Working the first BC Lions game felt like being a part of Vancouver history. I know I’m not from here, but this little boy (and his sister is in the other mascot’s arm) made me appreciate this day a little bit more. He was absolutely beaming to hug Leo.
And let’s be honest, this guy in a mascot outfit is simply a marketing tool of the football club. He gets the crowd pumped up, trots around on the field to reinforce the imagery of the team everyone in the stands are cheering for, and keeps the kids coming back for more and more.
Even when you understand all too well that there is a hefty business reason for Leo’s existence, it’s this one moment that you have to forget this.
In ten or twenty years, this little boy will recount the one year they whipped up a stadium in 111 days for there to be professional, Canadian football to be played here for just one season in Vancouver.
When all the stands are tore down and all that remains is the legacy of an artificial turf field and the four sets of lights, he might recount how his parents took him to a game one day, and even though the Lions lost in the final seconds of the first game to be played in the history of this temporary stadium, he even got to meet Leo and give him a big hug.
I literally had my camera in my right hand but at hip level when I looked down this alley as I walked past and decided to hit the trigger for kicks and giggles. For the first time in a long time, I actually hit a decent perspective of a downtown alleyway in Vancouver, give or take what some locals might consider “typical”.
Spotted this on my way home the other day. Richmond, B.C. has a seasonal night market for a while now, so this is a neat addition for Vancouver. A lot of people that I’ve discussed this with say that Chinatown is back on the map as an up and coming area in the city. Locals might debate that, but it’s always a fun place to visit, if not just for some spicy pork buns.
What was kind of expected, the protesters took hold in Vancouver in the Coal Harbour and west end area this morning. Rebecca said there was coverage on TV of the action, and when Duane and I saw that the group was heading up Robson Street, we grabbed our cameras and ran out to get some shots.
I also shot video while walking behind the crowd. It was impromptu and shaky, but I think it captures some of the atmosphere.
You can see all of the photos I shot in this Flickr set.
People were following this crowd, picking up knocked over newspaper boxes this group of protesters were knocking over as they walked through the streets. The police asked the same man in the video above to cease this act for his own safety. Duane and I stopped following the group shortly after this point for our own safety as well.
This is something that has made me chuckle for a number of trips through the Olympic Village Station on the Canada Line. Located right around the corner from the entrance of the station is the Olympic Line streetcar, which is an amazing piece of technology and is, if I might say so, kinda sexy.
Pretty cool, right? But to let people coming out of the station know which direction to go to get to this marvelous piece of transit equipment, you get this dry erase board.
Awesome!
It’s just something that makes you laugh a little bit when you think about everything else that has been put in place or built for the Olympics. They could have put some stickers on it or wrapped it with some fancy graphics or something. But no, just this dry erase board that, oddly enough, has never been tampered with.
And the only reason I mention it at all is because when you go towards the bridge, about 100 feet in the opposite direction, you see this.
This is too large to fit on the other sign at the entrance, but could easily be put on that other sign if shrunk down. Still, whatever works. Long live ghetto engineering.
Granville Street has been under construction for what seems like forever. Since about 2006, the downtown portion of Granville hasn’t been completely open as it once was. Getting close to the opening ceremonies for the 2010 games, these new lights have gone up all the way down the downtown core portion of the street.
I took this shot last night on my way home. Standing in the middle of Georgia and Granville, this is what it looks like at night, looking towards Waterfront. Not sure if the lights will stay up after the games, but they’re a nice touch.
Two trains and just a short stretch of track between Granville Island and Cambie Bridge along False Creek, this is only an experiment in mass transit that will only run just before and during the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. Meaning, if this works well and people take to it, perhaps the city will look into expanding streetcar service across the city.
It works in Toronto and certainly works in Europe, and I have to say that I like the concept so far. As to if this is the end all answer of all the transit problems in Vancouver, I don’t think so. Still, right step in an excellent direction. Continue reading “Vancouver’s streetcar experiment: The Olympic Line”
Rebecca made a post the other day asking this question, and this past week has been littered with fleeting thoughts of, “holy crap, the games are actually here.”
