Hi Team. Sorry it's been a few days since my last post it was the final stretch up on the hill and you may have seen how crappy the weather was. That on top of I relocated where I was, to where I am now. I was staying with an old very dear friend, but switched over to another old friends place. I have been having some more Internet problems too. I will make a huge post on Monday at some point to make up for the last few days. I would love to say it will be up tomorrow on Sunday but let's be honest it's Gold Metal Hockey day followed by the closing of the games. All this hardwork and sacrifice will finally be rewarded. I'm going to go watch the big game at one if the out door viewing areas like I did the very first game. It's such a great environment to watch. Thousands of people losing their minds together all chewing the nails, fixed on the same screen. Good times, no best of times.
As for the Closing Ceremonies, I have no idea what is going to happen. It's been top top secret around here no one knows. My money is on guests being the Tragically Hip, Lenard Coen, Neil Young, Michel J Fox, Bill Shattner, and that women astronaut who's name escapes me right now. I just wanna see Captain Kirk go on a rant about or home and native land.
Well I'll get back to work on Monday with a large coffee and a wicked hang over.
Hope you had fun. I know I did.

Little Peek Behind the Scene

Its fun to be right in the middle of everything. From hanging with the coach's to quietly watching the sunrise from the Bus.

Nightly Fireworks

Every night around 10:30 Vancouver gets a fantastic fireworks show just because its the Olympics. The first few nights I thought it was those God Damn Terrorist's trying to run a muck, but turns out its just some family fun.
If you get down to the water early enough (6 hours early, like everything else) you can get yourself some standing room to watch the real highlight of the show. In the bay there is a large tube installed that sprays a wall of water 25 feet up. The water and mist is used to project laser shows and highlights from the day. Very Cool, very expensive, but it doesn't cost anything for you to check out.

False Creek

The view from Cambie Bridge. To the left is GM Place and Down Town. In the center is where you'll find Ontario, Saskatchewan, Quebec and the Molson Hockey House's. To the right is Russia's Sochi 2014 House. Just beside the Russia house is the Athletes village, which is a fortress. Ive tried a few times to get in there. Ive tried to walk in with my Camera and Olympic ID, Ive tried to walk in like a lost tourist and everything in between, but with no luck.
I'm not licked yet.

Another Pano. 10x Frames shot at 4" @ F 11 ISO 400
the trick is a lens longer then 50 mm ;)

You saw it right?

So you are reading my blog and you circled the time and date of the Ice Dancing, Right?
What a gorgeous routine. If you missed it, check for highlights.
I was in the Ukrainian house just checking it out when they took the ice. Everyone went banana's when the score came up. I love everyone.

New Record

A new Olympic record has been set for most goals in 1 Olympic Hockey Tournament.
Meghan Agosta for Team Canada scored her 9th, and its only the half way through the semifinals. She also has 3 assists giving her 12 points so far.
Born Fed 12 1987 in Windsor Ont she is competing in her second Olympics and is on her way to the Gold metal match against Team USA.
Right on
Go Canada Go

The Fans of the World

I have so many of these. The People here are amazing, everyone is happy to be here and we are happy to host the world.
Every time I cross paths with anyone from another nation I go out of my way to go over call out the name of the country, give them a big thumbs up and wish them luck.
I have been moved many times by the response of everyone here. I have gotten countless thank yous in many different languages for hosting and being polite and welcoming. Classic Canadian stereotypes, love it.

Ice Dancing

Did anyone catch the Pairs Ice Dancing last night? Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir tore up the ice in their free skate.
Ice Dancing is very fun event. Personally I dig Figure Skating. It was at the last Olympic Games in Torino when I saw the Russian skater Evgeni Plushenko, (this year finished 2nd) took the gold and set a new Olympic Record. Figure Skating is a real combination of both grace and power. These athletes are moving very very fast, switching the direction of their blades and lets not forget tossing each other high into the air.
Last night Canada saw our dance pair shatter their own personal best to end up siting with the rank of first with one last skate left to go.
Scoring for Ice Dancing is put together by the addition of three skates. 1 is the compulsory, where you have to go through a series of movements and tricks. Not in any order but they all have to be there. 2 the Original Dance where you just give'er 3 is the Free Skate, a combination of set maneuvers set to your own choreography
Our pairs has one last dance to do today to reach the gold, which is now in reach after last night.


In other truly Canadian sports Kevin Marten the Skip for Mens curling is still undefeated. after destroying the Americans.

I don't wanna talk about it.

National Shout Out.

