Fat Guy Follies

As the Olympics draw to a close today, I decided to look back at the last two weeks. My 3 favourite media broadcast live moments were;
1) The Great One (Wayne Gretzky) standing in the back of a Chevy Pickup truck, with a burnt out headlight, in the pouring rain, driving through the streets of Vancouver on his way to light the out door cauldron. There did not appear to be any security present, unlike the 6-8 guys that normally surrounded the torch bearer, on the relay across Canada. I guess the organizers did not count on the event being televised live. As people watching in the bars and restaurants, realized The Great One, was driving past, they began pouring out into the streets and running alongside. One scene I particularly remember is the waiter, in a black suit and white apron, running along beside the truck screaming at Wayne. I wonder what his customers thought, when be bolted out of the restaurant to join the party on the street. Some media reported that up to 20,000 people were chasing the torch through Vancouver.

2)Gold Medalist Jon Montgomery being handed the pitcher of beer, as he was being escorted through Whistler Village, on his way to a CTV interview. A girl runs through the group of police and security around Jon and hands him a full pitcher of beer. Without breaking stride, Jon grabs it, and chugs back a pint or so, then looks around and realizes he is surrounded by police (Drinking in public is not allowed in BC). Jon quickly slides it around behind his back like a seasoned outdoor-drinking-hiding-your-beer-from-the-cops veteran. Then after a few more steps he realizes that a few minutes earlier, he had just won a gold medal, so he has another drink.

3)The impromtu street hockey game on Granville Street, between a group of Team Canada jersied Canadian guys against a group of Uncle Sam Hat wearing Americans. Several hundred people crowded around cheering them on. With all the hockey sticks being carried around downtown, I am sure there were many more "game-ons" than shown on TV. The best part is that with Granville street being closed, they never had to break for cars.

We also had many many memorable personal incidents while downtown or attending an Olympic Event. We attended a couple of Medal Ceremonies. For $20, it was great entertainment. We saw Shaun White get his gold medal.

We were too far away to get a good picture from the stage. It appears that if Emily or Kaitlin have their way, he will soon become a son-in-law somewhere in our family.

If anyone doubts Shaun's ability, take a look at the last photo in this montage of pictures. The guy needs a spacesuit.

Canada's Christine Nesbitt was also awarded her gold in the ladies 1000m speedskating, as we cruised toward a record 14 gold medals.

I have never seen so many Canadian Flags, and yes we did sing the anthem, all the way to the end.


The joke is that most Canadians, don't know the last two lines of our anthem, since it is always drowned out by the hockey players banging their stick on the ice before the game.
After all the Medals were awarded, Hedley came out to play a few songs. The girls had given up on Shaun, by now, and were all about Hedley.

Ty, the music critic, rates the show.


Here is the aforementioned Olympic Cauldron, that the Great One Lit.

With a group photo to remember a great Olympic Evening

Right now it is time to sit down in front of the TV, and cheer the only game or event that really matters in the entire Olympics. Team Canada vs Team USA. I tried to buy tickets for the preliminary round of Canada vs USA. The scalper laughed in my face when I offered him $1000 for 2 tickets. I cannot imagine what tickets for today are going for.

Cheers
Preparing for an Olympic Hangover Bryan