[Flashpoint]

Vancouver is a great city. But there's a reason the international media is talking more and more about how these games are being plagued with problems. It's not just sour grapes, and it's not just this board making things up.

Clearly - some of it is out of the organizer's hands. It's the warmest winter on record. But some of it is the result of poor planning, incompetence, or just plain bad decision making. A opening anthem that created controversy. Malfunctioning torches. A luge course that allegedly had speed concerns called out well in advance of the Olympics that were ignored. Unsuitable ice resurfacers. Poor conditions for alpine events. Allowing VIP's to approach the Olympic torches, with barricades to keep everyone else away. Canceling tickets to events without regard to how far people may have traveled. Wayne in the back of a pickup truck. That's just off the top of my head, and I'm a guy who loves Vancouver.

You can point at a lot of good things happening in Vancouver, but that doesn't preclude the fact that these Winter games are having problems, and they're more significant than most in recent memory.

Everything is not fine, and all Canadians feel the pain of it. Some relish in it. Most probably just feel a vague sense of embarrassment.