The withdrawal has been much tougher than I expected. After all, it was only an addiction of two week before I was cut off. The Olympics. I still find myself rushing home to turn on the TV only to find Oprah and Dr. Oz. No Olympics….although there is no Dr. Phil either, but that is OK….whatever happened to Phil….alright I am digressing.
Anyway, I am sitting here watching a new episode of House, working through my Olympic withdrawal pains and I hear the “ding” of my email. It is an email from Terry who is sitting just a few feet away. What could he possibly be sending me he couldn’t just tell me? When I read the email I quickly understand….he is enabling my Olympic addiction!
It is a link for a you tube video of the entire Canadian men’s hockey team gold winning Olympic run. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. What is a video worth? The words to the song, the great pics, this is a video worth watching.
Click on it fast…..the copyright people will yank it any time now….
Yesterday once again I rushed home to turn on the TV only to remember there was no Olympic coverage. I miss it.
I still vividly remember the rush of the hockey game Sunday afternoon. Canada had been on a gold medal rampage and we needed one more gold to create a new record for the most records won by any nation in the Winter Olympics. We also had to win the game not just for the gold medal, but for our nation’s pride. We had to beat those Americans at our game!!!
I have to admit it was close. Too close for my comfort. The tying goal in the dying seconds of the game was a definite let down but it had to be. The hockey gods made it happen in order to allow Sid the Kid to become he next Canadian hero. His winning over-time goal is now the most historic goal of all time. Move over Paul Henderson.
The closing ceremonies were great……better than the opening ceremonies. My favourite was the revue style show led by the one and only Michael Buble. There was every Canadian stereotype imaginable. (I hope Americans did get the joke) The flying moose, dancing lumberjacks, the beavers and even the mounties made BC Place look like a giant gift shop on Clifton Hill (Niagara Falls). I laughed so hard when I saw everyone in the audience wearing their own personal moose antlers. Only in Canada, eh?
Neil Young sang as the Olympic flame slowly dimmed. Then the party got started!
I did get good news today. My new best friend in Vancouver, Josh Rimer was able to reconnect the camcorder he found to its rightful owner. Bill from Seattle was so thrilled to get his camcorder back because it had the last footage of his father who recently passed away. Bill was so grateful he told Josh to keep the camera!An affirmation for my belief……what goes around, comes around!!! Do unto others…. http://www.joshrimer.com/using-youtube-to-find-the-owner-of-a-lost-camcorder/
Help me recover from my Olympicitis.
Any ideas what to do with all my time now that the Olympics are over?
WOW!Canada has had a fantastic Olympics!! Not only have we won a record amount of medals…..especially those gold ones…..we have brought the world to Vancouver to check things out the “Canadian way.”There are so many things I have loved about the Olympics. Here is my partial list:
The daily debriefing in the hallway each morning at work as we all discussed the previous evening’s Olympic performances. Especially Carm’s colour commentary of the curling. I think the St. Patrick staff is now ready to take on new jobs as commentators for TSN (That’s the Canadian equivalent of ESPN)
Living the Olympics vicariously through my cousin Jane’s face book page. Jane headed out to Whistler a life time ago and we lost touch. Through the wonders of Face book we have been reunited just in time for me to see the Olympics close up and personal through her photos of the locals celebrating the Olympic Spirit at Whistler.Way to go Jane (and Ged and Jack!!)
Speaking of Whistler, everyone has to love, love, love gold medalist John Montgomery!! After his epic win he strode down the streets of Whistler with a jug of beer in one hand and his beloved turtle painted helmet in the other hand.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/22/jon-montgomery-celebrates_n_471642.html The stereotype is true, Canadians love our beer.
Keeping with John Montgomery (Did I mention I LOVE that guy) I love his Olympic story. Eight years ago he decided he wanted to go to the Olympics and tried to find a sport he was good at. He tried speed skating. After one practice he knew speed skating wasn’t for him so next he tried the skeleton. (that small little sled thing where you go speeding down the course 100+ kilometres an hour head first) Who would have guessed two Olympics later he would be winning a gold medal?
Another guy that caught my fancy was Dr. Greg Wells. He was the doctor that explained in CSI fashion the pounding the athlete’s bodies take with each particular event. Since I needed ACL repair surgery from my own skiing accident some years back, my knee was sore all over again when he showed how Alex Bilodeau raced those moguls. Check out the Super Bodies collection of videos. http://www.ctvolympics.ca/video/collections/collectionid=45845/index.html
Watching the Olympics with Jen made for interesting conversation. She informed me 400,000 condoms – 14 per athlete - were available at the Vancouver Olympics. In Torino there were only 40,000 and there weren’t enough. Those athletes certainly have cardiovascular endurance.
Fashion…..you had to get to Zeller’s early to get your own pair of red Olympic mittens. And those America outfits? What were they about? A big advertisement for Ralph Lauren on an snow suit that looked like someone threw up stars all over it?
