UKC

Is that it has really brought out the cynics. So much pessimism. It's petty.

In reply to Philip: Yes, it's hard to find a positive news story on the Olympics at the moment.

In reply to Philip: went to Portland climbing Sunday and it was great to see lots of foreign teams coming to our neck of the woods, I for one cant wait....

In reply to Philip:

I agree. I was listening to R5 who had just been slagging off the olympic security arrangements when they interviewed Eddie Izzard. After they'd touched on Eddie carrying the torch they asked him what he thought about all the problems with the olympics and he said something like 'what, you mean the security stuff, well I wish the Press would stop focussing on the negatives and emphasise the positives'. I'm not sure if he meant it as pointendly as it came across but they more or less cut off the interview on the spot.

Whilst I'm as cynical about G4S as the rest, I wish the media could stop using it as an excuse to rubbish the whole thing. Can't wait for the whole thing to kick off - track, gymnastics, rowing, cycling ete etc. Whoo hoo.

Any of our antipodean cousins over here at the moment could be forgiven for phoning home to confirm that we are indeed a bunch of whinging poms.

In reply to JonC:


I heard a guy on R5 the other day who had been a main man for security at both Sydney and Athens. He said people were just as cynical running up to the games then. It's not just us

In reply to Philip: I dunno. I want to be positive, but the whole thing is just a bit crap. We entered the initial draw for tickets having first had to set up a Visa account through which to pay. We applied for hockey tickets amongst other things and got nothing. We now discover that there are tonnes of hockey tickets left unsold.

To me, this isn't the Olympic games. It is just a good money spinner for the commercial companies who have invested in it. I am getting fed up of adverts of the official Olympic camera, shampoo, french fry producer etc etc.

Totally turned off - and I was so positive to start with.

In reply to EeeByGum:
Agree. I'm not immune to the magic of some of the greatest athletes in the world competing for the ultimate prize etc and will be following a fair bit of the games, but I am very cynical indeed about the vast self-perpeptuating corporate spectacle of it.

I'm also annoyed about the tendency to treat anyone who is a bit upset about mounting SAM missiles on people's roofs or diverting funding away from grass roots sports projects or concreting over green spaces in east london or evicting people from their homes to make a bit of extra cash on a short term let or selling out our civil liberties to appease corporate sponsors as if they're a mean old curmudgeon who's just told a five-year-old that there's no Santa Claus.

In reply to EeeByGum:

I'm with you. Was totally positive to start with but find it hard to be so after being rebuffed for tickets at every stage, a constant barrage of advertising e-mails from companies abusing my e-mail address(have unsubscribed to most now btw), tube and train station closures/alterations while they practise on the rush hour commuters.

Sorry to sound negative but I think govt and corporate sponsors are taking the p*ss in expecting us to happily support the inconveniences of such a large money making enterprise when so few of us will actually benefit from any of it.

In reply to Philip:
The worst thing is the advance hype. Just like you get sick of Christmas by November because the ads start in September so I was sick of the Olympics by about 2010.

In reply to SFM: I can't believe they need to practise on the travel networks! Surely they could just have a quick planning meeting and get it right first time on the day.

In reply to Sir Chasm:

No - that's not fair. You might as well say that orchestra's or bands don't need to rehearse. Just have a planning meeting before the concert and get on with.

Anything that involves lots of people all working together needs rehearsing, otherwise you end up with a Heathrow Terminal 5 nightmare.

In reply to Philip:

Out of curiosity, how many of those saying that they can't wait live in London?

In reply to Philip: Bread and Games, Bread and Games.

In reply to tehmarks:

I don't live in London and I have not even tried to get tickets. Nevertheless I can't wait, even though its going to put potentially the best test series for ages behind both the Olympics and f*cking football in the media coverage.

In reply to Philip:

My concern is travel and the airport-type security hassles. The Olympic travel planner sends me "round the houses" and estimates it taking twice as long to get there as it should do. Are they anticipating meltdown at Stratford station ?

In reply to BigBrother:
panem et circenses

It's bread and circuses. Not 'and games'.

