Olympics – which side are you on?

Seems there’s a considerable nyumber of miseries that delight any time anything goes wrong in the Olympics (or generally for that matter).

I’m not convinced about the whole thing in terms of expenditure, legacy, benefits etc, but now it’s happening I’d quite like it to go well so we don’t look like an island of clowns, but show ourselves off to the work.

Will you be celebrating the failures or the successes?

Both; It’s not the winning*, it’s the taking part that counts.
(* or should that be whining…) 😉

Can I sit on fence here? 🙂

definitely the successes 😀 there’s too much misery in the world.

not happy about fast food and drink companies being so involved as much as they are but looking forwards to the actual events.

Pizza Hut, yeh, the place is filled with athletic types int it? swigging coke and them stopping off at Macy D’s for a top up.

Just hoping the advertisement factor isn’t disproportionate to the games themselves.

From an athletic sense, I’m all for it. From a corporate tossfest perspective, I’m completely opposed to it. It should be about the athletes, and not about the sponsors.

I’m not convinced about the whole thing in terms of expenditure, legacy, benefits etc, but now it’s happening I’d quite like it to go well so we don’t look like an island of clowns, but show ourselves off to the work.

+1,

I’d rather it was somewhere more geographicaly central then London but can’t have eveything.

definitely the successes there’s too much misery in the world.

+1

Bit of both too for me.

But, I want it to be a success.

Guess we will find out tonight, when we find out who is lighting up the flame?

That should give us an idea as to how its all going to go 😉

I want it to go well but I’m disappointed the way tickets were sold and given away. The olympics normally gets better year on year I feel Beijing will go down as better and Rio. London is the corporate olympics.

In terms of legacy my friend who lives near that s**t hole was saying how its funny they only spend money on the area when a bunch of elite athletes and celebs turn up, the area is still a dive where as the park is beautiful.

I like watching sport. I think that’s what the Olympics is.

Hopefully will be celebrating some sucsess, looks promising for cycling and triathlon.

But the legacy is a joke, local sports facilities are being closed down wholesale across the country, access to sports is being reduced for most, its only when you reach elite level that there seems to be a benefit, and I wonder how long that will last for.

if its davis beckinham lighting the flame i’ll be sitting there feeling a bit cheated…. even the queen flying over it wearing a jetpack and using that to light the flame would be better than some footballer who chose to go and play for an american team for the cash.

I want to celebrate the things that go right and gloss over the enivitable odd fuax pas as I am sure other countries/hosts do, however Britain has a horrible habbit of doing the opposite & delight in the miseries.

Hope the British win lots of medals. Hope the Irish do themselves proud and normally, someone comes out of nowhere and wins something for us (as long as it’s not int he manner of that swimmer in the Atlanta games). I like Danny Boyle so I’ll be watching the ceremony this evening.

I am, however, disappointed in the level corporate whoring that’s gone on. The torch relay was absolutely disgusting at times. If I hear someone else say “legacy” without actually giving a shit again, I’ll puke.

Best thing to come out of the Olympics (apart from any golds we win)? The series Twenty Twelve on the Beeb. 😀

On the whole, I’d rather the games had gone somewhere else and the ‘legacy’ money was instead being spent on local sports facilities all over the country.

However, it’s here now so there’s no point whining about that any more. I hope it goes well and I hope and expect that there will be many memorable moments and performances.

As a chippy northerner, It is my god-given inalienable right to constantly whine, like a jet engine,’about ‘London’s’ games and why the **** the rest of us are paying for it

Harumph! 😛

I for one just ignore the negatives, things go wrong, even the things that shouldnt go wrong, go wrong……move one! 😉

There is enough doom and gloom in the UK and the world for that matter, lets just have something positive for a couple of weeks!!

I am embracing it all, good luck to Team GB!!!

I am looking forward to all cycling events and I might even watch some other events too!

Its here now, so suck it up and enjoy it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

think people are already focussing on the good stuff as someone was ringing a bell earlier and it broke off the handle and flew off towards the faces of innocent children and that’s not all over facebook/twitter yet… jsut noticed it on the bbc live feed

If its davis beckinham lighting the flame i’ll be sitting there feeling a bit cheated

This

I am, however, disappointed in the level corporate whoring that’s gone on. The torch relay was absolutely disgusting at times. If I hear someone else say “legacy” without actually giving a shit again, I’ll puke.

