The Game.

I’m sorry world, Vancouver is closed.  For everything.  You can stop calling, we’re not answering the phone for the next few hours.  Hell, we’re not even willingly getting up to go to the bathroom unless it’s really, really important.  The game is on.

The game.  It’s really the only thing that matters right now.  It’s the reason everyone who could went into work an hour early so they could be home in time.  It’s the reason everyone on the train is glued to their smartphones, is trying to figure out how to finally use the radio setting on their iPod, and if they don’t have either of those, they’re looking over the shoulder of someone who does.  And if you have to ask what game, consider this an internet smack upside your head.  Stanley Cup Finals, Baby!!!

Vancouver is a hardcore hockey town.  Seriously.  But yet we’ve never succeeded in bringing Lord Stanley’s cup to our Olympic city.  We’ve been close… 1994 versus the NY Rangers (*turn and spit*).  I was in elementary school, and my most vivid memory of that was school literally stopping for a week and being replaced with pep rallies, fan-sign making in arts and crafts, and wearing nothing but orange, yellow and black until the end.  Yep, that’s how long ago it was, back like two logos ago.  Even kids without facial hair were trying to grow playoff beards.   Today is the start of a series that is gripping the city in a similar way.  Standing at Waterfront station this morning, one of the busiest downtown commuter hubs in the city, 1 in 3 commuters, from businesswomen to bike messengers to seeing eye dogs had on Canucks’ jerseys.  The puck dropped at five, and the honking started at 4:30.  The excitement was just bubbling over so much that people were compelled to hit the horn.  And you know how it goes with honking, it’s like sneezing, once one person does it, everyone automatically follows suit.   Even those Vancouverites not watching the game (what’s wrong with you?  What, not from Vancouver?  Then become a Vancouverite for the day or go home, silly tourist!) will know the score, because the second someone scores the screaming or the booing coming from every car, home, sidewalk, airplane, magic carpet is loud enough to reach you wherever you are.

I love this.  The energy crackles in the air, the crowds randomly gather at street corners wherever a TV is on in a window, and everyone’s friends with everyone else.  It’s really similar to the vibe felt during the Olympics (hockey again, big surprise), but with fewer international visitors, and it’s magical.  There is something amazing about collective excitement that just can’t be beat.  The feeling is so nice, a tiny part of me wants it to stay for as long as possible, but a much bigger part of me wants it to end in 4.  If that happens, Vancouver is going to need a month off to recover, and no one is going to mind one bit.

Go Canucks!!!

Tags: hockey, Stanley Cup Finals, vancouver

Happy Hockey Day, Canada!

     It’s a national holiday here in Canada, the day we all take off to celebrate the wonder that is the greatest game on earth – Hockey!  Okay, so it’s not “technically” a holiday, but it might as well be.  Between noon and four pacific time, the streets are going to be empty as every eye in the nation is on the Canada/US gold medal game.  On friday at 6 during what was only a semifinal game the parking lots were empty and the BF and I had a whole grocery store practically to ourselves, so when you multiply that by Gold and Sunday you get the complete ghost town effect. 

              This is so big here, you don’t even have to like or know anything about hockey to be caught up in all the excitement.  There was a line up around the block at the Georgia St Shark Club sports bar already at six this morning, and that’s not even the most coveted seat in the city.  At this point, the only way you can get a seat in GM Place for the game (er, I mean Canada Hockey Place, I don’t want those Olympic sponsorship people on my back) is if you’re running a country, sleeping with someone who’s running a country or have suddenly been drafted to play.  Actually, sleeping with someone who’s running a country probably isn’t even a guarantee, unless you’re really good.  On the bus yesterday I overheard some guys planning their hockey drinking game: everytime we score, take a shot. Every time we hit them really hard (it has to shake the glass, the criteria were pretty specific), take a shot.  And every time the US scores against us, just down the rest of the bottle and hope you forget it quickly.  Win or loose, they’re going to be completely pickled by four pm, and it’s either going to be one hell of a crazy party tonight or they’re going to be unconscious, so they won’t have to feel the agony of defeat.  Now that’s dedication.  I like it.  I could never do it myself, but I like it.  I wonder if liquor stores are going to see a big sales day…?   Or are they just not going to open because all their staff’s at home watching the game? 

