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morgin
01-31-2014, 10:54 AM
Take with a grain of salt given it's gizmodo, but:

http://gizmodo.com/sochis-olympic-village-is-half-built-and-full-of-trash-1512657018

That's pretty brutal if true.

undercoverbrother
01-31-2014, 11:01 AM
Distinct lack of snow, however I believe the IOC president will declare them the best games ever.

morgin
01-31-2014, 11:49 AM
http://m.imgur.com/a/I06yQ

Better photos to show that the venues at least look nice.

Cheese
01-31-2014, 11:56 AM
I know the Director of IT for Canada, hes been on site for 3 weeks. When he arrived he anticipated that all systems for the athletes and media would be ready to plug and play. He has been working 18 hour days actually making final connections and terminations to "attempt readiness". Says very little was terminated/completed. Many sites are not completed and will not likely be completed by the start...expect to see a lot of "window dressing".
The most poorly organized games he has seen.

MissTeeks
01-31-2014, 04:52 PM
Not good for the media so far:

“@rcamcole: 3 a.m. Standing outside media hotel in rain. Zero organization, rooms not ready, confusion massive. Nice 1st impression, #Sochi14”

Ashasx
01-31-2014, 05:54 PM
They Olympics should only be held in countries that can ethically handle/afford it.

troutman
01-31-2014, 07:14 PM
They Olympics should only be held in countries that can ethically handle/afford it.

Like Montreal.:whistle:

Barnes
01-31-2014, 08:01 PM
Will it be a disaster? It already is. Incomplete construction, piles of garbage everywhere, destruction and displacement of local homes, environmental destruction, mistreatment of workers, threat of suicide bombings, corruption, homophobia...

$51 billion. Bejing and London cost $52 billion combined.

At least they are hard at work fixing the issue of stray dogs in the streets by setting poision traps.

pylon
01-31-2014, 08:09 PM
Yeah, I have a pretty bad feeling there will be something really bad happen at these games. Russia is just too corrupt. I could see the possibility of terrorists simply bribing their way into the security perimeter.

nik-
01-31-2014, 08:10 PM
Will it be a disaster? It already is. Incomplete construction, piles of garbage everywhere, destruction and displacement of local homes, environmental destruction, mistreatment of workers, threat of suicide bombings, corruption, homophobia...

$51 billion. Bejing and London cost $52 billion combined.

At least they are hard at work fixing the issue of stray dogs in the streets by setting poision traps.

And Beijing was already a bloated carcass which cost 3 times what London did.

GGG
01-31-2014, 08:11 PM
At the start of Vancouver there was a steady stream of bad press saying it was a terrible games.

A luger died
There was no snow for freestyle skiing/snowboard events
Tickets were being canceled,
The Chiefs of the Native Bands were stuck in traffic and missed most if the opening ceremonies
There was fear of protests shutting down transportation during the games
The torch being blocked off to spectators by tall fences making the area look like a un food station
Wayne Gretzkys ridicuous ride to light the torch
The torch leg failing to deploy

And it turned out to be a fantastic olympics.

I think their are issues in socchi but the media loves a disaster story so we should wait until the games at least start before condemning them

And in the Gizmodo article it appears the major issues are a lack of grass and missing side walks. If that is all the smear piece can find then they are probably in okay shape.

Ashasx
01-31-2014, 08:17 PM
At the start of Vancouver there was a steady stream of bad press saying it was a terrible games.

A luger died
There was no snow for freestyle skiing/snowboard events
Tickets were being canceled,
The Chiefs of the Native Bands were stuck in traffic and missed most if the opening ceremonies
There was fear of protests shutting down transportation during the games
The torch being blocked off to spectators by tall fences making the area look like a un food station
Wayne Gretzkys ridicuous ride to light the torch
The torch leg failing to deploy

And it turned out to be a fantastic olympics.

I think their are issues in socchi but the media loves a disaster story so we should wait until the games at least start before condemning them

Those concerns aren't even remotely comparable.

The Olympics scare me this year. It seems like everyone is waiting for the other shoe to drop.

GGG
01-31-2014, 08:23 PM
Those concerns aren't even remotely comparable.

The Olympics scare me this year. It seems like everyone is waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Look at the gizmodo article that was designed to show how unprepared they were. It focused on garbage and grass, one unfinished hotel, and the volunteer housing. The big stuff got done.

Putin isnt going to allow the games to fail. People are overly worried due to some wierd combination of dislike of russia, old cold war politics, and a desire to see them fail. The media is definately anti russia so you need to look thruough that lens to interpret all stories

nik-
01-31-2014, 08:30 PM
Look at the gizmodo article that was designed to show how unprepared they were. It focused on garbage and grass, one unfinished hotel, and the volunteer housing. The big stuff got done.

Putin isnt going to allow the games to fail. People are overly worried due to some wierd combination of dislike of russia, old cold war politics, and a desire to see them fail. The media is definately anti russia so you need to look thruough that lens to interpret all stories

The pictures are cosmetic. The legimate concerns are exploding backpacks since the two terrorist hotbeds in Russia are closer to Sochi than they are to Volgograd.

BACKCHECK!!!
02-01-2014, 03:10 PM
Seriously. Sochi is practically walking distance from Chechnya. I'm not sure if you've heard, but there have been some... unpleasantries... in the fairly recent past.

There are people in the region who think that the first day that elementary schools open is a good opportunity to have a running gun battle, round up all the kids into the school in a mass kidnapping, and then blow up the whole place, themselves, and the school, and the kids.

I'm not saying it'll for sure happen, but IF this Olympics is a disaster, it's not going to be because "there wasn't enough snow".

Gaskal
02-02-2014, 01:42 PM
The pictures are cosmetic. The legimate concerns are exploding backpacks since the two terrorist hotbeds in Russia are closer to Sochi than they are to Volgograd.
That's extremely unsettling, considering the attacks that happened last month. I expect pretty much every single counterterrorism special warfare unit around the world will be involved with security. JTF-2 helped to secure Vancouver 2010, I'd expect them to do the same this year.

At least 14 people are reported to have been killed in an explosion on a trolleybus in the Russian city of Volgograd. The blast comes a day after a suspected suicide attack killed at least 17 people in the same city.

GGG
02-02-2014, 05:35 PM
The pictures are cosmetic. The legimate concerns are exploding backpacks since the two terrorist hotbeds in Russia are closer to Sochi than they are to Volgograd.

Thats not what the above article was about at all. It was just a smear piece on Russia not being ready

I think a terrorist event is a legitamate concern but then it wont be first terrorist attack on a games . Atlanta killed 2 injured 111, Munich killed 11 so it wont be the first olympics to face terrorist threats. Before London there was widespread reporting of terrorist strikes being immenant. The risk of a successful terrorist strike in Russia is probably only marginally higher than London was.

The media loves to incite panic.

Young-Sneezy
02-02-2014, 05:54 PM
is it just me, or does Russia look like an absolutely terrible place to be/live/visit?

PIMking
02-02-2014, 05:55 PM
Well we all know that Russia will go nuclear with their military and profiling will be on the highest point.

With that being said this has atlanta and München all over again

PIMking
02-02-2014, 05:56 PM
is it just me, or does Russia look like an absolutely terrible place to be/live/visit?

In soviet russia country lives in you...

nik-
02-02-2014, 06:03 PM
is it just me, or does Russia look like an absolutely terrible place to be/live/visit?

