So. The Olympics are coming then, 24 channels of non-stop Olympicsness in HD
http://www.joinfreesat.co.uk/freesat-to ... c-channels

I am totally underwhelmed at the moment, I suspect I will get marginally less underwhelmed when it kicks off, but my main thought about it all is. I hope i'm not working in London during that time...

Is anybody actually excited about it all?

I am not, and I suspect that won't change as they get closer. I think it's a bit silly that we're throwing so much money away right now, to be honest.

"Who can run the fastest" is not a proper sport.

It's a waste of time and money and the onerous restrictions on London are, frankly, staggering. The IOC appear to be taking control of the country for the period.

Yeah, I actually think it's going to be excellent fun.

But it is worth knowing that I like pretty much all sports and sport-related things.

Anyone going to see anything? I've got tickets for the football, but I don't know who I'll be watching yet.

Let the fuckers run around the park or something. I bet more than half the UK don't give a shit.

Utter fucking waste of cash that would be far better spent elsewhere.

Nope, I was vaguely interested in getting some tickets to something, but only if I could have actually bought them like any other transaction in the world ever.

I dreamt that kern had some tickets for a sport nobody had ever heard of.

MrsA and I tried to get 7 tickets for the paralympic cycling in the Velodrome, as her cousin is racing in it, but we didn't get any. To much upset. Even before this, I didn't think the ticket allcoation was fair at all, especially with all teh sponsors getting stuffs. Woman in the office I worked in last year spent £4k on tickets.

I love the Olympics and pig out on the coverage whenever it's on but the idea of it being in this country just leaves me cold...and speaking as someone who listens to far too much 5Live I am positively sick of the build up to this years event.

Hold fire, we've done stuff on this. I'll run some numbers.

This one fits the bill:

We have to get high level permission to take time off during the olymics.. I am dating a teacher it is when she is off... FFS

Heh. Was that just for Londoners?

No, but it wouldn't have been nat rep. Want the region skew?

Fuck the Olympics.

Sinister Agent had it right in 2006 or thereabouts... 'I and millions of other Londoners would have rather had that money than watch a bunch of rather ugly people throw stuff about for a while'

I'm no bothered at all & never have been. Might watch the BMX, but given that I rarely watch the worlds or supercross I'll probably miss it.

As for the money squandered that we/they will never get back & the other shit that goes along with it while the circus comes to town...



EDIT: Woo! A rare moment where me & Cate are in complete agreement

Really? We're being positively begged to do so. Mainly I suspect because they are fully aware that the capital's transport infrastructure is going to collapse into a sticky mess on the floor.

We are not in London

Is this finally something everyone on Beex can agree on!

<looks at Curio>

Is this finally something every person who matters on Beex can agree on!

[vote:Trooper]

The olympics is a positive thing which brings lots of good stuff to the uk; water cannons, bomb threats, inflation, ...

You miserable cunts.

Yup it brings lots of them too

Appear? It is the part of the rules. Did you know that all IOC officials have to be put up in five star hotels, for free? With free room service for meals, access to bars etc etc?

The 17 days that the Commonwealth Games were on here in Manchester were utterly magical. It was one huge party. Everyone had been sneered at and told that it wouldn't work, no-one cared, no-one would go. What happened was the organisers decided it wouldn't make money, so they sold tickets at a fiver to fill the stadiums, which generated a buzz and an atmosphere. So many great memories, from walking alongside the Singapore table tennis team after seeing them win the bronze* to the rugby team from Niue, scoring a try and them looking up in amazement as they were being cheered by more people in the stadium than in their entire set of islands.

I've got tickets to the Olympic football at Old Trafford. I know Team GB are playing. I'd love to have tickets for some of the events in London. But the process is symptomatic of everything that is wrong with the Olympics. I have great sympathy for the organisers, but the rules they have to operate under mean it is a real Faustian pact they have made. As a sporting spectacle to show off the UK, I am looking forward to it. I think we'll put on a good show, a very British show. But so much has to be shoved aside to make it happen.

(It is the same reasoning that made me glad that we didn't get to host the World Cup. When FIFA officials make it a prerequisite that they are allowed to take briefcases full of cash out of the country without question, when FIFA judges hold special courts to fine people for wearing the wrong brand of t-shirt, then much as I would love the atmosphere of a World Cup, that isn't the price I'm willing to pay for it.)

*Fuck me, what an awesome sport to watch live. Seriously.

Yeah, the commercialisation and odd politicalisation of the Olympics is pretty distasteful in parts. That, coupled with the fact that it seems to be draining cash away from local sports projects, makes the whole thing look like it's been run for a few elites rather than the public as a whole.

Article on the internal website about the travel reduction and suggestions that NR try and stagger their hours to avoid the busy periods... in spite of NR being a crucial part of the transport network!

Every other article seems to be about it now, including a diary by a signaller turned "travel champion" in King's Cross.

Lots of thumbs up for my "Nobody's business stops because somebody is having a throwing things really far contest" comment.

