2010 Vancouver Olympic & Paralympic Super-Thread

[Yume-sama]

Well, I hope you're right. I don't mind protests, it's just the intimidating and often violent way they do protest.

Also, if the protest actually has a reasonable cause that could conceivably ever happen, which it increasingly never does

Frankly, I'm not as optimistic as you I don't fear terrorist attacks or anything, that seems unlikely. I do fear the APC, and others.

[mooks28]

Where has the APC gone anyway? Maybe they found real jobs?

I think people's tolerance for stupidity will go way up when there's TV cameras around. I think there a lot of people who oppose the olympics in general but also love the city and do not want it to get a black eye.

You saw the public reaction to the protesters in Victoria who threw the marbles and prevented some torch-bearers from getting their turn. Public opinion turned against them pretty swiftly.

[Yume-sama]

The APC was just having a meeting to plan their protests, with a guest speaker two nights ago. About 100 people showed up.

Which is more than the 7 the Calgary meeting had.

[sacrifice333]

Originally Posted by ckkelley

A wider shot.



Photo by me.

Did two tenants with West facing windows object to the wrap?!

[Yume-sama]

Originally Posted by sacrifice333

Did two tenants with West facing windows object to the wrap?!

Those are air vents. Tenants didn't have a choice

[GeeCee]

http://www.venueenergytracker.com/ Check out power usage at the Olympic venues.. note the power usage at GM Place at last night's hockey game.

[cornholio]

There is a fair share of people against the Olympics and infact there is more now then ever. I know allot of people who are out allot of money and losing out on work and their not happy, lot of people are finding out right now how disrupted their life will be. Infact where I work I cant name you one person that has a positive view of the Olympics, not one, and im talking about a few hundred people. None of these people will protest because they have families to support and busy schedules, but none of them are happy.

I had a slightly positive view of the Olympics but that has now changed as I see what they are doing and thats putting thousands of people out of work with no compensations. And disrupting the lives of thousands more. Sure there are benefits in the long run but those benefits dont make up for what these middle class people are losing. Frankly I dont see why the Olympics need to be this disruptive, if they were more considerate of the people who actually live in this city then I could see a much more positive attitude towards the games.

[SpongeG]

i don't know if its all negative - its true there is no snow - you just have too look north and see none - its highly unlikely it will get colder and snow a huge dump, my experience with el nino years is exactly what we are having - a november/decmeber dump and than warm through spring

flowers are already sprouting too - earlier than last year

[GeeCee]

Originally Posted by cornholio

I had a slightly positive view of the Olympics but that has now changed as I see what they are doing and thats putting thousands of people out of work with no compensations.

As far as I know, the racetrack is the only place that needs to actually close.. who are these thousands of people out of work and why? If it's a commute issue, then that isn't really fair, as businesses have had YEARS to prepare for the situation.

[SpongeG]

and remember every olympics has its detractors and protesters

i have people in toronto who haven't heard any coverage of whats going on here they hear the good stuff - i was explaining to him all the road closures and restrictios and he says their news hasn't shown anything like that only good stuff... so local news i doing its job giving all sides and franklly the negative is bigger right now

the protesters here are just that career protesters and vancouver is where greenpeace started - its got a culture of anti-everything - i remember the out cry over Expo 86 and shutting down and moving all the DTES hotels when that was going on exact same reaction as now

the general public as polled is probably getting a little more against because its now close and its affecting their day to day life - driving is already a pain, the parking meters increases are automatically linked to the games - so many people complaining about the extended meter hours and lack of parking now etc... it has nothing to do with the games but people say oh its to pay for the games blah blah blah

plus most people here in the city cannot afford to go anything and those that can have now found out the restrictions and transport options and are not happy - my old co-worker won tickets months ago and was extremely excited to go to whistler and watch - but just last week found out they must be on a bus at 4:30 am and stay there until 9:00 pm and hike 2km to the venue and she doesn't even want to go now - so theres probably a lot of that now that we are so close and its real

[Yume-sama]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

plus most people here in the city cannot afford to go anything

I call major BS on this. Almost every ticket is less than the price of a Canucks game. More in line with the Lions. If you can afford to even LIVE in Vancouver, you can afford to go to *something*.

But yes, the buses and transportation is just stupid. I don't understand why they are making people walk 2km uphill on a mountain.

Every venue except GM & BC Place is going to be troublesome to access.

