OPENING CEREMONY SUCKED

boblonsberry.com ^ | 07/30/12 | Bob Lonsberry

[chessplayer]

Agree.

[xp38]

The many pianos at Los Angeles 1984 opening were memorable.

[dfwgator]

In earlier times, such a spoof would have resulted in “off with their heads”.

Or at least, "We are not amused."

[chessplayer]

It was grotesque. I turned off the tube and told my kids a little bit about Britain’s great history - something the opening ceremony utterly neglected.

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And an awful lot of that history included colonialism, as dfwgator mentioned. I recall we had a problem with that colonialism in the past.

[apocalypto]

The worst opening. I gave up when all those hospital beds appeared.

[VanDeKoik]

Should Atlanta have showed slaves getting whipped or the KKK?

[Helen]

The opening ceremony celebrated degradation. The white pony instead of the American Flag on the uniforms of the American athletes fit right in with the degradation theme.

[siamesecats]

Thank goodness! I thought I was the only one who thought the ceremony was horrible!

[dfwgator]

Vancouver, now THAT was bad. The flame ceremony was totally botched. Remember that lame poet they had?

[kevkrom]

Actually, I liked the fact that they opened with "Jerusalem", a sort of semi-official English anthem and one of the more kooky local legends that somehow manage to survive into modern times.

While I wasn't fond of the dancing NHS segment, there was at least a tenuous tie-in with Peter Pan, as Barrie donated the rights to the work to the children's hospital featured.

On the whole, I think it was mediocre. It had good moments and bad moments. I did like the lighting of the torch sequence, though. (Nothing in my mind can top Barcelona or Lillehammer lightings, but they're in a class of their own.)

[the scotsman]

‘For example, the opening ceremony focused on England’s children’s writers and its socialized medicine system.’

Peter Pan was written by a Scotsman. And Mary Poppins by an Aussie.

‘And it was England which stood alone so long against Nazi Germany.’

And this man is lecturing others on bad history?.

[C19fan]

The Greece parade of history was awesome. Although I am sure the Iranians were offended with the float of Alexander the Great leading the phalanx. I got a chuckle when the Greeks decided to omit any reference to the almost 4 centuries of Ottoman rule. At least there is one people in Europe who still are proud of their history even if the contemporaries look bad in comparison.

[dfwgator]

I remember back expecting the Athens games to be terrible, but they turned out to be one of the best, ever.

[oh8eleven]

Should Atlanta have showed slaves getting whipped or the KKK?
Why bring your family into this?

[ex-snook]

I thought I was watching New Year’s Eve in Philadelphia.

[redhead]

"And the jokers who put them on should be embarrassed."

They should be flogged and banished.

[wbill]

At the beginning, there was a little kid who soloed ... in front of a billion+ people.

It was amazing. My wife looked at me and said "Hunh. No pressure."

Otherwise, the rest was crap. We turned it off after 5-10 minutes.

[wbill]

I would vote for Blackadder to hold any office at all.

I could trust him implicitly.....to be had for a price, you see.

[servo1969]

It was the kind of Opening Ceremony a city with no t*sticles would enjoy. A celebration neutered excellence.

[dan on the right]

You are right. Shouldn't blame Costas. Don't even blame Lauer (not a fan).

Agree that Lauer and Viera were having a hard time trying to follow the script to explain to us what the hell was happening before our eyes. The industrial revolution? The Sgt. Pepper uniforms? The crazy beds with sick kids jumping around? How did they keep a straight face trying to describe that lunacy? Felt bad for them, actually.