Vancouver 2010 - Oh Yeah! - ATTENTION:SPOILERS

[thatsnotmypuppy]

So with less than 3 months to go I thought it was time to start this one. Who is going to attend? Who are you most looking forward to see compete?

I'm heading over from Melbourne (via Vegas baby! It's about time I saw that Beatles/Cirque du Soleil thing) for a week or so - luckily our local ticket seller here had access to tons of tickets so I'll finally get to attend an Opening Ceremony! Yay! I love that Aussie's dont want to attend the Winter Olympics - tickets for Beijing were scarce!

I'm also checking out the short track speed skating, a ton of Ice Hockey and snowboarding.

[GirlsAloudFan]

When the winter Olympics roll around, I suddenly get way more into women's figure skating than I should be. So, yeah, I'm gonna be rooting pretty goddam hard for a U.S. figure skater to win the gold in that shit. And, of course, U.S. hockey.

U.S.A. motherfunkers! You know you love it.


EDIT: Oh, and I've always got my full support behind the Jamaican bobsled team.

[Vlad n U 2]

Come aaaarrn Ice Hockey!

Belarus.

[MrPryck2U]

Dang it. I can't believe another Winter Olympics is upon us.

[Thora]

I'm excited to have the Olympics in my back yard!

I have tickets to: Women's Hockey Semifinal, Men's 10,000m Speed Skating Final, Ladies Aerials Finals, and Men's Hockey Preliminary. Should be awesome!

[MissVelvetDress_75]

I would love to see the speed skating final and the men's hockey! Enjoy! The Olympics are so much fun especially when it is in your backyard!

[Slipstream]

I wanted to leg it to Hawaii but I can't till April. It's going to be quite the madhouse here considering this will be the largest city to ever have a WO.

For non-sport entertainment activities and whoever is visiting, don't hire a car as it will be nuts driving around. Trains are packed normally so it will be Tokyo style crushload capacity, but once you're downtown it's great cause everything will be walking distance. You'll have to take a 20 min train to speedskating in Richmond but this is cool because the Dutch are setting up Heineken House near there

[kramwest1]

I can't wait. I've got tickets in hand and reservations ready.

Seeing Women's Snowboarding Halfpipe, a couple of Curling events, several Hockey games including 2 Women's 1st round playoffs, 2-Man Bobsled and some Short Track Speedskating--WOOHOO!!!!!

Plus, I'm looking to sell an internal organ or two to get tickets to the USA vs Canada Men's Hockey game on Sunday, Feb. 21.

[MissVelvetDress_75]

^

how exciting!

[Slipstream]

I'm finding a lot of people I talk to, if it's from taxi drivers, co-workers, or just people in queue, can't wait till it's all over. Some serious animosity and it seems to increase as the Games get closer. Is this normal for most host cities?

In transport news. The Canada Line, which is the partly surface/mainly underground subway line running from the Airport to Downtown Vancouver, has hit it's future target of 100k daily passengers a few years too early. In other words, the trains are going to be packed. Even though the line just started a few months ago they need to seriously think of buying new trains asap. Unfortunately it will take at least 2 years for an order to be finished. At least it's a positive sign that people in fact want public transport.

[kramwest1]

Originally Posted by Slipstream

In transport news. The Canada Line, which is the partly surface/mainly underground subway line running from the Airport to Downtown Vancouver, has hit it's future target of 100k daily passengers a few years too early. In other words, the trains are going to be packed. Even though the line just started a few months ago they need to seriously think of buying new trains asap. Unfortunately it will take at least 2 years for an order to be finished. At least it's a positive sign that people in fact want public transport.

I'm hoping to just get into the city each day and walk. I'm glad they have coordinated buses for the Cypress Mt. and Whistler events, too.

The only times we are doing 2 events in a day are when we have morning Curling and then an evening Hockey game, so hopefully a nice walk will do.

[Headache in a Suitcase]

finally, curling is back in my life.

[Thora]

Our tickets arrived on Tuesday!

[kramwest1]

Originally Posted by Thora

Our tickets arrived on Tuesday!

I fondled mine even more than I did with my 360 Tour tix.

[No spoken words]

My last two sports bucket list items are attend an Olympics and attend a World Cup.

I should have been more proactive about attending the upcoming Vancouver games; not too far from home, obviously.

Still, I as a sports fan, this is a nice stretch we're about to enter: NFL Playoffs start tomorrow, Super Bowl will be played and then the Olympics start just days after that. While the Olympics are going on, pitchers and catchers will report and then the rest of the rosters, so we have spring training getting underway. By the time the Olympics end, we'll be near Championship week and then March Madness. When the Madness ends, baseball begins. Then, the NHL and NBA playoffs begin. Even if you only like some of the above sports, it is definitely a fun stretch.

Anyway, to circle back to the topic at hand, cannot wait for the Olympics to begin, I especially love the speed skating, nordic events and Hockey. I had a lot of fun during the last Olympics posting in the Olympics thread, I hope some of the same people show up this time around.

[corianderstem]

I really enjoyed being able to watch the Olympics in mostly real-time (and seriously better coverage than our US prime time coverage) on the CBC, a Canadian channel that I get in Seattle.

I was very bummed to learn this morning that the CBC lost the rights to broadcast it this year, and it's going to be on another Canadian channel that I don't get.

Boo.

[Thora]

Originally Posted by kramwest1

I fondled mine even more than I did with my 360 Tour tix.

Nice. My friend paid for them (my lottery application was denied), so she has them - I haven't seen them yet.

Originally Posted by corianderstem

I really enjoyed being able to watch the Olympics in mostly real-time (and seriously better coverage than our US prime time coverage) on the CBC, a Canadian channel that I get in Seattle.

I was very bummed to learn this morning that the CBC lost the rights to broadcast it this year, and it's going to be on another Canadian channel that I don't get.

Boo.

Yeah, CTV has the rights. That totally sucks that you won't be able to get that channel.


My friend and I have been spending some time trying to figure out our transportation to/from the events we're going to, especially the Aerials one, as that's a bit more complicated. Holy crap. I'm thinking I'll be bunking down with her for a few days, rather than attempting to come back and forth from the suburbs, as she lives right in Vancouver. We have to book some of our transportation in advance, and the price for that goes up next week. I'm just glad we're not going to any events in Whistler!

[corianderstem]

Apparently Comcast basic cable carries CTV in the Bellingham area. Seattle's just out of luck.

[MissVelvetDress_75]

Originally Posted by No spoken words

My last two sports bucket list items are attend an Olympics and attend a World Cup.

I've done both!

[No spoken words]

Originally Posted by MissVelvetDress_75

I've done both!

Sweet!