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by GeeCee

As far as I know, the racetrack is the only place that needs to actually close.. who are these thousands of people out of work and why? If it's a commute issue, then that isn't really fair, as businesses have had YEARS to prepare for the situation.

they only found out months ago the official road closures and transportation thing

people in downtown didn't know years ago that they could only get deliveries in the middle of the night etc and the extent of closures and disruption was not known - you can speculate but you can't build a plan when you run a business based on the unknown

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by Yume-sama

I call major BS on this. Almost every ticket is less than the price of a Canucks game. More in line with the Lions. If you can afford to even LIVE in Vancouver, you can afford to go to *something*.

But yes, the buses and transportation is just stupid. I don't understand why they are making people walk 2km uphill on a mountain.

Every venue except GM & BC Place is going to be troublesome to access.

please honestly who the hell wants to go watch curling? like seriously that crap is boring to play let alone watch

yes there are things that are "affrodable" but what is there? winter sports are pretty dull to watch - best watched on TV - watching bob sledding or luge? you see jack sh*t watching - thats why they have giant screens next to the venues

anyway yes but the sports people want to see are expensive hockey, figure skating and speed skating are probably the most popular

[Yume-sama]

The non-playoff games are $50 - $140. There are well over a dozen games at this price range. This is not prohibitively expensive.

As with NHL, it becomes more expensive come playoff time, and each round.

Quarterfinal is $100 - $300, Semifinal is $175 - $425, and of course THE premiere event of the tournament, Gold is $350 - $775.

Women's ice hockey is even less, $25 - $75, and the most EXPENSIVE ticket for the Gold medal is $325.

With figure skating, it is $50 and up, some events are $150 and up. This is also not prohibitively expensive.

Speedskating is $95 - $185 for every single event. If you really want to see it, you could make room for it.

I swear, sometimes I think everybody lives in a dumpster when I hear them complain about how "expensive" everything is, and only for the rich.

Now compared to the Canucks, the cheapest regular season ticket is $55, and most expensive is $227.50. More expensive than Olympics, but yet it's viewed as more "blue collar".

The Canucks playing the Islanders in game 64 of the regular season isn't exactly a once in a lifetime event, either.

[cornholio]

Originally Posted by Yume-sama

The non-playoff games are $50 - $140. There are well over a dozen games at this price range. This is not prohibitively expensive.

As with NHL, it becomes more expensive come playoff time, and each round.

Quarterfinal is $100 - $300, Semifinal is $175 - $425, and of course THE premiere event of the tournament, Gold is $350 - $775.

Women's ice hockey is even less, $25 - $75, and the most EXPENSIVE ticket for the Gold medal is $325.

With figure skating, it is $50 and up, some events are $150 and up. This is also not prohibitively expensive.

Speedskating is $95 - $185 for every single event. If you really want to see it, you could make room for it.

I swear, sometimes I think everybody lives in a dumpster when I hear them complain about how "expensive" everything is, and only for the rich.

Now compared to the Canucks, the cheapest regular season ticket is $55, and most expensive is $227.50. More expensive than Olympics, but yet it's viewed as more "blue collar".

The Canucks playing the Islanders in game 64 of the regular season isn't exactly a once in a lifetime event, either.

With all do respect but who are you to judge what regular people can afford? You of all people, you say you have tickets to the gold medal hockey game, opening ceremonies, closing ceremonies, you bought a olympic torch, own condos in Vancouver and Calgary, go stay at the Shangrila for a night to see how it looks inside, catch a cab around town and fly in first class everywhere. Did you make you money your self or was it given to you on a silver platter by your parents? You most defenitly dont know what the average person can afford, and when you have a morgage, a family to support then its hard enough to find money to even take a cheap vacation somewhere to relax with your family once every couple years yet alone spend hundreds of dollars and time on tickets for sports you dont even care about just to be able to say you were a part of the olympics. People simply dont have the money, even $80 times atleast 3 if you have a family is too much to swallow when that money can be spent on something more important like household goods, fixing the car, or putting it towards a actual family vacation (keep in mind that all the tickets to games that most people here might even care about got sold out imedietly and there are hardly any $50 tickets avaialbe lto begin with).

Hell I love hockey and have a good job and even I dont buy Canuck tickets because they are simply to expensive, I have other more important things that I need that money for. You obviously dont live in the same reality that the other 95% of the poeple do.

