In these Olympics, Canadians only paid attention to Canada.

[kizza 1]

Im kind of bummed you respond to this guy.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Not only TO radio. Appears you Paul seem to freak out about anything Canadian

lol, I don't freak out on anything Canadian.

It would seem more that people freak out about the things I say more without stepping back and actually thinking rationally. That's not my fault.

[antda 13]

All I'm going to say about this is...

We had THE major international sporting event on our home turf, with three billion viewers -- most of whom don't know much about Canada. Most of whom probably didn't realize that Canada does, in fact, have nationalism! We're usually such a low-key nation.

These Olympics marked one of the very few times that Canada has been downright overt in its nationalism...and now we get roundly criticized for it? It's kind of like the quiet kid in class who is told to shut up when he finally finds something worthwhile to speak about. That's not really fair, is it?

Wyatt-I agree! Canadians have nationalism and pride! And we shouldn't be critized about this either....Not fair, indeed!

We have something to speak about, we as a nation hosted the olympics, and welcomed all other nations to our backyard!

Surely something postive can be said about that! Speak up Canadians!

Ant

[bowflex 0]

Again, not my fault the politically correct crowd takes things the wrong way or out of context.

People just need to relax....

Lol You throw around the term politically correct just like most people do with the word irony, INCORRECTLY

[Darnell 8,478]

Oh well. Maybe Gil LeBreton will be invited out to hunt geese with Mr. Cheney. That'd be cool.

[Flames9_RN 358]

Im kind of bummed you respond to this guy.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Oh well. Maybe Gil LeBreton will be invited out to hunt geese with Mr. Cheney. That'd be cool.

I would have no problems with Gil being out in front of Cheney

This is a rare article that he actually makes valid points (it isn't often he actually is valid at all).

[Marilyn. 340]

I was just reading about the 1984 Olympics.. seems like there was a lot of Patriotism going on at those games too...

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1817...pg=6865,1301860

[Wyatt's Torch 45]

It would seem more that people freak out about the things I say more without stepping back and actually thinking rationally. That's not my fault.

There it is again! The belief that nobody other than yourself speaks rationally! That's almost exactly the definition of arrogance. Most of us here are very rational people. I don't know where the belief comes from that we're not!

If each and every one of us were to tell you definitively that Texas is a horrible state with nothing positive about it, you'd roll your eyes and laugh about it, still believing Texas to be the best state ever! Nothing's going to change your opinion about it, correct? Well the same is true of us and Canada -- OF COURSE we're all going to defend our country! Would you expect anything else?

Whether it's true or not, your posts have the appearance of trolling to them. The best policy really is for us to not reply to anything you write. It's been awhile since I was a moderator elsewhere though, so I find I'm having difficulty not throwing out fodder.

Edited March 3, 2010 by Wyatt's Torch

[Obama 2012 1,714]

I was just reading about the 1984 Olympics.. seems like there was a lot of Patriotism going on at those games too...

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1817...pg=6865,1301860

1980 & 1984 Olympics are probably both somewhat like this... and figuring half the world boycotted both..... :/

Damn Cold War!!!

[Marilyn. 340]

Out of a job, for what?

Being honest....

Oh wait, that's right Canada is another Politically Correct country like many others and what many are trying to get the US to be.

Boo-hoo you got offended by a writer of an article. Seriously?

His points were valid and I even saw it going on the whole time, even well before the Olympics even started.

In stating the last time he saw that much of a sea of the home colors/flags/etc.. was in 1936, then that's the last time he saw it. It's fair to say too that it's a good comparison because of how much "about Germany" Germany indeed was.

No one is calling Canadians Nazis... If you're getting that from the article, you have personal issues you need to work out with yourself in regards to rational thinking.

my point in bringing up the 1984 Olympic games was to disprove this earlier statement...

Edited March 3, 2010 by Marilyn.

[Allie 5]

This is my last posting on this topic:

You're here in the Canadian Forum what I think making bad relations.

Somewhere along this Visa journey you may be in this same Canadian Forum inquiring

on an issue in paperwork to these same Canadians you're offending

My advise to you Paul, " don't burn your bridges behind you, some day they may have to be crossed again"

[Obama 2012 1,714]

There it is again! The belief that nobody other than yourself speaks rationally! That's almost exactly the definition of arrogance. Most of us here are very rational people. I don't know where the belief comes from that we're not!

If each and every one of us were to tell you definitively that Texas is a horrible state with nothing positive about it, you'd roll your eyes and laugh about it, still believing Texas to be the best state ever! Nothing's going to change your opinion about it, correct? Well the same is true of us and Canada -- OF COURSE we're all going to defend our country! Would you expect anything else?

Whether it's true or not, your posts have the appearance of trolling to them. The best policy really is for us to not reply to anything you write. It's been awhile since I was a moderator elsewhere though, so I find I'm having difficulty not throwing out fodder.

Actually I would debate the issue gladly. No problem is a healthy debate.

