Olympic Fever

The 2014 Winter Olympics are underway in Sochi. News coverage has been considerable. Does everyone have Olympic Fever?

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Russia is using the Olympics to showcase its post-soviet resurrection and why not? Doesn’t every country that hosts an Olympic Games put their best foot forward? Too bad the Russians haven’t been able to accomplish that.

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When the press arrived in Sochi to unfinished construction, toilets that wouldn’t flush and hotel door handles that wouldn’t lock, the Sochi Olympics got their first black eye.

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The Russian response boiled down to this: Some reporters are sabotaging Sochi’s Olympics accommodations for splashy headlines. Russian officials know this because they have surveillance cameras in hotel rooms. And at least some of those surveillance cameras are focused on hotel showers. Oh Oh! Voyeurism at it’s finest!

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You can’t clean your teeth because the security scare has you packing your tooth paste in your checked luggage if you get to bring it at all, so what’s a little body order to go along with bad breath?

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I wish the Olympics had all star commercials like the Superbowl. Coke has a cute commercial with a Puffin and the Polar Bears. I liked that one.

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Every year a new event gets tried out. This year an event called Slopestyle, a snow boarding event, was getting some exposure but before the first bell the competitors were backing out. American Snowboarder,  Shaun White called the course  “Unsafe” and withdrew. According to news reports he’s just one of the contestants to express concerns with the course for the new event.

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I have no bone to pick with the Olympics. They all seem to have their share of problems and bad press no matter where they hold them. I wish all the competitors the best. Leave your tooth paste in your checked bags, avoid the showers and may the best man and/or woman win.

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