Yes, I'm miserable. But, if the Olympics are so good and popular, then the private sector would be running them and paying for them. I have serious objections to billions being poured into a fortnight's frivolities, and this was the case even before the recession. Moreover, from what I've heard of the IoC, they are a surprisingly corrupt and dubious organisation (citations needed, but it's 7AM in Tennessee and I've just woken up) who we shouldn't be letting ourselves be governed by.

Is it too late for Paris to have them?

It's this that irks me the most. The use of the transport lanes, the advertising (most of the stuff contained in the Olympic games Act 2006. it seems to me to be heavy handed and surrendering the City to an unelected board of people that then go on relegate those that live in the city to second class citizens.

Of course, I'm secretly looking forward to the inevitable press reports about how heavy-handed Olympics officials made children cry by confiscating their contraband t-shirts or drinks cartons. Because it's going to happen.

I really object to this, too. It is so far from being "a celebration of sport" it's pretty much "our party, but if you want to come, we'll arbitarily determine if you can or not, and you'll only eat, drink and wear what we say. You'll make your way there as best you can, as we've requisitioned half the cities roads"

We were awarded the Olympics when the economy was still full of steamers and party poppers. Couldn't really decide against it when the economy collapsed a short while after, I guess.

I love the Olympics any year it is on, wherever it is held.

I actually love the individual sports in the Olympics. It's such a celebration of human physical achievement. What is it again? Strongest, highest, fastest? Or something like that? The athletics and gymnastics always stand out for me, as well as sports such as diving, etc. Sports that can't be classified as 'games' I guess. Just pure, physical dedication, training and endeavour.

Every time I see this thread I can't help thinking

OOO the olympics
OOO the olympics
OOO the olympics
Run fast, throw shit, rah rah rah!

This part in particular seems completely fair and democratic.


(1)The Authority may take any action that it thinks necessary or expedient for the purpose of—
(a)preparing for the London Olympics,
(b)making arrangements in preparation for or in connection with the use or management before, during or after the London Olympics of premises and other facilities acquired, constructed or adapted in preparation for the London Olympics, or
(c)ensuring that adequate arrangements are made for the provision, management and control of facilities for transport in connection with the London Olympics.

If people would stop replying to the thread, they will stop breaking the olympic rings! That took me ages to do.

See, I'm practically the opposite. Team sports I can understand, but individual stuff - I just sit there and think "surely there's a better way you could have spent the last four years? Paula."

It is when they talk about "sacrifice" that irritates me. As if choosing to pursue a profitable and enjoyable career is ever a "sacrifice". There was an excelelnt article in The Times about this a while back, but I forget what it was called, but it articulated this point much better than I could, at much greater length.

She'd be guaranteed a career in Germany, or working for Zardoz.

Not to defend the Olympics specifically, but that's a line of argument that leads to library closures, toll motorways, and for-profit privatised police departments.

Cool story, bro.

I'd also add that in the case of a team game like football or rugby, there's actually a point to all that fitness and skill, of sorts anyway. (Plus y'know, people actually want to watch this type of thing and aren't expected to bung in £15 billions of their own cash that could otherwise build boring old schools, hospitals and stuff).

What is the point of being able to run some arbitrary distance 0.01 sec quicker than someone else who's also wasted their life? Why should I give a fuck either way or want to watch it, less still some fat, sweaty, hairy cunt throwing a lead ball. (And the blokes are even fatter, hairier and uglier )

Grr. I *HATE* the Olympics, all it stands for - even the so-called 'higher ideals' of it that to me are nothing more than a total and utter waste of everyone's time - let alone all the utter bullshit that gets spouted by politicians about it. Like, as if there's any argument whatsoever that pissing billions away on this, even during good times, let alone now, is even defensible, let alone some great idea. C**** the lot of them IMO.

Good.

The M6 toll road is like a giant drag strip, and one of my favorite bits of road, so "good".

Look! It's the Goodyear blimp!

I'm not sure the Olympics counts as a vital public service.

it'#s paywalled and writing clues out to myself helps me recall it was Simon barnes on 9th march.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/col ... 345318.ece

What point? To be the best? How is that any different for a solo sport?

I know, but I see them as different too. For team sports to point is "to make the team win", rather than "to win".
I concur that there isn't a huge amount of difference. BUT THERE IS IN MY BRAIN.

Unless the answer is "do something that enough people actually want to watch so it can make money".

Because it's harder to be Gilles De Bilde, scoring ten in a season and you're playing for Wednesday to succeed then doing it alone.

Fair enough. What about public funding for art galleries? For theatres? For the BBC?

yes, no, yes

How come art galleries yes but theatres no?

Cats, mostly.

EDIT: I'll write out longer reasons in a bit.

Awww, we were doing so well

If you think about it all sports are pretty much pointless. Sportsmen train & practise for years to be shit hot at something that doesn't matter at all. I'm no sure how some guy with a talent for kicking a deid coo around a field is any better than some guy that can chuck a javelin for miles