Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics!

It all starts tonight! The opening ceremonies for the 2010 Winter Olympics take place tonight at BC Place in Vancouver. This will be the first indoor opening ceremony in Olympic history. The Canadians have a tough assignment to provide an interesting and entertaining performance following the opening and closing ceremonies from the last summer Olympics in Beijing. The event has been kept under wraps and no one knows what to expect. No one knows who will be the one to light the Olympic Cauldron (I am guessing it will be Wayne Gretzky) and who will be making appearances (I feel certain that Sarah McLachlan, Bryan Adams, Michael Buble, and K.D. Lang will somehow be involved).

The Canadians have been looking forward to this day since it was announced they would get the games. They will have a chance to showcase the history of the country, the traditions and their love of all ice related sports. I expect to see tributes to the history of the country and their cultural diversity all the while showcasing their international flare. Again, it will be interesting to see if they can stay on the level or top the ceremonies from the previous games in Beijing.

These mascots are better then the one for the Atlanta games in 96!

The games haven’t even started yet and there are already serious problems. There is more snow in Washington D.C. then there is in Vancouver and the surrounding mountains where most of the events are to take place. Currently it is raining in the Olympic city and this rain is causing havoc for some of the venues. They are having to truck in snow to some of the venues just to make the conditions usable. If this weather keeps up, it could truly affect the outcome of some of the snow related events.

I for one love the Olympics. I will watch most any sport that is aired. Of course I will watch the different skiing and snowboarding events. But I will also watch ice-skating (both long/short track speed skating and figure skating), hockey, and the ice track sports like bobsled, skeleton and luge. In addition, I will make a point to find and watch the curling matches. Maybe it is because I know nothing about the game, but the strategies and techniques intrigue me. I already know that I will not get nearly enough sleep during the next few weeks since I will be up late watching all of the events. Of course I feel like the USA is going to dominate again and win the overall medal count, but I know that Canada is making huge push to win the overall medal count and have invested an enormous amount of money in the past few years into their training programs so they can win the most medals for the home country. We will just have to see it that pays off!

Anyway, if you are an Olympic junkie like me, your time is now! If not, then you are going to be inundated with new Olympic ads and promotions until the games are over. So if you don’t know some of the athletes now, you will soon! My kids already are asking when the Flying Tomato (Shaun White, Olympic Gold Medal snowboarder from Torino) will be on TV again. They love him!

Here is the Flying Tomato in action in Torino!

So bring it on, I am ready for the 2010 Winter Games!

Go USA!