I love the Olympics, but I can't say having it here has ended up meaning a lot to me. Perhaps if I worked for one of the corporate sponsors who got all the decent tickets I'd feel different. Apart from the giant novelty cigarette lighter (which will pass within 200 yards of my house next Sunday wothout me going to see it) it makes no impact whatsoever outside London for most people. I'll watch the sports I'm interested in (athletics, cycling and swimming mostly) on TV, much as I have done every other Olympics that haven't been in this country. Meh.

What a bunch of miserable fekkers we have on here.

As a person who pays quite a wedge in tax I can tell you that I am much happier that my hard earned is going to the Olympics and all that surrounds it than many other avenues it's frittered away on.

That said, i couldn't be arrised hanging about an hour for the torch.

Olympic torch goes around country - everyone has great time. Torch goes to a rugbyleague ground, every fekker moans. Priceless

Go to your local schools to see what they're doing in preparation for the Games and you'll start to see it a little differently. The Get Set Network website has lots of case studies of what's going on accross the country too.

This is a terrific sport that is only held back by the parochial and myopic majority of it's supporter base.

No, it's all the RFLs fault

Agreed about the parochial and myopic majority of the RL supporter base. For example, I once recall texting someone to let them know England had just got walloped 52-4 by Australia in the World Cup. The response I got was something along the lines of [i"I'm not interested in international RL or the World Cup. It's the off-season and I'm on my holidays."[/i

You can still call me Keith if you like.

Some rugby supporters are so insane they catch a couple of buses to Headingley only to change their mind pre match and walk away bleating about the price of admission and the sub par quality of opposition.

I'll call you Jeff if it's all the same.

Lovely stuff.

When was that?

Yesterday, at Keighley.

Oh that's pedantic!

Rhinos blame YCC for the farce yesterday. Today YCC blame the Torch Relay officials www.therhinos.co.uk/news/19642.php It seems there's a buck passing relay going on as well

Rhinos blame YCC for the farce yesterday. Today YCC blame the Torch Relay officials www.therhinos.co.uk/news/19642.php It seems there's a buck passing relay going on as well

I was too late for the Bramley home game so got off at Headingley instead. And yes, I did then start to think about the whipping boy SL rabble opposition and whether they (or Leeds for that matter) justified a £20 admission price. I concluded that neither did. Was I wrong?

Don't forget your RL off-season next year - it's during the World Cup.


I prefer Keith... or Bill.

Odd

I'll just write this number down...

£10,000,000,000

How many footballs, rugby balls, full team kits, cricket bats, wickets, balls, whitewash for marking running tracks, etc etc etc could Seth and his team buy to promote more sports in schools with that sort of money ?

Because that seems to be the only vindication offered.

Well done.

Was there any reason you did that?

The paucity of the argument in favour of hosting the Olympics is never more obvious than when those not in favour are labelled as miserable fekkers. I too have a real issue with £10 billion worth of public funds being wasted on such a non-event in the same way as I had a real issue with the huge waste of public funds on that other non-event recently called the Queens Jubilee.

What would you like to see public money spent on?

And the Olympics is in no way a 'non-event'.

Yes, it was on the next two lines, didn't you get that far ?

I wonder how much due diligence the miserable fekkers have done as to the economic benefits of the Olympics in comparison to the costs?

Why have they concluded it will be another Montreal rather than a Los Angeles or Athens?

I wonder if they have read [url=http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~rosenl/sports%20Folder/Economic%20Impact%20of%20Olympics%20PWC.pdfthis report[/url? I suspect they haven't.

The Homeless and getting people into Work.

How many jobs do you think are created by hosting the Olympics, and how much income tax is paid on the earnings from those jobs?

I totally agree. But £10 Billion

Really, there was no way that these events could be put on for less? I would love to understand how much of the spend was about the sport and how much was about showing a very small minority a very good time. I am sure there will be many great legacy items, stadiums etc left behind after the events have finished. But £10 Billion, £10000000000.

You can a do an awful lot of good in the world for that kind of money.