the Games so far

[jawnbc]

 Having watched the Opening Ceremony on TV on Friday with my volunteer posse, yesterday the Games began! Starting today I have tickets for something almost every day. Regardless, a lot of my Games experience will be TV driven.

We get pretty good coverage for the Olympics in Canada--awesome compared to the States for sure--but usually from our public broadcasters CBC (English) and Radio Canada (French). But when Canada hosts the Games the costs associated with being host broadcaster usually means CTV and a consortium of other English and French networks gets the nod.

I find CTV generally ad-laden and annoying in terms of commentary.  Of course no CBC should mean no Brian Williams--who irks me to no end--but CTV pinched him so we get him AND commercials. Thank gawd for the French channels: more variety, less nattering. But really I've got about 12 networks to choose from and that's supplemented by excellent streaming content.

Yesterday
The first event is always the normal (hill) ski jump, which always reminds me how the technical feat impresses while the sport fails to engage. I watched some speed skating--which I almost always love, except for the exceedingly loooong races. And yesterday's 5000m is one of those. I watched some moguls, some biathlon and short track.  

Last night querrelle  and I reconnected before he becomes an Olympic Widow™. We then attended the National Ballet of Canada and Royal Winnipeg Ballet as part of the Cultural Olympiad. Great evening. We they wandered back via Robson Square.  Locals should brave transit and come down at least once during the evening: they won't recognize downtown--in very good ways!

Rant
Local folks who don't like the Olympics often cite "cuts to arts funding" as one of the reasons. Because the millions of dollars spent on the Cultural Olympiad apparently don't count as "the arts". Yes local arts groups took a hit recently--mostly due to drops in private sponsorship--but we're also getting a whack of international calibre artists--mostly Canadian, like last night.

Comments

[siobhan63.livejournal.com]

I like Brian Williams. I'm glad CTV got him - he's by far the best thing about their coverage, which sucks majorly otherwise.

[bluebear2.livejournal.com]

Just wait until Brian Williams learns French. Then what?

I disagree that the drops were from private sponsorship. They were a sudden surprise cut in provincial funding. Add that to the HST and it's almost like this government wants to get booted out next election.

[campn.livejournal.com]

Yeh, what's up with all the protesting I keep reading about?? I don't know much about the reported infringement of speech stuff, but I seriously don't understand the monetary aspect. Surely hosting an international event such as the Olympics is bringing in some serious, serious bucks.

[deafdyke.livejournal.com]

I have Vancouver friends who are upset about the Olympics. There's no question the economic repercussions will be significant across the board, and the Olympics are shaping up to be much more expensive than anticipated. That being said, when Vancouver won the Olympic bid, nobody anticipated the economy to slide into the toilet either. The present issues and complaints would be the same regardless of where the Olympics were held. There are other benefits attached to Olympic hosting that have little to do with the short-term funding.

Only thing that bothered me were the Leni Refenstahl clips used in promos, though I haven't seen the spots in question.

I won't tell my anti-O friends how much I enjoy watching, though. Shhh! :)

[jawnbc]

I think if you're comfortable doing it you should press your friends: what extra expenses?

The capital expenditures were all completed within budget--most over 2 year ago. Every single one. The two areas folks assume there's a big bill in the offing are the Vancouver Olympic Village and security costs. The Village would have to sell all its remaining units at less than list price--unheard of in Vancouver--to post any sort of loss for the city. As for security, the costs are largely re-deployment of existing security entities from across Canada--none of which should result in things like salary expenses. The associated costs are travel, accommodation and meals.

And the Games have exceeded their revenue targets and there have already been close to $50 million in cost savings from the budget because of concerns regarding revenue.

British Columbians are negative and whiny at the best of times. Montréal lost a whack of money 30 years ago due to horrible management of the projects. Which simply has not happened in BC. Yet they never talk about the profit turned by Calgary.

[arktos62.livejournal.com]

In spite of a difficult couple of days at the start, Vancouver has much to be proud of. The opening ceremony was wonderful. Enjoy the Games!

[ranger7ryan.livejournal.com]

Opening Ceremonies was great. I appreciated the central role first nations people played in the ceremonies. Canadians should be proud, I've really enjoyed the games so far. I got a little emotional watching Alexandre Bilodeau win gold.

I don't get into televised sports (football, basketball, hockey, baseball, etc.) but love the Olympics. Probably because of the diversity of events, but also the international competition and comraderie AND the arts and culture are always part of showcasing the host country.

[jawnbc]

Me too. Olympics=television sports for me. Glad you enjoyed the ceremony!