Opening Ceremonies Recap

Being a true Canadian, I must focus on the big fail of the evening. The defective hydraulic lift. Somewhere in Vancouver, an engineer lost his job last night. I guess he is lucky. If this screw-up had happened in Beijing, that engineer would be dead.

But Nancy Greene just kept smiling and waving. Am I alone, or does everyone crave a Mars bar when they see Nancy Greene? Steve Nash looked like he was having an anxiety attack.

Who knew Barbara Ann Scott was still alive? Raise your hands, everybody who thought she’d died years ago. (Hand raised here) I should be so perky at 81. Or 51, for that matter.

That wheat field number is the most attention W.O. Mitchell has got in 60 years.

When is somebody going to realize that while Halleljuah is a great, great song, its lyrics aren’t really appropriate for anything but a concert setting? At least k.d. avoided Leonard’s line about “moving inside you”. And, I say this as somebody who has weight to lose herself, but k.d. is looking pretty hefty these days.

Some very, very old-looking native people danced non-stop for over an hour. I was impressed.

The German flag bearer. Two words: Master Race.

But to get back to failed hydraulic lift. It is good when these things happen, when there is a noticeable glitch in a major event. It reminded me of when Obama took the Oath of Office and the ding-dong Chief Just of the Supreme Court flubbed it. When I make an idiot of myself, or more often simply worry about making an idiot of myself, these mistakes that have been broadcast worldwide will come to mind. And I will really be able to think, what’s the worst that could happen? Obama had to retake the Oath, and Catriona LeMay Doan had to stand there with her torch, like a doofus with nothing to light. But the world didn’t end. Life goes on.