Commonwealth Games

[TheQuiet1]

It all starts on the 15th March so perhaps I'm a little too early with this. Will anyone on here be watching or is no-one really bothered about it?

 

[bono_man2002]

I'll be watching parts of it.

And putting up with extra traffic ect on my way in and out of Melbourne for a week.

 

[indra]

All I wanna see is the opening ceremony.

 

[Axver]

I'll probably watch the rugby sevens.

 

[AchtungBono]

I'm so sorry that Ian Thorpe will not be competing due to a virus.
I wish him a speedy recovery...

....besides, he looks HOT in speedos.......yumm....

 

[TheQuiet1]

I'm watching the highlights of the opening ceremony. Looking good guys! The flying tram was pretty cool too

 

[TheQuiet1]

I've just finished watching it. All I can say is: Wow. Amazing. Simply amazing.

(especially those skater people with the spark things shooting out of those backpack type things they were wearing )

 

[Axver]

I totally forgot about the opening ceremony.

 

[Angela Harlem]

am i a bad person for saying these things make me cringe? b-grade half stars out in force bother me. tacky effects make me want to stab my eyes with glowsticks. it's always the same thing when australia hosts something. i thought nikki webster doing the olympics couldn't be beat, and it cant. but this sure equalled it. stupid fucking australian icons everywhere. waltzing matilda being payed until the rest of the world thinks it's our anthem. kangaroos?

someone shoot me. please.

 

[Axver]

Just saw some of the "highlights" of the Opening Ceremony, and WTF was up with that flying tram? That was just plain weird, and this coming from a tram/train enthusiast. And why on earth was there a boy with a duck?

I also caught about half of the rugby sevens between New Zealand and Wales. New Zealand winning 35-10 is

 

[thatsnotmypuppy]

Well here is the review from Bay 20, row N seat 16 of the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The show was great - I was surrounded by Brits and Canadians who spent thousands to come to the Games and they were spellbound. They loved the koalas, were amazed - really jawdroppingly amazed - by the tram, and didn't know why there was an 'Eiffel Tower' during the duck sequence. It actually represented the Arts Centre spire but looked like the Eiffel Tower.

The duck thing was based on a Leunig comic/poem - and kind of baffled most people

We had a funny cricket match prior to the telcast with cricket greats Simon O'Donnell and Max Walker. We also rehearsed the city countdown, and were told to turn out flashing globe thingies off until we were told. Whoops! Got a bit eager! Also there was some mexican waves and I flipped the bird to Brian McFadden who was there to support Delta.

The athletes parade was cool - and I didn't mind The Cat Empire playing reggae-ish dance hall kind of stuff for an hour. I thought Dame Kiri would have a bigger part - but nope. Queen Lizzy looked kind of tired and skipped the words 'highly technical' which was on the screens for 'hi tech' - which is why she got what may have seemed like a random cheer. It was funny. John Landy was the best choice for the final baton runner - a real sense of rewarding a valued member of the community there. Cathy Freeman lives in Melb, so she was a welcome addition.

Delta was great - the song wasn't as sucky as the lyrics seemed to make it - though we did lose sight of her due to the fireworks. The images beemed into the stadium from the river looked amazing.

The downsides were that the programmes were $15 each - no freebies like the Olympics. The flashy globe thingies were free though. I also got hit in the head with a glowstick. The athletes were given them to wave during delta's number, but they decided to throw them into the crowd. I was watching Delta and got whacked. Yay!

Transport afterwards was a shambles. If anyone knows Melbourne they'll understand this. The majority of the audience was funnelled towards Richmond station - we werent allowed to walk back along the river as the crowds were too big. So 80,000+ people all pushed towards the station. I didnt get home until after midnight.

So from inside the stadium, the crowd loved it - and we all need to remember these shows are not for the local audience only - they are meant to be creative, risky and yeah wanky events used to show a side of the host city that is refreshing, novel and new. The tram was great and the whole stadium just roared. I knew it was coming - and it still surprised me.

My only criticism is that the athletes didnt get to do a full lap - as they stood on the edge of the staging - meaning access was limited. Oh, and the walking on water bit seemed a bit random.

I loved it. And so did the 80,000 there and most of the crowd by the river did to according to reports. Ignore the intellectuals on this one - it was just what I expected and was a fun opening ceremony.

 

[yertle-the-turtle]

I care about this as much as I care about the Olympics, really, but if Singapore wins a few medals here and there I'll be quite pleased for my adopted homeland.

 

[bono_man2002]

I flipped the bird to Brian McFadden who was there to support Delta.

Transport afterwards was a shambles. If anyone knows Melbourne they'll understand this. The majority of the audience was funnelled towards Richmond station - we werent allowed to walk back along the river as the crowds were too big. So 80,000+ people all pushed towards the station. I didnt get home until after midnight.

Oh No, thats hell on earth even after a Footy game with half that crowd...

I'm not actually going, but will have to put with Games traffic for a week or so, coming in from Sunbry to Sth Melbourne....so I hope even if most people are taking public transport its not any more hectic than usual.