Russia sucks. It's a 2nd rate country with 1 first rate city. There are no quality of life indicators that put it on par with any other G8 country.

terminator
02-02-2014, 06:31 PM
How a country so afoul with human right violations wins the Olympians is beyond me

Freeway
02-02-2014, 06:37 PM
I've been told that northwest Russia (basically the side closest to the Ukraine) is actually pretty nice, albeit still economically depressed compared to the rest of Europe.

Hemi-Cuda
02-02-2014, 08:29 PM
The company I work for has a Russian office, and as their IT staff is completely incompetent several of our guys have to make the trip once or twice a year for various things. None have come back with good reviews of anywhere they've been outside of Moscow, and even that pales in comparison to most other large cities in Europe

Jets4Life
02-02-2014, 09:01 PM
Was anyone alive to recall the details of the Munich terrorism disaster?

JeanLucPicard
02-02-2014, 09:04 PM
russia and their half measures in anything they do

skudr248
02-02-2014, 09:49 PM
Sochi will be awesome.

Daradon
02-03-2014, 02:52 AM
Was anyone alive to recall the details of the Munich terrorism disaster?

Could still happen, I think that's the point of the discussion. Maybe people are afraid something like that will.

And considering people know the risks this time around, while security wasn't a big issue that time, that's saying something.

UKflames
02-03-2014, 06:04 AM
I've been told that northwest Russia (basically the side closest to the Ukraine) is actually pretty nice, albeit still economically depressed compared to the rest of Europe.

Please don't compare Russia to 'the rest of Europe' as it is not part of Europe.

I think you will see a lot of window dressing for these Olympics. It is just a big opportunity for Putin to ride in on a white snowmobile, with no shirt on, waving the carcass of a dead bear screaming death to all gay people whilst looking completly camp himself.:bag:

SeeBass
02-03-2014, 07:06 AM
I am so sick of the short memories of the West what a joke.

Could you imagine in 02 Salt Lake if the Russians had an emergency evac team just waiting in international waters off the coast of Oregon. The americans would be insulted and see it as unjustified. Just imagine the soviet official that went on CNN and said he is worried for his peoples safety and families are staying home.
One year from 911 makes a lot more sense as a terrorist target without the aid of hindsight.

Ducay
02-03-2014, 07:44 AM
I am so sick of the short memories of the West what a joke.

Could you imagine in 02 Salt Lake if the Russians had an emergency evac team just waiting in international waters off the coast of Oregon. The americans would be insulted and see it as unjustified. Just imagine the soviet official that went on CNN and said he is worried for his peoples safety and families are staying home.
One year from 911 makes a lot more sense as a terrorist target without the aid of hindsight.

I literally have no idea who or what you're arguing for/against.

WilsonFourTwo
02-03-2014, 07:46 AM
How a country so afoul with human right violations wins the Olympians is beyond me

I will attempt to explain.....

MONEY!!!!

getbak
02-03-2014, 07:50 AM
Was anyone alive to recall the details of the Munich terrorism disaster?
It was before my time, but here's a good summary: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_massacre

Security was extremely lax back then. West Germany wanted them to be "The Happy Games" since they were the first Olympics in Germany since Hitler's Berlin games, so they were mindful of not wanting to look like a police state. Unfortunately, that made it very easy for the terrorists to sneak into the athletes' village.



I'm sure that won't be an issue for Sochi. Putin has never been afraid to flex his muscles (both literally and figuratively). One advantage they have is that all of the main venues are in two clusters, one in the city and one in the mountains.

This is the layout of the city cluster. All venues are within walking distance of each other. I'm sure there will be heavy security to get inside that circle.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f5/Sochi_2014_olympic_coastal_cluster_map-en.svg/640px-Sochi_2014_olympic_coastal_cluster_map-en.svg.png

Cheese
02-03-2014, 07:54 AM
Im sure these games will be fine. Records will be broken and athletes will have fun. There will be glitches and headaches we wont see or know about hidden in the background.

CaptainCrunch
02-03-2014, 01:45 PM
Was anyone alive to recall the details of the Munich terrorism disaster?

The summary was a good one, I was about 5 when it happened, and I remember my parents watching it on the news.

J epworth
02-03-2014, 02:10 PM
is it just me, or does Russia look like an absolutely terrible place to be/live/visit?

Went to Moscow and Saint Petersburg in September 2010 to visit my girlfriends sister who was working there. It sure is a cool place to visit but I felt on edge the whole time I was there. She was in a diplomats building that we couldn't say disparaging things about Russia in, because apparently all the foreign diplomats apartments are bugged by Russians and you could get into trouble.

Police on every corner, many carrying rifles, all in military uniform, were probably the scariest part of Moscow, you don't want to be stopped by them apparently, many are poor kids stuck in military service and just want to stop westerners for bribes so not to get thrown in jail for the day.

Mind you, the sights were so cool to see, and the culture was something you really have to be there to really appreciate.

Taking the train to Saint Petersburg was really when I realized how poor this country is, seeing the villages along the way, they looked straight out of 1914 still. Tiniest of tiny houses, pack horses still in the streets. As soon as we got to Saint Petersburg, I was so glad I went on that trip, cause that city is gorgeous. I haven't been to many European cities but the core of the city at least has to compare to any other large European city.

Long winded answer, but no, it wasn't a terrible place to visit, but it would be an absolute terrible place to live. The sister we were visiting for example was one block away from the Moscow subway bombings when they happened, as was lucky enough to be leaving out of the other airport in Moscow the day their airport got bombed. She couldn't leave that place quick enough when their tour was over.

Zarley
02-03-2014, 02:41 PM
Why must there always be a negative media buildup before every Olympics?

eg. This talk of the NHL pulling out at the last minute due to a terrorist threat that is no more significant now than it was when they decided to go there in the first place. It's nothing more than baseless speculation by sports media idiots.

These games are Putin's baby, I can't see his regime allowing anything to go wrong security wise.

The Yen Man
02-03-2014, 03:38 PM
I literally have no idea who or what you're arguing for/against.

He's saying the Salt Lake City Olympics had it's own terrorist threats, and that there was far less paranoia with those games.

To be clear, I'm not agreeing with his statements, but the point he's trying to argue is pretty clear IMO.

Enoch Root
02-03-2014, 03:58 PM
Was anyone alive to recall the details of the Munich terrorism disaster?
Not sure if you're asking for details or just asking who remembers it.

I remember.

For some here, the Palestine Liberation Organization may just look like a group that is in some kind of land dispute.

For me, they are terrorists. They have always been terrorists. They were terrorists who shot a bunch of athletes in order to get international attention.

I was pretty young, but I'll never forget that.

CaptainCrunch
02-03-2014, 04:07 PM
Went to Moscow and Saint Petersburg in September 2010 to visit my girlfriends sister who was working there. It sure is a cool place to visit but I felt on edge the whole time I was there. She was in a diplomats building that we couldn't say disparaging things about Russia in, because apparently all the foreign diplomats apartments are bugged by Russians and you could get into trouble.

Police on every corner, many carrying rifles, all in military uniform, were probably the scariest part of Moscow, you don't want to be stopped by them apparently, many are poor kids stuck in military service and just want to stop westerners for bribes so not to get thrown in jail for the day.

Mind you, the sights were so cool to see, and the culture was something you really have to be there to really appreciate.

