Opening Ceremonies

Well, besides the fact that there was a black cloud hanging over the start of the Olympics due to the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, I feel the opening ceremonies were pretty good. The entire night was dedicated to Nodar Kumaritashvili and the news took most people by surprise. I was glad to see the support of the Olympic family for the Georgian team and Nodar’s family and friends. I can’t imagine dedicating my life to make it to the Olympics and then dying on the day they start. Very sad!

The actual ceremony was good, it was nowhere close to the opening ceremonies in Beijing but they did seem to do a good job of capturing the essence of Canada. Also, the total cost for the event on Friday was only 36 million compared to the cost of the Beijing ceremonies being in the billions! Anyway, the Canadians did a good job of showing respect to the history of the country by having representatives of their native tribes. They also had some cool technologies and lights in action with the virtual floor that seemed to change from earth to sea to space in an instant. Also, there were some appearances from of the biggest musical stars from north or the border, like Nelly Furtado, Bryan Adams, KD Lang, and Sarah McLachlan. There were some surprises like Shane Koyczan! He is a little known slam poet and he did a great job of defining Canada for the rest of the world. Check out the transcript of the poem, it was a great addition to the ceremony.

As good as the Opening Ceremonies were, they won’t be remember for how cool some of the effects and performances were, they will be remember for the malfunctioning caldron. Even with the surprises of who was going to light the caldron, (I knew Gretzky was going to be involved, how could he not?) when it came to light it, there was a serious problem. There were four torch bearers, Gretzky, Steve Nash and two Canadian chicks that I am not familiar with but they seemed to make the Canadian’s happy. Anyway, one of the four arms that were to rise from the floor to create the unique caldron got stuck in the floor. It was pretty obvious that there was a problem and all the Matt Lauer and Bob Costas could do was talk about previous lighting mishaps. It was an uncomfortable few minutes, but eventually it seemed to work out.

So what if it was only a three-legged caldron? We once had a three-legged dog and he was just as good as his four legged brethren! So I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. It was cool to hear an interview with Gretzky and how the producers kept telling the 4 torchbearers to be calm while I am sure everyone involved was truly freaking out! Anyway, the games are officially under way and I am loving every minute of it!