[SpongeG]

thats still too much when most live on a tight budget again its free on TV and you get much better coverage - i grew up in a small town spent more than time in cold arenas no thanks

[nova9]

Originally Posted by cornholio

Hell I love hockey and have a good job and even I dont buy Canuck tickets because they are simply to expensive, I have other more important things that I need that money for. You obviously dont live in the same reality that the other 95% of the poeple do.

Why does it have to be the sports that you'd only want to go to? There are a lot of cultural activities as well. Please, with the HUNDREDS of events that are out there, if you can't find one, then you must be trying sooo hard to miss out on the Olympics.

And as for tickets, well, I can afford them and I'm in my 2nd year of my first career, pay rent and own a vehicle. Grew up as a poor Eastsider. AND I'm one of the 800 teachers that got their 'not a layoff' notice on Tuesday. But somehow, I'm still not worried. People find the means to. And I placed my priorities on getting Olympic tickets - even if that means no overseas vacations this summer.

[cornholio]

Originally Posted by GeeCee

As far as I know, the racetrack is the only place that needs to actually close.. who are these thousands of people out of work and why? If it's a commute issue, then that isn't really fair, as businesses have had YEARS to prepare for the situation.

All deliveries are disrupted, costs have skyrocketed and this comes out of the pockets of the owner operators and the companies. There are starting to be lots of layoffs for any job that relies on deliveries, manufacturing and the local road infrastructure. There are huge layoffs in the construction sector, infact just the other day one of my best friends was pissed off because their shutting down work for two weeks because it will be simply to hard to work on their projects on the west side due to transportation and and getting materials in. Even where I work which is in Port Coquitlam has been disrupted severly and I know for a fact that a few major retailers are suffering because they wont be able to get their products to their stores and distributions centers on time.

All in all there are huge effects and its just starting. Wait till February to roll around.

[cornholio]

Originally Posted by nova9

Why does it have to be the sports that you'd only want to go to? There are a lot of cultural activities as well. Please, with the HUNDREDS of events that are out there, if you can't find one, then you must be trying sooo hard to miss out on the Olympics.

And as for tickets, well, I can afford them and I'm in my 2nd year of my first career, pay rent and own a vehicle. Grew up as a poor Eastsider. AND I'm one of the 800 teachers that got their 'not a layoff' notice on Tuesday. But somehow, I'm still not worried. People find the means to. And I placed my priorities on getting Olympic tickets - even if that means no overseas vacations this summer.

Thats my point. Your buying tickets but your losing out on a vacation. Most people are not prepared to do that, especially if they have a family in which case they likely cant.

[Yume-sama]

Originally Posted by cornholio

With all do respect but who are you to judge what regular people can afford? You of all people, you say you have tickets to the gold medal hockey game, opening ceremonies, closing ceremonies, you bought a olympic torch, own condos in Vancouver and Calgary, go stay at the Shangrila for a night to see how it looks inside, catch a cab around town and fly in first class everywhere. Did you make you money your self or was it given to you on a silver platter by your parents? You most defenitly dont know what the average person can afford, and when you have a morgage, a family to support then its hard enough to find money to even take a cheap vacation somewhere to relax with your family once every couple years yet alone spend hundreds of dollars and time on tickets for sports you dont even care about just to be able to say you were a part of the olympics. People simply dont have the money, even $80 times atleast 3 if you have a family is too much to swallow when that money can be spent on something more important like household goods, fixing the car, or putting it towards a actual family vacation (keep in mind that all the tickets to games that most people here might even care about got sold out imedietly and there are hardly any $50 tickets avaialbe lto begin with).

Hell I love hockey and have a good job and even I dont buy Canuck tickets because they are simply to expensive, I have other more important things that I need that money for. You obviously dont live in the same reality that the other 95% of the poeple do.

You're right. I have done quite well for myself. And it is not on the back of anyone else. The only thing my parents left me was several hundred thousand dollars of debt. However, when I was a teenager, I still managed to find $50 here and there (even though I had to pay rent, buy my own food, go to work, go to school) to go to a Flames game with friends in the very last row. I may not be the oldest member on this forum, but I guarantee you I have lived an adult life longer than most of you have, with younger siblings to look after, due to my life circumstances, and where I was when I was 11. I think I could still manage to find $50 to go The Olympics, even if I did not have what I have now.

When you work hard for things, good things happen. When you sit around whining about how poor you are, on your $2500 Apple computer, in your hipster apartment downtown, you tend to stay where you are.

Perhaps the large amount perpetual whiners of British Columbia is why there is such a big welfare problem.