Swow for the 2002 Winter Olympics!

“Looks like there will indeed be lots of snow for the Winter Olympics in a couple months. We've already had more snow in the last week here in the valley than we had all year last year. I'm glad that we won't be spending my tax dollars making snow. I'm also glad that I live 75 miles from the crowds that are sure to gather.”

“geez... I promise I'm not illiterate. I KNOW that was spelled right when I posted it. What happened?”

“My brother has 4 1/2 feet in his front yard at the mouth of Parleys Hobbit. The mountains have 130" with more to come. Pretty amazing!

Ya outta come on down Hobbit for the partay ....If ya can get here! :)”

“I sure hope that we can recapture the spirit of the games and show some good sportsmanship and grace. Let's hope that as the host country, we can show some respect for other nationalities competing.

The corruption, the bad sportsmanship, and the deluge of corporate sponsorship has made me view the games with a great deal of cynicism and disdain.”

“It's the "professionals" and the "dream teams" that's really ruining the Olympics....plus the drugs of course.

Weren't the Olympics originally for the amateurs?

Of course we know that the "Reds" don't have pros in their sports...but 2 wrongs don't make 1 right.”

“I wish we had never signed on for the damn thing! Actually, "we" didn't - it was forced upon us by people like Earl Holding and other local fat cats who stand to make a ton of Euros off of tax-supported venues.

I work right next door (literally) to the athletes' housing, and our company has just announced that, due to security issues, we're going to shut down for two weeks during the Olympics. Since I don't have any vacation saved up (used it for a two-week backpacking trip this last summer), I'm going to have to take more than two weeks leave without pay. So, aside from taxes, the Olympics are going to cost me and my family BIG TIME (more than 4 % of my annual salary). Mit Romney and the Salt Lake Organizing Committee BITE WEENY. F*CK THE OLYMPICS!!!!!!!!!”

“Forrest,
Where do you work? And do you think your situation would make a good news story? I work with a reporter who likes to do anti-olympics stories.”

“Hobbit, I don't know if 75 miles will be enough. Those are going to be some damn big crowds. LOL!!”

“Mediaman, your Great! Allways on a story.

I love it! :)”

“Hi Mediaman!

I work in Research Park, which is right next to the new Student Housing that will be used as athletes' quarters during the olympics. I'd bet that a little digging among businesses in the area (Williams, Myriad, Sarcos, etc.) will show that most companies (and their employees) are getting the royal shaft over this whole thing. Even those comapnies that are being allowed to stay open during the Olympics are going to be hating, since the *only* road into and out of Research Park will be Arapeen Drive off of Sunnyside (Wakara passes too close to the athletes' housing, I guess). Even on a regular day, traffic on Sunnyside waiting to turn onto Arapeen gets backed up to Foothill. Traffic around Research Park will be HIDEOUS during the Olympics! I guess I probably would stay home out of choice during the Olympics, anyway, if it weren't without pay! I say that, if the SLOC wants me to stay away from the area during the Olympics, they should pay for that privilege! Of course, that would only mean higher taxes for everyone, anyway, so I guess I just going to have to take it up the rear like a man so Earl Holding can make his wad on this whole scam!”

“Forrest -

Just whack 'em in the knee!”

“Can you drop me an e-mail, Forrest? onehunoz@hotmail.com

And Griz, don't think you're annual frisbee golf extravaganza won't make it on TV next summer. Too much fun!”

“By the way, while I'm ranting on the topic, the modern Olympics were started by (and for) a bunch of "blue bloods" who wanted to make the Olympics for amateurs so that they wouldn't have to comete against REAL athletes (i.e., professionals). Basically, the idea was that only a rich "trust-funder" could afford to train for competition on the world stage without having to earn their living at it. By excluding professionals, pasty English (and American) landowners knew they wouldn't have to go up against others from outside of their own class. For example, the Olympic heavyweight boxing champion of 1908 was a British fop by the name of A.L. Oldham. In the same year, a professional African-American boxer by the name of Jack Johnson was mopping the rings with white boxers in matches held all over the world. You can bet that Oldham wanted nothing to do with being in the same ring as Johnson!”

“Mediaman:

I'll write you from home (a little less "dangerous" that way)...”

“The Olympics also gave us Jesse Owens.

Probably one of the finest moments in sports history, hell, in human history.”

“Lately, the Olympics has brought us fixed results (ie. Figure Skating), role models who are druggies (ie. that stoned Canadian snowboarder), bribed IOC officials, state sponsored athletes (ours too...honest they're not professional, ya right!), athletes with no clue on how to loose or win with good grace, fans who don't know how to show some courtesy to visiting athletes, and athletes who compete only for the material rewards which comes after the games. We have imprinted our "win at any cost" culture on the games and it stinks.”

“Gear Slut, Re your previous post, is there anything that you don't view with a great deal of cynicism and disdain?”

“Yep, the love, faith, values, and loyalty of my immediate family. Natural laws of nature and very importantly, leisure activities like backpacking.”

“Forrest, All I have to say is....
SUCK IT UP!!!!!!! Were all in this together, and WE don't have much choice (didn't vote for it or Mikey either)...so make the best of it. Whining at this point is mute.

I'm downtown(ask Mediaman.) Live there and in Sugarhouse... and it's not gonna be fun... but it's life. Make the best of it. And most of all.....Have Fun!”

“Mediaman..... That would be festive....especially when your better half kicks your......

Maybe the 30th Anniversary for a Warren Miller movie in 2004? :)”

“Griz - Of course, you're right in that there is absolutely nothing I can do to change my predicament. But I wonder how - you - might react if your boss were to walk in and say, "Griz, old boy, we're going to have to cut your pay this year by 4.5 % so that some rich #&%!$s you don't even know can get even richer."

Have fun, you say? Got a couple thousand to spend on tickets? 'Cause that's what it costs to get into any of the venues worth watching. Even then, they're forcing you to buy "Olympic Experience Packages" so that they can be sure people will attend events like Tajikistan vs. Suriname in Women's Hockey (this is NOT hyperbole, by the way! Go to the website Salt Lake 2002 and see what OPE's you have to buy to see Women's Figure Skating, for example). I'm already forfeiting several grand for the SLOC, don't think I'll be taking out a 2nd mortgage just so I can take the family to one measly event.”