Olympic Opening: Joy, a Little Sorrow, Bjork
Published August 13, 2004
I am very excited but also sad about the Athens Olympics starting today. I am a total Olympic buff and will follow the Games as closely as I can on TV between work and the rest of my nonsensical schedule, but I won't be there. This will be the first Summer Games I haven't attended since Moscow in '80.
I lived in L.A. in '84 and we caught the bug then, dragging our 2 month-old along to soccer at the Rose Bowl, track and field at the Coliseum, boxing at the Sports Arena, and more. It was a blast. From there it turned into a family ritual led by my dad, who became an offical Olympic historian, publishing a newsletter (I helped) for people traveling to the Games (a combo of travel tips, ticket avails, housing information, and sports news). We went to Seoul in '88 and stopped over for an amazing stay in Japan on the way back, we took in all of Spain around the Barcelona Games of '92, we were in Atlanta in '96, and Sydney (with another baby) for a too-short Australian journey in '00. I have seen almost every sport you can name at one Games or another, and felt the irrepressible joy of the Olympic spirit rise within me every four years no matter what else was going on in my life. But not this time.
A combination of cost, distance, time of year (later than usual, though not as late as Sydney, which was in late-September and early-October due to the seasonal reversals of the Southern Hemisphere), and the difficulties of traveling with two young children have ended the tradition, which we hope to renew four years hence in Peking. But this time only my stalwart dad, Mr. Olympics himself, is at the Games. He'll be at the Opening Ceremony tonight, which will be seen on NBC from 8-11 pm, and we will try to find him in the crowd.
It's not as crazy as it seems: we've been spotted by friends and family back home watching on TV at one time or another at every Games thus far: Kilroys and Zeligs, running around, waving American flags (where prudent), standing along the sidelines (where possible), often sitting among athletes or the parents of athletes (we sat next to Summer Sanders's parents as she swam in one finals in Barcelona - we sat next to the entire American swim team at the baseball finals in Sydney). So have fun, Dad, we'll be watching.
- Olympic Opening: Joy, a Little Sorrow, Bjork
- Published: August 13, 2004
- Type:
- Section: Sports
- Filed Under: Music: News, Video: Music, Video: Sports, Video: Television
- Writer: Eric Olsen
- Eric Olsen's BC Writer page
- Eric Olsen's personal site
- Spread the Word
- Like this article?
- Email this
Save to del.icio.us
Comments on this articleComments
i thought the ceremonies were quite moving.
the flyaway sculptures were very impressive.
bjork woulda been cool if goddamned costas and couric had kept their mouths shut for more than 5 seconds.
re: Mark's comment -
Alas -- should I do it here, or vent my overtaxed spleen in a complete blog entry?
Hmmm... maybe Katie Couric (aka Satan Incarnate) deserves her own entry.
I'll be bock...
they did babble as is their custom, Bjork's song was a little amorphous, but i loved the cover-the-earth dress, that was conceptually brilliant and it unfolded (pun intended) flawlessly as did the rest of the ceremony.
You could feel Costas fighting the urge to be flippant and sarcastic, at which he was largely successful, but the jibes did sometimes sour the mood.
It's a pretty good sign that it was a success as Lily and I watched the whole thing (with the Indians on the radio - they fucking rule!!) and she never once got bored. She found the parade of athletes fascinating, as I always do - some erious geography going on there.
oh shark...we NEED a block entry on it.
puleeeze!!
yeah, i was quite disappointed that they kept blabbing during the song.
Of course, sports commentators have no concept of music...
Yeah, the opening olympic cellebrations were wonderful. Nevertheless, it somewhat reflects a wrong idea of Athens and Greece as a whole. Athens is not a tecnological advanced and modern city. It really is a dirty, overpopulated, lazy and poluted city. The olympic sport centre, the new Athens International airport and the new subway are among the few things that make Athens comparable to a few european cities. Besides that it is rather a undeveloped, poor city full of problems. The greegs however, I believe, are the most kind and hospetable europeans I´ve ever met. along with the portuguese.
interesting Paulo, I'd say the front that Athens is presenting is an image of what they want to be - that's okay too.
i thought the opening was by far the best i have ever seen. it was great theater. however, i found katie aka satan and bob aka bob, really annoying. i could really care less what bob costas thinks of bjork's sense of fashion.
i thought those people walking on air was really cool. it made me want to take acid again.
jack e. jett
jack e. jett
Add your comment, speak your mind
(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/18636)
To truely celebrate the Athens Olympics, you only need four things my friend:
"Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger, Pepsi!"
However, neither Cheeseburger nor Pepsi are official sponsors. So I just have to make do going to the Vesta Lunch on Dupont.