OK, now what? Let’s jump the gun a bit (and hope Canada wins the men’s gold medal hockey game Sunday and the anarchists stay under their rock until the news cameras leave town) and play 20 post-Olympic questions:
1. Finance Minister Colin Hansen tables the post-Olympic budget Tuesday. Ready for the hangover?
2. Will MukMuk, the Vancouver Island marmot, be granted full Olympic mascot status before it becomes extinct?
3. Will Vancouver’s Chief Busybody, Coun. Geoff Meggs, succeed in getting the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts torn down, eliminating the last car-friendly thoroughfares in town?
4. Will it ever snow again?
5. Will Robson Square become the focal point for new, improved Fun City?
6. How much revenue did VANOC pull in through the sale of Olympic stuff, and is it enough to offset the costs of hauling snow to Cypress?
7. Will I ever get a pair of those cool red mittens? I mean, if the Girl in a Wetsuit has red mittens, why don’t I?
8. What will happen to the semi-successful Own the Podium program, the refreshing, un-Canadian attempt to muscle all the other guys out of the way?
9. Will I (or anyone else) start following biathlon, lNordic combined and ice dancing on a regular basis?
10. Is curling really sexy? (No fair if you’ve already seen the Fire and Ice calendar photo of Danish curler Madeleine Dupont. The answer is, um, obvious.)
11. Is Sochi, the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics, ready for its international media close-up? Hint: don’t invite the Brits … or if you do, make sure they win a gold medal on Day 1.
12. What’s next for John Furlong? (He should take a long vacation as far from winter as he can get, then come back and do whatever he likes.)
13. Will they finally raise the fourth leg of the cauldron podium during the Olympic closing ceremonies?
14. Will that strange mix of patriotism, celebration and delight that has transformed Vancouver last through Monday?
15. Will that nice policeman continue to be our friend after Sunday?
16. When’s the ceremony to take down all those surveillance cameras that VANOC and the VPD promised would be gone after the Olympics?
17. Is Granville Street really finished, or will crews continue working on it … forever?
18. Will you ever try a Japadog, the concoction of tube steak, seaweed and wasabi that is the surprise culinary hit of the Olympics?
19. Will the closing ceremonies crowd be able to sing along with O Canada Sunday? Where’s Celine Dion when we need her?
20. What, if anything, can we do for an encore? How about homes for the homeless … finally?
– Paul Sullivan is a Vancouver-based journalist and owner of Sullivan Media Consulting;
vancouverletters@metronews.ca.