Taking the train to Saint Petersburg was really when I realized how poor this country is, seeing the villages along the way, they looked straight out of 1914 still. Tiniest of tiny houses, pack horses still in the streets. As soon as we got to Saint Petersburg, I was so glad I went on that trip, cause that city is gorgeous. I haven't been to many European cities but the core of the city at least has to compare to any other large European city.

Long winded answer, but no, it wasn't a terrible place to visit, but it would be an absolute terrible place to live. The sister we were visiting for example was one block away from the Moscow subway bombings when they happened, as was lucky enough to be leaving out of the other airport in Moscow the day their airport got bombed. She couldn't leave that place quick enough when their tour was over.

Do they still have our lady of microwaves across from the U.S. Embassy. I guess it was a building with so many microwave antennae and listening devices pointed at the Americans that you could at one time fry eggs on the window stills of the building.

That was the legend anyways.

MaDMaN_26
02-03-2014, 04:38 PM
To answer the question this thread poses - Absolutely. Worst games in my life time is my bet... hopefully no one is hurt due to it being there... but assuming safety is not an issue (which I think it is) it should be entertaining as hell to watch the disater unfold.

CaptainCrunch
02-03-2014, 04:48 PM
But will the games switch to awesome mode if during the opening ceremony Putin comes out shirtless on the back of a mustang and shoots an flamming arrow into a caldron of oil to light the Olympic torch.

Then he releases the hounds.

Frequitude
02-03-2014, 05:00 PM
But will the games switch to awesome mode if during the opening ceremony Putin comes out shirtless on the back of a mustang and shoots an flamming arrow into a caldron of oil to light the Olympic torch.

Then he releases the hounds.
Yup

photon
02-03-2014, 05:10 PM
This probably belongs here

dYo2w5WN5hM

getbak
02-03-2014, 05:50 PM
But will the games switch to awesome mode if during the opening ceremony Putin comes out shirtless on the back of a mustang and shoots an flamming arrow into a caldron of oil to light the Olympic torch.

Then he releases the hounds.

If?

Turner
02-03-2014, 06:53 PM
My bet is that the games go off without much drama - much to the dismay of the media.

atb
02-03-2014, 07:40 PM
This was a story from a couple weeks ago:

http://www.foxsports.com.au/other-sports/australian-worker-appalled-at-sochi-olympics-games-conditions/story-e6frf61c-1226809230330

But an Australian course worker at the Sochi Winter Olympics has painted a bleak picture of the area just two weeks out from the Games, describing dodgy construction, poor accommodation and questionable employment conditions - all the while preparing not to be paid.

Sydney-raised Johnnie Balfour, who is accredited as a shaping expert by the Russian Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, was contracted to build a course at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park. He arrived in Sochi earlier this week but hasn't had too many nice things to say about the Games city.

"Nothing is finished here and there is piles of garbage everywhere," Balfour wrote on his tumblr blog, confirming its contents with via email.

"Muddy water is pouring off the mountain and flowing through the streets and the cobblestone pavers are all lifting up or disappearing into sink holes.

"This entire place was built in the last few years, it looks nice at first glance but look a little closer and you can see that it was just thrown together.



Full blog entry is here: http://www.reddit.com/r/canada/comments/1vyixz/a_frightening_look_at_the_sochi_olympics_so_far/cexizgf

Northendzone
02-03-2014, 08:35 PM
^ he is a shaping expert folks. He is an expert in judging the shape of things........

Regular_John
02-04-2014, 09:15 AM
I think it's a symptom of our uber connected times that we see stories like this. On twitter I'm getting pictures of cramped athlete rooms, missing curtain rods and sub par bathrooms.

But if you read Ron MacLean's book* he talks about some of the same things when he attended the Olympics in Seoul Korea, so I really think this year we're just seeing/reading things that wouldn't normally be reported on or broadcast.

*Sidebar, I don't recommend Ron's book. He comes across as a pretty dry/boring guy.

morgin
02-04-2014, 09:38 AM
http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2014/02/03/In-Depth/Sochi.aspx

Tyler
02-04-2014, 10:16 AM
Just keeps getting better!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BfpGUmiCIAA6ty2.jpg

Thirsty?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BfmfjoTCMAAMPy0.jpg

undercoverbrother
02-04-2014, 10:42 AM
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/04/austria-olympic-threat-kidnap-athletes-russia


Two Austrian competitors have received kidnap threats on the eve of the Sochi Winter Olympics (http://www.theguardian.com/sport/winter-olympics), heightening security concerns at the Games and triggering an investigation by counter-terrorism experts.

GreenLantern2814
02-04-2014, 10:51 AM
Well we all know that Russia will go nuclear with their military and profiling will be on the highest point.

With that being said this has atlanta and München all over again

I get that Atlanta had a tragedy, but there's a far cry from that to Munich...

Drake
02-04-2014, 01:29 PM
It just keeps getting better and better...

Almost every room is missing something: lightbulbs, TVs, lamps, chairs, curtains, wifi, heat, hot water. Shower curtains are a valuable piece of the future black market here. (One American photographer was simply told, “You will not get a shower curtain.”)

Hotel reservations are lost, then found, if you’re lucky. German photographer Joerg Reuter arrived in the mountains and found the first room offered to him to be full of construction debris, with yellow-brown water and appliances that didn’t work.

The next room had construction workers still sleeping in it. The third room had a stray dog in it. Reuter was quoted by the Associated Press as saying, “When I came out of the elevator, there was the dog. I said, ‘Right, that’s it.’”

(They are reportedly now killing the numerous stray dogs here, which makes every adorable mutt you see the hero of a Disney movie, directed by Quentin Tarantino. At a press conference Tuesday, Sochi 2014 spokeswoman Alexandra Kosterina said “There is a special service that catches the stray dogs and this, as far as I know, they have a special shelter for the stray dogs, and make a medical examination of them. Like pest control.” It was not comforting.)

But the hotels are where the Russian Games are visibly straining at the seams. In the Ekaterininsky Kvartal hotel, the elevator is broken and the stairway is unlit, with stairs of varying and unpredictable heights.

Outside the Chistya Prudy, there is a bag of concrete in a palm tree, leaking grey down the trunk. Inside, some of the electrical outlets are just plates screwed into drywall.'

Sports Illustrated’s Brian Cazeneuve had to clamber through a window to get out of his hotel on Tuesday morning, since the doors were all unexpectedly locked. Chris Stevenson of Sun Media was without electricity for the first day.

My Postmedia colleague Cam Cole’s bathtub came loose from the wall, and therefore rocks like a ship. He has a shower curtain, though. In the Rosa Khutor section of the mountains, Stacy St. Clair of the Chicago Tribune was told by the front desk that if the water worked, “do not use on your face because it contains something very dangerous.” When it did come out of the tap, it looked like a lot like cloudy urine.

Oh, and one journalist in the Omega hotel complex had to refuse a colleague’s request to stay a night in the second twin bed because … well, there’s no easy way to say this, but when the first journalist arrived, someone had left an indeterminate amount of semen on the sheets of the second bed, and those sheets had been taken away for cleaning, and hadn’t come back.

We’re not even getting into the sidewalks that dive, or the open manholes because the covers are being stolen, or the piles of construction waste all over the city, or the tumbled earth where grass was supposed to be. The whole thing was built on a swamp, and when it rains, there will be mud. But it’s a bit of a mess, either way.

http://www.canada.com/olympics/sochi-guide/sochi-facilities-still-a-work-in-progress

nik-
02-04-2014, 01:44 PM
Just keeps getting better!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BfpGUmiCIAA6ty2.jpg


because of course

normtwofinger
02-04-2014, 01:47 PM
Sounds like every other 3rd world country.

