Thanks for the ping, canuck_conservative.
Posted on 02/16/2010 6:06:16 PM PST by canuck_conservative
The way they tell it, the Vancouver Olympics has been a complete disaster. Canadians coast to coast are cringing in embarrassment, when they aren’t cowering under the chesterfield, upset by the disappointing results. One gold, two silver, one bronze, so far.
For the record, Canada's medal haul to date equals the most the Brits have ever won in a winter games. And when did they reach this height? In Chamonix in 1924. Britain, remember, is a country that shuts down if more than a few flakes fall on the same weekend, and insists on building houses with water pipes on the outside, not convinced yet that cold makes water freeze. The British medal total to date is zero, pubs brawls not having been accepted yet as an Olympic sport.
It’s fascinating to see yourself as others see you, of course, and the Games provide the perfect opportunity for Canadians to check how they match up to other hosts. But Fleet Street’s finest have a problem: no Brits have so far been seen near a podium. Or have much chance, except in curling, bobsleigh and skeleton. This leaves reporters casting about for something to write about to justify the huge expense of sending them to British North California. Underpinning it all is the schadenfreudesque hope Vancouver will be such a dud it will make the London Olympics look good.
Here’s a typical sample from Ian Chadband, The Daily Telegraph’s chief sports writer.....
(Excerpt) Read more at network.nationalpost.com ...
NP website also has a clip of some fine, cultured British pub-brawlers representing ol' Blighty in Vancouver.
Canada-under-fire-from-journalists-with-bad-teeth pinger ...
I figured Brits would be more interested in the Champions League matches going on this week.
Oh, I say! Anyone for tennis? What, what?
I had to look that one up.
Their is an Olympics going on? I was flipping channels and saw some X-Games like event where 18 year old kids in those Speed Racer helmets were jumping their snowboards down some spray painted lined hill. Snoore....what watch women’s hockey or figure skating. 6 more months till football starts again or less than 2 months till opening day in baseball. The Olympics are a colossal waste of time and haven’t been relevant since the Berlin wall fell.
Vancouver known for being a little north of Seattle..
But don’t you love the British when they are being pissy? (Sorry, couldn’t use an asterisk this time for obvious reasons)
The sarcasm just drips like that stuff the Amazonian Indians put on the end of their darts before they fell the Mighty Capabara or Tree Sloth. Ready, set, BLOW, and whoosh, the pointy little barb wings its way like an insignificant gnat until the stinger pierces the fur, and KERBLAM, out of the tree, or over on it’s backside, depending on what they were aiming at, goes the target. A victim, paralyzed by the curare, unable to move, yet suffering all the agonies of knowing they have been skewered, and about to be carved up, and absolutely helpless to do anything about it.
Yes, just like a dark and stormy night, outside a cheap English pub, where a drunk has fallen into a puddle . . .
parsy, who was starting to get carried away
Davenport is the same.
Men’s Hockey. That’s it.
OUCH!
The Union Jack didn’t look upside down to me.
Six Nations Rugby is also going on.
I suppose not one of the whole bloomin'' lot have my memories. This is as well. Perhaps not the thread to indicate what has happened to Britain. I will chance it. I was a raw lad and remembered the news reports and build up to the 1948 Winter Olympics at St Moritz, Switzerland.
The whole of England had been hit with the realization of what was lost in that war. It had more rationing than during the war. There was a defensive attitude. The press kept on about our big hope. It was Johnny Cronshey, a speed skater, who had four British records.
A cartoon appeared of a poverty stricken British team living in tents outside the Hotel Ritz. This with patched uniforms. Finally Cronshey broke every British speed record, but finished 11th. Jeanette Altwegg of Liverpool got a bronze in figure skating. She got the gold in 1952.She lives today at 79 years of age- bless her. John Crammond got a bronze in "skeleton" a fancy name for the toboggan.
We learned years after that our lack of postwar glut and consumerism, was due to helping starving Europeans including the Germans. Well, that old generation, post WW2. at least had a bit of dignity, I will say that for them. What the survivors of that time think, I would not wish to know.
I’ve read the British whine about the weather as if it is Canada’s fault, complain about transportation and housing for athletes, blame the whole nation for the death of the Georgian, attack the opening ceremony torch mix up as a disaster...They seem to be gleeful trashing the games anyway they can.
My theory is that they hope to make London look good in comparison. Plus, the BBC sent more journalists to Vancouver then they sent athletes so they need something to report on, and since the British suck at winter sports and will be lucky to win a single bronze, they need to distract the populace somehow :)
I do believe Davenports were made in Davenport, Iowa. We had one when I was a child.
Well, GB did manage to have some glory along the way through presenting pluck and verve in spite of all odds.
Eddie 'The Eagle' Edwards - Olympic legend
GBEE!
I suppose that the yahoos and losers always seem to generate the wrong publicity. Just to take a bit advantage at your reply, I would like to mention the 1948 London Olympics in shabby, war scarred London. How they waited and prayed for just the one gold. Waited and waited. The host country gets to choose an event not generally entered. Britain chose "Equestrian" (horse and rider).
We got our gold and God save our gracious King. (memories and memories).
Thanks for the ping, canuck_conservative.
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