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MisterE
Social climber
Across Town From Easy Street
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Feb 22, 2010 - 01:04am PT
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Just an awful transition by NBC from the luge to the last 20 seconds of the USA-Canada hockey game. And not much else but commentary and an empty hockey field.
What the hell is that?
Thanks for nothing.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Feb 22, 2010 - 01:10am PT
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The Stawamus Chief has been patriotically decorated for the Olympics, as you'll see if you look closely in a photo of the Grand Wall today.
I don't know that we need to be encouraging people to hang signs and things on the Chief - a slippery slope. But this one seems modest and reasonable.
And I got some good Norwegian bread in Squamish today. Bread is a big part of the culture there, so they brought two bakers with them, and took over the Golden Crust, a small bakery in Squamish. They make several hundred loaves a day, and ship them to Vancouver and Whistler. The excess is sold at the bakery. I had a good chat with the bakers, and they were nice enough to let me buy six loaves. Mostly for friends and such, of course.
It was a very nice early spring day in Squamish. I got in some scrambling and hiking - both prospective partners bowed out at the last minute, but managed anyway. I timed the drive in terms of Olympic traffic, and it took only an hour each way.
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bmacd
Trad climber
Beautiful BC
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 22, 2010 - 01:46am PT
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I don't know that we need to be encouraging people to hang signs and things on the Chief - a slippery slope. But this one seems modest and reasonable.
Mr. Anders ... you better knock back a few shots of Jaegermeister before you view this video
Maelle Ricker Gold Medal Rocks Squamish Climbers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHphpgIgZ1Q
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Feb 22, 2010 - 01:55am PT
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Thanks, Bruce - not news. The sign was up for about half an hour, then removed. I believe that those responsible are well aware of the related issues, which is why it was quite temporary.
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MisterE
Social climber
Across Town From Easy Street
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Feb 22, 2010 - 02:04am PT
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Nice, Anders!
Men's Bobsledding = Big Men In Tights.
Meh.
Edit: Big congrats to "The Bear" for his record, nonetheless. ;)
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Feb 22, 2010 - 02:21am PT
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Somewhere when I wasn't paying attention, those Norskies won some more medals. The current winners (G/S/B):
U.S.A. 7/7/10
Germany 6/7/5
Norway 5/3/4
South Korea 4/4/1
Canada 4/4/1
Austria 2/3/3
Russia 2/3/3
France 2/2/4
Switzerland 5/0/2
Sweden 3/1/2
Netherlands 3/1/1
China 3/1/1
Poland 0/3/1
Italy 0/1/3
Slovakia 1/1/1
Czech Republic 1/1/2
Japan 0/1/2
Australia 1/1/0
Latvia 0/2/0
Belarus 0/1/1
Slovenia 0/1/1
Croatia 0/1/1
Great Britain 1/0/0
Finland 0/1/0
Estonia 0/1/0
Kazakhstan 0/1/0
And in other news, Canada's women's curling team lost to China.
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philo
Trad climber
Somewhere halfway over the rainbow
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Feb 22, 2010 - 11:08am PT
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I think Olympic Hockey sux donkey balls! If I wanted to watch a pack of overpaid prima donnas play hockey I can just tune into the NHL. Oh wait, it is all the same players anyway. What ever happened to the ideal of amateur athletes in the Olympics? The last time Olympic hockey mattered was in 1980 when a band of unpaid collegiate players took on and defeated the most organized athletic machine on the planet. The inclusion of pros in the Olympic games is a travesty that cheapens the noble intent of the games. Are we as a nation so desperate for the pompous bragging rights of Olympic gold that we can destroy the purity of the games. ? I'd like to see a reversal in the rules that would again ban professional athletes from participating in the Olympic games.
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Srbphoto
Trad climber
Kennewick wa
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Feb 22, 2010 - 11:35am PT
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philo - the problem was certain countries were allowed to have pros and others couldn't. The 1980 hockey was a perfect example. Also if it is truly about the best , you have to allow pros.
That being said I agree with you.
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philo
Trad climber
Somewhere halfway over the rainbow
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Feb 22, 2010 - 11:55am PT
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You are right, some Soviet Block teams were essentially pros. But we used to stand for a higher ideal. And we beat them none the less. The Olympics are about the best. The best amateur athletes.
All the Olympic athletes should be held to the same standard. If Bode or Apollo raced professionally they would be banned from Olympic competition. Why do we need a double standard?
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Srbphoto
Trad climber
Kennewick wa
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Feb 22, 2010 - 12:20pm PT
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I don't know about speed skating but skiers win prize money at the World Cup level. At the end of Jan. Bode had won 42,000 EU and Vonn had won 221,000EU
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philo
Trad climber
Somewhere halfway over the rainbow
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Feb 22, 2010 - 12:59pm PT
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The McLympics
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stevep
Boulder climber
Salt Lake, UT
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Feb 22, 2010 - 01:17pm PT
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As far as ski jumps in large metropolitan areas, the Park City one is 20 mins from downtown SLC, and there's one in Bloomington, MN, a close suburb of Minneapolis.
