Ever since 2002 in Salt Lake, Paul has been telling family and friends to come to the Olympics, summer or winter and be prepared for VIP treatment. Elizabeth didn't feel like Canada in February was her first choice of getaways so Mike Christopherson joined me on an excursion to Vancouver, which turned out to be quite balmy, almost tropical. Here is a glimpse of our experience there.
View from our hotel window
If you could have lunch with any three Olympians, who would it be?
I can't really narrow it down since that includes so many NBA stars and curling stars and rythmic gymnasts. But I always knew that if I ever found myself caught between Apollo Anton Ohno, Scott Hamilton, and say Michael Phelps I'd be living a lifetime dream.
First of all I would probably feel most comfortable striking up a casual conversation with Scott Hamilton because he seems so gentle and his voice sounds so familiar and friendly. Plus, he has been in so many great movies like Blades of Glory.
Second, I would probably try to just get an action shot of Ohno and let him just have his moment getting a bronze medal behind two Koreans.
Then of course I would definitely try to get my picture taken with Michael Phelps because then my wife and kids would think I was awesome. Besides, I don't think he turns anyone down on picture requests.
I can't really narrow it down since that includes so many NBA stars and curling stars and rythmic gymnasts. But I always knew that if I ever found myself caught between Apollo Anton Ohno, Scott Hamilton, and say Michael Phelps I'd be living a lifetime dream.
First of all I would probably feel most comfortable striking up a casual conversation with Scott Hamilton because he seems so gentle and his voice sounds so familiar and friendly. Plus, he has been in so many great movies like Blades of Glory.
Second, I would probably try to just get an action shot of Ohno and let him just have his moment getting a bronze medal behind two Koreans.
Then of course I would definitely try to get my picture taken with Michael Phelps because then my wife and kids would think I was awesome. Besides, I don't think he turns anyone down on picture requests.
Now my wife and kids think I'm awesome.
Thanks to Paul's generous hospitality this Olympic dream was acheived under one roof at the Short Track Speedskating in Vancouver. Short track was definitely the most exciting event to watch live, we had great seats and we saw some close races and great crashes. As we looked over to our left we saw a stylishly camouflaged Michael Phelps.
Then sitting one row behind us (he must not have had as good of connections as we did) was Scott Hamilton and his wife. As we were leaving, the conversation could not be avoided. We said hello, and I told him I really liked his work in "Blades of Glory", along with Will Ferrell as Chazz Michael Michael. Scott said thank you, but he was disappointed he hadn't won any awards for it. I assured him that it would open other doors for him. He said he was holding out hope for the Lifetime Achievement award. Then we took a picture with him and his lovely wife.
The funniest part about seeing Scott Hamilton was that Mike had a file on his phone that was called "lines from Blades of Glory" that was a typed up version of the short hand notes he had taken in the theater during his second viewing of the film. Two nights prior to our meeting with Scott, this had been a great source entertainment as we watched Evan Lysecheck win gold over Pluchenko, the Chazz M.M. of Russia
In 2002 with the games in Salt Lake City I had specifically scheduled my Family Medicine rotation for February so we could be in Utah for the Olympics. Paul landed a great job there and hooked me up with several great tickets. Now eight years later, living in Salt Lake, it was a flashback to when Abby was the age Lucy is now, Paul again hooking me up with great tickets. He had the same job description in Vancouver as he did in Beijing, which was some sort of attache, or advisor or right hand man to Jacques Rogue, president of the IOC. This entailed everything from determining his daily schedule, to seeing that it was followed, to riding with him in his motorcade to the USA vs Canada Hockey game, or a private meeting with the Luge coach from the Republic of Georgia after the death of the Luger.
For Mike and me that meant getting a SWAG bag from the IOC containing a Swatch, and sunglasses, and scarf, as well as hanging out at the "Olympic Club" even though I was fashionably ignorant enough to consider wearing Khakis to a hip international club that serves great food in posh surroundings to Europeans (and Americans) with fancy dark jeans and sports coats.
Entrance to the Olympic Club
It also meant that we got front row seats to a hockey game. I have never loved hockey on TV, but watching it live with a packed arena of foreign fans, waving flags and screaming, and being able to see the puck is pretty amazing. Occasionally a player would get checked into the plexiglass a few feet from our faces. The first game we went to was Russia, vs Slovakia and ended with a seven round shootout. It was fantastic.
Germany vs. Finland
Whistler Mountain, watching Lindsay Vonn win bronze in the Super-G.
The first night we were there we went to the medals ceremony and watched Shaun White recieve his Gold for halfpipe. We had a great view as you can see by my closs up photograph of the jumbotron.
Three brothers on the streets of Vancouver. Alex was working for Jet Set Sports, Paul is the one with the fancy credentialling necklace. I am the handsome one on the right.
