You guys don't seem that excited...

[misterfish]

I thought the opening was ..

impressive

inclusive

inspiring

Absolutely. I was expecting the worse but it was brilliant entertainment - suitably eccentric British and very well performed. Although the parade of athletes went on a bit I enjoyed the Czech athletes wry sense of humour wearing wellies and carrying umbrellas.

Misterfish

 

[duncanh]

I thought I'd put myself forward as apparently one of the few on here who's excited by it and really looking forward to watching as much sport as possible in the coming weeks. I'll be at St James' Park tomorrow to watch 2 football matches and if I'd been in London I'd probably have tried to see more.
Yes it cost a lot and we'll probably be still paying for it for some time to come. Yes, the money could probably have been better spent. Yes, there'll be political and sporting controversies. Yes, I'll probably be sick of the news going on about it all the time when there's other things happening in the world. But we have it now and have spent plenty of money on it so I might as well enjoy it.

 

[woodshavings]

The opening ceremony was brilliant and I am looking forward to watching some of the events.
A big well done and thank you to all involved.
John

 

[woodbloke]

I thought the opening was ..

impressive

inclusive

inspiring

Absolutely. I was expecting the worse but it was brilliant entertainment - suitably eccentric British and very well performed. Although the parade of athletes went on a bit I enjoyed the Czech athletes wry sense of humour wearing wellies and carrying umbrellas.

Misterfish

Same here...I was definitely expecting it to be cringe worthy, but I decided to stay up and see the whole thing. Absolutely fantastic...anyone who didn't see the whole thing missed a brilliant show - Rob

 

[Jacob]

...Given that THE OLYMPICS(1) ARE STARTING AND OMG IT'S THE BEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD, or so I've been told if I watch certain TV channels. I mean, given that it's in your front yard, on your sidewalk, and probably flowing out of the kitchen faucet, are any of you really interested or are you all hunkering down in your shops trying to avoid the whole event?

Kirk
safely 4,000 miles away, but hunkering down in the shop anyway...

(1) also hoping I don't get arrested by the copyright police for using the "O" word...

Remember we are British - we don't get excited by anything much, except rum, sodomy and the lash.

 

[RogerM]

I thought the opening was ..

impressive

inclusive

inspiring

Absolutely. I was expecting the worse but it was brilliant entertainment - suitably eccentric British and very well performed. Although the parade of athletes went on a bit I enjoyed the Czech athletes wry sense of humour wearing wellies and carrying umbrellas.

Misterfish

Same here...I was definitely expecting it to be cringe worthy, but I decided to stay up and see the whole thing. Absolutely fantastic...anyone who didn't see the whole thing missed a brilliant show - Rob

Yep - me too. Having Branagh doing his Caliban speech from the Tempest whilst in the costume of Brunel was inspired, and the transfer from a rural economy to the Industrial Revolution and the forging of the Olympic rings was stunning. I liked the hospital and dream sequence as well. Maybe the rapper could have been given less time, and I really hope this is the last time they wheel out Paul McCartney for a state occasion. He really doesn't have a voice any more. In fact the cover of "Come Together" by the Arctic Monkeys to accompany the cyclists/doves was very authentic to the original and far better. SWMBO liked the inclusiveness of the whole show - using volunteers, children, past Olympians as well as possible future Olympians to light what has to be the most stunning Olympic cauldron ever. The tribute to those who died in the London bombing the day after the Olympics bid was won was very poignant.

Those watching from overseas may have been a bit puzzled by some of it, but the humour of the Bond/Queen cameo and the Mr Bean Chariots of Fire skit wouldn't have been lost on anyone. I'm sure there is not one of us that would have liked to have been given the responsibility given to Danny Boyle, particularly having to follow the Beijing opening ceremony - but I think he managed to pull it off in a unique British way.

 

[woodbloke]

...and I really hope this is the last time they wheel out Paul McCartney for a state occasion. He really doesn't have a voice any more.

Have to agree on that one as well Rog...McCartney definitely made me wince when he started warbling, that apart 'Jude' was a fitting end to the show. I wish they'd also included a lap or two of the track with red, white and blue minis from the original 'Italian Job' movie, or even perhaps MC with the immortal line..."you're only supposed..." :lol: - Rob

 

[Steve Maskery]

I've just watched the first half, up to when the athletes started parading in.
Stunning. Were those chimneys really buried 100ft into the ground or were they telescopic? Either way, very impressive.
And whilst I'm no royalist, I thought HMTQ was a good sport, too.
S

 

[Mark A]

Remember we are British - we don't get excited by anything much, except rum, sodomy and the lash.

I don't know what you're into...!

 

[Tetsuaiga]

I was actually really dissapointed with the ceremony, I found it all just a bit too random and bizzare.

