Monthly Archives: February 2010

Goodbye Vancouver – Hello Reality

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We leave the warm embrace of the Olympic spirit today. We travel back to DC and back to work.

It has been a wonderful week away. A week in the bubble. A week of meeting new friends and reconnecting with old ones.

A week of hockey, of speed skating, of figure skating, of snowboarding, of opening night festivities, of fun nights, of great dining and great times.

We are exhausted. The travel time change, late night events, security, and walking. All of it. We need a vacation from our vacation.

We look forward to watching now the rest of the games from the comfort of our family room in HD and on a big screen.

It won’t be the same though. There is something magical in the air here and the Olympic spirit is real and tangible. Vancouver is a great city and now one of our favorites. It was friendly and beautiful. The Canadian people are just a joy to behold.

We need to figure out a way to hold a summer Olympics in DC sometime. That would be a new goal for us all and one that I would support in a big way. Thanks Vancouver. You did yourself proud! And the athletes at the game, you have our sincere appreciation for your skills, talents and level of sacrifice and dedication. Without you there is no Olympic spirit.

Russia Upset

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The shootout. Some don’t like it in the NHL and many don’t like it in the Olympics.

It made the game exciting last night. It humbled everyone I am sure on team Russia. Slovakia played inspired team defense and shut down the top two lines on team Russia. Alex Ovechkin scored once in the shootout and missed twice and now Russia falls back in the standings. But is still one of the teams to contend for the ultimate prize along with Canada that won in its shootout as well as Sweden. Some experts top pick to win gold based on play to date and the USA.

Slovakia has a very good team as well. Kudos to Peter Bondra as their GM for putting together a tough team to play against with lots of NHL talent.

Another great game. Another 1500 or so tickets unused and empty at the game which is sad because so many people in this great city are dying to attend an Olympic event.

USA – A Fun Win Today

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We really enjoyed going to this game. The US team played inspired hockey. They grind and play good defense and have terrific goal tending.

The NHL box was filled with great folks to hang out with. Amongst my favorite people to socialize with at the game was George Bodenheimer CEO of ESPN. He is a real hockey fan and he has been having a great time at these Olympics. We also got the chance to mingle with several members of the US ski team and several snow boarders as well.

It is great to see a big time match up brewing between the USA and Canada this coming Sunday. Sidney Crosby saved Canada from a big defeat in the shootout by scoring on his second chance. The Canadian get two points in the standings and the country breathes a huge sigh of relief.

On to Russia vs. Slovakia now. Go Alexes Go!

Puck Daddy Rocks

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I missed this Mike Milbury discussion on Alex Ovechkin vs. Sid the kid. Way to go Jeremy and what is the deal Mike? Let us all give Mike Milbury a big and warm DC welcome next time he is in town! Crapitals? Who is your daddy? He is playing like a dog? Who talks like that besides Mad Mike? :-) .

Alex is most likely now the 3 time defending MVP in the NHL. If Mike was our GM he probably would have traded Alex for some picks :-) .

I too wish NBC embraced hockey at the Games a bit more. In Canada at least hockey is the number 1 subject on everyone’s mind. And the two leading jerseys of course are Ovechkin’s Caps number 8 and Crosby’s Canada red jersey number 87.

A Few Notes about Hockey at the Olympics

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The hockey games provide a bulk of the programming to the Olympics. There are more than 30 games scheduled and about 100 hours of programming for the networks and for the organizing committees. Twenty thousand people per game attend the games. Hence more than 600,000 tickets are sold. And the league shuts down the arena that is being used for the games which is the home of the Vancouver Canucks. It has been reconfigured for the Olympics too. You should see what the staff has done to seating to handle the world’s media.

Each team is stocked full of NHL players. The Swedish team is awesome. I think 90 percent NHL laden. Nick Backstom had a strong game yesterday, by the way. Great faceoff winning percentage and a wonderful play and assist on Sweden’s second goal. We will attend three games today highlighted by the US team, the Canadian team and the team from Russia. All day. All hockey.

The merchandising sales are through the roof here. I bought some USA hats at $35 each. Wow! And replica jerseys were selling for more than $300. We bought some USA jerseys for our kids and some from Sweden, too.

The NHL has provided more than $2 BILLION of committed contracts in terms of players to the Olympics. The Capitals have provided in our six players more than $200 million worth of talent as well, I believe. And in payment back we received two free tickets to each game per team :-) . Seems like a fair exchange, huh?

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In Defense of the Olympic Games

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The city of Vancouver is a magnificent host for the people who have attended the games. The scenery here is breath taking and the city is clean and easy to get around.

The people are so incredibly friendly and the volunteers are very helpful. The lines have been manageable. The security while strict, has been efficient and non intrusive.

The venues have been top notch. The dining experiences have been great and the hotel is perfect. The cabs are running on time and are plentiful. The buses are all on time and safe.

The traffic has been manageable. The buzz in town is fun, friendly, welcoming and authentic to the Games. The weather now is perfect with no humidity. It isn’t dry either. It is in the 50′s and sunny and crisp.

Most of our travel has been by walking and you tend to walk with people from all walks of life and from all over the world. It is easy to feel the Olympic spirit everywhere.

Most of the issues have centered on some questionable decisions like fencing the Olympic flame. We went to see it and had to laugh. We couldn’t see it and thought “Are they concerned that someone is going to steal the Olympic flame?”. Good news. They just made the viewing of the flame more transparent. They listened to complaints and made the situation better.

The mountain oriented sports were tough to handle. They are either 60 minutes away or 2.5 hours away. The security and bus transfers were tough to handle and the mountain had very little snow in Whistler. There were many people that became inconvenienced. Our events were canceled and rescheduled and we were out of luck. We saw quite a few people get very upset to see their Olympic dream attendance at an event go away.

Of course the games got off to such a sad start with the death of an athlete. That pall has continued to shroud the games, as well.

But the Olympic spirit is real. The Canadian hosts have been so nice and Vancouver has been a great place to visit and to hold these games.

Most of the people that opine on the web about the Olympics aren’t even here. A fun time is being had in the aggregate and everyone is grateful to share in this collectively positive experience.

50 Degrees and Sunny Today

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Is this the Winter Olympics in the great white north? Yikes. I am looking out my window and there are people wearing shorts and sneakers and Canadian hockey jerseys. The sea gulls are flocking and swarming this morning.

Vancouver looks beautiful today. The water here is shimmering and the clouds and fog have gone away.

So let us all watch Sundogs. The right film at the right time right now on SnagFilms.com. It is a film about the Olympics and some great unsung athletes. A big thank you to Jimmy Buffett. You will love this film.

My Controversial Observation

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The Canadian vs. Norway game yesterday was an amazing experience. A sold out building; a hometown crowd; and a great team playing an under manned opponent on home ice in a hockey crazed land. The crowd management was good and security while tight was manageable.

The flags were waving. The music was playing loud. The crowd was chanting .It was an 8 to 0 blowout game.

But to be honest our Red Outs and our crowds at Caps games are louder and more passionate than this game at the Olympics. I mean that. Our playoff game crowds or our crowds when we play the Penguins or Flyers are as loud as or louder than these Olympic crowds. I think part of the reason is that about 3,000 seats are allocated for media at these Olympic games and about 1,000 seats for every event go unused as they must be set aside for VIPs and for some reason people just don’t show up or recycle their tickets.

Thank you Caps fans. We have created an amazing experience at Verizon Center for our franchise. That fact really hit me at the Canada vs. Norway game. Our crowds are truly loud and proud. We can be matched up against the best of the best buildings and experiences in the hockey world. Go Caps!