Not flushing toilet paper is pretty common in poor countries. Mainly due to plumbing that is poor quality and clogs very easily.

Senator Clay Davis
02-04-2014, 01:49 PM
From the sounds of it a terrorist attack might actually make Sochi look better. At the very least its nice to see something universally regarded as awful before it even starts. Putin can't silence the non-Russian media (although I expect him to try).

Ashasx
02-04-2014, 01:52 PM
except Russia isn't a 3rd world country.

undercoverbrother
02-04-2014, 01:54 PM
except Russia isn't a 3rd world country.


Oh that's what they want you to think.........

GreenLantern
02-04-2014, 01:59 PM
Some pics I came across hope they aren't fata, spoilered for size:


***notice the garbage can that appears to have toilet paper in it, related to previous photos about not flushing toilet paper. LoL.
http://i.imgur.com/mZK06px.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/KpEMvBL.jpg


***One of the brand new hotels built for the event

http://i.imgur.com/7GpfSfu.jpg

Senator Clay Davis
02-04-2014, 01:59 PM
Also I think this thread title needs a change from "Will Sochi be a disaster" to "How big a disaster will Sochi be remembered as"

Ashasx
02-04-2014, 02:02 PM
That last picture is hilarious.

Locke
02-04-2014, 02:04 PM
except Russia isn't a 3rd world country.

Debatable.

normtwofinger
02-04-2014, 02:19 PM
Russia is in denial about being 3rd world.

East Coast Flame
02-04-2014, 02:30 PM
Just keeps getting better!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BfpGUmiCIAA6ty2.jpg


Almost every country I have been to outside of North America and Europe does this. Really don't think it is that outrageous.

nik-
02-04-2014, 02:31 PM
http://deadspin.com/the-olympic-hockey-teams-bedrooms-are-very-um-cozy-1515665541

Enjoy ... Crosby and Co.

L2OfCK38_vA

Ashasx
02-04-2014, 02:31 PM
It's like they're having a sleepover.

getbak
02-04-2014, 02:37 PM
It's actually not a bad-sized room. It's weird that it has such tiny beds so close together though, and barely any other furniture.

dammage79
02-04-2014, 02:38 PM
The staff accom at Nakiska (AKA athletes dorms) is nicer than that! Wow. That is terrible.

nik-
02-04-2014, 02:38 PM
Yeah, the room is a decent size, the bed arrangement is ridiculous

JonDuke
02-04-2014, 02:46 PM
That stairway is incredible.
Russia.

getbak
02-04-2014, 02:48 PM
At least if Luongo's equipment gets lost in transit, he can strap a couple of those mattresses to his legs. Although, he might struggle trying to adjust to the smaller equipment.

flames_fan_down_under
02-04-2014, 02:51 PM
Certain issues aside (initial lack of snow, the olympic torch malfunction) Vancouver's preparation and readiness level for the 2010 games was absolutely unreal. Just looking at those photos of Sochi verifies this.

nik-
02-04-2014, 02:58 PM
HAHAHA ok come on, the Russians are obviously just trolling now.

http://deadspin.com/unfinished-sochi-cultural-center-just-covered-up-with-t-1515885820

Problem?
http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/19eo8q4bhthnnjpg.jpg



Solution! (spoiler for size)
http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/19eo5xdskea9ppng.png

SuperMatt18
02-04-2014, 03:34 PM
Actually kind of surprised at the condition of the facilities.

With the $51 billion dollar spend and with the pressure Putin was putting on the event I though that they were going to use this opportunity to put on a real show and have top class facilities in Sochi.

That they left it this late and in this poor of quality is actually pretty surprising to me.

Tyler
02-04-2014, 03:57 PM
It would be surprising if $51B was spent the way it gets spent in the 1st world.

$51B is nothing when it gets distributed amongst oligarchs and blackmailing Mafioso's in backwater Russia

trackercowe
02-04-2014, 04:08 PM
So the residents of Springfield obviously were in charge of construction, right?

QRVExJZKIT8

Almost expect some rooms to look like this.

http://fourthfloorannex.com/images/features/hurricaneNeddy.jpg

Moe: Yeah we ran out of floorboards there, so we painted the dirt. Pretty clever!

Teh_Bandwagoner
02-04-2014, 04:45 PM
Russia is in denial about being 3rd world.

In Russia, 3rd world country is in denial about you.

cam_wmh
02-04-2014, 05:10 PM
Are the Canadian hockey team flying out together in one private plane?
It'd be convenient if so, as they could just bunk in the plane each night.

Ducay
02-04-2014, 05:52 PM
Are the Canadian hockey team flying out together in one private plane?
It'd be convenient if so, as they could just bunk in the plane each night.

I know the hockey players attending are regular people at the end of the day, but its funny to think of 100+ multimillionaires sleeping 3 to a room on sh*tty gulag style twin beds. Most of these guys are taller than their beds. I expect some awesome tweets when they arrive

Barnes
02-04-2014, 05:57 PM
I have a thing for looking at pictures and reading about abandoned places. I always find it hilarious when seeing something from Russia and finding out it was abandoned just a few years ago but looks like it had been abandoned in the '50s.

These facilities will probably never get fixed. What a legacy. At least the sporting facilities look like they're in good shape.

Red Slinger
02-04-2014, 06:56 PM
HAHAHA ok come on, the Russians are obviously just trolling now.





Solution! (spoiler for size)
http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/19eo5xdskea9ppng.png

When I went to Moscow (and St.Pete) in 2006 to visit the country of my birth for the first time since 1976 this picture is basically the lasting impression I was left with. The Russians aren't interested in quality or beauty but rather the facade or impression of quality and beauty. Even the buildings I would go in that completed their construction or renovations, especially in St.Petersburg, would be beautiful on the outside and complete dumps on the inside.

I just got back from Phuket, Thailand which is overrun by "new money" Russians. They are literally swarming all over the island. I've never encountered a group of people that are so shallow and only concerned with appearances. It's what I imagine hanging out with thousands of Kardashians would be like. It was infuriating for me and a couple of locals confessed that they are very difficult to deal with.

I know these are generalizations on my part but it's really hard to escape these conclusions. Of course, there are plenty of Russians I met in Russia that are real, genuine people but I found that they are in the vast minority especially compared to the western cultures I come from. There's a lot of oil money in Russia and a lot of people who never had money have come into a lot of it in a relatively short period of time. I think it'll take another generation or two before the Russian culture recovers from it's Justin Bieber phase.

I think the Russian mentality will likely lead to many, many small embarassments (which will quickly be swept under the carpet) but no major catastrophes.

Barnes
02-04-2014, 08:10 PM
http://misssnowitall.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/screen-shot-2014-02-04-at-6-50-08-pm.png?w=492&h=681

flames_fan_down_under
02-04-2014, 10:26 PM
My prediction is that the athletes accommodations, even though sparse, is ready for the athletes, and all the athletes should be taken care of very well.

However, which is rather enjoyable for me, the journalists and media are being given the ol middle finger by the Russians, which is kind of awesome, because most of the media and journalists are a-holes anyways. (not really though).

