81 Days before Kickoff

With 81 days to go before the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa kicks off, hotel arrangements have not yet been made for the football squads...  Disorganization indeed. 

Stay tuned to Defending Champions for coverage leading up to the event.

In this Corner - up on the site...

Up and Running

Finally got my own website up and running...  I've permanently placed the URL in my links section.

www.marclosier.ca

Research, process, new work, etc...  Check it out!

On second thought...

 

  

My previous post, and I know it's been a while, came not long after the start of the 2010 Vancouver Games.  I was still seething over the event's opening ceremonies (I still think they were dreadfully embarrassing), not to mention the numerous technical gaffes that ensued due to the VANOC's noble insistence for a 'clean' Games. Still, just as Cito Gaston, skip of the Toronto Blue Jays, like to say "the Major Leagues is not the place to learn how to throw strikes."  In turn, I must say that the Olympic Games is not the place to test your electrical Zamboni!

Nevertheless, there was much to like about the experience, most of it having to do with our athletes.  Despite a shaky start and some awful alpine skiing, the Canadian team was full marks for their golden results, proving that the now infamous Own The Podium program did in fact work.  I think history will be kind to Vancouver 2010.  Looking back 20 years from now,  I can't see anybody remembering much about the weather or the failed electric zambonis, choosing instead to remember how the Olympic Village rallied around the tragic death of an athlete, the courageous performances of a Canadian figure skater and Slovenian cross country skier, and the heart stopping hockey game between Canada and our neighbours in the United States.  

I have to agree with Dr. Jacques Rogge, head of the IOC, when he said that "Vancouver was an excellent and very friendly Games", but I think in time, history will show that it was much more. I cannot see many other cities or countries for that matter being able to overcome some of the obstacles Vancouver had in its way.  

To all the self-righteous British and Russian journalists who laid into these Canadian Olympic Games with their sharp blades, North American journalists will patiently wait your turn in London 2012 and Sochi 2014 to see how well you fare.  In the end, it was the athletes who made these Games and uplifted our country, and that's the way it should be.