            Basically, the nation has come to a standstill.  Please, everybody, get your cheezies and Bud Lights now before the puck drops, because once that happens, the country could suddenly transform into one of those abandoned shells so often seen in zombie movies after everyone’s been infected.  Ooh, that analogy works better than I had planned, as we’re already infected.  All of us.  With Olympic Gold Medal Hockey Fever (OGMHF).   God knows, my new TV and earth-changing high-def channels will have every pixel focused so closely in we’ll be able to identify the exact tooth that comes flying from the US player’s mouth when we slam him!  It’ll be awesome!  I’ll update this later with a postgame analysis, but no matter what it’s gonna be good.  

      Happy Hockey Day, Canada!

Tags: alcohol, Canada, excitement, happy, hockey, Olympics, party, USA

Vancouver – Olympic Life in the Olympic City

        So we’re more than a week into the 2010 Vancouver Olympic games, or, to use a sports metaphor, wll into the home stretch.  Our muscles and wallets are sore, but it’s so, so, so worth it!   The city just feels energized, and it’s freaking fantastic.

        The pavilions, shows and events set up all over the downtown core gives the whole place a theme-park like feel (you line up for a long time, go on a short ride/see a short show, then walk to the next attraction, past souvenir and snack carts and street performers).  And speaking of line ups, at this point I think people are lining up for the sake of lining up.  The wait times at pretty much everything are multiple hours long.  Even just to get into the Granville st. Bay to buy your official team Canada tee (completely disregarding that we have tons of other Bay stores in Metro Vancouver, just a short skytrain away) is like three hours, and that doesn’t come with any guarantee that they’ll still have what you want in your size.  The longest line by far is the zipline, where, according to Radio Canada, a couple recently set the record for waiting more than 9 hours.  The ride is only ten seconds long!!!!  Think about it people, you’re turning waiting in line into an experience in itself, because you’re not doing anything else all day!  I made it into LiveCity Yaletown with only a 40-minute wait, and I was there right at opening.  God knows what it was like by 6!  Even the fabulousness that is the unique Japadog gourmet hot dog cart has a massive wait for your street meat.  By the time you get to the front, you’re ready for dinner, while you’d lined up at lunch.

          But the coolest thing is the overwhelming “We are Canada, we’re loud, proud and we ROCK!”  vibe that permeates everyday life here.  Just sitting at work I see tons of people each day wearing their Canada tees, stupid (or stupid awesome) Moose toques, and flag capes.  Vancouver has become Disneyland all of a sudden, a place where you can wear all sorts of stupid, furry things on your head, your cape has become regular office attire and the world will cease to exist when the puck drops tonight on the Canada versus Germany showdown.  Even the random stranger that approached us yesterday asking for a light said “Go Canada Go!”  by way of a thank you, and those were probably the only English words he knew.

            We’ve definately upped our international reputation, which was pretty good to begin with.  Unless you ask the British, of course, they’re really hammering us, but I think they’re just trying to call our games a failure (yes, they are really using terms that harsh) to make London 2012 look better.  They’re also forgetting that this is a Winter Games and they’re hosting the Summer, hardly an equal comparison, but whatever.  I’m Canadian, I know our games are fantastic, and at least my country has never been bombed, so the Brits can suck it.

          Even Though we still have days to go before the closing ceremonies and the start of the Paralympics, I already know I’m going to miss the Olympics once they pass.  More than anything, in the past week, people have been happy.  All the time.  It’s just a permanent smiling-at-strangers good mood that I don’t want to let slide once the torch has been snuffed.  It’s a pleasure to be in Vancouver.  Even more than usual.  And that’s saying a lot.

Tags: cape, flag, fun, Games, good mood, hockey, line up, livecity Yaletown, Olympics, toque, vancouver, zipline