Ohh boo hoo CNN only has one room ready.

getbak
02-04-2014, 11:43 PM
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BfsI0ZaCEAAbmYd.png


Vicki Hall ‏@vickihallch

Late to the party but this light fixture crashed a foot from my bed on second night in #Sochi media hotel. pic.twitter.com/rhuchVmy3i

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BfsG6ZmIAAE-KDy.jpg

djsFlames
02-05-2014, 12:01 AM
So people must either be sleeping or walking around then? Where's the couches (or chairs with cushions), tables, TV? Very sad. The rooms look like giant prison cells.

getbak
02-05-2014, 12:21 AM
https://twitter.com/SochiProblems

Wastedyouth
02-05-2014, 03:11 AM
All of these issues sounds pretty heavenly compared to the camps I am in in Iraq right now. I should take a vacation to Sochi! 5 star accommodation!

playmaker
02-05-2014, 06:43 AM
_Wb5K2KLfJE

Itse
02-05-2014, 07:55 AM
My bet is that the games go off without much drama - much to the dismay of the media.

While odds are that nothing overly dramatic happens, treating the international media this way pretty much ensures that they are going to look bad in the eyes of the world.

These people should right now be cosied up to and spending time getting to know the venues, not wondering where are they going to sleep and take a shower. And reporters being expected to come up with stories, those are the stories they will go with.

It could easiliy get worse, if the conditions don't improve fast. At this point it's mostly laughs and giggles and exotic, but it will grow old very fast once the olympics start, the working days get long and they start getting complaints that the reports are not coming in fast enough and their bosses start sending messages in all caps asking WHERE'S THAT INTERVIEW?!? (Which I'm sure they get anyway.)

As for the price tag of the olympics, most likely most of that money was just stolen in what will go down as one of the great heists in history. Nothing I've seen so far seems to really compare to the admittedly very cool stuff they built in Beijing. (I'm sure the opening and closing ceremonies will be something to behold though.)

What's worse, even the Chinese government used more corporate sponsor money for their olympics than the Russians. This is pretty much all taxpayer money (assuming the reports I've read are true).

No wonder large parts of Russia are dirt poor.

Northendzone
02-05-2014, 07:58 AM
i'd lik to see pictures of the room where the grand poohbah of the IOC will be staying.

HotHotHeat
02-05-2014, 09:55 AM
Sorta have to wonder what the Russian athlete accommodations look like....

Barnes
02-05-2014, 10:00 AM
Shaun White pulls out of slopestyle after hurting his wrist on the course.

http://news.yahoo.com/shaun-white-withdraws-olympic-slopestyle-121601648--spt.html

The course is apparently weird and intimidating.

Another top rider, Torstein Horgmo of Norway, was forced out after breaking his collarbone during practice Monday. On Tuesday, Finnish rider Marika Enne was carted off the course with a concussion.

skudr248
02-05-2014, 10:03 AM
Some people on here sound like they haven't left North America ever. Those hotel rooms look great compared to my apartment in Nice, France for a year.

Ashasx
02-05-2014, 10:09 AM
Some people on here sound like they haven't left North America ever. Those hotel rooms look great compared to my apartment in Nice, France for a year.

This is the Olympics.

skudr248
02-05-2014, 10:18 AM
This is the Olympics.

Really? I didn't know that man, but thanks for the update. Many times have the Olympics been whined about as the worst Olympics ever, just because they're in Russia now it was obvious Western media would be all over it.

Good article here:

http://www.thestar.com/sports/sochi2014/2014/02/05/sochi_2014_olympics_worse_games_ever_no_pampered_j ournalists_should_just_chill_dimanno.html

nik-
02-05-2014, 10:30 AM
Really? I didn't know that man, but thanks for the update. Many times have the Olympics been whined about as the worst Olympics ever, just because they're in Russia now it was obvious Western media would be all over it.

Good article here:

http://www.thestar.com/sports/sochi2014/2014/02/05/sochi_2014_olympics_worse_games_ever_no_pampered_j ournalists_should_just_chill_dimanno.html

The point that you obviously missed is that this is a newly built 50 billion dollar showpiece for Russia that is still a pile of ####. Your apartment in Nice might have sucked, but this is the new crap they built to show off to the world. You don't see the hilarity in this?

Barnes
02-05-2014, 10:43 AM
Really? I didn't know that man, but thanks for the update. Many times have the Olympics been whined about as the worst Olympics ever, just because they're in Russia now it was obvious Western media would be all over it.

Good article here:

http://www.thestar.com/sports/sochi2014/2014/02/05/sochi_2014_olympics_worse_games_ever_no_pampered_j ournalists_should_just_chill_dimanno.html

I haven't seen anyone proclaim that this is the worst Olympics ever BECAUSE the baggage carousels in the arrival terminal don't circulate bags but dump them on the floor when they reach the end, door knobs fall off in your hand, light fixtures crash to the floor, electrical outlets that are just covers screwed into the drywall, urine coloured water, missing lightbulbs, completely open manhole covers on sidewalks...

Is it the media being the media or Russia being Russia? Yes, these issues are common around the world but those places aren't hosting a $51 billion Olympics.

undercoverbrother
02-05-2014, 10:45 AM
http://www.theverge.com/2014/2/4/5377356/sochi-winter-olympics-2014-subtropical-transformation

good read

wpgflamesfan
02-05-2014, 11:31 AM
Some people on here sound like they haven't left North America ever. Those hotel rooms look great compared to my apartment in Nice, France for a year.

On the other side of the coin, my apartment (also in Nice) when I studied abroad was a lot nicer than these hotel rooms.

djsFlames
02-05-2014, 03:14 PM
Some people on here sound like they haven't left North America ever. Those hotel rooms look great compared to my apartment in Nice, France for a year.

Hotel rooms in Greece that I paid about the equivalent of $60-80/night for were nicer than these. This is a 51 billion dollar project to host the world...

cDnStealth
02-05-2014, 03:21 PM
I've stayed in better looking Hostels.

sureLoss
02-05-2014, 03:49 PM
waEeJJVZ5P8

Street Pharmacist
02-05-2014, 04:10 PM
waEeJJVZ5P8

Scary stuff. Can they hack your phone if you don't go on any crazy websites or download malware intentionally?

Gundo
02-05-2014, 04:14 PM
As a person who spent 8 years working in the Alberta Oil patch I find these to be acceptable hotel accommodations. If you have stayed in places such as Brooks, Fox Creek, Edson or Grande Cache you know I'm speaking the truth.

cam_wmh
02-05-2014, 04:20 PM
Shaun White pulls out of slopestyle after hurting his wrist on the course.

http://news.yahoo.com/shaun-white-withdraws-olympic-slopestyle-121601648--spt.html

The course is apparently weird and intimidating.

It's not.

Shaun's protecting his brand, by pulling out -- he feels the threats from Seb Toutant, Mark McMorris, and (Torsten Horgemo before he got hurt) and knows he may not even make podium.

sureLoss
02-05-2014, 04:52 PM
Scary stuff. Can they hack your phone if you don't go on any crazy websites or download malware intentionally?

Hard to tell as they don't go into technical details, but from them advising you to avoid public wifi networks; it sounds like the "hackers" are either spoofing a public wifi network (i.e pretending to be a free public wifi network when you are actually logging onto the hacker's network) or using the lax security protocols on the existing wifi networks to access your phone/computer.

Minnie
02-05-2014, 05:10 PM
The point that you obviously missed is that this is a newly built 50 billion dollar showpiece for Russia that is still a pile of ####. Your apartment in Nice might have sucked, but this is the new crap they built to show off to the world. You don't see the hilarity in this?

If Canada had done anything remotely similar in the 2010 Games in Vancouver, we'd have been skewered by everyone - athletes, coaches, media, visitors attending the games.

