OT: Sochi must be Russian for "FUBAR" (Updated 2/6)
Two days to the start of the 2014 winter olympics and it seems the Russians aren't quite ready for their guests to arrive. The media began to arrive today and found non-function toilets & water, hotel rooms unfinished and littered with stray dogs & cats and a breakfast buffet one could only describe as "interesting" to say the least. They have begun tweeting pictures and descriptions of the city and I'm pretty sure this isn't what Putin had in minds when he got the games.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2552200/Welcome-Sochi-Journalis…
UPDATE: Looks like they are now running out of pillows:
"Due to an extreme shortage of pillows for athletes who unexpectedly arrived to Olympic Village in the mountains, there will be a transfer of pillows from all apartments to the storehouse on 2 February 2014.:
Apparently they didnt expect the athletes to arrive in the Olympic Village.
February 5th, 2014 at 7:25 PM ^
In Soviet Russia bottle water wash you!
February 5th, 2014 at 7:26 PM ^
February 5th, 2014 at 7:26 PM ^
and to top it all off, its not very safe. Yay for Mother Russia!
February 5th, 2014 at 7:28 PM ^
Is it bad to root for a catastrophe of Olympic proportions for these games?!
I mean, I do enjoy the games, very much so, but I'd also enjoy seeing Russia fail. No politics.
It'll suck for the athletes if things go poorly, though, and that's not cool. Also, by fail, I mean fail in the sense they weren't prepared and Putin has to live with the embrassment, not anything of terrorist activity; that would be downright terrible (obviously).
February 5th, 2014 at 9:36 PM ^
No, it's not cool to root for catastrophe, even if it is disconnected toilets, unless it's Putins.. For many of the athletes, it is a one and done...four years of hard work for this one chance. Ditto for guests...people have spent a lot of money to go there for what is hopefully a great experience.
I'm too much of a realist to think that things will go off without a hitch. I just hope there is no violence or it wouldn't surprise me if some of the teams pull out and go home.
February 6th, 2014 at 12:41 AM ^
I hope there aren't any catastrophes that result in injuries but I hope shit hits the fan.
February 5th, 2014 at 7:28 PM ^
Read the article I attached. You will not believe it.
They are fucking spray-painting the grass green........
February 5th, 2014 at 10:24 PM ^
My brother worked on the Disney crew that went everywhere before Eisner got there. They did the old spray paint the grass trick all the time.
February 5th, 2014 at 10:45 PM ^
My favorite reader comment under the article:
"And to think that for 50 years we lived in fear of these imbeciles launching WW3 against us."
February 6th, 2014 at 10:37 AM ^
hahahahhaha
February 6th, 2014 at 8:36 AM ^
This should not be shocking to you. Remember the green-painted dirt at the old stadium for Browns playoff games?
February 6th, 2014 at 10:01 AM ^
If we had 50 billion I guarenfuckingtee you we'd have had real grass down there. Nice grass, pretty grass. Pretty sure the budget at the old Municipal Stadium was a few dollars short of that. Plus - whose playing football on the grass in the parks in Sochi?
February 6th, 2014 at 2:43 PM ^
Sochi being one of the few places in Russia that's usually warm, noted as a beach resort.
February 5th, 2014 at 7:30 PM ^
These Games are turning out to be the biggest joke ever...and they haven't even officially started yet. Roads unpaved, buildings still under contruction, event courses carelessly made, the list goes on. Sochi is like that stupid roommate everyone had in college who never went to class, and when he did, it was soley to beg his professor for an extension on the paper that he just found out about was due that day. What I want to know is which IOC moron was the one who accepted Putin's envelope full of rubles to convince everyone else that this would ever work out?
February 5th, 2014 at 7:32 PM ^
Good place to start would be the new IOC head who has decided to take up the part time role of Putin hack and attacking Obama and other foreign heads of state for declining the invitation to attend.
February 5th, 2014 at 7:53 PM ^
February 5th, 2014 at 8:34 PM ^
February 5th, 2014 at 7:34 PM ^
Whoever picked the location for these games should be banned from ever having any input again. It's ridiculous. They should be held in Europe or the U.S. every time.
February 5th, 2014 at 7:42 PM ^
Or Canada, Vancouver seemed to go well. Montreal maybe not so much.
February 5th, 2014 at 7:46 PM ^
Eh I consider Canada to be part of the U.S.
February 6th, 2014 at 12:52 AM ^
February 6th, 2014 at 12:54 AM ^
I'm afraid it's too late. You've already been considered.
