Slog
News & ArtsThursday, January 21, 2010
Sports The Cursed Winter Olympics
Posted by Dan Savage on Thu, Jan 21, 2010 at 8:15 AM
Two Olympic snowboarders have been badly injured in the last couple of weeks—Kevin Pearce and Danny Davis—and there's no snow. (There are plans to truck in snow—and fly snow in by helicopter. So much for the first "green Olympics.") And now...
Creditors holding $1.4 billion (U.S.) in debt on Intrawest ULC have begun foreclosure proceedings on some of the company's assets, including the Whistler Blackcomb ski resort, and say they plan to auction them off on Feb. 19. The resort operator's financial woes have put Vancouver Olympic organizers in a quandary, since the sale of the company would be an unwelcome disruption to the games, which open Feb. 12.
The mountain is going to be overrun with frogs, locusts, lice, and flies before this is all over.
2
What the fuck? You'd think the creditors would let Whistler Blackcomb try to pay off some of their debts by the huge amount of revenue generated by the FRIGGING OLYMPIC GAMES. Talk about a spoilsport.
I guess even those supposedly incorruptible and pure Canadians worship the almighty dollar.
I guess even those supposedly incorruptible and pure Canadians worship the almighty dollar.
3
What?!
I thought Canada was
the Promised Land?
I thought even Canadian shit
smelled good?
That's what US Liberals
keep telling us....
I thought Canada was
the Promised Land?
I thought even Canadian shit
smelled good?
That's what US Liberals
keep telling us....
5
@2 It's not Canadians calling in the debt.
"Vancouver-based Intrawest recently missed a $524 million debt payment, prompting lenders, including investment bank Lehman Bros. and hedge-fund sponsor Davidson Kempner Capital Management, to put a notice in the Wall Street Journal and other U.S. newspapers seeking buyers for assets, including Whistler, Mont Tremblant in Quebec, Stratton in Vermont and Squaw Valley in California."
"Vancouver-based Intrawest recently missed a $524 million debt payment, prompting lenders, including investment bank Lehman Bros. and hedge-fund sponsor Davidson Kempner Capital Management, to put a notice in the Wall Street Journal and other U.S. newspapers seeking buyers for assets, including Whistler, Mont Tremblant in Quebec, Stratton in Vermont and Squaw Valley in California."
8
Good thing that the Crown can just make things happen, without all the silly American property rights slowing them down.
Besides, this only affects Whistler, not the ice-skating or curling venues.
Besides, this only affects Whistler, not the ice-skating or curling venues.
10
This is all about Lehman Brothers doing what they do best: inciting a timely crisis and opportunistically attempting to extract tax payer money (a mere $500 million in this case)in the process.
15
I find it kind of sadly hilarious that the one year Canada really NEEDS some freaking snow, they don't have any. Guess they can come borrow some from New England, we got dumped on these past three days.
19
@15: actually Canada is this whole big country with a variable climate. It rarely snows in Vancouver, which has a climate pretty much identical to Seattle's. Anyway the lack of snow is on the smaller mountains adjacent to Vancouver, which are hosting some of the smaller events, Whistler's doing just fine for snow.
20
I am chastened and ashamed, #19. For having so much Canadian blood in me, I admit I know jack about Canada :)
21
The games are cursed. Completely and thoroughly cursed. The days of these mega corporate events are over (unless backed up by 1 billion in police action.) The opening day is rainy and foggy in Whistler, exactly not what they wanted, on top of that a Georgian competitor has died training on the fastest run ever...one that was designed incredibly poorly — metal beams lining the sides — one of which he ran into at over 90 mph.
We need to grow up and live the reality of an interconnected world, not imagine because we are drinking a heiniken in an Irish pub in Vancouver that we are doing something to further world connectedness...
We need to grow up and live the reality of an interconnected world, not imagine because we are drinking a heiniken in an Irish pub in Vancouver that we are doing something to further world connectedness...
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