I heard a disturbing report that they're beating the stray dogs to death, the ones around the games areas and the athletes villages, etc. I really hope someone's just exaggerating.


A friend sent me this link today - kind of amusing - 'A User's Guide To The Bizarre Toilets of Sochi (Scrochi)' (http://deadspin.com/a-users-guide-to-the-bizarre-toilets-of-sochi-1516518904)

The Fonz
02-05-2014, 05:53 PM
Hackers are going to find a lot of nude pics of the athletes.

flames_fan_down_under
02-05-2014, 05:53 PM
It's not.

Shaun's protecting his brand, by pulling out -- he feels the threats from Seb Toutant, Mark McMorris, and (Torsten Horgemo before he got hurt) and knows he may not even make podium.

Completely agree. I read numerous quotes today from Mark McMorris and other snowboarders that yes it is difficult but so is the x games and there is always an element of danger. Shaun white is a joke .

cam_wmh
02-05-2014, 07:11 PM
Completely agree. I read numerous quotes today from Mark McMorris and other snowboarders that yes it is difficult but so is the x games and there is always an element of danger. Shaun white is a joke .

Mark has a broken rib too.

Tenured snowboarders already had a poor view of White.
Target, Razor Scooters, Elitism, not sharing one of the greatest pipes ever with his peers -- and just recently bought the rights to the biggest snowboard contest in Europe, the Air & Style.

Now the poor view is expanding to all who follow snowboarding.

Hack&Lube
02-05-2014, 07:30 PM
There's a reason why the Potemkin Village is a classic Russian story...

Ozy_Flame
02-05-2014, 07:49 PM
Expecting Soviet tanks and ballistic missiles at the opening opening ceremonies, as well as state police and Spetnaz performing weapons exercises while marching to epic military titles performed by the Red Army choir. Would be a nice distraction from this silly accommodation freak out.

GGG
02-05-2014, 09:12 PM
http://grantland.com/the-triangle/just-how-bad-is-the-scene-in-sochi/

A very balanced article from Katie Baker from Grantland about the olympics.

Not as bad as it is being made out to be and the ames will run fine but not great.

KootenayFlamesFan
02-06-2014, 01:10 AM
Bill Maher ‏@billmaher

Hey people in Sochi hotels with unflushable toilets and undrinkable water: look on the bright side, you could be on a Carnival Cruise!

Ashasx
02-06-2014, 08:01 AM
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BfyoURwCEAAQ-vF.jpg

Flaming Choy
02-06-2014, 10:50 AM
Completely agree. I read numerous quotes today from Mark McMorris and other snowboarders that yes it is difficult but so is the x games and there is always an element of danger. Shaun white is a joke .

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/snowboarders--taunts-of-shaun-white-continues-canada-s-bold-olympic-attitude-154013678.html

A couple of the Canadians tweeted, mocking White's decision to pull out.

cam_wmh
02-06-2014, 10:54 AM
wow

That can't be real

undercoverbrother
02-06-2014, 10:56 AM
Nm

Ashasx
02-06-2014, 11:19 AM
That can't be real

https://twitter.com/_JeuxOlympiques/status/431404730632245250

sureLoss
02-06-2014, 12:00 PM
Just ridiculous... I don't have alot of experience in construction, but wouldn't it be a lot less effort to remove the toilet and close off the plumbing then put up the wall rather than trying to build a wall around the toilet?

sureLoss
02-06-2014, 12:03 PM
So apparently the Russians are monitoring hotel showers

http://www.businessinsider.com/hotel-shower-surveillance-footage-in-sochi-shows-sabotage-2014-2

Responding to the western campaign of "deliberate sabotage" in the media, Paul Sonne of WSJ reports, Russian deputy prime minister Dmitry Kozak said, "We have surveillance video from the hotels that shows people turn on the shower, direct the nozzle at the wall and then leave the room for the whole day."

Then an aide whisked Kozak away before he could answer any follow-up questions, Sonne reports.

Business Insider contributor and former NSA operative John Schindler has some counter-surveillance advice for Sochi's shower users:


John Schindler @20committee
Follow
How is FSB watching you in your hotel bathroom? Shut door & run shower hot for 10 mins. Clear spot on mirror is the cam. #Sochi #CI #protip

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/hotel-shower-surveillance-footage-in-sochi-shows-sabotage-2014-2#ixzz2sZPjGH1s

Ashasx
02-06-2014, 12:12 PM
Just ridiculous... I don't have alot of experience in construction, but wouldn't it be a lot less effort to remove the toilet and close off the plumbing then put up the wall rather than trying to build a wall around the toilet?

Is that what happened?

I thought it was some sort of make shift urinal.

ZedMan
02-06-2014, 12:12 PM
Scary stuff. Can they hack your phone if you don't go on any crazy websites or download malware intentionally?

No. If you check out the researcher's twitter (https://twitter.com/lowcalspam) he mentions that they had to browse to a malicious site, download and confirm installation of an android app. Looks like NBC added a good dose of sensationalism in their editing.

Street Pharmacist
02-06-2014, 12:13 PM
No. If you check out the researcher's twitter (https://twitter.com/lowcalspam) he mentions that they had to browse to a malicious site, download and confirm installation of an android app. Looks like NBC added a good dose of sensationalism in their editing.

I kind of figured that. That happens here too.

Street Pharmacist
02-06-2014, 12:14 PM
So apparently the Russians are monitoring hotel showers

http://www.businessinsider.com/hotel-shower-surveillance-footage-in-sochi-shows-sabotage-2014-2

Haha. Next it'll be "we never said that we have video, what we meant was we heard that happen from hotel managers"

Regular_John
02-06-2014, 01:14 PM
https://twitter.com/_JeuxOlympiques/status/431404730632245250

Tiny Eye suggest that image has been online since at least 2013-08-11. (http://www.tineye.com/search/42c3a68802e516e95cc7d196baf81a867f5eddc2/)

Hard to pin point where it's from exactly, but it's been making the rounds under "horrible construction mistakes" for a few months now. So at the very least it wasn't taken in Sochi this week.

Senator Clay Davis
02-06-2014, 02:12 PM
This whole thing is going to play right into Putin's hands. He'll use the fact the the Games were a debacle as a "The western world hates us" thing rather than "oh yeah this thing is a catastrophe" thing.

BloodFetish
02-06-2014, 02:25 PM
Just ridiculous... I don't have alot of experience in construction, but wouldn't it be a lot less effort to remove the toilet and close off the plumbing then put up the wall rather than trying to build a wall around the toilet?

Maybe they removed the toilet, capped the plumbing, built the wall and then cut the toilet in half and glued it onto the wall. That would be easier than trying to form a wall around the toilet.

photon
02-06-2014, 02:36 PM
However they did that half toilet in the wall trick, whoever did it you can bet their thought process started with the words "Oh yeah? Well.."

cam_wmh
02-06-2014, 03:55 PM
I feel trolled.

There is zero chance that picture is real.

Resolute 14
02-06-2014, 04:49 PM
The toilet image is not from Sochi: http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_world_/2014/02/06/not_all_those_sochi_toilet_photos_are_real.html


Also, Google is not being remotely subtle in its criticism of Russia's anti-gay law. They have a pretty good doodle today.

Royle9
02-06-2014, 04:50 PM
Completely agree. I read numerous quotes today from Mark McMorris and other snowboarders that yes it is difficult but so is the x games and there is always an element of danger. Shaun white is a joke .

