Sometimes an opportunity presents itself, be it through convenience, distance, or just pure luck, it's still an opportunity. The opportunity in this case was the chance to attend the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, BC, Canada. The only other time where I would have been able to attend the Winter Olympics was Salt Lake City back in 2002, but I was still tied down to a college desk back then. The Angels making it to the World Series that year made up for it (in my book).
Vancouver is a city that I have been to multiple times. It's a simple drive north from Seattle (and for the record it has better scenery then the drive to Las Vegas). Each time I've been to Vancouver I always end up grabbing a pint in Yaletown and then jetting around downtown for most of the day before heading back to the States. This time the world will be gathered for the games and it should be one heck of a party.
Thanks to twitter and facebook the amount of information that is coming out of Vancouver shows a city that is rushing to get ready for the games. I'm sure that Vancouver will be ready to rock when the Opening Ceremonies kick off on the 12th.
For me, this Olympics will primarily be for Hockey. I'm doing a hockey double header on Valentine's Day. Definitely one way to spend the day with the ladies, well woman's hockey that is.
As for blogging, tweeting, facebooking, etc. during the games, I'll do my best to post a video blog for each of the days showing the sights and sounds of the Olympic Experience. It helps that I have the official IOC Blogger guidelines on my desk.
So stay tuned, in the meantime I'll have a post on the upcoming OC TransitForum and a post on Gov2.0LA Camp.
Failure as defined is "The inability
to perform a function." It has also been broken down in to three areas:
Anticipation, Perception, and to carry out a task.
Last Sunday in Seattle the LA Galaxy
failed to carryout a task. In the end Real Salt Lake pushed some of the best
soccer players to the brink and won in a roll of the dice.
When the Galaxy scored in the first
half, Magee’s goal looked easy. Beckham, to Donovan, to Magee equaled a goal.
But I could tell in the second half that the Galaxy were not going to win it,
Real Salt Lake kept the ball deep in the Galaxy goal box and took shots all
night. Sure enough, RSL tied it and forced the game into overtime, then to Penalty
Kicks. (I would argue for a system where the players keep playing, but MLS is
trying to follow FIFA rules).
For a moment it looked like The
Beckham Experiment would pay off in the end. Much like Pele playing for the New
York Cosmos of the USL (which folded in 1985), Beckham brought Americans back
to the Soccer pitch. I caught the bug when I visited Highbury in London,
Allienz Arena in Munich and watched Red Bull Salzburg beat the Altach Tigers
while standing and cheering in the student section. The closest I got to the craziness
of European soccer was when I attended a Seattle Sounders game in July, the
fans actually STOOD FOR 90 minutes! (All it took was for one guy to sit down
and complain in my section at the MLS Cup match, I was going to be the crazy
guy still standing in nothing but my Galaxy jersey, the jacket tossed aside,
and nothing covering my ears in 39 degree weather).
One of the things that I noticed
during the match was how the mostly Seattle crowd routed for Real Salt Lake and
Beckham. The Galaxy as a team seemed relegated to the supporting character role
by the fans. Maybe in one way the Beckham Experiment was a success, it brought
the fans to the stands and raised the stature of Major League Soccer in the
States.
But if the end result of the Beckham
Experiment was to be victory for the Galaxy, then the experiment was a failure.
Beckham was playing hurt, he took three shots to the ankle which all wore off
in 15 minutes. His passes fell short and he was visibly limping on the pitch.
Donovan, who has made it to final games before, blew it when his penalty kick
shot sailed high over the crossbar. From my seat it looked like it was a good
six inches to a foot over. And the Galaxy didn't seem to play as a team, unlike
RSL who knew when to collapse down on the Galaxy offense, when to corner
Beckham, and when to take their shots. As one sign said at the March to the
Match: "Overrated v. Underpaid."
RSL played as a team, no single star
players vying for the spotlight, no worries over contractual obligations to AC
Milan, no worries over the weather or the Astroturf. They played with one goal,
to win the MLS Cup. Real Salt Lake earned this cup; they truly deserved it as a
team.
As for the City of Seattle (a place
that I consider my second home) Soccer is alive and well in the Northwest.
Qwest Field rocked; the pub-crawls made it feel like Europe, and the March to
the Match with a large number of Sounders fans made the game fun. If MLS can
work with the teams in the league to recreate the amazing fan experience that
Seattle has to offer, I believe MLS can earn their place among the top sport
leagues. The Supporters Summit was a great way to meet fans from the other
teams in the league and meet with fans of future teams (Philadelphia, Portland,
and Vancouver). I would regret if I didn't give a tip of the hat to the North
End Supporters of the Seattle Sounders, it was great to meet such a great group
of soccer fans.
Testing, testing, is this thing on? Sound check...Mary had a little lamb..What, a little high on the treble, how's that..good.
Well, it's been a while since I've written a substantial post here on The MDLU, but if you follow on Twitter or Qik, it has not been quiet.
From Seattle, to San Francisco, to San Diego, to Venice, to Los Angeles, I've been to more baseball games then I can count. Saw more comic book fans in a bar then in an episode of Big Bang Theory at ComicCon. Pounded shots of espresso from a 1972 La Marazco at both intelligentsias in Los Angeles. Attended the College Football kickoff for UCLA. And drank beers at LAX in the Bradley Terminal without a ticket. Let's not forget the Orange Street Fair and finding good local brews (a hat tip to Haven Gastropub).
What's Next? More Angels Baseball and Flogging Molly (Floggings, get it?)
Next weekend, the Red Bull soapbox derby. That'll be crazy...
In a month more Seahawks football and then Vancouver 2010.
Last weekend I returned to a city that I consider my "Second City." I'm so used to Seattle and the downtown-Seattle area that it's almost like I live there already. I'm sure that if that were to happen The MDLU would go from "Behind the Orange Curtain" to "From the Emerald City."
While there, I checked out Pikes Market and hung out in the surrounding area of downtown. The best part of the trip was the tour of the Red Hook Brewery. If you want to know how beer is made, the Red Hook Tour is the best Dollar you will ever spend. The tour includes an explanation of the history of Red Hook, how they developed their first beers, a chance to try the grain and barley before while it is still in it's pre-production form, and definitely lots and lots of samples. They even give the people on the tour a small glass to take home as a souvenir. If you do plan on doing the tour be advised that you will probably have up to two pints of beer (that is all of the various samples of IPA, Stouts, Ales, etc...) and if your lucky you'll get the tour guide who happens to give a little extra.
They also explain a little bit of the science and technology behind the making of beer as you can see the control room and the computer controlled process of managing the large vats of beer.
The area near the Red Hook Brewery also has some of the new wineries that are really putting Washington state on the map. While they are not quite on the par of the California wineries, the wine world is starting to take notice.