In reply to tehmarks:

I am, can't wait, it's going to be awesome!!

Although having said that, there is also going to be chaos and transport meltdown. Am very glad I get around by bike.

In reply to EeeByGum:

[...]




^this. All of it. And I've got tickets (though for the MTBing, so will hopefull miss the London madness).

In reply to toad:

I dunno - I would have loved to pop down to London to revel. Manchester was a lovely place to be during the 2002 Commonwealth Games, as was Brum during the 96 Euro finals.

In reply to ClimberEd:

Well, if you're going to be pedantic, it's 'panem et circenses' not 'bread and circuses'.

In reply to nniff:

I believe that is what I said.

In reply to GrahamD:
There will always be the cricket
Off you go and have your sports day. I'm watching the Test Match.

That said, I saw a piece on the athletes arriving last night. It gave me a jolt to remember the world will be tuning in everyday to watch these games. I expect once it's under way the focus will be on the running around and jumping, rather than all the management and planning cock-ups.

In reply to GrahamD:


Ditto - though I do know a fair number of people around here who have got tickets. I just couldn't be arsed and genuinely prefer to watch most sporting events on the TV (sad I know) - I'm not greatly into the whole going to a live match experience.

In reply to Philip:

£9,000,000,000 wasted is petty?

In reply to Philip:
I agree that the relentless cynicism is depressing, mundane and so true to type of the media and assorted commentators when any major event takes place. Short-lived joy at 'winning' the right to host said-event, and then lots of sneering and bad-news story harvesting.

I'm looking forward to the Olympics in the usual way; cherry-picking the events I enjoy watching, following the progress of the athletes and ignoring the events that, in my opinion, should never be a part of the Olympics.

But it's just another Olympics from my perspective. It's a London thing, almost entirely. It's about as 'home' to me as an Olympics would be in Vancouver, Shangai or on Mars. So I do wish this endless hype would cease from the London-led media who lead with the so-called lifechanging or affirming time this is supposed to be for all of us - simply because the Beach Volleyball is taking place down the road from THEIR offices. My favourite Sunday newspaper, 'The Observer', even devoted 2/3rds of their 'Review' supplement the other week to all-things London based in the mistaken belief that ALL their UK readers are swept up with this metropolitan preening and narcissm.

I enjoyed the Euro football tournament recently - not because it's 'ours', but because of the sport. I'm enjoying the Tour de France for the same reason. And I'll enjoy the Olympics too, for sporting reasons.

In reply to Philip:

I'm not really interested in the games except for the Judo and Taekwondo but I would think that other games have had just as many problems but their media kept quiet for the sake of national pride. Our media, especially the redtops seem to revel in slinging just about anything it can to tarnish the image of Britain. It is about time that we took a bit of pride in what we can achieve despite being a tiny, insignificant island on the edge of the Atlantic.

In reply to paul-1970:



Hang on, so is it suffering from "relentless cynicism" or "endless hype"? The impression that I got was the latter - the mainstream media love to carp about the organisers, but they also know which side their bread is buttered and know that having a "37 page full-colour pull-out-and-keep guide to everything you need to know about The Games" will sell papers. And anyone trying to flog anything else is even worse, because they don't even have a perceived duty to report the news, just an instinct to cash in on the hype...

In reply to ClimberEd:

In what way is it going to be awesome? I mean, as a school kid we did our little projects on the olympics and were generally in awe of it every time it came around, but looking at it now I don't see anything other than an over-glorified sports event.

I would never go to see a table tennis tournament, an athletics event, a high-diving event, equestrian, you name it, at any other time of year. Why now should I suddenly be interested? And what is it about the fact that those events are going to take place, with considerable apparent disruption, at a mind blowing cost to Londoners, that is going to change my life in any way for the better? I'm as likely to watch it on TV as I am to watch Big Brother...a bit of voyeurism, to see what everyone is going on about, but nothing else.

In reply to fijibaby:


I was reading something a while back that indicated previous olympics had attracted very little in the way of overseas visitors. Given London attracts the world every day through the gates of Heathrow, I'm not really sure how much is going to change. A few more people in the pubs perhaps, Trafalgar Square (if any residents actually go to places like that) may have more tourists around.

