Olympics

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Sunday Link-Off: End The Games Before They Really Begin

laura-vandervoort-maxim14-04I’m going to warn you that if you’re looking for coverage of Olympic sports, you’ve come to the wrong place. I am in no mood to celebrate “the world coming together.” There are bigger fish to fry in Sochi. There will be Olympic coverage but I promise that sports fans won’t be interested.

But since it’s Sunday, I’ll have the column tomorrow. For now, it’s time for the links. Here’s Laura Vandervoort.

Not all Russians are as heartless as Vlad Putin and cronies. A hastily assembled dog rescue effort backed by a Russian billionaire is trying to rescue as many strays from Sochi as possible before the government-hired contractor kills them. (New York Times)

So it turns out that Sochi is ready for sports but not ready for anyone or anything else at these Olympics. Hotels for media have been an utter embarrassment for a supposed first-world country that was supposedly ready to host the Olympics. Then again, it’s probably just a way to distract the media from Russian gay bashing and dog killing. Why are you supporting these Olympics by buying the merchandise and watching the events? (Washington Post)

By the way, how did we all miss the symbolism of Germany’s rainbow uniforms? (Sports Grid)

Continue reading →

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Sunday Link-Off: Happy New Year!

luana-mourato-moonbasa13-06And here we are for a set of the links and the first set of links of 2014. Well, okay. We had Wednesday’s year-in-review but does that really count? Anyhow, it’s time for the Sunday links. Let’s start a new year off with a new face. Here’s Brazilian model Luana Mourato.

A recent poll says that most Canadians aren’t happy with the direction of the country. The next election is shaping up to be very interesting. (The Globe and Mail)

No one is happy with The Affordable Care Act. The right hates it because they hate the government doing anything affecting citizens. The left hates it because it doesn’t do enough. (New York Times)

Speaking of the political right, 2013 was a big year for shaming women. That’s something that should change. (Al Jazeera America)

Continue reading →

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Wednesday Link-Off: Kicking Off The Campaign

Given my Olympic policy of featuring athletes, I’ve got a small backlog of photos to get through to lead off these linkdumps. Let’s start the process with Canadian actress Tracy Spirdakos.

The Republicans are going to play up their penchant for fiscal responsibility (AKA cutting social spending) but did you know that Barack Obama is the smallest government spender since Eisenhower? (Forbes)

The Romney/Ryan strategy appears to be that if you say something often enough, it becomes the truth. That’s the only thing that explains a series of factual errors the AP have found the pair have been making. (Daily Kos)

The New Yorker did a profile on Paul Ryan. Here’s the Cole’s Notes version. (The Fix)

After the jump, the man behind @hockeyyinsiderr, a little known secret about Goldeneye for N64 and another classic Family Feud moment. Continue reading →

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What Happens To Olympic Venues After The Games? (Infographic)

The 2012 Olympics wrapped up last night with the closing ceremonies. To put on two weeks worth of the biggest spectacle in sports cost an estimated $15 billion for operating costs, the venues and infrastructure upgrades. As happens with all major sporting events where new arenas and stadia have been built, the question that arises after the event is what happens to the venues. Some cities have regular events and occupants of their venues. Other stadia stay empty most of the time.

So which are the most successful former Olympic stadia in the world and how good is the return on investment? To find out, we have a handy infographic. Continue reading →

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Sunday Link-Off: Put Out The Flame, The Party’s Over

The Olympics end today with the closing ceremony. I’d like to say that I’m looking forward to it but the musical line-up makes me think the mute button will be close at hand. Anyway, let’s start off with Canadian bronze medal winning women’s soccer player Kaylyn Kyle.

Mitt Romney selected Paul Ryan as his vice-presidential nominee. Both the Republicans and Democrats are excited about this because Ryan is a right-wing ultra-conservative nut job. (The New Republic)

Toronto Star columnist Damien Cox thinks we shouldn’t complain about the Canadian women’s soccer team getting jobbed by a ref. He also only watched the first 35 minutes of the game so his opinion is not based on any sort of fact. (Deadspin)

Speaking of not basing statements on facts, NBC Olympics supremo Dick Ebersol thinks there’s nothing wrong with how NBC is covering the Olympics. (The Big Lead)

After the jump, the worst countries in the Olympics, a possible massive OHL controversy and more Call Me Maybe (sorry about that). Continue reading →

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Caption This: August 4 – 10, 2012

Inspired by the Globe and Mail’s caption writing person, we waste our time writing funny picture captions for some of the more interesting photos we come across when blogging. So here are some of the best pictures from the past week with a funny (-ish) caption. Continue reading →

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All The Ways Samuel L. Jackson Says “Fuck”

Legendary actor Samuel L. Jackson has become a Twitter legend during the Olympics. His live tape-delay commentary of the Olympics has been the most enjoyable American coverage. It’s probably more insightful than what’s on NBC. It’s definitely better than CTV’s track and field coverage. Not surprisingly, Sam’s favourite word on Twitter is the good old-fashioned f-bomb. However, he can’t seem to spell it the same way twice.

So to celebrate the end of the London 2012 Olympics, here’s every different permutation of  Sam Jackson spelling “fuck” on Twitter. Continue reading →

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Running Toward Better Health (Infographic)

With the athletics (AKA track & field) events of the 2012 Olympics underway in London, I thought this would be a timely infographic to run. Running is increasingly becoming a more common way for people to work out and stay in shape. Sure, it might be a bit tough on your knees but running can go a long way to making you a better you. Continue reading →

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Wednesday Link-Off: And The Games Roll On

As I was going through possible choices to lead off today’s linkdump, I realized that I hadn’t featured a Canadian Olympian. So let’s kick this post off with Canadian heptathlete and hurdler Jessica Zelinka.

Good news! No, great news! The Curiosity rover landed safely on Mars! (io9) So can we send a man to Mars soon?

Mitt Romney has a plan to cut taxes. Actually, no, he doesn’t have a plan. He just says he’ll cut taxes. He has no idea what he’s doing or will do. (Bloomberg)

Not to dwell or anything but the Canadian women’s national team got royally hosed by an incompetent Norwegian official in the Olympic semi-final against the US. (Toronto Star)

After the jump, more on the soccer controversy, interesting Olympic stories and a Batman version of Call Me Maybe. Continue reading →

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Worst of Music: Nikki Yanofsky – I Believe

It’s Day 10 of the London 2012 Olympics and I’ve had enough of Canada winning medals. It has nothing to do with hating my country. I think our athletes are doing amazing despite the media’s initial doom and gloom. No, my problem is the awful, clichéd, melodramatic song that CTV plays over a melodramatic highlights package after every Canadian medal victory. So for ruining my enjoyment of both the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and London 2012 Summer Olympics, this week’s worst of music is CTV’s Olympic theme song I Believe by Nikki Yanofsky. Continue reading →