By Jackie Roe, TW Social Director
What's up, TWibe? I'll be honest, I haven't been paying much attention to tennis this week, as the Winter Olympics have once again taken over my life. But it seems I've missed quite a bit; some of the week's results have been rather stunning. Indian Wells is shaping up to be an interesting tournament and should reveal quite a bit about where the top men and women are at physically (and mentally, too, I suppose).
But I digress.
Watching the Olympics night in and night out, I can't stop wishing I were there, witnessing all that action up close. But though I'm stuck watching on TV, some of you have been lucky enough to attend the Games, including our special guest this week - Jenni! She was gracious enough to provide a write-up of her time in Vancouver, giving us a chance to learn about what the experience is like in person. Here it is ... enjoy!
Jenni Does Vancouver
I have to admit, I was honored when Jackie asked me (after I insisted, but that's beside the point) to contribute my Vancouver Olympic experience to this week's DC. Because she's already declared that she's going to clip my literary wings by making me conform to a word count, I'll be brief. But really, it's your loss. [JR: Way to make me sound like a huge meanie.]
Day 1 - Sunday, 2/14
I didn't have an event on Sunday so the day was spent wandering around Vancouver, checking out the sights. The day started off cloudy but it quickly warmed up. The first "Olympic" thing I saw were a couple of Swedish superfans wandering around Robson Square in viking helmets and draped in Swedish flags. There was no shortage of people asking for pictures with them. After that it was off to Granville Island to check out the Atlantic Canada house (it was just a room with tables and pins) and the Swiss house (one big restaurant and bar). I kind of got the impression that the Games hadn't really reached full speed yet. The crowds were bad but manageable, and for the most part everyone just seemed excited to be there.
Day 2 - Monday, 2/15
Monday afternoon was the Men's 500M long track speedskating at the Richmond Oval. For the record, the Richmond Oval is just about the most-difficult-to-reach sports venue I've ever been to. Once you get off the skytrain, you still have to walk almost a mile on a dirt pathway to get there. Fortunately, we got to walk it with a bunch of crazy, orange-bathrobed Dutch skating fans who were passing out free orange mittens. Once inside the arena, we bypassed the indoor port-a-potties (the start of a pattern) and went to our seats, which were surrounded by the Canadian, Dutch, and Japanese fans. The skating itself was awesome, even with the lengthy delay caused by the Olympia Ice-Resurfacing machine fail. I'm not sure if it was ever shown on TV, but there was a brass band from the Netherlands that went around during the breaks playing completely random songs. I can only remember "Hava Nagila" and "Sweet Caroline," but they were a blessing during the 1.5 hours it took to fix the ice machines. The worst part was walking the mile back to the skytrain station in the icy rain, but I was riding the Olympic high so it was all good. Plus they always had volunteers handing out free hot chocolate while we waited for the trains. :)
Day 3 - Tuesday, 2/16
Tuesday was a great day. We had tickets to the US-Switzerland men's hockey game, which was awesome. Not enough body-checking and blood for one of my friends, but it was an entertaining game nonetheless. The venue was quite nice, and even had real indoor bathrooms! The funniest thing about the audience was that it was about 35% Americans, 10% Swiss, and 55% Canadians, who were all pretty much rooting against the US. The Swiss didn't really get loud until they scored late in the game, and then it was miniature alphorn city. After the game, on a whim, we headed over to Pacific Coliseum to see if we could score tickets to the men's figure skating short program later that night. We did! Not gonna lie, I wanted to see Johnny Weir live - it was on my bucket list. I hadn't followed skating too closely in recent years, but I'm now a huge fan. The costumes! The catfights! And I don't care what you Fed fans say - Stephane Lambiel is the most entertaining (and pretty!) athlete Switzerland has ever produced. The performances were all good (the outfits not so much - overalls?!) but I will admit to jumping up and down and cheering like an idiot at the end of Evan's short program. It really was that good.
!Jenni Vancouver Colbert Day 4 - Wednesday, 2/17
Wednesday started off early, because we woke up at 7:30AM in order to attend a taping of The Colbert Report in Creekside Park. The show was hilarious, despite standing in cold, gross-smelling mud for almost 4 hours. After the taping, we headed back to the Coliseum for short track speedskating. It's pretty amazing live - it's hard to catch your breath when you're watching the skaters whip around that track. And the whumping sound of the bodies hitting the wall is pretty darn hilarious; I think the crashing was my group's favorite part. Oh, and getting to see Apolo Ohno live and up close. He's a lot shorter in person and kind of blends in with everyone else, except for that thing on his chin. The funniest moment was probably during the women's 500M final, when Canada had two skaters in the final foursome. During the very first turn, whump! Down go the Canadians. The spontaneous and perfectly-timed collective groan from the audience would've been hysterical were it not so heartbreaking. And for the record, they let them re-start the race and one of the Canadians won the silver medal. :)
Day 5 - Thursday, 2/18
Thursday really was "Canada Day" for me, because it involved two very Canadian things - curling and poutine. What can I say about poutine? For those unfamiliar with the dish, it's basically french fries smothered in gravy and covered in cheese curds, and it is spectacular. After that it was a long half-mile walk amongst a bunch of loud and crazy (but polite) Canadians through the neighborhoods of South Vancouver to the curling arena (which resembled a 1970's community rec center except for the state-of-the-art portable toilets). I have to say that of all the events I attended, the women's round robin curling session was the only one that didn't have an empty seat in the house. There was so much action going on on the ice slabs that it was hard to know where to look, but every time the Canadian team got their stone anywhere near the house the entire arena would erupt. It's apparently quite a breach of curling etiquette to make that much noise, but it sure was fun to try to out-cheer the Japanese curling enthusiasts on the opposite bleachers.
That marked the end of my 2010 Olympics trip. I give the city a solid B (certainly doesn't stand for Bathrooms!) for putting on a decent Olympics. There were some logistical issues (way too many port-a-potties, no ATMs anywhere, and $4 for bottled water?!) but the skytrains worked great and the volunteers were all very nice and incredibly helpful. And the weather was perfect, but I don't think that was actually a plus. Overall, good job Vancouver. Thanks for a fun time!
So entertaining! Thanks for letting us live vicariously through you, Jenni!
That's all for now, folks. Feel free to chat about whatever's on your mind here (Davis Cup? favorite Olympic moment? your plans tonight?), and have a good weekend! Don't lament the end of the Games too much ... at least, not as much as me ...