Probably one of the best documentaries I've seen is this:
http://thecrashreel.com/store/?index.php

There's some onions in it but it really shows you just how stuck up/arrogant and entitled Mr.White is. Some may remember the story of Kevin Pearce but the guy was on his way to be what Shaun is today except better as he was winning the events with Shaun in 2nd place until a training accident took him away from the sport at the young age of 19. They grew up together and the sheer difference between the two and how personable they were really shines.
Worth the watch if you have time.

flames_fan_down_under
02-06-2014, 05:12 PM
Thanks Royle, I am gonna watch this immediately.

MissTeeks
02-06-2014, 06:05 PM
The toilet image is not from Sochi: http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_world_/2014/02/06/not_all_those_sochi_toilet_photos_are_real.html


Also, Google is not being remotely subtle in its criticism of Russia's anti-gay law. They have a pretty good doodle today.


I like it!

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/02/07/y8ybe5ap.jpg

Hemi-Cuda
02-06-2014, 07:56 PM
Hotel rooms in Greece that I paid about the equivalent of $60-80/night for were nicer than these. This is a 51 billion dollar project to host the world...

When I was traveling around Thailand, every hotel we stayed in was under $20 per night, and every room I had blows these out of the water

Gundo
02-06-2014, 08:07 PM
When I was traveling around Thailand, every hotel we stayed in was under $20 per night, and every room I had blows these out of the water

In Thailand for $25 you also get a case of beer and BJ and change back








Allegedly

getbak
02-06-2014, 08:08 PM
Chara's bed, with extra leg room:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bf0celqCMAAjbnO.jpg

Hot_Flatus
02-06-2014, 08:15 PM
Hotel rooms in Greece that I paid about the equivalent of $60-80/night for were nicer than these. This is a 51 billion dollar project to host the world...

Does it really matter? Just because a small portion of the world expects to be lavished in a 5 star resort doesn't mean the rest of the world feels the same way.

If I were there, the least of my worries would be the quality of the linens and a modest paint job.

BigBrodieFan
02-06-2014, 08:16 PM
Has anyone noticed that Bob Costas seems to have lost his entire upper plate? He could stretch his upper lip down to his belly button. Yeesh, how odd looking.

nik-
02-06-2014, 08:46 PM
Does it really matter? Just because a small portion of the world expects to be lavished in a 5 star resort doesn't mean the rest of the world feels the same way.

If I were there, the least of my worries would be the quality of the linens and a modest paint job.

Again, it's not about the standard of the country, it's about the standard of a showpiece when you're hosting the rest of the world.

I-Hate-Hulse
02-06-2014, 09:34 PM
Take this for what it's worth, we know the wife of someone on the Olympic Team here in Calgary and she was saying that the *Athlete* accommodations are some his favorite yet in 2 Olympiads (apparently better than Vancouver) and the food is surprisingly top shelf. He's quite happy. Hopefully he does well it'll be his last one.

I'm thinking it's what people were thinking - the media hacks were at the bottom of the food chain.

flames_fan_down_under
02-06-2014, 10:31 PM
Take this for what it's worth, we know the wife of someone on the Olympic Team here in Calgary and she was saying that the *Athlete* accommodations are some his favorite yet in 2 Olympiads (apparently better than Vancouver) and the food is surprisingly top shelf. He's quite happy. Hopefully he does well it'll be his last one.

I'm thinking it's what people were thinking - the media hacks were at the bottom of the food chain.

Which as I stated before I could truly care less about the journalists etc, because after all the Olympics is about the Athletes, and not the journalists.

SebC
02-07-2014, 05:17 AM
Hehe.

effb2JYiKXM

Burner
02-07-2014, 06:23 AM
This is the Olympics.

i have worked numerous Olympic games and am presently in Sochi and staying in a media "hotel" They are really like apartment blocks. There are some rooms that have had problems - but I have no issues with my room. Plumbing works fine, its clean. The decor is a little spartan but I am here to work anyways

Lot of media hype over some problems. But every Olympics I have been at have had similar stories.

CaptainYooh
02-07-2014, 10:16 AM
Not sure if this was posted already.

Hotel reception desk:

http://pics.top.rbc.ru/top_pics/uniora/67/1391611901_0467.720x546.jpeg


Canadian Hockey team's rooms:

http://pics.top.rbc.ru/top_pics/uniora/49/1391611900_0249.720x546.jpeg


Tap water in the rooms:

http://pics.top.rbc.ru/top_pics/uniora/93/1391611901_0193.662x665.jpeg

Resolute 14
02-07-2014, 10:56 AM
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/passenger-with-bomb-claim-tries-to-divert-plane-to-sochi-1.2527486

Attempted hijacking in Ukraine. A passenger on a Turkey-bound flight unsuccessfully tried to have the plane diverted to Sochi by claiming to have a bomb.

nik-
02-07-2014, 11:06 AM
http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/World/ID/2435424770/

Alberta_Beef
02-07-2014, 11:12 AM
I have a bad feeling we are going to see something that will shock the world.

nik-
02-07-2014, 11:17 AM
I'm sure nothing will happen in the end, but there is definitely risk given the location.

SebC
02-07-2014, 05:29 PM
Calgary is flying the rainbow flag outside city hall for the duration of the games.

TopChed
02-07-2014, 05:37 PM
R_MBOeqSYVk

JonDuke
02-07-2014, 05:55 PM
9ymkU2LT1EY&feature=youtu.be

Turner
02-07-2014, 07:36 PM
Calgary is flying the rainbow flag outside city hall for the duration of the games.

Mod edit: don't be an idiot

KelVarnsen
02-07-2014, 08:02 PM
Mod edit: don't be an idiot

Seems I missed out on something fun.

Table 5
02-07-2014, 08:39 PM
It is interesting how no athletes have complained, just media. I hate Russia as much as the next guy (probably way more), but even I think it's time for these babies to get over it.

getbak
02-07-2014, 08:41 PM
Seems I missed out on something fun.
I saw it, you didn't.

flamesfan1297
02-07-2014, 08:43 PM
Mod edit: don't be an idiot

Damn i didnt come soon enough

JonDuke
02-07-2014, 09:33 PM
Seems I missed out on something fun.

Me too. Because the user is only very new, and already had fata in his/her vocabulary, I'm guessing they were banned and well on their way to being punted again.
But...I didn't see the comment and could be way off too.

Ducay
02-07-2014, 09:35 PM
mod edit: wow you're a neat guy. We're going to mail you a bucket o' cash.

PIMking
02-07-2014, 11:36 PM
http://cdn1.sbnation.com/imported_assets/2012069/0_be39e_dc3c9b77_L_medium.gif

nik-
02-07-2014, 11:54 PM
http://cdn1.sbnation.com/imported_assets/2012069/0_be39e_dc3c9b77_L_medium.gif

Of course he did :lol:

Senator Clay Davis
02-08-2014, 08:27 AM
Well this is one way to get out when you get stuck in the bathroom...
Johnny Quinn ✔@JohnnyQuinnUSAFollow
...With no phone to call for help, I used my bobsled push training to break out. #SochiJailBreak (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23SochiJailBreak&src=hash)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bf8PHIcIMAEhTRp.jpg

Knut
02-08-2014, 09:44 AM
Dumbest tweet of the games goes to Kevin Paul DuPont of the Boston Globe

@GlobeKPD: Remember, this is the country that sent us the Tsarnaevs. Never forget. Never.

