Olympic Torch almost in Hamilton!....thoughts?

http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/693134

Are you going to attend ?

I sure will ! (up in Caledonia and Six Nations) .....I want to see Stan Jonathon
(Boston Bruin) run the torch......not announced yet

Don’t care. I’m glad I’m out of town

Here' s the interactive map of the progress of the Olympic Flame......and schedule

[url=http://www.vancouver2010.com/more-2010-information/olympic-torch-relay/olympic-torch-relay-interactive-map/]http://www.vancouver2010.com/more-2010- ... ctive-map/[/url]

Should be by my house at 7:42am. I'll be 400 miles away.

Might be a once in a life time thing! To say you dont care shows your ignorance to the competitors! Ill be there! After all im a proud Canaian and proud of our atheletes! GO CANADA GO!!! :rockin: :rockin: :rockin:

I’m not ignorant. I know about the athletes. You might mean disrespectful and that would be wrong too. I just don’t care about the torch relay. It has little to do with the games. I’ll start caring when the competitions begin in February. Right now I’m more concerned that our ski team is down 4 competitors due to injury

Yea another goes down today in Bourque. Its such a bizarre series of occurrences to see them drop literally one after one another. Very strange.

It going to right down lake shore around 5:08PM
Not going to watch it ..

You mean the glorified Bic lighter? Couldn't care less.

An Argo-Cat fan

Same here

No interest in olympics whatsoever. . .

What concerns me most is the number of "prominent" celebrities that have all been selected to run the torch. I would have hoped that it would be a fair and equitable system for ALL Canadians but to me it's not coming across that way. Just about every member on Canada AM has had the opportunity to run the torch. Meanwhile, all of my children registered on line to have a chance to run the torch when it comes through our town. And NOBODY from our area is carrying the torch through our town. And here in the prairies, we have very long stretches of highway that a large number of locals could have been given the opportunity to participate.

And while I'm on my rant. Try getting some of the red mittens. There always sold out from the stores and on line. I mean really.....you can't even order them on line as they are out of stock? You try to get your children involved in this and at each step...disappointment.

Sorry...just my two cents.

I agree. I love winter sports and am very much looking forward to the games but I am kind of lukewarm to the torch relay. It’s a little two gimmicky for my liking. I was actually hoping that they would do away with the torch relay this time around. But it’s in town on the 30th and if I am not working, I might wander downtown to have look.

And the ski team is a worry. I wasn’t expecting great things from them anyway. They are hoping for three medals but I thought one was a real possibility and that was from John Kucera. Now he’s out. I just wonder if they are trying to hard right now.

I am glad to see that you are trying to get your children involved and purchase the ‘red mittens’ which also helps our athletes. I know it is unfortunate that you may not have been able to purchase a couple pairs, but in a way it is also a good thing. It shows that Canadians are supporting the athletes by going out and purchasing this mittens. Whoever was in charge of this (Im assuming HBC) maybe didnt expect this overwhelming success and to be sold out all the time.

I myself have two pairs after a few unsuccessful attempts at purchasing them at The Bay or Zellers, but if you’d still like them try Home Outfitters at Limeridge Mall. Thats where I got mine, and last time I was there they had tons available still…

I remember the last time the Olympic Torch made it's way through Hamilton. December 25th 1987. I stood on Main St. West for about an hour in the the snow to watch someone I didn't know or recognize trot by with the torch. It was nowhere near as thrilling as I had anticipated. Had all the excitement of a parade. I don't go to those and I won't be going to watch the torch when it makes it's way though Edmonton. I'm sure I can watch it on the news.

I plan to go and take my girls. It's a part of history and (as mentioned) could be a once in a lifetime thing for them. It's nice to show them that some traditions hold up through the years. I like it that they are taking the torch to Mac hospital as it will give the families there (including my niece) a chance to see the torch. Very nice touch. She would have missed out on seeing it otherwise.

Well said borehamgirl well said! :rockin:

Whether it's gimmicky or otherwise and it very well could be, I think it's another symbol, and we need symbols in our society, of togetherness and cooperation and the fighting spirit sort of thing in an innocent activity called sport. Which is good. Right now many societies are grasping to find some sort of meaning of who they are as a nation, we have a more multi-cultural society now which is neither good or bad but different for many of us and makes some of us uncomfortable with different religious backgrounds and that and different traditions. In the end, we are all one, we are Canadian citizens and I think any way to celebrate this is a good thing for Canada. We should be proud of our country and strive to make it a better place in which to live, be more tolerant of others etc. I think the Olympic flame is somewhat symbolic of this, along the lines of how religions used the flame as a symbol of holiness.

It might sound stupid but whatever makes us a more loving and caring people is fine by me. If the torch can do this just an iota, I'm fine with it even though it's not something I really get too excited about with all the hoopla and that, it's the meaning I hope people get from it that unites us that's important.

I'm not going to the ceremony, but I will watch it go by tomorrow morning. I ran with it in 1987, so I want to see it again. And I'll admit I'm a little disappointed to not be doing it again.

But I dont get the 'once in a lifetime' thing. In the last 22 years, I've seen 2 of them. And I suspect that I missed a third one by 3 years (I wasn't born yet for the '72 Olympics in Montreal, but would assume a relay was done then two). So if I was three years older, I'd have been alive for three of them. Hardly "once in a life time"

True mycko, once in a lifetime is like a 100th Grey Cup or whatever anniversary of something, that is truly once in a lifetime.

The problem is that the modern olympic games don’t represent the ideals of sport. They represent greed, corruption, and the “win at any cost” mentality. When I see the torch, I think of Ben Johnson and Marion Jones. And Coca-Cola. :wink: I also think of Yang Peiyi, the young Chinese girl who sang for the opening ceremony of the Beijing olympics but had another girl shown lip-synching in her place because she was deemed not “cute” enough to represent her country on the world stage.

Many of the athletes themselves are worthy of our support, but the games as a cultural event has become a grotesque pantomime of the values it is purported to represent.

This talk of symbols reminds me how the organization “Prevent Child Abuse America” deliberately partnered with Marvel comics many years ago to make Spider-Man, a fictional character, the public face of their educational materials for children. Using Spider-Man serves many purposes, but one is that as a fictional character, the parties that produce his stories can ensure that he won’t compromise himself and undermine the values of the organization.