I may sound arrogant because of the way I view the world, but that what you may think is arrogance isn't really as much that as it is I really do see things from both points of view... I can see how people could be 'offended' by the article, but at the same time they didn't really read the article and paid more attention to the Germany references automatically assuming that they're being called Nazis...

[Hugglebuggles 60]

Well, that was one of the most ridiculous things I've read in a while. We wear Canadian flags and cheer for our country and its arrogance, but when Americans show up to games and paint their bodies in American flags and write "USA" all over their chests its patriotism- give me a break.

All the Americans I've encountered here in my corner of the USA have expressed nothing but the opposite. I've heard a lot of positive feedback about how Canadians hosted the games and how Canadian pride is rather unique and refreshing to see. Watching the opening ceremonies with members of my extended American family was a very positive experience for all of us- they would ask me questions about Canada and Canadian symbols and seemed genuinely interested. There was an interesting article in the Denver Post last week written by a local journalist who was covering the games in Vancouver. He wrote about features of Canadian life he discovered-particularly Tim Horton's, and how all the members of the international journalist pool would line up at various Timmies locations bright and early in the morning and order their coffee and donuts. It was pretty interesting and neat to see here in Colorado. He spoke of Canada with reverence, he seemed to enjoy his Canadian Olympic experience.

As for the Luger that died- sad, very sad. He was recognized as several points during the games, but should we really stop celebrating, partying, showing our patriotism and completely miss the entire message of the games because of the loss of this one person? I don't think so. The track was changed, his legacy was honored, and people who blamed him for his accident? That came from a number of international sources, most of which weren't even Canadian. So lets not blame Canada for that consensus.

Honestly, this guy just seems bitter and cynical about the commercialization of the Olympics and the way the media outlets handled it. How is that the fault of Canadians? Its not.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Gil wasn't the only one who saw this.....

Apparently Montreal Gazette did too...

-----

http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/arroga...8915/story.html

The Olympics are supposed to be uplifting. So far, the Vancouver Olympics are anything but.

The problem starts at the very top: the Own the Podium initiative, that federally sponsored program that aims to overcompensate for the supposed ignominy of Canada's modest collection of medals at past Olympics by making this country the No. 1 nation in terms of medals won. That's right, No. 1. Arrogance, not the Olympic spirit, is what inspires Own the Podium.

Yes, let's not forget the Olympic spirit. It's that corny but terrific idea that, in the words of Pierre de Coubertin, "The important thing is not to win but to take part." That idea has become unfashionable in recent decades, but the organizers of these Games have consigned it to oblivion.

The symptoms of the new approach surfaced well before the start of these Games. As early as last September the New York Times reported that Canadian officials were going all out to exploit their home-field advantage for these Games. They were giving U.S. athletes, unlike their Canadian counterparts, minimal opportunities to become familiar with the luge track, speedskating oval and ski hill - the peculiarities of which can can greatly affect performance. The head of USA Luge understandably complained of "poor sportsmanship."

Certainly little sportsmanship was on display Sunday when the Canadian women's hockey team piled it on 18-0 against Slovakia. It was embarrassing. Pure humiliation. Never mind that the Olympic Charter says the Games should set a "good example" for upcoming generations.

Arrogance implies insensitivity, and you could see a lot of that at the opening ceremony. Although the organizers bent over backward to give an appropriate place to Canada's native people, their blind spot in regard to French Canada was staggeringly disrespectful. You'd almost think a sovereignist mole had staged the whole ceremony to stoke Quebec's resentment.

But it's not just the organizers' hubris that's dispiriting. It's also their clumsiness in staging the opening ceremony.

To be sure, the soirée included some gems - the snowboarder who sailed through the middle "O" of the Olympics' five-ring logo, the orcas, the giant illuminated bear, and k.d. lang's Hallelujah. The dedication of the entire soirée to the memory of the Georgian luger was also right.

But the show as a whole lasted way too long - the Mountie flag-carriers' slow-mo march, the youth floating over wheatfields, skiers and snowboarders yo-yoing up and down a mountain. Pure tedium. Almost every act could have been shortened by a third or half.

And then there was the lighting of the Olympic cauldron. Let's not dwell on the failure of an ice pole to rise: We all know about technology's whims. But it's the organizer's considered choice of Wayne Gretzky as the final torch-bearer that's more disappointing. He hasn't been a resident of Canada for decades. And, if his expression was any indication, he didn't seem too honoured

Lighting the cauldron is a symbolic role. It should belong to a person with some relationship to the Olympic movement's core of amateurism, much compromised though it is. Gretzky, for all his athletic prowess, is not remotely connected to those roots. He personifies professional sport and - as the head of his own clothing line and huckster for soft drinks, beer, fast food, watches, cars and oil - he also incarnates the commercialism that surrounds sport. When the organizers of the Vancouver Games chose Gretzky, they in effect gave an official stamp of approval to this commercialism as it affects the Olympics.

Most of the things I've criticized - nationalistic swagger, use of the home-field advantage, poor sportsmanship, insensitivity and an embrace of commercialism - have occurred in earlier Olympics. But if there were medals for taking these traits to new levels, Vancouver would truly own the podium.