Mason: The five-rings circus is leaving town - and I'll miss it
27.02.10
. Girls Rode the shoulders of friends manly. It was an experience to wade into the crowd, as I did, and total strangers pat you on the back, you utter beer. To listen to youth groups in the breakdown of improvised songs: "We hunger for Gold, we want the gold." I said to myself: Would not it be great if all the festivities in this city could be like that? So happy, so excited.
And then this morning the avenue hockey game. People who were walking in the street at that early hour were invited to join with in. The one who organized the game had put extra sticks for this purpose.Women walking by grabbed a tolerated and took the game and then stopped, if someone on the side could take a picture. Everyone laughed. One of the goalies, a boy adventure 7 or 8, was fully equipped in gear goalie. It looked as if he was still with his life.
Like so many things about these Olympics, it was amazing and made me smile and more about what a boon it is to have these games in this city - a city that was not sure what to guess the start of the Olympic carnival, and perhaps showed a certain indifference and crabbiness Games. Boy, did that SWOP.
Source: CTV.ca
Vancouver Winter Olympics bring on the party
25.02.10
A aggregate of hockey sticks was thrown on the ground and the massive sea of people began to part. Nets were moved into the mid of the street, and two men in goalie equipment took their places. This game was not about to break for any car.
A crowd stretching half a deny stuff up in either direction formed a circular barrier as people began to conduct oneself. Several nearby patios blasted music over one another. Chants of “Go, Canada, go” roared when a group of American fans subbed in for one of the teams. Drunks losing themselves in all the fireworks ran across the playing area with their arms waving wildly. Young girls decked out in Canada trappings clambered onto benches and mailboxes, using cellphone cameras to seize as much of the madness as they could.
Over at LiveCity Yaletown, 8,000 kids had just charged the make up at a show by Canadian hardcore band Alexisonfire. They destroyed a barrier meant to grasp back the masses, the concert was cancelled almost before it had started, and 19 people ended up in sanatorium. Following the incident, the thousands of fans in attendance briefly threatened to rioting. But a few people’s anger was quickly overwhelmed by a spontaneous singing of the patriotic anthem. The mob left the waterfront venue and took over the surrounding streets, motile en masse to join the thousands of others already at ground zero of Olympics compulsion.
Source: Straight.com