Personally I'm more excited and predict greater goodness for London if only the sun would come out. I am equally concerned that the diversion of police resources may lead to a mini crimewave.

In reply to David Martin: It's possible that he was giving his opinion rather than telling you what to think.

In reply to David Martin:

I watch cycling, rowing, triathlon and a few other sports anyway, so the olympics is a heightened version of that.

Why heightened? Because the chance of sporting glory only comes once every 4 years and for many sports it is the pinnacle of the sport, increasing the emotional intensity and the importance of the outcome.

Assuming we do a good job of hosting it, I will be gently proud.

In reply to paul-1970:

But you must have been upset by all those supporters coming home from the Euros in coffins?

In reply to David Martin:

(In reply to fijibaby: It gave me a jolt to remember the world will be tuning in everyday.)

I was reading something a while back that indicated previous olympics had attracted very little in the way of overseas visitors

Tuning in not turning up

In reply to Philip:
Its a shame there's so much to be cynical about.

In reply to Game of Conkers:

It's sometimes easy to forget that it's actually all about the athletes:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/16/sports/olympics/olympic-swimmer-lia-neal-...

In reply to Philip:

If you think that having your life turned upsidedown for a month by a massive sports event which you don't give a fig about is nothing, then perhaps you'd like to come to London and try living a normal life (going to work, the shops, etc) whilst the Games are going on. As for climbing, forget Portland for the duration...

In reply to hindu:


particularly when you read the list of dos and donts they are provided.

In reply to seankenny: Your solution is simple. All you need to do is build a time machine, travel back to 2005 and vigorously campaign for London to not host the 2012 Olympics.
I can't see any alternative.

In reply to Philip:

The sports which are being included year after year are getting ridiculous.

I say take it back to 1st principles ... in order to be an Olympic sport it needs to have been used in a military context:

Running & Distance running
Javelin
Pole Vault
High Jump
Swimming

All good.

Equestrian events
Shooting
Archery
Cycling
The strength gymnastics events

All good as well.

Synchronised swimming
Dressage to music
Fancy pants gymnastics
Volleyball
Football
Basketball
Hockey

Get rid of them.

In reply to hindu:

I think what really grates is being repeatedly told that "it's all about the athletes" by people for whom it's clearly all about the money... I mean, I doubt that it was a deputation of athletes who insisted that the logos on the toilet cisterns be covered up because Armitage Shanks isn't an official sponsor.

When there are actually people running or jumping or swimming or whatever then I can appreciate the purity of that sporting moment but I reserve the right to be as cynical as I like about the massive commercial and political circus surrounding it.

In reply to toad:


Nice one! probably the only event I will definitely watch it s the MTBing. Tried to get tickets but not luck. Hope it doesn't rain on ya

In reply to Ramblin dave:
My point was: it's a sporting tournament for mostly elite sports - no less, no more.

So it's wrong to be "relentless[ly] cynical" or carping about things that might go wrong, because there are always difficulties attached to large-scale events. Of course, serious problems need to be addressed and flagged up, but there is responsible and warranted investigative journalism and there's cynical story-raking and copy-writing.

And the "endless hype" I spoke of, was with respect to the London-led media being keen to proselytise or market the games as a UK-wide extravaganza and experience. They're not. It's a sporting event being held in London. It will mostly benefit Londoners. That's okay. It's being held there - it has to be somewhere, and examples of Manchester, Birmingham, etc. show us the IOC wouldn't award it to any other UK city than London. But please end the pretence of the (mostly) London-based media that it's a UK-wide 'experience' and "remember where you were" thing for the vast majority of us. It's not. It's another Olympics - no less, no more.

In reply to paul-1970:

It will mostly benefit Londoners, but it will also inconvience most Londoners.