Would like to give another shout out to one of the smaller country's here at the Games.
Belarus.
Wikipedia tells me that "Belarus bordered by Russia to the north and east, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia on the North West. So you know these guys have had a crappy few centuries in the past. Its capital is Minsk!
Its strongest economic sectors are agriculture, manufacturing, and now hockey.
Belarus is a stronger Latvia in the Men's Ice Hockey tournament. They are there more or less to round out the pools and let the big boys start to work up a sweat, but they are making improvements as the years go by. The Kostitsyn Brothers who play in the NHL are on the forefront of Belarusian club. Andrei the big brother is out with a knee injury he received with Montreal, but little brother Sergei I am glad to report tore it up last night in his game against Team Germany.
Sergei is ma man. Back home I have is Habs shirt with 74 on the back and here in my Olympic hockey pool I picked him up. Sergei came out screaming last night and put up a whopping 4 points. 1 nifty goal and 3 sweet assists. At'a Boy. Sergei has pulled himself up to the top of the tournaments leading scorers with last nights preformance.
Just to keep the universe in balance there is another fellow from Belarus by the name of Mikhail Grabovski who is a world class dick. He is from the same town as the Kostitsyn brothers and was also drafted into the NHL by Montreal, but in his first year of being called up from the farm he pulled some crap and was traded to Toronto for a 12th round draft pick in 2017 and a bag of pucks. Grabovski made Team Belarus but is unable to play because of a lower body injury. On Friday night Mikhail was arrested outside of a Vancouver Night Club for assault and being drunk in public. What a jerk.
Belarus also has a great chance at a gold metal in Aerial Freestyle skiing. Yesterday Women's qualifying took place on Cypress and Alla Tsuper aka the Snow Princess took top spot by many points by nailing a triple full with a twist in the Pike position. That means she got up over 50 feet from the top of the jump and flipped backwards 3 times with a 360 degree rotation all with her body folded over its self, nose to knees.
Her coaching staff are very cool people as well who are all very excited to be here in Vancouver. I talked her head coach into trading me a Flag Pin for one of my crappy pins.
Lets Go Belarus, Clap Clap, clapclapclap.

Some B.S.

I don't really want to post this but its important to show both sides of the coin. Personaly I think its a bunch of Bull. The biggest problem has been the weather, but really what can you do about that. Its not like God has a Gmail account and his card hanging on a cafe wall waiting around for emails, right. Okay some shity shit has happened like the Opening Blunder and a few other things.
I'm not going to get to deep into because I'm having a kick ass time out here and like everything else in life I choose to look at the brighter side.

Here's the not so bright side.
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/17022010/58/winter-olympics-vancouver-catalogue-woe.html

Oh and for the record its the Brits that are talking all the smack and pushing it around because their next for the Summer Games. Good Luck with that.

Hey Habs Fans

Check this out.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=310929
What a Dick

Bummer News

Bad news ya"ll. My blog was found out over at the media center, so I have to take it easy on the sports photos. Here's the deal. The photographers that I am assisting are sent by company's that have paid big bucks to be there. So the IOC gets a little pissy about photographers like myself who are smart enough to show up with a small but powerful ninja camera. (All hail Canon G11) and they don't like when I upload images just as fast as they do. Okay almost as fast. No worries I am going to keep working hard on this blog, but I'm going to switch focus to the City, the Fans, the volunteer's all that good stuff.
Ill keep at it.

Down Town. You should see it on Hockey nights.

Un-Freakin-Belivable.

I just got to meet the one and only Mr. Wayne Gretzky at the Ontario House. The Great One was here today to plug his wine, hand out samples and talk a little hockey. Just to make my heart pound a little harder he autographed my Team Canada hat. Un-Freaking-Beliveable. Belive it. I also belive I have to go het a new hat, because this one can't be worn anymore.
Go Canada Go

Wickenheiser reached her record total of 16 career Olympic goals by scoring once on Wednesday as Canada followed up their 18-0 win over Slovakia and 10-1 defeat of Switzerland.
I want a 2010 Team Canada jersey and if I do grab one of these over priced shirts it will have to be 22 in Red. Much respect due.  
Canada blitzed Sweden 13-1 on Wednesday with the hosts taking their goal total at the 2010 Games to a whopping 41 in three matches. Crazy. 

Mens Half Pipe

Cypress's Olympic Pipe is the biggest meanest S.O.B. ever used in an international compitsion.
Gold: Shaun White of U.S.A.
Silver: Peetu Piiroinen of Finlnad
Bronze: Scott Lago of U.S.A.
I was cheering for the Canadian, Fin and the Swiss guys, just because;)
Hell of a show, I got to watch the finals, 3 feet from the edge of the wall.
jealous much.

Canada Wins 8-0

Canada Wins the first game in the 2010 hockey tournament. It through the Vancouver into a frenzy. The streets were a sea of red and white. High Fives to and from everyone. On every corner a roar of "Go Canada Go, Go Canada Go". each chant would be followed by Oh Canada.
I can't imagine whats heights this hockey fever will hit as the tourny continues.