February 6th, 2014 at 8:40 AM ^
When that day comes....knock knock knock..."Hey, uh, Canada. We're out of wood. I don't know how to put this...get out?" -Jon Stewart 1996, back when he was funny.
February 6th, 2014 at 2:13 PM ^
Economically speaking, you are accurate.
February 5th, 2014 at 10:02 PM ^
I think the Montreal Games went okay as far as the event itself. The organizers just had no idea how to pay for it all. L.A. figured it out in 1984 - have massive corporate sponsorship of everything.
February 5th, 2014 at 8:03 PM ^
February 5th, 2014 at 8:05 PM ^
Japan.
February 5th, 2014 at 8:17 PM ^
Too much radiation.
February 6th, 2014 at 8:43 AM ^
I'm expecting nothing less than "glowing" reviews from all the journalists in 2020.
February 6th, 2014 at 10:25 AM ^
FWI's comment is funny, though. But seriously, there's no reasonable fear of Japan as result of Fukushima.
February 6th, 2014 at 5:37 PM ^
Believe what you like, but there's no significant danger.
Those links are silly. The first and third one are completely hearsay and admit it: "it was unclear exactly where the images come from."
The second one has severe methodology problems and makes the classic mistake of invoking Chernobyl. Chernobyl has killed fewer than 100 people, by the UN's own estimate, in almost thirty years. More people die from watching Wisconsin's offense every week. Fukushima was no Chernobyl.
February 5th, 2014 at 8:16 PM ^
Worldwide events get held on different parts of the globe. How ridiculous.
February 5th, 2014 at 9:21 PM ^
It's not exactly a winter resort though. It's actually the warmest city in Russia and almost never gets snow.
February 5th, 2014 at 9:30 PM ^
I all for having the olympics all over the globe, but this is like the US hosting the games and having them in south carolina.
February 5th, 2014 at 10:26 PM ^
it's only 25 miles to the glaciers. When I went skiing at Garmisch it was often mild and rainy in town only to be a beautiful winter piste on the Zugspitze less than five miles away.
February 5th, 2014 at 11:45 PM ^
It's not like this is the first time the Winter Olympics have been centered in the warmest city in a country--one that almost never gets snow. The warm weather isn't a big issue.
February 6th, 2014 at 12:12 AM ^
None of the skiing events were in Vancouver. They were all in Whistler, which is within driving distance to Vancouver but is still quite a distance away and is up in the mountains.
February 6th, 2014 at 12:21 AM ^
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Khutor_Alpine_Resort
Don't worry; the Alpine Skiing events won't be in Sochi--they will be about 25 miles away in a semi-nice (relative to the rest of the area, at least) resort area, with real mountains and real snow. My point of course was that Sochi's problem isn't the 40-50 degree weather, any more than that was a problem 4 years ago in Vancouver.
February 6th, 2014 at 7:11 AM ^
February 5th, 2014 at 8:26 PM ^
Or Australia, Sydney was a blast in 2000.
February 5th, 2014 at 8:29 PM ^
February 6th, 2014 at 2:57 PM ^
Only to countries who do not bribe the IOC and countries that do not choose the site per bribes and inflate the cost of the games by doling out contracts to those who pay the most for the privilege.
February 5th, 2014 at 7:34 PM ^
I downvote any post that uses the acronym FU*AR. Too darn close to my name.
February 5th, 2014 at 7:37 PM ^
That's funny (and thanks for explaining - I was wondering why you did). And to think I started to write Clusterfuck (and then knew some people wouldn't like that too much) so I change to Clusterf*ck and then remembered OMG Shirtless downvotes any fake swearing.
So I went with "Fubar" and thought I'd be safe. No such luck.
February 5th, 2014 at 7:52 PM ^
And I'm really a fan of your posts. But fu*ar has been a thorn in my side since middle school.
My dad had an entire speech at my wedding about the name.
February 5th, 2014 at 7:57 PM ^
Don't feel bad (and thanks for the compliment). I respect anybody with a voting code they follow (like OMG Shirtless) cause you know exactly where they stand and why.
Sounds like it was a great toast BTW. I can only imagine.......
February 5th, 2014 at 8:03 PM ^
Seriously, though, what is your name? I'm too drunk to figure it out.
February 5th, 2014 at 8:49 PM ^
I would think the 4th Earl of Grantham should exhibit better manners.
February 5th, 2014 at 7:59 PM ^