In reply to paul-1970:
To be honest, out of the people I know who are most cynical about the whole thing are probably the Londoners, because they're the ones who'll have to foot a lot of the bill, who'll have SAM missile batteries mounted on their roofs, who won't be able to travel around the city where they live for a couple of weeks, who'll have to live with an aftermath of decaying stadiums littering the east end etc. This sort of thing is fairly typical of the attitude of the people I know in London:
http://londonist.com/2012/07/official-olympic-travel-advice-from-transport-...

I don't think the media are trying to sell it as a UK-wide extravaganza because they don't realize that the UK extends for more than twenty miles beyond the M25 (although it's true that they don't), they're doing it because excited people watch more TV and buy more papers, and so they want there to be lots of excited people in Manchester and Edinburgh as well as just in London...

In reply to deepsoup:

+1

In reply to Philip:
I disagree. For me, the best thing about it so far has been the cynicism. It makes me feel like everyone else has the same opinion as me. Of course they don't really. Most people seem to think that this is a wonderful event sullied by the organisation, while I think it's fundamentally a worthless pile of shite and has the organisation it deserves. I can't wait for it to be over. Unfortunately we'll have to wait a very long time before we've all finished paying for it.

In reply to Philip: Worse thing for me is the restricted airspace - no flying equals no pay On a positive note tho - no flying equals lots and lots of time of this summer )

In reply to ClimberEd:

I think BigBrother knows that...........

In reply to Philip:

Actually the real cynics in all this are the people like Richard Caborn, telling us on the radio yesterday that we should be pleased because it all came in "under budget".
Unfortunately a lot of people are only too willing to accept his revisionist mathematics.

In reply to Philip: You're quite correct. The olympics are crap.

In reply to Philip: I've already been to the Olympics, they were held in Much Wenlock last week.
http://www.wenlock-olympian-society.org.uk/
True to the original Olympics ideals (and the inspiration for it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wenlock_Olympian_Society_Annual_Games ), it was a great weekend with amateurs competing for the love of competing alone.
As for that other thing in London its just a bloated over commercialised festival of corporate greed and the whole circus is just a nice earner for the IOC members.

In reply to Sir Chasm:

What's needed is one of these - http://www.triflebazaar.co.uk/shop/paris2012-bid-tshirt-white.html

(I've got hockey tickets, and not a single spam e-mail)

In reply to pec:


<like>

In reply to Philip:

(someone may have pointed this out. I haven't read the thread because I don't care for the olympics)

Can you not see the irony man?!? You post with cynicism and a petty tone complaining about cynicism and pettiness. The only difference seems to be that the petty cynics that you complain about actually have a tangible object for their petty cynicism. Before complaining about how messy another's house is, tidy your own first.

In reply to Philip: Getting to portland from outside of Weymouth is going to be fun during the games. I wonder how west dorset and somerset climbers will survive?

In reply to David Staples: I think if you come in on the west coast road from Abbotsbury/bridport you will be OK. The road through Wyke Regis and across the beach road has been designated as 'no-stopping or parking' during the Olympics I believe, so it might actually be sligtly better than normal...but you never know until it all starts.

In reply to ClimberEd:

I believe that Bigbrother's comment was a pun upon the original saying for contemporary effect.

In reply to Philip:

There are bad points about the games but good ones too...

Bad: Being away from home for 5 weeks while 1: Daughter turns 3, 2: Daughter starts nursery school, 3: Wife starts new job.

Good: Big pile of cash at the end of it that will see us through Christmas/get us a new car/get us a newer car and see us through to mid-November...

In reply to Nick B, Another One:

Nice work if you can get it.

For the rest of us, can I remind you that the original budget , when we "won" it from the frogs, was £2.4 billion. Ils rirent sous les capes, maintenant, n'est ce pas?

The difference between the original and the updated budget must have come from somewhere. Perhaps they left the machine on overnight at Llantrisant so it could churn out a few extra quid bricks.

Rumours abound of people being employed to build stadia, and a supply chain behind them, often located in places with little or no employment

and that a middle manger in an a financial services company in EC1 may be mildly inconvenienced on his way to work for 3 weeks one summer.

fukkin hell

In reply to Philip: Seeing Jessica Ennis at least once every commercial break!

In reply to Hugh J:

That's a bad thing ?