Watching on TV became an athletic endeavour. All of the shouting and jumping up and down as we reacted to our wins as well as the crashes and falls….OW!!!
Through the Olympics I came across a new internet person (character) I am fascinated with. Josh Rimer posted on You Tube a fabulous video trying to reconnect a lost camcorder with its American owner. You have to check it out. http://www.joshrimer.com/blog/Another Canadian stereotype confirmed, we really are nice people, eh?
A great way to end the Olympics with a tribute to Vancouver and all of its international guests for the last 17 days.
This internet thing tells me there are lots of people reading this blog…..leave a comment…let me know what you're thinking…what was YOUR favourite Vancouver 2010 Olympic moment?
I am sitting with Terry watching the Canada-Russia game.
The pre-game talking heads described vividly the rivalry between the two countries. As Canadians we all believe it is "our game." The first recorded history of our game was described as occuring in Kingston, Ontario where Jennifer now lives. It was first written about in the early 1800's by Lord Haliburton so the Europeans back home could learn how people actually pass their time in the great cold barrens of the new world called Canada. Haliburton named after this man is where our cottage is located. Again I am able to relate our cottage to another blog entry, even in the middle of winter, in the middle of the Olympics...which is where I was actually heading when I first started writing this.
Many people are comparing tonight's game to that game in 1972.
Any Canadian who is old enough can tell you exactly where they were on September 28th 1972. I was in the library at Strathcona Senior Public School (grade 7) where they crammed all of us in to watch the final game between Canada and Russia in the Summit Series. I can still hear Foster Hewett yell "Henderson has scored for Canada!" This was a hockey series which included so many emotions for so many hockey fans and Canadians who weren't hockey fans (if such a person actually exists)
Everyone assumed the Russian national team coming to play an all-star team of CanadianNHL players would be interesting, but Canada would not have any trouble winning. The trouble was, this was before the time of the internet or other communication "behind the iron curtain." Communism was some dark unknown thing but we were confident they certainly could not play hockey as well as we did. We were wrong.
While we obviously eventually won the series we came to realize hockey was no longer just our game.
It took more lessons to really understand.
Nagano, 1998 -professionals were allowed to participate in the Olympics. We believed a medal (certainly a gold medal) would be an easy thing to attain for Canada. We were wrong....again. A lacklustre performance and once again underestimating our opponents meant we lost in the Bronze medal game to Finland. The next Olympics in Utah 2002 we got our revenge by beating the host country's team -USA!
This history lesson is really just reminiscing about how hockey has changed so much during my life time. Once viewed as the ultimate Canadian past time, it has emerged as a game played around the world (even in Dubai). There are just as many players registered for hockey in the US (465,975) as there as in Canada (499,695).
OK.....enough of the statistics. ...although statistics are an important part of our game of hockey. The stereotypical Canadian is polite at all times, we never brag or make our guests uncomfortable..... except tonight in Vancouver!! YES! We are going to win this game against the Russians and we ARE going to win gold Sunday night against those braggart Americans!!
Sorry if I offended any American or Russian readers out there. You know I am Canadian, eh?
Here it is, February 12th. We have been waiting for this date for so long. The beginning of the Olympics……back again in CANADA!!! As I type this there is less than an hour before the opening ceremonies begin.
Terry and I went to see the Olympic torch as it came through St. Catharines just before Christmas. It was a great community event. It was a cold, sunny Sunday down in Market Square. There was lots of music and fun and excitement about the arrival of the torch.
We held our own torch relay today at school. One of our grade eight graduates from last year was lucky enough to have been selected as a torch runner and he brought his torch for us all to see. He did a great job letting all of our kids realize how thrilling the moment was. His torch carried a flame that originally came from Greece and now, tonight in less than two hours it is going to light the cauldron at BC Place in Vancouver.
There is so much speculation about tonight’s cauldron lighting. Who is it going to be? Many people are saying Wayne Gretzky. Some people are suggesting Nancy Green, former gold medal winner for skiing and a BC native. There is also lots of talk that Terry Fox in the form of a hologram will some how light the cauldron.
My former rowing coach, “Swede,” is a former Olympian (men’s heavy 8 rowing, Montreal ’76.) Swede was able to take part in the rehearsal of the opening ceremonies yesterday. He had to sign a confidentiality agreement to keep the opening ceremony secret but he did post on his facebook page there will be lots of surprises and we will be proud to be Canadians!!
Right now I am driving Terry crazy once more with the TV remote. I keep flipping between the Canadian and the American channels broadcasting the “pre-show”. It is interesting to see the differences between how the two countries cover the event.
I have found a video blog of a guy who is working for NBC as part of the Olympics. In his blog he records his thoughts about Canada. It is hilarious. Check it out. http://vimeo.com/user1106672Make sure you start with Day 1 and work your way through. Does he really think you need to become a mountain man to live in Canada?
Gotta go……have to get my beer and chips ready to take part in the Olympics!!