So there's at least two places where kids could easily train.
For that matter, basically all the winter sports could be done within a half-hour drive of downtown SLC.
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cleo
Social climber
Berkeley, CA
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Feb 22, 2010 - 01:48pm PT
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Huh? Bode makes tons of money professionally on the World Cup, he IS a professional. Plus all the endorsement money... for Apolo, Bode, Lindsey, the snowboarders. Shaun White's annual income is estimated at $6 million!
Buy I digress... isn't anybody else excited for the Dutch speedskaters?!? They love speedskating in Holland, and I'm glad they've got gold medal winners to celebrate! (even though I personally like Shani Davis, he seems like a class act)
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bmacd
Trad climber
Beautiful BC
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 22, 2010 - 01:50pm PT
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Olympic_Committee
Revenue
The Olympic Movement generates revenue through five major programs. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) manages broadcast partnerships and the TOP worldwide sponsorship program. The Organizing Committees for the Olympic Games (OCOGs) manage domestic sponsorship, ticketing and licensing programs within the host country under the direction of the IOC. The Olympic Movement generated a total of more than US$4 billion in revenue during the most recent Olympic quadrennium (2001–2004).
The IOC revenue averaged for one year of the quadrennium (2001–2004) would place the IOC at about position 169 on the list of 200+ countries in the 2009 GDP List using the numbers from the 2009 CIA World Factbook GDP ranking.
Philo sez:
The Olympics are about the best. The best amateur athletes.
Ethical compromises will continue to be made regarding the definition of what the Olympics are really all about in order to facilitate growing IOC revenues each quadrennium.
http://www.olympic.org/content/The-IOC/Financing/Revenues/
Olympic Revenue Distribution
The IOC distributes over 90% of its revenues to organisations throughout the Olympic Movement to support the staging of the Olympic Games and to promote the worldwide development of sport. The IOC retains less than 10% of its revenue for the operational and administrative costs of governing the Olympic Movement.
National Olympic Committees (NOCs) (in 2010 this means VANOC )
The NOCs receive financial support for the training and development of Olympic teams, Olympic athletes and Olympic hopefuls. The IOC distributes TOP programme revenue to each of the NOCs throughout the world. The IOC also contributes Olympic broadcast revenue to Olympic Solidarity, an IOC organisation that provides financial support to NOCs with the greatest need.
The continued success of the TOP programme and Olympic broadcast agreements has enabled the IOC to provide increased support for the NOCs with each Olympic quadrennium.
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blahblah
Gym climber
Boulder
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Feb 22, 2010 - 03:40pm PT
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It's not so much boorish as stupid - and prolly drunk.
Uhhh, how does "stupid" and "prolly drunk" contradict "boorish"?
And the link from fattrad shows a bit of a cover up or at least trying to put more positive of a spin on this than is really possible: the Canadian curler tried to pass it off as the fans not knowing the etiquette, but they sure knew to keep their mouths shut when the Canadians were curling.
Has the "Ugly American" been replaced by the "Ugly Canadian"? I wouldn't say so based just on this one incident, but I would like to hear a straightforward apology rather than disingenuous spin.
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Hawkeye
climber
State of Mine
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Feb 22, 2010 - 03:49pm PT
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lets all admit it, a drunk boorish canadian is still way better than a drunk merican....
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pc
climber
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Feb 22, 2010 - 03:51pm PT
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Blahblah, I'm with you on that one. I'm truly sick of top athletes and in particular professionals not having an absolute blast doing what they're doing. It's not like they're selling vacuum cleaners door to door or something else worthy of being cranky and generally thugish.
From Wiki: Sportsmanship is an attitude that strives for fair play, courtesy toward teammates and opponents, ethical behaviour and integrity, and grace in victory or defeat.
As a Canadian I cannot root for our hockey team with players like Chris Pronger, the antithesis of sportsmanship, on it.
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Hawkeye
climber
State of Mine
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Feb 22, 2010 - 04:38pm PT
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pc, there are jerks like that in any sport and or occupation for that matter.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Feb 22, 2010 - 05:44pm PT
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Norway has won another gold, in the 15 km mens' team sprint free cross country. Yippee!
Petter Northug was on the team, too.
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TwistedCrank
climber
Ideeho-dee-do-dah-day boom-chicka-boom-chicka-boom
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Feb 22, 2010 - 05:56pm PT
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All that jibber jabber aside
Only 1445 days until Sochi 2014 Games begin!
Where the fug is Sochi?
And can I get some decent ale and a fat doob there? Inquiring fans what to know.
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