Where ever you are in this beautiful country of ours, Please, Please, Please get together with some of your friends. Put on you Red Maple Leafs and go enjoy this game in as big a crowd as you can find. The more the merrier.
You never know when or where a street hockey game may break out and you'll need players.

Breaking news Canada wins Gold in Womens Boarder Cross.  I'll get you the details later. Currently standing in line to get into Canada House to watch Canada's first Mens Hockey Game. Outside surrounded by beer tents in a sea if Red

Half Pipe

These are just some low res quickies, and yes that is Shaun White from Team USA that is flying out of my view finder.
They should just give this guy the Gold right now.
In his first practice run he through down a 720 with a flip, just because he can.
This event is going to get real dirty. The pipe is gigantic with ice for walls and mash potato's in the flat.

Enjoy the Ride

Mens Hockey

Finaly it starts today with preliminary action.
12:00 PT 3:00ET
USA vs Switzerland
4:30 PT 7:30 ET
Canada vs Norway
9:30 PT 12:30 ET
Russia vs Latvia

R. Lulongo gets the start in net for Team Canada tonight

good link
http://www.ctvolympics.ca/hockey/news/newsid=43114.html#let+great+hockey+tournament+begin

Houses

Russia's Sochi 2014 House











Maison du Quebec












This wall is on the Back Wall of the Quebec House. The snow flakes on the left side are falling and you can through snow balls at the wall. If you hit a snowflake it shatters and loud strange noises boom from the music. If you miss the wall ripples like stones on still water.
Insanely cool.

Saskatchewan Pavilion

Thanks again Dave

This one is for anyone who wants to go fo a little ski around Whistler but cant join us here at the Games. I Wish you were here with me, enjoy the view.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&hq=http://maps.google.com/intl/en/help/maps/games10/sv-alpine-skiing-map.kml&q=Whistler+Creekside&ei=va1jS8jMHZGcjAPiz-G-Cg&sll=50.094972,-122.990841&sspn=0.014317,0.032015&ie=UTF8&view=map&geocode=FXxj_AIdB0-r-A&split=0&ved=0CBMQpQY&ll=50.079176,-122.952504&spn=0.008042,0.045447&t=h&z=15&layer=c&cbll=50.079093,-122.952392&panoid=AIYiwpBxNQ7PAtX8H5zVcg&cbp=12,302.61,,0,0.03&utm_campaign=en&utm_medium=ha&utm_source=en-ha-na-us-gns-svn

play with this thing

Silver

Mike Roberston from Edmonton AB wins silver in Snowboard Cross, in his first Olympic Games.
After holding on to a large lead for most of the final race he was over taking on the final jump by reigning gold medalist Seth Wescott.
Canada's second silver has us in a 3 way tie in the Metal count with both Team German and Team France with 4 metals. Team USA holds the lead with 8 metals.

Canada's Men's Ice Hockey Team is holding there first and only full team practice today. Tomorrow the Men's preliminary games begin, with Game 1 vs Team Norway. Who's Starting in Goal for us in Games 1,2, & 3?

Technical Difficulties

My friends, Im having some trouble getting images up today. Sorry I'll sort it our asap. There's a bunch of stuff coming.
It finally a day off for me and its not raining. Thank the Gods. Ive bee so tied up on the mountain for the last 3 days that I haven't had a chance to hit the streets and party with the world. That's today's job.

Bios

Alex Bilodeau Freestyle Skiing Gold Bio

http://www.ctvolympics.ca/team-canada/athletes/athlete=3513/index.html

I'd like to point out that we share the same birthday.

Jen Heil Silver Freestyle Skiing Bio

http://www.ctvolympics.ca/team-canada/athletes/athlete=1044/index.html

Kristina Groves Bronze Speed Skating
http://www.ctvolympics.ca/team-canada/athletes/athlete=3266/index.html

Go Canada Go,
Keep'em coming Team

Moguls

Men’s luge is flying. Whistler Sliding Track is in full effect tonight, Day 2.
We play for ourselves, we play for each other.
Vive la Luge

From the Bus

Just got news in the way up the hill that Womens Mogols final practice runs before qualifying layer today, has been canceled. It's still raining on Cypress. How this will effect the metal events later this evening has not been released.
Jenn Heil is the reigning gold medalist from the last Winter Games and is Canadas first (and really good) chance to win Our first gold at home.
There's many events today both in Vancouver and Whistler. I'll do my best to stay on top of it, but I also have many other jobs to do, to help the games continue to run smoothly.
Other events in the day include Mens Downhill. Canada has yet to win Gold in this event, but remeber this is laterally the back yard to some of our skiers.
Mens Long Track 5000 meters. Vert cool event.
Women's Hockey. Canada vs Slovakia. Kill'em girls.
Mens Short Track 1500 meters.
Other Events on the day.
Ski Jumping. Normal Hill. They only fly 100 meters in the air. Only 300 ft. Craziness.
Women's Biathlon, 7.5 Km sprint. With Guns
Women's Hockey. Sweden vs Switzerland
Mens Luge. Carefully boys.

