2012 Olympics

[TheGayTent]

Apart from that light show looked great!!! Hopefully we get to keep the pixel boxes in the stands for night time games when west ham move in

[thesecretingredientiscrime]

To be fair, other than ticketing, security, legacy and budget issues, it was much better than i'd visualised it to be.

[Ed209]

But it's unlikely.

Both Oz and Athens expected an economic boost from holding the games, but neither got that boost. The reality was the opposite, a measurable slump caused by the games.

[eFestivals]

I was actually thinking of a much longer and bigger picture than just the economy over the next couple of years, which it might not have any impact on at all. I was thinking more about the effect it will have on the next generation, who have had it all doom and gloom for the last 4 years. I hope that british kids have been inspired by what's happened in the last couple of weeks and that it will have a lasting impact on them. Maybe in years to come we might see cultural shifts and changes of attitudes towards all kind of things, not just sport, that will have roots in this summer. Stuff that you really can't quantify. The motto was "inspire a generation" - and maybe we have, if so then its definitely worth the money. Or maybe I'm overly optimistic and have bought into it a bit too much.

ahh, I get you.

Yeah, it could happen I guess. But that's the law of unintended consequences at work if it does.

[Rufus Gwertigan]

well, so far, it's been an excuse to disrupt school's curriculums (for about the 93rd time in a few years) by making competitive team sports compulsory...

now, which subjects are going to be sacrificed for this

and how many non-sporty types are going to be made to feel failures by it

talk about knee-jerk reactions...

[eFestivals]

and how many non-sporty types are going to be made to feel failures by it

or even the sporty types who find out that it's a bit more real than on TV, where losers are pissed off just as much as winners are happy.

The most ridiculous thing about this tory idea of everyone playing competitive sports is that if non-competitive sports was the problem that' being claimed for it, how come we've just had our most successful olympics with a generation who grew up in a non-competitive sports era? ;lol:

The tories are full of shit about liking competition anyway - if they really meant it they'd have no problem with immigration. They only like a rigged market, so if they want competitive sports you can be sure there's a pay-off for the toffs thru it.

[LondonTom]

By Christ I hope that doesn't happen.

[thetime]

When did competitive be such a bad word? Dont kids need to be competitive once they leave school?

Like londontom says the olympics might give kids/teachers/goverments a chance to try different sports rather than running as hard and as fast as you can.

Its not like we would of seen any of the money what was spent on the olympics anyway.

Edited August 14, 2012 by thetime

[Rufus Gwertigan]

Its not like we would of seen any of the money what was spent on the olympics anyway.

[TheGayTent]

Into the OS or the pixels? Pixels will be kept to make it appealing as a music venue I think and plus if rumors are true night games with the pixels might be the only claret and blue we get

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

Its not like we would of seen any of the money what was spent on the olympics anyway.

[thetime]

Neither are we going to see any of the money already blown on the Trident replacement but that does not mean I have to agree with it.

[thesecretingredientiscrime]

I don't think you have to be against the Olympics to feel the money could have been better spent elsewhere.

Regarding competitiveness, one of the things constantly levelled at UK sport, especially football, by outside nations, is that there's too much focus on competitiveness.

Edited August 14, 2012 by thesecretingredientiscrime

[fred quimby]

and how many non-sporty types are going to be made to feel failures by it

[fred quimby]

life shouldn't be a competition of winners and losers...

[fred quimby]

and with sports, in any competition, there's only one winner, everyone else is a loser.

[Purple Monkey]

It's Ok to criticise the Olympics, right? Always feel like its treading on eggshells. Well I'm about to make a nice omelette....

Is it that wrapped up in people's bizarre sense of identity that it's beyond criticism? I know people start to act irrationally and flap about when you criticise capitalism or religion because it's so deep rooted, but the Olympics? God forbid a couple of weeks of sporty nonsense takes place without us trying to ram it into the vacant slots of our personality in a desperate attempt to reforge some sort of national unity we lost decades ago. Are our lives really that devoid of character we have to vicariously live through athletes and take it to heart so much that we feel like we've done it ourselves, based on the person doing it having more in common with us (sharing an arbitrary geographical landmass as their residence) than that other lot? What are we trying to prove with this utterly misplaced pride? Happens with football too.

Maybe do more interesting things that way a televised athletics tournament won't define you so much as a human being.