In reply to Ridge:
Yep, being brain-washed into buying s*** you don't need, let alone want is always a bad thing.

She's cashing in on the fact that she's a "hope" and a looker. Haven't noticed the same attention for Rebecca Addlington or Christine Ohuruogou, who are incidentally, reigning Olympic champions. I wonder why?

In reply to Tom Valentine:

I don't speak French/whatever that is, you apparently do. Congratulations!

And you could remind me but it would have the same effect as the abuse passers by (some no doubt are bankers) shout at the construction workers who are building the tram line in Edinburgh, you may get a shrug of the shoulders at best. I'm freelance and 95% of my jobs are 2-5 days. A booking of 5 straight weeks is so rare most folk I work with have never had one before. It'll give me and my family stability for months to come as opposed to the usual constant chasing of small invoices all over the place and never knowing when I'll get paid. In pretty much every line of work someone somewhere in the food chain resents what someone else is getting paid but we all keep doing our job anyway...

In reply to Nick B, Another One:
Did you choose that line of work or were you forced into it? If you don't like it why not join the public sector - 2 at risk of redundancies in 4 years, no pay rise for three etc etc. Come on in the water's lovely.

F**ckin' hell.

Davie

In reply to Hugh J:

Odd. I tend not to notice what she's actually advertising, let alone buy it. ;O)

In reply to deepsoup:

Ditto. Bit of eye candy in commercial break, not got a scooby what she's advertising and she makes a few quid out if it. Finding it hard to get upset about it.

In reply to Philip: The worst thing about these Olympics without question is the fact that we won't be watching Michelle Jenneker do her little warm-up before the hurdles as she's not going to be there.

vimeo.com/45784191

Stupid games.

In reply to What Goes Up:

Nice little bit of guidance here on what bits of clothing might get you turfed out of the Olympic park:

'objects or clothing bearing political statements or overt commercial identification'

'a pepsi t-shirt'

Thats why I reserver the right to be cynical about the limpicks


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/news/9414178/London-2012-Olympics...

In reply to Adam Perrett: Cheers Adam, I wonder, did you ever get that nasty peach climb under your belt from the weymouth wall??

In reply to Philip:
Womens' football is very slow and dull...

In reply to DR:

Well as you asked. No, I didn't choose it. I was laid off (while my wife was 4 months pregnant) a few years ago and despite unsuccessfully searching for full time employment since then I've been freelancing in the marketplace for which I have marketable skills. It's generally heavily dependant on the prevailing financial climate and as such is a tough place to be at the moment with a family to support. I have also worked to retrain in a number of different lines of work to give me more chance at finding work/freelance jobs.

You've been at risk of redundancy have you? F**kin' hell! (to quote a phrase) You poor sod. Have a medal.

In reply to David Staples: Ha ha! No, I bloody didn't

Mel Dodge got closer than me but I just wasn't anywhere near skillful / strong enough.

The route is now gone unfortunately as the wall has been reset with easy routes for the summer.

In reply to What Goes Up:

Wow! Gorgeous!

In reply to deepsoup:

There probably always will be though, sometimes it's about what you choose to become bothered about, or choose to try not to be.

Appart from whatsit 38 who've campaigned to make the sponsors pay thier taxes and succeeded for a few so far, and a few other honourable groups and campaigns, there's only so much which can be done before you have to decide to either write it off as an event or enjoy the sport which is happening and the individual triumphs and things, I think.

Tim

In reply to deepsoup:

These are the peeps.

http://www.38degrees.org.uk/

In reply to Timmd:

I think you can do both - its entirely possible to be highly unimpressed at the dodgy deals etc., and enjoy the sport and the spectacle, admire the athleticism etc.. regardless.


I signed the petition a while ago, but haven't checked back since McDonalds and Coca Cola buckled under. Wow - I'm really impressed that so many of the corporate sponsors have put their hands up now. If everyone else signs up I wonder if even Dow Chemical might feel compelled to do the decent thing. (Ha, yeah right!)

In reply to deepsoup:

You can, no idea why I wrote it as a choice like that.