And this

Bring on the sport so we can forget about all the other b*****ks

From a corporate tossfest perspective, I’m completely opposed to it. It should be about the athletes, and not about the sponsors.

How much money did they put up though? Surely the govt would have had to cough up even more without them?

For the percentage of the money they put up, the sponsors got a disproportionately large amount of clout

And they were gifted effective tax haven status for the duration of the games, so ultimately its cost them even less

Hope its a complete sporting success.

But a good-humoured, non-violent anti-corporate demonstration getting past security and gaining some publicity would also be a success, IMHO.
Both for our democracy, and Britishness.

Some sort of co-ordinated big ‘eff off to the corporate bullies and their profiteering new rules.
With chips and gravy.

I’m quite annoyed at the amount of money pissed up against the wall and the corporate whoring and the generally buggering about with other peoples lives/businesses that’s gone on. I (cynically) expect lots to go wrong and if they do I’ll point an laugh* at the retards in charge of it all but I hope nothing (else) goes wrong and I’m actually getting caught up in the Olympic good will at the moment and feeling a little proud.

Still won’t be watching any of the opening ceremony tho (and realistically anything that doesn’t involve bikes either)

*I’ll clarify that, this event has had a ridiculous amount of man hours and budget poured into it, surely someone has been employed to double check the little things like getting the correct flags for the visiting countries. Don’t say “give us the games, we’ll put on a class show” then say “well these things happen”

The McGames – all about watching someone else playing sport while you sit on the couch shoving double burgers and fries into your face.

Some sort of co-ordinated big ‘eff off to the corporate bullies and their profiteering new rules.
With chips fries and gravy coke

How much money did they put up though? Surely the govt would have had to cough up even more without them?

Not if the McGames were being held in France they wouldn’t

Cynic-al

Your attitude just about matches mine. Now its here I hope its a success and I’m really looking forward to watching (on TV) some of the events.

The only thing that annoys me is the corporate sponsorship

Teh coporate whring shows the UK in a very poor light

Teh waste of money is immense

Its a bloated parody of a sporting contest. Not that intersted

I’m actually proper against LOADS: the companies that sponsor it, prohibition on water bottles (tho I heard you can take them in and fill from taps?) the G4 **** up, and even worse, apologist Hunt’s “not bothered” attitude; the inevitable legacy FAIL (though they do seem to have thought about that more than predecessors), the Coe-legacy angle, rpcies/inaccessibility etc etc.

But now it’s here I will try to enjoy it.

But now it’s here I will try to enjoy it.

Me too, I’m giving my best shot. We all make the games.

Bless us. 😀

that sounds a reasonable approach al, better than the usual on here, where any comment short of total adulation for the whole of the olympics project and you’re branded an unpatriotic grump who wants Britain to fail at everything

Why would we have to be on one side or the other?

I think the Olympics is a massive waste of money but like watching sport so will watch some of it.

I don’t even pick a side when I watch football. I simply watch sports enjoy the skill and drama

oh.. and we are pretty much an island of clowns! look at the royal family 😉

embrace your inner clown!… “HONK” HONK”!

if ou have to “try” to enjoy something, it’s generally not worth the bother

I’m very excited. It may be corporately corpulent, but it provides all of us, despite or own ethnic origins to get behind our team. I know it is a bit Norman Tebbit Cricket test. But we should all be supporting our home nation in this. So Come on Northern Ireland!! I hereby challenge you GBers to a contest! let’s see who gets the most medals!

if you have to “try” to enjoy something, it’s generally not worth the bother

Oh, so what about smoking and drinking and taking it up the wrong un then?

for me, the build-up has been tiresome, but that’s because I’m SO looking forward to the Olympics.
just been down to the Thames (outside where I work) to watch THE TORCH coming down the river and there is a REAL buzz about the place. 🙂

i just wanna see the queen flying via jetpack

we paid for it we can whinge about it—– seems fair enough

Really looking forward to the sport.
And signed the 38degrees petition about corporate tax dodging – turns out the sponsors don’t want negative publicity after all WIN![/url]

Sam, if someone’s forcing drink and weed into you in order to have their way with your back passage tell us now. I’m sure someone here will be able to point you in the right direction for help.