Aarongavey
02-10-2014, 02:36 AM
Dumbest tweet of the games goes to Kevin Paul DuPont of the Boston Globe

@GlobeKPD: Remember, this is the country that sent us the Tsarnaevs. Never forget. Never.

Especially since the statement is not true

Resolute 14
02-10-2014, 08:38 AM
It's Kevin Paul Dupont. He's.... well, he's a little touched.

Coach
02-10-2014, 09:16 AM
Good to see the doors are made of cardboard. 100% recyclable?

Coach
02-10-2014, 09:27 AM
Have to commend all the Hockey players and other highly paid athletes for not pulling the NBA dream team and staying on a cruise ship in the Black Sea.

Violator
02-10-2014, 09:53 AM
Have to commend all the Hockey players and other highly paid athletes for not pulling the NBA dream team and staying on a cruise ship in the Black Sea.

american ski team apparently has a private hotel.

Flaming Choy
02-10-2014, 11:20 AM
Good to see the doors are made of cardboard. 100% recyclable?

Quick google search for "honeycomb doors" shows that this is standard for interior doors.

CaptainCrunch
02-10-2014, 12:25 PM
Have to commend all the Hockey players and other highly paid athletes for not pulling the NBA dream team and staying on a cruise ship in the Black Sea.

Hell as an athlete I'd want to stay in the athletes village, there was a report after the Vancouver game about the dispensers running out of condoms because it was like some wild out of control college sex party.

Tyler
02-10-2014, 12:37 PM
Hell as an athlete I'd want to stay in the athletes village, there was a report after the Vancouver game about the dispensers running out of condoms because it was like some wild out of control college sex party.

This is the case at every Olympics. It's one big orgy featuring the best athletes in the world.

19Yzerman19
02-10-2014, 12:48 PM
Rory Bushfield and Janice Phelan, husband and mother of the late Sarah Burke respectively, just had their flight cancelled to get them to Sochi in time for Women's halfpipe. They should be there to represent her. Sarah's one of the main reasons freeskiing is in the olympics, and she's surely the reason there's a women's discipline there.
https://twitter.com/RobsonDan/status/432958821225349120
Hopefully someone at Air Canada or Westjet or something is able to help them out.

Kelekin
02-10-2014, 12:49 PM
Rory Bushfield and Janice Phelan, husband and mother of the late Sarah Burke respectively, just had their flight cancelled to get them to Sochi in time for Women's halfpipe. They should be there to represent her. Sarah's one of the main reasons freeskiing is in the olympics, and she's surely the reason there's a women's discipline there.
https://twitter.com/RobsonDan/status/432958821225349120
Hopefully someone at Air Canada or Westjet or something is able to help them out.

Also in Sarah Burke news, it was reported the IOC won't let anyone wear stickers on their helmets in honour of her. So sad, she's a legend.

undercoverbrother
02-10-2014, 12:59 PM
Also in Sarah Burke news, it was reported the IOC won't let anyone wear stickers on their helmets in honour of her. So sad, she's a legend.


IOC being narrow mind dicks, hard to believe.


You are right she is a legend.

Resolute 14
02-10-2014, 01:01 PM
Agreed that the IOC are being narrow minded dicks, but the people trying to distribute the stickers should have known better. It isn't news that the IOC forbids virtually everything that is not related to your nation or an official sponsor.

19Yzerman19
02-10-2014, 01:15 PM
Yeah, that's super unfortunate but it's not the only one - a number of Norwegian skiers wore black armbands in commemoration of a brother of one of the athletes (IIRC) who passed away the day before the event. IOC came down on them for that too.

Personally I think the whole field in men's and women's ski slope and pipe should just wear the things and if they want to disqualify the entire field, more the better - that would be the most freeskiing thing ever. But sounds like they'll just stick to talking about her in interviews.

Coach
02-10-2014, 01:16 PM
Agreed that the IOC are being narrow minded dicks, but the people trying to distribute the stickers should have known better. It isn't news that the IOC forbids virtually everything that is not related to your nation or an official sponsor.

So movies from that country on goalie masks is ok, but tributes to country's athletes is not? Doesnt make sense.

flamesfan6
02-10-2014, 06:41 PM
U.S. Bobsledder Quinn Gets Stuck Again…In an Elevator

http://blogs.wsj.com/dailyfix/2014/02/10/u-s-bobsledder-quinn-gets-stuck-again-in-an-elevator/

(this is the same guy who got stuck in the bathroom)

Drake
02-10-2014, 08:48 PM
U.S. Bobsledder Quinn Gets Stuck Again…In an Elevator

http://blogs.wsj.com/dailyfix/2014/02/10/u-s-bobsledder-quinn-gets-stuck-again-in-an-elevator/

(this is the same guy who got stuck in the bathroom)

He played in the CFL I believe in 2009 and someone told me he isn't exactly the smartest tool in the shed.

Tsawwassen
02-11-2014, 04:11 AM
Hell as an athlete I'd want to stay in the athletes village, there was a report after the Vancouver game about the dispensers running out of condoms because it was like some wild out of control college sex party.
This is the case at every Olympics. It's one big orgy featuring the best athletes in the world. It's true about the running out of condoms. Prophylactics needed to be restocked faster in 2010, Cassie Campbell Pascal got pregnant at the Vancouver games. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassie_Campbell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassie_Campbell)
Hockey players' goals...........to score at the Olympics! :yay: I think it was the skier Alberto Tomba who loved to talk about those parties, he sure enjoyed Calgary, Albertville, and Lillehammer.

BlackArcher101
02-11-2014, 09:41 AM
Rory Bushfield and Janice Phelan, husband and mother of the late Sarah Burke respectively, just had their flight cancelled to get them to Sochi in time for Women's halfpipe. They should be there to represent her. Sarah's one of the main reasons freeskiing is in the olympics, and she's surely the reason there's a women's discipline there.
https://twitter.com/RobsonDan/status/432958821225349120
Hopefully someone at Air Canada or Westjet or something is able to help them out.

I don't get it. From the indigogo that was set up: "Their flight was cancelled and reimbursement was not issued. They are now scrambling to get to Sochi for the debut of women's skiing halfpipe."

So they had a flight booked, it was cancelled (and far in advance it looks like) but they didn't get money back or a new flight? Were they booked through Aeroflot or something?

19Yzerman19
02-11-2014, 09:50 AM
I don't get it. From the indigogo that was set up: "Their flight was cancelled and reimbursement was not issued. They are now scrambling to get to Sochi for the debut of women's skiing halfpipe."

So they had a flight booked, it was cancelled (and far in advance it looks like) but they didn't get money back or a new flight? Were they booked through Aeroflot or something?
Air China cancelled their connecting flight from Beijing to Sochi. They have been told that they will be reimbursed, but it will take several months. So in the interim they're scrambling. That being said, Rory said last night that the donations aren't necessary as they'll be able to take care of the issue themselves, so I guess they've got something figured out.

BlackArcher101
02-11-2014, 09:52 AM
Air China cancelled their connecting flight from Beijing to Sochi. They have been told that they will be reimbursed, but it will take several months. So in the interim they're scrambling to figure something out.

Bruuuutal Air China, just brutal.

Turner
02-22-2014, 01:29 PM
Well as the games come to a close - as predicted - no terrorism. As much as certain media and others wanted bloodshed - none of it. Kudos to the security teams. Sucks to anyone who cancelled their Olympic plans due to fear.