<p>It’s not the money. The Team USA hockey players are hugely paid athletes. Their total yearly salary is something like $88 million, and the youngest ones were due for enormous raises after this season no matter what happened in the Olympics. Patrick Kane, for example, who is only 21 and still on his first pro contract, should be expecting a new contract in the neighborhood of $5 million a year or more.</p>
<p>It’s not the money. They wanted to win, and they were on the emotional roller coaster from the huge high when they scored the tying goal in the waning seconds of regulation to the abysmal low when Crosby scored in sudden death.</p>
<p>I hear what you are saying, but having lived through this here in Vancouver, I can’t imagine us being able to do it twice, even with the new facilities. I honestly can’t speak for other host cities, but for ours, the infrastructure was badly needed and will most definitely be used a huge amount (and in fact is the only benefit to us taxpayers having footed a bill that will literally take decades to pay off). But the sheer number of volunteer man hours, and closing of the city to host this: would be impossible to get a city to do it again (well everyone would be excited to do it one more time, but it would grow old very fast is what i mean). You really need the excitement of a once-in-a-lifetime sort of thing to energize the thousands needed to pull it off and put up with a giant inconvenience. Not to mention costs! There is no way we or any other country/city could foot another security bill like the one we have now.</p>
<p>We burst out laughing in our house when he was going on as if suggesting he was a local Montrealer, saying, “I love Montreal…I love the University of McGill too”…its McGill University, Mr. Shatner. When was the last time you were in Canada? </p>
<p>Like nails down a chalkboard to us…imagine someone saying “Oh yeah, I’m from Boston, I love Boston, I love the University of Harvard too…” lol</p>
<p>And though I have no facts at hand, incentive clauses for winning Olympic medals seem unlikely in pro hockey contracts. I mean those guys play for their national teams, not their pro teams. Its not like incentive clauses for winning the division or the Stanley Cup. There’s no control by the individual clubs over who else is on the team. For crying out loud, the coach of the Canadian team is the coach of the Detroit Red Wings. Now whether there are incentive clauses in their endorsement contracts I have no idea. I agree with the post that noted that these medals are awarded immediately after the game, much like the figure skating medals. There is no time for the emotion of the event to settle. It is said that the gold and the bronze are won, and a silver means you lost. I heard Zach Parise (he scored the tying goal) interviewed today and he admitted that during the medal ceremony it was hard to appreciate the magnitude of their accomplishment, but that today he realized how wonderful it was to have achieved what they did, while representing the USA. I think we can agree that it was an amazing game, a phenomenal tournament and great for hockey in general.</p>
<p>I turned it off when Shatner came out to speak. I knew it was going to be another Youtube poet moment (i.e. Canada is the “what’s” in “what’s new”).</p>
<p>The ceremonies were extremely boring and underwhelming. Understand it’s hard to compare to Beijing ceremonies, but still… </p>
<p>Oh right! It was that other Canadian, the writer, who must have had it wrong. lol. Then again, what actor doesn’t actually read a script before quoting it like a robot? I mean really.</p>
<p>Cynicism aside, most of the hockey players are there only for the olympic experience and chance to win gold (sometimes at large personal expense) and not for any other reasons. Hockey is a physical contact sport. It’s far more likely for a season or career impacting injury to occur, and lose millions of dollars, than get any potential endorsement deal if they win.</p>
<p>Also, there is nothing harder in sports than to lose in overtime or a tiebreaker. You’re almost certainly exhausted already from playing more minutes than usual, and your adrenaline is high, then suddenly it’s over.</p>
<p>I’m so glad I missed Shatner! NBC did resume the coverage after their horrible little show, but I could not stay past midnight to enjoy the performances. What a horrible way to end their subpar coverage of these Games!</p>
<p>Jack Johnson of the Los Angeles Kings hockey team chartered a plane so he could get to Vancouver in time to march in the opening ceremonies. That speaks to his desire to participate.</p>
<p>I was curious about how the participants handle endorsement deals and I found an interesting article that explains a little about how the competitors get matched up with deals. </p>
<p>^^^Most deals start by the sponsor looking for the talent, be it celebrity, athlete, model. Then they work with their agent to establish a contract (non-compete, $$$, length of contract, how much exposure, type of media-tv/radio/print, placement, etc.)</p>
<p>That “matchmaker” phrase is out there only b/c the agents spreads the word the talent is looking for work, but it really starts with the sponsor.</p>
<p>This is my overall impression of the games.</p>
<p>I do not like the opening or closing ceremonies too much. They remind me of a salad-a bit of Canadiana here and a bit of Canadiana there-all loosely tossed together. I would have preferred a stronger theme.</p>
<p>I have a bit of trouble with the flag bearers they choose. That honour should be given to retired athletes. I would much prefer to see the likes of Kari Lee Gardener and Donovan Bailey over Ann Murray and Don Sutherland any day. What is wrong with that, not even a token minority in the group?</p>
<p>The performance of the Canadian athletes are quite good, though as usual, many more favourites faltered than they should but the underdogs performed admirably. I suspect pressure has a lot to do with it.</p>
<p>A great hockey game. I feel that the Canadian team should have put the game away nice and early. They failed to do that and almost ended up losing. Lacking in killer instinct, I’ll say.</p>
<p>"Of course Shatner is lame. What I love is that it seems like he still thinks he is as hot as he was 45 years ago. The man amuses me to no end. "</p>
<p>-He does not care what we thing and it does not matter what he thinks, he is making money a “little bit” more of what we make, that is all he cares about. I bet, that he still have fun doing what he does. The rest is irrelevant. I agree, his look and acting are lacking, apparently it is good enough to very successfully continue with his career.</p>
<p>Did y’all notice that the male (long track) speed skaters not only get huge thighs, but also huge bottoms? Do you think those ever shrink down to normal size again?</p>