Are we all hacked of with the "Olympics" yet

finchy

Looking forward to the cycling and water polo. The rest of it I shall ignore.

itboffin

Just look at the official food sponsors for the event says it all really, Seb totally sold us out and shut the door to all but a few outside corp hospitality including the athletes families, I can't remember if it was Linford Christie who publicly called Seb on the IAAF corruption.

Spirit of the games my huge hairy London commuter arse

MrT

Irony about the whole torch/ flame malarkey is that it didn't exist until 1936..then it was brought back by some little bloke with a limp as a propaganda exercise for a little bloke with a tache.
Just watch 2012 on the iplayer....great.

BillyMansell

I see Will.i.am was a torch bearer today - well, as a true Brit he deserves the opportunity as he must have done something pretty substantial for his own local community in Taunton...oh hang on, what I meant to say was the yank must have greased the right palms to wee-wee on some british kids hopes and dreams to be a torch bearer for his own self-promotion.

Aggieboy

BillyMansell wrote:

I see Will.i.am was a torch bearer today - well, as a true Brit he deserves the opportunity as he must have done something pretty substantial for his own local community in Taunton...oh hang on, what I meant to say was the yank must have greased the right palms to wee-wee on some british kids hopes and dreams to be a torch bearer for his own self-promotion.

He 'chose' Taunton as it was the place where he would have been born had he been English, as it most resembles where he was born and grew up. Must be true, he just said it on the news. The Mexican suburb of Boyle Height, East LA, just like Taunton - who knew?

Gazzetta67

If you think the olympics is overkill - just wait till you hear the the guff being spouted by the football panels Euro 2012 shows...England have won it already ???? happens every tournament.

daviesee

Gazzetta67 wrote:

If you think the olympics is overkill - just wait till you hear the the guff being spouted by the football panels Euro 2012 shows...England have won it already ???? happens every tournament.

TRUE!
Best to just avoid the TV altogether and get out on the bike.
Unless the weather is pi$h and there is a bike race on

pdstsp

Personally I am trying to avoid the pre games hype. Though as a bbc user that is proving very difficult. My daughter is "accompanying" (whatever the bollockybill that means) the torch when it comes to my area next week so I'll go and see that - it'll be great for her and a memory for me. Then I will try to ignore all hype till the games start, but once they do I love them. Great sport - love the chance to watch sports which don't normally register. I agree with an earlier poster though - it certainly doesn't feel like a local Olympics (daughters' torch procession stuff notwithstanding).

In contrast - cannot be ar5ed in any way with the Euros!!

rick_chasey

Any German or Dutch quote from a swimmer you read in the press will have been translated by my sister, by the way .

GiantMike

Aggieboy wrote:

BillyMansell wrote:

I see Will.i.am was a torch bearer today - well, as a true Brit he deserves the opportunity as he must have done something pretty substantial for his own local community in Taunton...oh hang on, what I meant to say was the yank must have greased the right palms to wee-wee on some british kids hopes and dreams to be a torch bearer for his own self-promotion.

He 'chose' Taunton as it was the place where he would have been born had he been English, as it most resembles where he was born and grew up. Must be true, he just said it on the news. The Mexican suburb of Boyle Height, East LA, just like Taunton - who knew?

I'm comin' straight outa Taunton like a loose cannon

garryc

Not that bothered about the whole thing. But it seem that the organisation is a bit mad. You can't take your own food in and have to buy the 'offical' food? crazy. I can't see the corporate entertainment consisting of McDonalds and Coke.

I'll be avoiding London for the whole of the Olympics and the Para Olympics. The torch thing is probably the most stupid thing I've ever seen on telly. As for the sports? I'll watch the Road race on the TV, Last year I went to watch the test event at the bottom of Box Hill, the mindless security had to be seen to be believed, and I guess it'll be worse come the real event, it's not worth all the hassle. I'll be sitting on the sofa.

And to all those complaining that it's a southern thing, the Olympics are awarded to Cities not Countries, and it was London that won the bid to host the Olympics so most of the events will be in London. Manchester had a go at bidding for the 2000 Olympics but weren't successfull, I'm sure all us southerners would have been bleating about "it's not fair, it's all up North" had they have won. Personally I couldn't give a stuff where it is.

Cressers

This far into the Man's Red Fire relay and as yet no attempt to put it out as a protest, unless the attempt was hushed-up.

I despair of this nation!

Pross

I'm going to show this thread to all the people who say I'm grumpy! Torch relay passes my office on Friday which meansI can either leave the car at home or wait until 7pm when the roads re-open before I leave the office. But who cares? It's a once in a lifetime opportunity and I don't intend missing it. If that means there's some inconvenience and I have to put up with the usual media hype / rampant commercialism then so be it.

verylonglegs

Pross wrote:

I'm going to show this thread to all the people who say I'm grumpy! Torch relay passes my office on Friday which meansI can either leave the car at home or wait until 7pm when the roads re-open before I leave the office. But who cares? It's a once in a lifetime opportunity and I don't intend missing it. If that means there's some inconvenience and I have to put up with the usual media hype / rampant commercialism then so be it.

Think I'd rather be accused of being grumpy than have people know I get excited by someone running past with a giant cigarette lighter

Cressers

Pross. Do you spend your chr*stm*s morning standing for hours in the cold outside the Sandringham chapel waiting for a glimpse of the royals as well?

Smokin Joe

verylonglegs wrote:

Pross wrote:

I'm going to show this thread to all the people who say I'm grumpy! Torch relay passes my office on Friday which meansI can either leave the car at home or wait until 7pm when the roads re-open before I leave the office. But who cares? It's a once in a lifetime opportunity and I don't intend missing it. If that means there's some inconvenience and I have to put up with the usual media hype / rampant commercialism then so be it.