I decided to walk home after work the other night, and all of the telltale signs are here. Tents, banners, decorations, etc.
For myself, it’s always been a goal in the back of my head to witness some form of Olympics games in someway. Moving to Vancouver in 2005, I knew my chance was going to be pretty good to get into the mix, but it’s actually here.
2010 is this year. We’ve been waiting for the date to read that way for what seems like forever, and now it’s actually upon us.
BC Place is still being kept under a shroud of mystery, and I still hope they blow the lid off that place during the opening ceremonies, someway and somehow.
This still doesn’t answer the question of where I will be once February 12th rolls around. The truth of the matter is that I love the Olympic games, and I always have. For as long as I can remember, I would stay up as late as I could to watch the coverage, no matter what the event.
I can remember L.A., Lillehammer, Albertville, Nagano, Soeul, Calgary, Atlanta, Sydney, Barcelona, Torino, Beijing, and Athens, and that’s all off the top of my head, no Google searches or Wikipedia trolling.
I haven’t forgotten about the politics on the local and worldwide scale. They are always there, and I can’t forget about the issues of homelessness in Vancouver nor the hefty price tag that has come with these games. Nothing I can say in a blog post could answer all of those problems, but I will be watching closely once everything is done to make sure those promises by VANOC are held accountable.
That being said, my hope and dream is to absorb the atmosphere that the games will bring upon Vancouver. I’m not sure where that might lead me, but we’ll ride the wave and end up where we end up. Be it total chaos to amazing opportunities, people, and new friends, I’ve been enlightened with stories by others who have been to games past. It prepares you as much as opens up avenues to all sorts of other questions.
I don’t know what to expect. I’m not sure what I’ll be doing nor when I’ll be doing it. It’s the surprise that I think I’m looking forward to the most. Never say never, let whatever happens happen, and hang on for the ride.
I’ll have my camera wherever I go, and the laptop won’t be far behind. Photos, video, audio, and blog posts doing their best to share what I see and do in the craziness that is downtown Vancouver, home of the 2010 winter games.
Waterfront Canada Line Station by Miss604 on Flickr.com
It’s been nearly three weeks since the Canada Line has opened, and I keep thinking about how much it has changed my daily life every time I take it.
Sure, there might be a day when something goes wrong and the next train will take forever to show up that I’ll be reduced to the multi-bus commute to get to work (which has already happened but not on my watch), but accidents, mishaps, and generally bad days can and do happen.
I had a great experience riding the train home on the day of my first commute.
Standing at the platform, a co-worker walked down the stairs while I was waiting for the next train. I was heading downtown, and he was going to pop off into Yaletown. He doesn’t live around there but couldn’t pass up the chance to try it out.
We stood there talking about how he was using the opportunity to shop around Yaletown a little before going home, which I’m sure many businesses down there are hoping for more of, when someone else walked up to chat about how amazing this whole thing was.
“It’s so Vancouver. It looks great, works amazingly. I just love it.”
I couldn’t help but nod my head with the stranger while he sipped his frozen latte.
“I’m just so sick of all those people who say this is a waste of money. I wish those people would just go somewhere and die. Because you know, we need more of this. Out to the valley, to UBC, shut off those motors on the buses. It would be tremendous!”
This man was genuinely excited about this new form of transit, as crazy as that is to think about. But I had a very hard time disagreeing with him, minus the whole wishing people die thing.
In my time in radio, I’ve been apart of my fair share of absolute train wrecks. Those broadcasts that start off innocent but head straight down the drain. On the air, it all works out and everyone does their best to maintain some sort of professionalism so it looks like what happened was supposed to happen, but behind the scenes, everything has gone to shit.
Global BC’s noon newscast had that happen this past Monday, and they played this one off beautifully.
Dare I say, this video has a good chance of going viral…
Working the first BC Lions game felt like being a part of Vancouver history. I know I’m not from here, but this little boy (and his sister is in the other mascot’s arm) made me appreciate this day a little bit more. He was absolutely beaming to hug Leo.
