Thank You VANOC & Canada
Dear VANOC/Canada,
THANK YOU for an outstanding Winter Olympic Games. The past 17 days has been a fantastic showcase of Athletics. You have presented yourself to the world in the best of light. So much could have gone wrong, and the opening ceremony torch malfunction seemed like it a harbinger of things to come. Then, came the rain. The world complained of the Spring Olympics. Then, tragedy on the sliding track. I can only imagine what the VANOC team must have been feeling at this stage of the games. The Own the Podium campaign was coming up short to boot. How could they recover?
Well, they did not follow the typical stereotype of just simply saying they were “Sorry,” nope, they dug in and persevered with a determination that was second to none. From the top down in the organization, everyone involved in supporting the games said, heck no, we are not giving up and they kicked some ass. The defied the weather gods (if you believe in such things), they embraced their grief stricken comrades, they made corrections and changes to attractions to try and make things better. This was an ever evolving games, more so than I have ever seen.
I won’t go into detail (been there done that), but God bless the Canadian Media Consortium for their coverage. I missed not one bit of ANY event I wanted to see. OUTSTANDING job everyone!!! You brought the joy, heartbreak, tension and tears to this old man, and I loved every minute of it. And the next time I see James Duthie (yeah, I gotta name drop at least one person I know), I am gonna express my thanks over and over (and beg for some swag ;).
For 99% of those outstanding Canadian Fans, who were gracious in victory and defeat, THANK YOU for being such great and patriotic fans/people. For all those 1% whose focus was to foam at the mouth at a chance to say “SUCK IT” to USA fans, well, I guess my reply to that is, no thanks. If I were in a more foul mood, I might tell you what you could suck on... but I digress, let’s focus on the good people shall we. Thank you (real) fans!
Yeah, I am from the USA, I am proud as hell of that fact, but I am also proud as hell of the Canadian athletes, volunteers, organizers and fans (99% of them anyway). This was record breaking games for a Host Nation. WOW!
So, well, there ya go, I am already missing these 2010 Winter Games. I truly hope that London and Sochi can capture the same magic for their citizens and fans. I eagerly await. (Mike, Craig, Adam... you best be saving me a spot on the Couch for 2012).
Vive le Canada!