 

[fly so high!]

Just saw some of the "highlights" of the Opening Ceremony, and WTF was up with that flying tram? That was just plain weird, and this coming from a tram/train enthusiast. And why on earth was there a boy with a duck?

I also caught about half of the rugby sevens between New Zealand and Wales. New Zealand winning 35-10 is

I think the reason for the tram was because the games were held in Melbourne "tram city", i thought it was lame too! And i have no idea about the duck..christ i get so embarrassed by some of the stuff they show to represent Australia!

 

[Canadiens1131]

Common-What Now Games?

How long has this been around?

 

[Tania]

You Canadians

You held the first one! This is the 18th Commonwealth Games.

 

[fly so high!]

Common-What Now Games?

How long has this been around?

Oh mate!!!...you should know. Your country compete's in it! Its like the 2nd biggest international sporting event in the world!!!

 

[indra]

Well I got to see what I was looking for at the opening ceremonies...all 16 seconds of it.

But the part I was interested in sounded great, so

 

[beau2ifulday]

I just caught some of the female weightllifting.





I didn't catch her name, but this one Canadian girl looked like she would snap in half if she lifted a chair, yet alone a heavy weight - but she completely aced it.


Clearly I am ignorant about this field of sport, but it's fascinating to watch.

 

[TheQuiet1]

WTF was up with that flying tram? That was just plain weird,

That's why I liked it! I thought it just was tongue in cheek craziness. If it was supposed to be taken seriously then, yeah, it was However, I actually thought the strangest thing was having fish to represent countries on the river. I mean, why fish? It just seems so completely random to me, but I guess having a flying tram with wings was hardly coventional!

I flipped the bird to Brian McFadden who was there to support Delta.

Anyway, it was a bit of an upset with the Scots winning the first 2 swimming medals instead of the Aussies. I wasn't expecting that! England getting a 1-2-3 in the 4,000m individual pursuit was great. I've been watching Rugby Sevens, that was quite entertaining but in one of the England matches the Ref kept stopping the games every few seconds, it made the whole thing get quite tedious to watch. I missed the England vs. Australia match though which sounded like a close run thing.

 

[TheQuiet1]

I didn't catch her name, but this one Canadian girl looked like she would snap in half if she lifted a chair, yet alone a heavy weight -

 

[Axver]

Channel 9's coverage is a bloody disgrace.

 

[Axver]

The history of rugby sevens at the Commonwealth Games:

1998 - gold to New Zealand
2002 - gold to New Zealand
2006 - gold to New Zealand

HELL YEAH!

(I can't get over the fact Fiji went down to England in the semis this year and thus failed to make the final, though!)

 

[bono_man2002]

Channel 9's coverage is a bloody disgrace.

Oh don't get me started.....

Fox Sports have it all worked out, theres something like a channel dedicated to a few sports, but you have to pay extra.

And I no longer have Pay-TV...oh how I miss it!

 

[Axver]

Oh don't get me started.....

Fox Sports have it all worked out, theres something like a channel dedicated to a few sports, but you have to pay extra.

And I no longer have Pay-TV...oh how I miss it!

Earlier today, Channel 9 succeeded in supremely pissing me off.

They announced they were going to ads but there would be live rugby sevens afterwards. Woohoo, says I. Ads last a few minutes, Channel 9 comes back, cuts to Kenya versus Niue, five minutes into the game. Thanks, Channel 9, for playing ads when you could've shown rugby. But it doesn't stop there! At halftime, they cut to ads, but when they come back, you'd never have known there had been rugby sevens on at all as they went to some table tennis! Morons. So out of a fourteen minute game of rugby sevens, I got to see a mere two minutes of it.

 

[yertle-the-turtle]

Table tennis is good. Singapore could win something in that.

 

[bono_man2002]

Table tennis is good. Singapore could win something in that.

Thats very true though!

I'm thinking I may actually go to see something this week....

 

[TheQuiet1]

2006 - gold to New Zealand

Well done. You deserved to win. We tried our best but your defence was just too strong. However, I have to say I think taking off Varndell towards the close of the match was a big mistake on our part. There were a few occasions near the end where the All-black defence nearly went and IF Varndell had been there he'd have had that extra speed to burst through which is exactly what we were missing at that point IMHO.

I dunno whether you saw it if you missed so much of the rugby sevens but how about that try by England's Matthew Tait?! It was fantastic!

And on the subject of opening ceremonies I'd just like to point out that nothing can beat the Manchester opening ceremony:

ANNOUNCER: Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II
CROWD GOES NUTS
ANNOUNCER: Prime Minister Tony Blair
CROWD: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
Camera cuts to Tony with a face like thunder while Cherie Blair is laughing her head off.

 

[fly so high!]

At halftime, they cut to ads, but when they come back, you'd never have known there had been rugby sevens on at all as they went to some table tennis! Morons.

Oh shit! I missed that!!!.... can you remember who was competing in table tennis, one of my work colleagues, Keit Tran competes in this years Comm.games for Australia!

 

[Tania]

Anyone sick of the Australian national anthem yet?