More Olympic Observations…for the last time

Things may have started out with a whimper, but they sure ended with a mighty loud bang!

As I’ve been saying for a few weeks already, I am always proud to be Canadian, but maybe today that pride is accompanied by a little bit of a swagger.

Despite the naysayers, the negativity of the ink stained wretches in the Canadian media and abroad, and our own Canadian Olympic Committee, our athletes sure came through in flying colours. It may not have been perfect, but it was a historic and most memorable Olympic Games. Canada has a great legacy going forward from today. I enjoyed last night’s closing ceremonies, which along with all of the sports coverage was time well wasted for me.

Now for some final random thoughts:

1. Why are the Canadian women’s hockey team getting flak for their not-so-covert celebrations, while Jon Montgomery got no criticism for drinking beer from a pitcher in public while walking down the street. I have no problem with either. I’m just saying – what’s the deal?

2. By winning the most gold medals (14), didn’t we sort of own the podium after all?

3. Despite the above, I still maintain that we have to get more money to the athletes themselves and minimize the amount of people feeding from the public trough. Hopefully, lessons are learned from these games and we will be even better in 4 years. Imagine that!

4. Is this the first time the people in Vancouver have seen television cameras? I admire their enthusiasm and energy though. Aside from the constant waving at the cameras, they made us look good to the rest of the world.

5. I will forever have Joannie Rochette’s performance etched into my mind. What a wonderful exhibition of grace, inspiration, and how to perform under adversity and pressure. And Clara Hughes is a true Canadian sports legend and great role model. I don’t know whose heart rate was higher during her final race, hers or mine.

6. Brian Williams rocks! If you caught any of the NBC coverage, you know how good we have it in Canada. Too bad CTV felt it necessary to include bits and interviews some of their D level personalities. Thank goodness they got rid of most of that during the first week or only did that junk in the morning hours when no events were going on.

7. I believe I’ve heard enough of that “I Believe” song. Although, it does work nicely when they put it with footage of our medalists doing their thing.

8. How many times did you sing “O Canada” in the past 17 days? I hope more than 14.

9. You had to love those moose antlers. Vancouver certainly stepped up their game for the closing ceremonies. 100% Canadian flavour and a lot of fun to watch, I wanted it to keep going.

10. Hopefully it did not take these Olympic Games for you to realize this but….Canada is The Greatest Country in the World!

Now it is time to support our Paralympic athletes. Go Canada!

Til next week

Roger