Ah now I've done it. As an apology for my insolence I promise to wave a Union Jack and say "I'm so proud to be British" like they were doing a lot on that Facebook whenever a British person was on tele.

Edited August 14, 2012 by Purple Monkey

[fred quimby]

It's Ok to criticise the Olympics, right? Always feel like its treading on eggshells. Well I'm about to make a nice omelette....

Is it that wrapped up in people's bizarre sense of identity that it's beyond criticism? I know people start to act irrationally and flap about when you criticise capitalism or religion because it's so deep rooted, but the Olympics? God forbid a couple of weeks of sporty nonsense takes place without us trying to ram it into the vacant slots of our personality in a desperate attempt to reforge some sort of national unity we lost decades ago. Are our lives really that devoid of character we have to vicariously live through athletes and take it to heart so much that we feel like we've done it ourselves, based on the person doing it having more in common with us (sharing an arbitrary geographical landmass as their residence) than that other lot? What are we trying to prove with this utterly misplaced pride? Happens with football too.

Maybe do more interesting things that way a televised athletics tournament won't define you so much as a human being.

Ah now I've done it. As an apology for my insolence I promise to wave a Union Jack and say "I'm so proud to be British" like they were doing a lot on that Facebook whenever a British person was on tele.

Edited August 14, 2012 by fred quimby

[fred quimby]

I'd hoped evolution would help us move away from life being a competition... is it still down to the survival of the fittest? Really?

[fred quimby]

hi....

not especially bitter... more exasperated at the short sightedness of people who should be making things better

nothing particularly wrong with that, as long as enough emphasis is put on the idea that winning isn't everything.

the (education) system is rubbish, it has been for years. All successive governments do is come up with a hair-brained idea and follow it through for a bout 10 minutes, then wonder why it hasn't had a desired effect. They seem to have an inability to look to other countries that do a better job than ours... why? Meanwhile, teachers are left wondering what's going on. Ask any of them how they feel about the future, especially with a twonk like Gove involved. The tories got schools to sell off playing fields to help cover their costs, and now they're saying there should be more physical exercise... where are they going to do it?

I posted this in another thread... I think it's relevant here:

[Spindles]

As far as I'm concerned the fact that it showed the UK (and the world) that a somali immigrant is someone who can work hard towards goals and achieve as much as someone supported by mega corporations in the US, or that a working class girl from Wales can do the same, or a middle class girl from Chatham who was born with a disability and worked to overcome it...I think that is the important message that people needed to hear.

Yes, it is a massive social engineering tool, but then we live in a world where tens of thousands of people worldwide are paid to sit, every day, posting right wing propaganda on the internet to convince us all the world is going to shit, so that we resign ourselves to the fate they have for us. A world where we sold off the water companies so that they would stop investing, allowing sewers to crack and rats to become out of control, spreading disease to the poorest and increasing the profits of rentakill (look into how big those bastards are).

I think the olymipics were a positive, I don't expect that my having this opinion means that everyone else should have the same opinion, nor do I expect that people whose opinion opposes mine should try and convince me otherwise. It is just how, in balance and having seen what I have seen and read what I have read, I feel about it.

[Ed209]

The Olympics put a smile on a lot of people's faces, nothing wrong with that.

[pink_triangle]

I had an amazing night at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday, the best sporting occasion I've ever been to. Mo Farah winning the 5K was unbelievable, what an atmosphere. Then the world record in the men's 4x100, Blake really flew round that bend!

Really impressed with the stadium and the olympic park, it is very nicely laid out and will be great for a wander when it re-opens to the public. Security was spot on, no queues at all to get in, and I was straight on a tube after the athletics had finished. Brilliant organisation, with so many volunteers all over London helping out, it was great to see.

It's been the best Olympics I can remember.

Edited August 14, 2012 by pink_triangle

[kaosmark2]

Apparently the cost of the Olympics was about £300 each...

I paid £315 to go to Silverstone... £5k to go to the World Cup...

I reckon £300 was a bargin....

[pink_triangle]

well, so far, it's been an excuse to disrupt school's curriculums (for about the 93rd time in a few years) by making competitive team sports compulsory...

now, which subjects are going to be sacrificed for this

and how many non-sporty types are going to be made to feel failures by it

talk about knee-jerk reactions...