SOCHI

[Duchess]

Mockers, would you feel comfortable visiting Sochi in order to see some of the games?

[FAHQTOO]

Mockers, would you feel comfortable visiting Sochi in order to see some of the games?

NO!! Athletes are telling their families to stay home.

[Duchess]

NO!! Athletes are telling their families to stay home.

My answer would be no too. I was moved to ask that after seeing a member of the media express some real hesitation about being there. It's bad if even some of the media are having second thoughts.

[FAHQTOO]

NO!! Athletes are telling their families to stay home.

My answer would be no too. I was moved to ask that after seeing a member of the media express some real hesitation about being there. It's bad if even some of the media are having second thoughts.

When the media will go into the bowels of Iraq and Afghanistan to report on the war, and not go to the Olympics...that's saying something.

[Cynical Ninja]

Mockers, would you feel comfortable visiting Sochi in order to see some of the games?

No, Putin may hate gays but I don't and that will never change no matter how many suicidal skeleton nutters I choose to pay and see throw themselves face first down an ice tunnel.

Patronising the Winter Olympics is not enabling homophobics.

[Maggot]

If I got free airfare and tickets I would go.

[sally]

Have you ever skied or snowboarded in Europe?

I once went to Colorado with an ex skiing, loved it. Shame my knees are all fucked up now.

I tried skiing once and decided it wasn't for me. I spent most of the time sitting on my ass in the freezing snow waiting for someone to come along and help me up.

My son figured it out immediately though and within a couple of hours was going down the advanced slopes.

[Cynical Ninja]

I tried skiing once and decided it wasn't for me. I spent most of the time sitting on my ass in the freezing snow waiting for someone to come along and help me up.

My son figured it out immediately though and within a couple of hours was going down the advanced slopes.

There's definitely a knack to it, I can snowboard and ski but I can't ice skate for shit.

[Duchess]

I was reading this morning that the United States is deploying two ships to the Black Sea in order to evacuate Americans in case of a terrorist attack. They expect roughly 10,000 Americans to be there to watch the games, I doubt that's an accurate number but that's just my opinion.

Andrew Kuchins of the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington told journalists recently that Russian authorities want to handle security alone, even though the country “has no experience with . . . an event of this magnitude.”

Thousands of tickets have gone unsold for many events, in large part because of safety fears among tourists or the belief that Russia’s security measures will destroy the very nature of the Games.

While no country has withdrawn from the Games, several are taking extra precautions.

The U.S. Olympic Committee is providing its own set of protective agents, and has told American athletes not to wear clothing in Sochi that would identify them as part of the team.

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[Donovan]

Lovely. Games of world unity in the age of the police state and explosive violence. I like to watch the olympic games in parts, mainly for the stories behind some of the athletes. They really do sacrifice to be at the top of the world, even if only for a brief few minutes. The least I can do is appreciate their effort. It's not like they went for fame and glory by over-using a tanning booth or releasing a sex tape. I love the unexpected drama like Keri Strug doing that fantastic vault on a busted leg, or the whole Kerrigan/Harding drama that made figure skating interesting for a minute, or the infamous US hockey team victory. That stuff is what the games are about. The triumph of the human will.

And you gotta admit that broom rock sweepy game is the funniest thing ever.

[FAHQTOO]

I was reading this morning that the United States is deploying two ships to the Black Sea in order to evacuate Americans in case of a terrorist attack. They expect roughly 10,000 Americans to be there to watch the games, I doubt that's an accurate number but that's just my opinion.

Andrew Kuchins of the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington told journalists recently that Russian authorities want to handle security alone, even though the country “has no experience with . . . an event of this magnitude.”

Thousands of tickets have gone unsold for many events, in large part because of safety fears among tourists or the belief that Russia’s security measures will destroy the very nature of the Games.

While no country has withdrawn from the Games, several are taking extra precautions.

The U.S. Olympic Committee is providing its own set of protective agents, and has told American athletes not to wear clothing in Sochi that would identify them as part of the team.

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I probably wouldn't need anyone to tell me not to where this ANYWHERE in public.

They need to shitcan Ralph, and come up with a different clothing designer.

[Duchess]

They need to shitcan Ralph, and come up with a different clothing designer.