Think I'd rather be accused of being grumpy than have people know I get excited by someone running past with a giant cigarette lighter

+1

bompington

All the grumpy people wrote:

Some people are getting excited about something that doesn't excite me, therefore they must be idiots / criminals / worse than Hitler

There we go, Godwinned it for you

RideOnTime

yes...

CiB

Hacked off? No chance. I love it.

All the grumpy sods why not just run & hide somewhere. before you know it it'll all be over and you'll be back to your dream world of no Olympics, no next big thing, back to the routine of life.

Bring on the Olympics.

Ben6899

CiB wrote:

Hacked off? No chance. I love it.

All the grumpy sods why not just run & hide somewhere. before you know it it'll all be over and you'll be back to your dream world of no Olympics, no next big thing, back to the routine of life.

Bring on the Olympics.

I don't need the Olympics to have "next big things" in my life.

Redhog14

No avoiding the Torch for me, I work next to the largest single tourist attraction outside of London, can tell what it is yet? and it's spending the night there! Might go home early that day!

rick_chasey

Redhog14 wrote:

No avoiding the Torch for me, I work next to the largest single tourist attraction outside of London, can tell what it is yet? and it's spending the night there! Might go home early that day!

Stonehenge?

Ben6899

Redhog14 wrote:

No avoiding the Torch for me, I work next to the largest single tourist attraction outside of London, can tell what it is yet? and it's spending the night there! Might go home early that day!

The Haribo factory in Pontefract?

BillyMansell

Redhog14 wrote:

No avoiding the Torch for me, I work next to the largest single tourist attraction outside of London, can tell what it is yet? and it's spending the night there! Might go home early that day!

25 Cromwell Street?
Blue Water?
Katie Price's vagina?

LeicesterLad

shouldbeinbed wrote:

can't say I ever got hacked on by it in the first place. its happening, I'm not participating, I didn't apply for a random ticket draw to end up with something I may well have no interest in (ain't got the spare cash to blow on the off chance of getting lucky & travel & ringfenced food & so on - well done if you have, I hope they live up to expectation)

I don't care what the organisers and fans on here say, it is 99.99% a south/London beanfeast. I don't feel engaged by it, or that anywhere north of the M4 is wanted by the organisers or part of the experience at all. We pretty much get a bit of football, whoop! (apart from Coventry) that's the one thing we're all not short of and can see anytime. They may as well be in Beijing again for all the oomph its brought to my neck of the woods.

Cycling is a case in point: I don't understand why the country needs the expense of a new Velodrome for the supposedly national Olympic games built in London hen there's already a perfectly serviceable world class one in Manchester, that will probably seriously lose out and die on its a**e from now on when the world events are touted for UK, Why is the road race where it is when there's plenty of testing and interesting terrain outside of Surrey? - it could have been anywhere in any of the parts of the UK to bring at least a little bit of the Olympics to other peoples doorsteps and what do the Surreyites do, moan about (some brand spanking new, super smooth surface) road closures.

There's been a positive determination by the organisers to cram almost the whole thing into a tiny area of the country that is closer to France than to most of England and I'd far rather Seb & Co(e) would drop the British Olympics guff, be up front and honest and tell it like it is: the UK bid would only ever be won by LONDON, so LONDON gets to keep it (but as a special treat we'll let you all help pay for it) and the rest of you proles can pay like any other world tourist to come to our party or sod off.

They've also done their best to make it hard to get to for everyone else sticking it in central London, compare it to the recent Olympic's park sites which were at least on the outskirts of the host city. Again it shows what attitude the organisers have to the rest of this country who won't be flying in and less likely to make use of the local accommodation.

Its national in the same way the southern counties drought and hosepipe ban is national, its national like the Outer Hebrides only officially get a white Christmas if it snows in London. I'll take an interest whilst I'm on my holidays but please stop trying to kid me that the likes of me and my town are any part of some unifying national sporting experience, we're not.

Only just read this thread. But that is one hell of a post. Chapeau.

LeicesterLad

verylonglegs wrote:

Pross wrote:

I'm going to show this thread to all the people who say I'm grumpy! Torch relay passes my office on Friday which meansI can either leave the car at home or wait until 7pm when the roads re-open before I leave the office. But who cares? It's a once in a lifetime opportunity and I don't intend missing it. If that means there's some inconvenience and I have to put up with the usual media hype / rampant commercialism then so be it.

Think I'd rather be accused of being grumpy than have people know I get excited by someone running past with a giant cigarette lighter

(bits of chicken wrap splattered all over my keyboard.)

Hoopdriver

Ben6899 wrote:

CiB wrote:

Hacked off? No chance. I love it.

All the grumpy sods why not just run & hide somewhere. before you know it it'll all be over and you'll be back to your dream world of no Olympics, no next big thing, back to the routine of life.

Bring on the Olympics.

I don't need the Olympics to have "next big things" in my life.

Me neither

bompington

Hoopdriver wrote:

Ben6899 wrote:

CiB wrote:

Hacked off? No chance. I love it.

All the grumpy sods why not just run & hide somewhere. before you know it it'll all be over and you'll be back to your dream world of no Olympics, no next big thing, back to the routine of life.

Bring on the Olympics.

I don't need the Olympics to have "next big things" in my life.

Me neither

Quite right, if you want to be grumpy there's more than enough to be grumpy about on a daily basis

Yossie

Redhog14 wrote:

No avoiding the Torch for me, I work next to the largest single tourist attraction outside of London, can tell what it is yet? and it's spending the night there! Might go home early that day!

Alsager's museum of in-breeding?

Peddle Up!

garryc wrote:

You can't take your own food in and have to buy the 'offical' food? crazy.

The mighty "free" market at work, before which we should bend the knee.

Choice