Day 1

What was supposed to be a very proud celebration for the city of Vancouver, turned into a very sombre and bittersweet evening. Possibly John Furlong's worst nightmare has come true. An Olympic athlete has been killed in a practice run before the Games had even begun. 21 Year old Nodar Kumaritashvili of Georgia died on the final corner of the Luge run in Whistler. I had the displeasure of seeing the video as they aired it on CTV. I found it shocking. I should have known better, and they did warn us in advance, but I am generally not able to look away. I wish that I had. It was definitely a tragedy, I just don't think that's something that they should show on the news. Apparently they also showed it on NBC. What are the odds that they would air that if he'd been American? I'm still not sure how he was thrown from the track. I've watched a lot of Bobsled and Luge over the years and never seen anything like it. The various commitees have had a meeting and decided that the course is not dangerous and it was just an error by the athlete. They are going to continue with the Luge event. I'm not sure I agree with that decision, but I just hope that there are no further tragedies. There is already a black cloud over these Olympic Games, let's not make it a Tornado.

Despite the tragedy, the Georgia team decided that they would march in the Opening Ceremonies. I think that was a great decision. Though it was clearly difficult for them, I'm sure their deceased teammate would have wanted them to continue. Any athlete would. Yes, it was a bad morning. As I said in my blog yesterday, the Olympic Games are about people coming together to make the World a better place. The Olympics are about all that is right with the World. But on occasion, reality can come crashing down and not even the Olympics are immune to that. All the Olympic athletes from all 82 competing countries are like one big family. Friday they lost a family member. Now it's time for them to get back to doing what they love to do. What they were born to do. Most of them have dreamt about this opportunity for their entire lives and now it's finally here.

Despite the setback, Friday night was a time for Celebration. The Opening Ceremonies was a spectacle of color, of sound, of movement, of emotion. It began with an awesome video of a snowboarder on a mountain peak that ended his run right in the middle of BC Place Stadium. The cinematography was so amazing that it almost made me want to try snowboarding. Except that it's very cold on those mountains. And I could break a hip. The crowd of 60,500 were treated to Aboriginal dances from various First Nations Tribes, a duet with Nelly Furtado and an uncomfortable looking Bryan Adams, a beautiful song from Sarah McLachlan (interestingly enough it was from the movie Charlotte's Web), a stunning stipped-down performance from kd lang who thankfully wasn't. (Stripped down that is.) Her version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah was amazing, and I just love that song. To me that made the night, and made me wish I was in that Stadium. Except I was sooo comfortable in my easy chair eating Nachos with 7 Layer dip and drinking Inniskillin Chenin Blanc. And also I know the acoustics are horrible in BC Place. I bet some of those people in attendance thought kd was singing Constant Craving. There was also a French guy who sang something (I don't know, Google it). While I didn't know the words, I thought he had an amazing voice. And there was a black woman with humongous hair singing something that broke my ear drums. (Google) She kind of reminded me of Rupaul. There's been quite a bit of controversy surrounding the Canadian National Anthem. While it's true that it has been slowed down and gussied up a bit, the lyrics are the same and I actually thought it was pretty cool. I'm still a little bitter that they didn't ask me to perform it, but I think they are just intimidated by my talent. I have a falsetto that would make Helen Keller want to put a gun to her head. Hmm, I don't even know what that means but I think it's a bad thing.

I thought it was pretty cool that Ashley MacIsaac was performing on his fiddle. You may remember him from back in the day when he was notorious for wearing a kilt with no underwear. And performing high leg kicks. Not a good combo if you ask me. Anyways I once saw him open for Melissa Etheridge and I always thought he was brilliant. Performing with a myriad of other fiddlers and a group of Irish Dancers, it was the most energetic portion of the show and very entertaining.

Some of the visuals from the show simply defy explanation, but I'm going to try anyways. There were like these curtain type thingys hanging from the roof, and they would come down and dislay video and change color and stuff. Okay. Nevermind. Just use your imagination. There were skiers flying through the air, a pod of whales swam across the floor and blew water into the air. I know, it sounds like I've just done a hit of acid. But it was a night full of beautiful inexplicable magic. And appart from a few minor little blips and one fairly major one, it was spectacularly seamless and smooth.

It was pretty obvious that the singers were lip-synching. I know that in all Olympics and probably all shows of this magnitude, the performances are pre-recorded. While I still think it's unfortunate and takes away from the show a little bit, I know that it's necessary. Call me crazy but I think kd lang may have been singing live. If not then she had me fooled. Of course I was on my third glass of Chenin Blanc and second piece of Chocolate Mousse Cake so I was bloated and drunk by then.

I think the true magic on this night was making that dull monstrosity that is BC Place Stadium look amazing. I hope the estimated 3 Billion people watching at home thought it looked as great as I did. It's hard to believe that's where the BC Lions play, where I recently saw U2, where they have the freakin' Boat Show! I still wish it had the retractable roof already. Mind you it was pouring rain so the roof would have been closed anyways.

One thing I was disappointed about is that there was no ice. They can make people fly through the air, make it snow in an indoor stadium, make BC Place actually look cool, but they can't put in a sheet of ice so we can have some figure skaters put on a show? Hopefully they are saving that for the Closing Ceremonies. I would also like to see performances by Michael Buble (Feelin' Good would be a great way to start the show), Diana Krall, Blue Rodeo, Nickelback, Johnny Reid, Celine Dion (who apparently is in Hospital trying to have another baby), and Jann Arden.

While the lighting of the torch at the end of the show was a little awkward it was still pretty awesome to watch. I like the fact that a group of Canadian Legends lit the torch together. It was a very nice touch, even though I'm not really a big fan of Wayne Gretzky, although he is a great ambassador for Hockey. It was also a nice touch lighting a torch outside, in Coal Harbour, but couldn't they just put him on a Helicopter? That ride in the pickup took like 15 minutes. Maybe that's just my ADD talking.

Not surprisingly I've heard some good comments and some bad comments about the Opening Ceremonies. One complaint is that Beijing set the bar too high. It is idiotic to compare the two. The Summer Olympics is a whole different ball game, and China spent something like 18 Kajillion Dollars on their Games. (Don't quote me on that, but feel free to Google it.) Although I know some people will disagree, the Vancouver Games are actually a lot more cost effective. We're getting a lot more bang for our buck. Personally I thought our Opening Ceremonies rivalled anyone's. While it wasn't quite the spectacle of Beijing, I think more thought went into it. It was a great concept and not just 10,000 people doing Karate moves. There I said it.

Now that the glitz and glamor is over, the sweat and tears, the victory and defeat begins tomorrow. There's lots to look forward too. Ski Jumping, the Men's Downhill on the Dave Murray Run at Whistler, the Luge begins (cross your fingers there are no further tragedies), and the Women's Biathlon. Not sure I'd want to watch that event. There's something about Women and guns that scares me. I guess it makes me think of Sarah Palin.

Anyways, day 2 should be exciting. I hope the torrential downpour lets up so people can actually see the beauty of Vancouver. I will be here in the comfort of my own home, eating junk food and getting blitzed as usual.