony early this morning.

[SilverWizard_OTF]

If these Katie and Bob had said these things about Greece and were living IN Greece...Greeks would probably hung them for their disrespect!
       

[DGMacphee]

Thanks to Mark Latham's FTA amendments, our cyclists don't have to worry about spending big money on generic sterroids!

[Layabout]

The most interesting thing about the olympics is 'The Dream- in athens'. Most of you probably dont know what it is.

The only events people watch are swimming and running. No one cares about true sports like greco-roman wrestling!!!

[Ozwalled]

I care somewhat about the wrestling -- enough to watch whenever I find it on, but not enough to follow it super-close. Pretty much the same as everything, really.

[Minimi]

I really don't care about the olympics.... and I got pretty annoyed a few hours ago, because some people in the neighbourhood fired fireworks! Grrr... I'm tired, and don't need bangs to celebrate some stupid olympic games, with all athletes I never met in real... I mean who cares.... in 1 year I would care less who won or lost, so I guess I'm not interested.

I think this olympic will pass me just like the tour the france. I turned on the tv, to check the tour the france, and I was amazed by the guy on the tv, telling me it was over and that guy, of wich i forgot the name won....


only thing I'm forced to watch is soccer things... because other people go crazy about it, and I'm forced to watch too.... and here I'm talking about emotional manipulation!

argh... nevermind....

[Grundislav]

Minimi,

Sorry you got annoyed by fireworks, but what's the point of posting in a thread about the Olympics if you don't care about them? 

I'm tired, and don't need bangs to celebrate some stupid olympic games, with all athletes I never met in real... I mean who cares.... in 1 year I would care less who won or lost, so I guess I'm not interested.

There's very few people that have met the Olympic athletes in real life.  That's a pretty selfish view to have. 

Sure, there are more "important" things in life than the Olympics, and maybe in 1 year nobody will remember them, but many people DO care about them. If YOU don't care about them, that's fine, but don't come posting here talking about how stupid they are and how you don't care. 

Just don't say anything at all, and we'll all be better off for it.

[bspeers1--]

You're right!  Nobody should ever complain about anything that anyone else cares about!  Free speech is just a nagging inconvenience!

[bspeers`1]

I'm afraid that last bit may have derailed the conversation a bit, so, in keeping with the Olympic spirit:

I too don't like the olympics (normally).  There are those in the Juggling community who would like to make Juggling an event like rhythmic gymnastics or figure skating, a technical event with strict judging and tricks.  Unfortunately, the commercial/regulated nature of the olympic games strips these things of creativity.  I actually know someone who is competing in Tae Kwon Do.  She is very strong and fast, but unfortunately, not very creative or well-rounded, since Tae Kwon Do has become all about scoring points in the major schools.  The same is true of things like snowboarding which is reaching international prominence and becoming quite boring and repitious at major events.  So the olympics can harm sports, or at least hurt the creative side of the main schools, drawing attention away from the art of it.

Also, my province, BC, will be hosting the next summer games (I think), which is a shame, because the government here is incredibly corrupt and is selling off social services money to invest in short-term building operations that will screw with a lot of people's lives.  It's sad that such an international event should be so spoiled by petty politicing.

That said, I have been strangely drawn to this year's spectacle, in part because it seems to have come full circle, being back in Greece.  There's something romantic about the greek approach to the games, and I hope the woman I was talking about it Tae Kwon Do does well.

That sound balanced?

[Grundislav]

You're right!Ã,  Nobody should ever complain about anything that anyone else cares about!Ã,  Free speech is just a nagging inconvenience!

Don't you think that's overreacting a little?  I wasn't trying to deny anyone their freedom of speech, I was just looking at it from the perspective of common courtesy. 

If you started a thread about how much you like basketweaving, and I posted saying how I thought it was stupid and I didn't care...what's the point?  I mean, you started the thread in the hopes of discussing it with people who are interested, what good does it do for me to come and piss on your cornflakes and say it doesn't interest me?

I'm just going by "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything" logic.  Again, not denying freedom of speech, just being a considerate person.

[Las Naranjas]

I know there are alot of Chinese in Vancouver, but Bejing still is in China proper, so BC will be mising out on the next summer games.

Unless of course you meant Winter, which is somewhat distinct from Summer.

[Grundislav]

Vancouver is the site of the 2006 Winter Olympics, while Beijing will be the site of the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Just a bit of clarification.

[Peter Thomas]

Is there a webcast of the opening ceremony (or at least part-thereof) somewhere out there? I missed the broadcasts of the ceremony, because I knew a bunch of volunteers who were in the opening (and closing) ceremony, and said it was absolute crap.

But it's been getting really good publicity, so now I want to see it....

[Toefur]

Speaking of both the Summer Olympics & Winter Olympics - Why is it, does anyone know, that such a huge deal is made out of the Summer ones, wheras we generally don't hear a thing at all about the Winter ones.

I've been curious about that...