The Olympics Are Coming

posted at 2:52 am
on Jan. 27, 2010

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So, there’s going to be this great big party and sporting event in Vancouver called the Winter Olympics.  It’s starting, well, it started years ago, but the peak of excitement is Feb. 12 - 28.  And yeah, I’m excited.

This will be my second Olympics.  My first was in 1988 in Calgary, when Hidy and Howdy, the cowboy bear brother and sister mascots, welcomed the world to Cowtown.

As of mid-2009, the operational budget of the games is projected to be $1.76 billion (all from non-government sources), plus $580 million of tax payer supported budget to create or renovate venues, and about $1 billion for security. Many people think this is a waste of money.  I think that some cities get great use out of their civic structures, and Vancouver is going to be just fine, even if the money wasn’t as efficiently spent as it should have been.

I was told by a reliable source at CTV that if you aren’t going to the opening ceremonies on Feb. 12—and at $1100 and up a ticket, let’s face it, you aren’t—you want to be on Robson Street at that time.  It’ll be pedestrian only during the games, and there’s supposed to be some amazi-licious spectacle for the ages, or so I’m told. 

There may or may not be any snow on the hills by then; I think they really should have had the games last year instead of this year.  Downtown is getting blanketed with some pretty large ads; it’s something amazing, I’ll tell you that much.

My college friend Ken is going to come stay with us, with his girlfriend, for a few days.  We’re happy to have anyone else come and enjoy our guest room and see the circus up close.

I’m heading to two events, both hockey: Woman’s preliminary USA/ Finland,  and Men’s preliminary, Latvia vs. Slovakia.  I’d also LOVE to see curling, but have no tickets yet.

There’s as much art as sport happening here, and I hope to take some of that in, too.  I can feel Olympic fever building, as the nay-sayers head out of town and the white, green and blue banners flap in the wind.  I plan on grabbing my old pin collection from 1988 and seeing if any of them are still as valuable now as they were when I traded for them.

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