Enjoy the Games.

Watching the Games.

Canada and the world will have the chance to see every momen of every event, if you have the time. For the first time ever 4800 hours of brodcasting will be made available over all types of media. 
It is taking a team of roughly 1400 staff members to "make the trains run on time" at the CTV-Rogers broadcasting center.  IBC (Intrrnationa Broadcasting Center) takes up 3 floors, 6 studios, and a few dozen suites for editing video and audio recording voiceovers and publishing the www.ctvolympics.ca website.
There are over 2250 hours of television coverage. There is Si much coverage that it takes a room full of servers that look like stacks of VCRs stacked on top of each other, just to process it all. 
A huge chunk of coverage will be online and feeding to mobile phones. From highlight packs to onsite interviews with athletes, to hourly updates on each sport. 
"You can't turn in any direction without running into the Olympics and especially an Olympic broadcast. Says Alon Marcovici who is in charge of the digital offerings. 
Ivan Fecan, president of CTVglobemedia says " We need to do it differently than CBC had done it, and for that we need scale."
The availablity of the events has reached new hights with the joining of the newest technology and the hard working 'Team' effort of all Canadian media. The Games have finaly arrived for the whole world to enjoy. 
We as a nation have been working so hard for so long, or time to play hard has arrived. 
Go Canada Go.  

The Games are Open!!

Well, what did you think? I would love to here your thought on Canada’s opening festivities. It sure was pretty. Pretty Canadian!! I loved it.
How did you feel about the Flames entrance, and who passed it around?
What did you thinks of the botched hydraulics?
Or the Santa Clause Parade, excuse me the Gretzky show?
Please say Hi, let me know how we did, how we’ll do, or just scream some national pride and Ill pass it on for you.

Sarah made me Cry?
GO CANADA GO, let’s get this party started.

Fatal Luge Accident

Reporting live from Cypress I regret to inform you that the Games have had a fatal accident during practice runs at Whistlers Luge Track.
Nodar Kumaritashvili from Georgia was killed after loosing control of his sled and flying up and out of the track. He suffered major head trauma and died in Hospital. VANOC release the information from a press conference at 1:45 PT. I was in the Lodge with about 200 other volunteer's when the news came in. We stopped what we were doing and gathered around the many live feed TVs to watch the tragic news.
For more info check any major news broadcasting from Vancouver.

More Hockey News

Thanks TSN, this is a copy paste job. I'm tired

On February 1st, Team Canada submitted its 23 man roster and also provided a list of reserve players.

Final Olympic rosters don't have to be in until Monday.

Team Canada officials are reluctant to divulge the number of reserves, or their identity, however sources tell TSN the reserve list includes four forwards, three defencemen and a goaltender. All of the players on the reserve list have been contacted by Canada's management team and told to be ready in case of injury.

Sources say Dallas Stars' defenceman Stephane Robidas is one of three reserve defencemen who has been asked to be ready to fly in to Vancouver on a moments notice, in the event a Canadian defenceman is injured in NHL play this weekend. While Robidas has received the call, he may not necessarily be Canada's first choice for a replacement on the blueline.

Columbus Blue Jackets' goalie, Steve Mason has also been instructed to be prepared in case Martin Brodeur, Roberto Luongo, or Marc-André Fleury suffers an injury.

Unlike Philadelphia forward Jeff Carter who will fly to Vancouver this weekend to be ready if Team Canada management determines Ryan Getzlaf is unable to play, neither Robidas nor Mason will make the trip unless necessary.

Doping

Anti-doping chiefs told reporters earlier Thursday that drug cheats are more likely to be caught in Vancouver than ever before but refused to give details on more than 30 athletes banned from the Winter Games. One unnamed female has been allowed to stay and compete in the Games due to a "very special case"

http://www.ctvolympics.ca/news-centre/newsid=38627.html#ioc+allows+athlete+compete+after+doping+breach

WADA
http://www.wada-ama.org

A Short History of Olympic Cheating
http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/story/2010/02/11/spo-olympics-cheating.html

Cool app for all the Iphone's out there.

I uploaded it today and gave it a spin. Very Very cool.
It has everything you need to know about the 2010 Games, right at the touch of your finger.
Best Part, its free.

http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/2010guide-vancouver-2010-olympic/id350892863?mt=8