How excited are you about the Olympics?

[BigbyWolf]

namely the inclusions of football, tennis and in future olympics golf

I'm more of a football fan than any other sport, don't mind tennis (my interest rises if Sharapova is playing), and I'm not a fan of golf, but I don't think any of them should be in the Olympics. I too feel that the Games should be the pinnacle of an athletes career, and as you said, they have their own events. I would be happier to see those events in the Olympics if the competitors were amateur players, not professionals. I think that the boxing is done that way, so why allow other big paying sports to use professionals?

[Dylius]

It's Capital Centric because it's London 2012, if it had been held in another city, say Edinburgh, it would have been centred around that location instead. Olympics don't have to be held in national capital cities, but if another city wants to host it they have to get it together to bid for it in the first place. ...

Its not because the games are not always in capital cities eg Los Angeles, Munich, Atlanta, Sydney, Antwerp and Barcelona have hosted the games and the next Summer games are in Rio de Janeiro.

I meant in these games, though you are right. What I meant was that it was a shame that it's centred on a single region, but I know it has to be like that as all the Olympics are always organised like that - I'm sorry if I was unclear.

[OPULENCE]

Wow so much Olympic bashing. I am excited about it all, but I think that is mostly because I am a semi-pro standard athlete myself, so I do exited about all sport. However, I have to agree to some of the criticism especially in regard to the costs and the fact the country can probably not afford it. But, as we have it I am going to make the most of it and see as much as I can. Agree that some of the sports are boring though (Woman's 10m Air rifle - is that even a sport?)

I do think though that if we take in consideration the typical perception of a wargamer then the poll has come out as i expected so far

[Badbones777]

It's good news for the people that like it, of course (I myself couldn't care less) but I hope the stadium is used for something else following the games and doesn't end up as another Millennium dome style waste.
Also I think it was a missed opportunity having it so London-centric-there are at least stadiums within a short drive of me that could have hosted things and spread the events (and therefore the revenue and supposed
benefits to hosting this) somewhere other than the capital.
Mind you I'm particularly down on the games after this morning-as a care worker helping someones Parkinsons-effected husband to get washed and dressed and feeling happy with yourself for doing something worthwhile, it kind of robs
you of job satisfaction when you are told by the service users wife that you are "whats wrong with this country" when you tell the truth and profess to having no interest in the games (when specifically asked)!

@opulence I'm sure Womens 10m air rifle is no more or less a sport than the mens

[Badbones777]

whoops double post

[RevEv]

As many say - you have to speculate to accumulate.

The money that the games will bring in to the country will far outweigh the initial outlay and leave us with a legacy of some great sports facilities. It's also been used as a lever to get some necessary projects done for the community - for example the by pass in to Weymouth had been on the books for 30 years bore approval was given for it to be built on the backs of the Olympics. The research in to the impact had all been done, the environmentalists pacified, the need identified but the will to spend the money was not there until the Olympics came to town.

I've not stopped being awestruck by the opening ceremony. It was incredible and a great reflection on the success of the UK (Brunel, Bond, Bean, Internet, music, literature, nhs, GOSH, and who would believe the queen had a sense of humour) and all for a quarter of the cost of the Beijing opening ceremony.

[Wintermute]

It was incredible and a great reflection on the success of the UK (Brunel, Bond, Bean, Internet, music, literature, nhs, GOSH, and who would believe the queen had a sense of humour) and all for a quarter of the cost of the Beijing opening ceremony.

Err you mean the World Wide Web, not the Internet

[canberraguy]

Good opening ceremony. The Mr Bean bit was hilarious.

[RevEv]

Err you mean the World Wide Web, not the Internet

Yes, but I didn't want to go WWW in case you all thought I'd developed a stammer!

[Bombot]

We watched the opening ceremony on a projector, and the flat was properly buzzing. Then we headed out into Putney today to see the cyclists. It was a great atmosphere, even if the result didn't go our way.

I'm not madly into watching all the sports on TV, but it's sweet to be in the midst of it all.

[Yodhrin]

Where's the option for "I think the entire affair is a monstrous waste of taxpayer funds considering the current status of the country, does nothing but funnel public funds from around the country into the pockets of people in the current government's core electoral areas, and regardless the whole thing is a facile bread-and-circuses vanity project dedicated to heaping ludicrous amounts of praise on people who can run fast."?

[blackcherry]

It didn't all fit into one line

[Wintermute]

Where's the option for "I think the entire affair is a monstrous waste of taxpayer funds considering the current status of the country, does nothing but funnel public funds from around the country into the pockets of people in the current government's core electoral areas, and regardless the whole thing is a facile bread-and-circuses vanity project dedicated to heaping ludicrous amounts of praise on people who can run fast."?

In the poll in the P & R forum

[RevEv]

That comes under 'Meh'!

[DarthSte]

In the poll in the P & R forum

I'll vote on Tuesday, I hope.

[Yodhrin]

In the poll in the P & R forum

Ah, well, fairy-nuff then

[Erazmus_M_Wattle]

I'm not excited at all. So far it has had no effect on my life at all or anyone else in my locale. Except perhaps the few who got to carry the torch in the relay.

I'm getting a bit sick of the 'doesn't it make you feel patriotic?' ******** on the BBC. I live in the south west of Scotland. London is too far away and to top it all off the opening ceremony held very little relevance to anyone outside England. Yet again they are saying Britain when they should be saying united kingdom but really they mean England. Three very different things.

So in short. Nah. I really couldn't care less.

[Burnthem]

...to top it all off the opening ceremony held very little relevance to anyone outside England.

I struggle to understand people when they say this. Was there an abundance of St George's flags waving about? No. Do the themes (Industrial Revolution, the NHS etc) that were present apply to the WHOLE of the UK? Yes they do. I expect that even if the entire ceremony was serenaded with Bagpipes and every person waved a leek about for two hours people would still complain it was too 'England centric'. What a load of cobblers.

[Ghod]

I'm torn...

I enjoy watching sport, loved the opening ceremony and I'm excited by the buzz surrounding it.

However I also like getting to work on time... Something that i doubt will happen tomorrow morning.

Still all in all I'm for it.

[DarthSte]

So I watched the opening ceremony and thought it was a good show.
Did it make me feel patriotic? Well, no. I don't really understand how a 2 hour stage show can change peoples views on the country. Yes, we have a strong and long history, but no more so than any other European country.
It was a spectacle, nothing more. The sort of thing I'd expect from a modern West End show.

I watched a little of the swimming yesterday, but it could have been in Beijing or Brazillia, other than the crowds cheering for the Team GB swimmers.