I normally like his clothes very much because they are always classic & conservative, things that look nice today will still be fashionable in 5 yrs. but his Olympic stuff is too flamboyant my taste. I agree with you.

[Duchess]

There is a former ski jumper, Eddie the Eagle, who says ski jumping is 90% balls and 10% technique. Ha! Tis true.

This is the ski jump at beautiful Lake Placid, without snow obviously. You couldn't get me up that thing for love or money.

[HairOfTheDog]

That is beautiful and seems like it would be an enormous rush.

I would love to try it, but not a great stopper on skis; would probably end up broken to pieces in a tree a mile away. I'll stick to roller coasters.

Regarding the OP, if I was really into the Olympics and wanted to go, I'd go despite the terrorist threats and the nonsensical laws against gays. I'd go to support the athletes and figure I probably have as much chance of unexpectedly getting hit by a bus or drunk driver here as I would getting intentionally hurt there if I was being cautious.

Putin has invested so much money into Sochi in hopes that the global exposure of hosting the games will transform it into an international tourist mecca. I think the security around the arena and event sites themselves will be very tight. But, I don't know if he's gonna be able to pull off creating the image that he wants to sell given all of the turmoil and challenges just outside of Sochi.

Anyway, I'm curious to see how it goes down and will probably watch some of the coverage.

[Duchess]

Putin has invested so much money into Sochi in hopes that the global exposure of hosting the games will transform it into an international tourist mecca. I think the security around the arena and event sites themselves will be very tight. But, I don't know if he's gonna be able to pull off creating the image that he wants to sell given all of the turmoil and challenges just outside of Sochi.

Anyway, I'm curious to see how it goes down and will probably watch some of the coverage.

I've seen it said that this will be the most expensive Olympics in history. Bloomburg reports that it's in the area of 48 billion dollars.

I believe Putin will do everything in his power to make sure these games go off without a hitch. This is a very public stage for him. Every day I hear or read of a new threat, the terrorists are being terrorists. I hope an attack doesn't happen but I won't be surprised if one or more does.

[HairOfTheDog]

I won't be surprised either.

I'd bet against it happening in Sochi or at the events themselves; more inclined to think terrorists could get a lot of global exposure doing something big anywhere in Russia during that time frame without risking getting thwarted by the Olympic security forces, but hoping for peace.

The marketing and financial aspect of the Olympic games is interesting to me. I don't know if it's possible to measure how much revenue is generated for the host city/country as a result of the exposure in the mid/long term, but the immediate ROI is easy to calculate and there are some huge historical losses on the books. Financial management of Olympic games takes some real savvy.

The games in Los Angeles in 1984 were the first to make money since 1932, with USD $250 million in profit.

Other big winners:
1988 Calgary USD $90–$150 milion
1988 Seoul USD $300 million
1992 Barcelona USD $10 million
1996 Atlanta USD $10 million
2002 Salt Lake City USD $101 million
2008 Beijing USD USD $146 million

Big losses:
1992 Albertaville USD $67 million negative
1998 Nagano nobody knows how much Japan lost because the lead official reportedly ordered the docs burned; musta been pretty bad.
2004 Athens USD $14.5 billion negative (disastrous)
2006 Torino USD $3.2 million negative

2000 Sydney, 2010 Vancouver, and 2012 London all reported breaking even.

With Putin investing the most up front, I think he'll be extremely lucky if he ends up breaking even in the short term. If he doesn't succeed in putting Sochi on the path to becoming the next Dubai, those documents may end up burned too.

[aussiefriend]

Sydney 2000 was the best Olympics ever.

[Duchess]

My God was it really that long ago. Jeezus. Time is passing faster than the speed of light.

[Duchess]

Sochi is turning out to be a big, fat joke. The media have begun to arrive only to find chaos in regards to their accommodations. This link is filled with their live tweets. It sounds insane & given these people will be writing about it, it does not bode well for Russia. They will be an international joke.

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On another note, Richard Engle did a piece last night with a computer expert. They want to warn everyone coming there not to have the expectation of privacy. He brought 2 brand new computers plus smartphones to test how secure his data would be. Everything he had was hacked within moments.

[Maggot]

I've changed my mind screw that place!