Now the actual sports on i'm quite enjoying it.

 

[newt]

Perhaps I am easy to please, but I thought the ceremony was brilliant, and love all sport except wrestling. Don't know how I am going to fit in the GP tomorrow and the Olympics :shock:

 

[newt]

My daughter managed to get some tickets for a couple of the events ( nothing special) but cost £1600!!

Rod

My son's got some tickets....Beach Vollyball! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:...not much more to be said really :-" - Rob

Rob, worth checking it's not male volleyball

 

[woodbloke]

Rob, worth checking it's not male volleyball

If it's Gareth, Pete...it won't be :mrgreen: - Rob

 

[Lons]

...Given that THE OLYMPICS(1) ARE STARTING AND OMG IT'S THE BEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD, or so I've been told if I watch certain TV channels. I mean, given that it's in your front yard, on your sidewalk, and probably flowing out of the kitchen faucet, are any of you really interested or are you all hunkering down in your shops trying to avoid the whole event? Kirk

Looking at the reaction and turnout to the torch bearers as well as the opening and early events, it would seem that a large % of the population is very enthused

Remember we are British - we don't get excited by anything much, except rum, sodomy and the lash.

Ignore that. Don't know where that idea comes from, (probably an attempt at humour), but certainly doesn't speak for me and almost certainly the vast % of the British population :? :roll:

Hope you enjoy the (London) UK 2012 Olympics.

cheers

Bob

 

[Sportique]

Magnificent opening ceremony - all of it - well the parade did go on a bit - well done Danny et al.

But as for the GB road cyclists - please guys lose with honour - the tactics were completely wrong - if the team felt beforehand that they could not control the field with so few team members then why did they not have a bigger team? or why did they even try those tactics? - the medal winners didn't appear to have any huge team support - well done to the medal winners they raced "properly", as for team GB, lose with dignity please ...

Dave

 

[RogerP]

...... the tactics were completely wrong - if the team felt beforehand that they could not control the field with so few team members then why did they not have a bigger team? .....
Dave

Because the maximum team size allowed was five.

Well done to the winner Vinokourov ... pity he has such a chequered past.

 

[Jacob]

...... the tactics were completely wrong - if the team felt beforehand that they could not control the field with so few team members then why did they not have a bigger team? .....
Dave

Because the maximum team size allowed was five.

Well done to the winner Vinokourov ... pity he has such a chequered past.

So has Millar, not to mention dozens of others.
It was team GB against the rest. All the rest had to do was not help and just let GB do all the work, leaving the winning to chance and individual power. Serves them right really after all that over confidence.

 

[RogerP]

...... the tactics were completely wrong - if the team felt beforehand that they could not control the field with so few team members then why did they not have a bigger team? .....
Dave

Because the maximum team size allowed was five.

Well done to the winner Vinokourov ... pity he has such a chequered past.

So has Millar, not to mention dozens of others.
It was team GB against the rest. All the rest had to do was not help and just let GB do all the work, leaving the winning to chance and individual power. Serves them right really after all that over confidence.

I'm well aware of that.

 

[Lons]

It was team GB against the rest. All the rest had to do was not help and just let GB do all the work, leaving the winning to chance and individual power. Serves them right really after all that over confidence.

Makes sense to me.

I know absolutely nothing about the subject but watched the cycling with great interest and expectation following all the hype. From 30 km out even I could see that they had little chance of catching the leaders and as a layman I couldn't understand the "wingeing" of the commentators who kept refering to the other teams "failing" to help out the GB team.

I thought the whole point of the Olympics was to pit nation against nation / individual v individual :? in which case why on earth should any of the others help out? Surely their only interest should be their own team result!

As a layman, my view is that they got the tactics wrong and should accept the failure with grace and get over it. the winners got it right and deserved it IMO

Bob

 

[RogerM]

+1. It sounded as though they thought they had a divine right to win if they executed their plan. Shame the rest of the field weren't working to the same plan - but I'm astonished that team GB didn't have a contingency plan to deal with an early breakaway. Given that Cavendish has a reputation for brilliant sprint finishes if he's near the front it seemed like a no brainer to expect the opposition to make an early break to ensure that Cavendish would be too far back in the closing stages. Focus is one thing, but not tunnel vision to the exclusion of being aware of the need to change tactics if the opposition refuse to work to your game plan. And as for criticising the rest of the field for failing to help by taking the lead, you could argue that the breakaway group were helping if only team GB had gone with them and slip streamed them to stay in touch.

Finally lack of grace in defeat by Cavendish when he chewed the ear off a BBC reporter for suggesting that fatigue after the Tour de France was out of order and not what we should expect from our sportsmen.