London 2012- Closing Ceremony

Decent montage, sky would've done a better one.
 
2 weeks of amazing sport coming to an end, it all feels a bit emotional right now. feck the football for the time-being, farewell to a great Olympics - one of best ever.
 
:(

I've got that same feeling. It's been an absolute privilege. I've loved it from start to finish. Seb Coe said it perfectly, "We did it right!".

I am so glad i was alive in this time and in Britain to see it. It's ben something else.

I've always watched the Olympics and followed certain sports but this has left such a lasting impression across the board. Really might go to Rio and cheer on GB if i can, hopefully you can get BBC coverage on your iPad by then. :)
 
It's not that i've stopped liking football but the emotional involvement is different, the nature of the support and the connection you have to those competing, particularly after this.

Some of the things players and fans do or moan about seem so petty in the aftermath of the Olympics. Football can still help itslf though if it possesses the will.

And doesn't "Club England" come across as a part time outfit when compared to Team GB and UK Sport. When was the last time they met a target and put in such meticulous preparation? But then lottery and government funding do necessitate a transparency we rarely get from the FA or PL.
 
I'm going to go against the grain here and say as great a the Olympics have been, they still can't make me feel like football does. Never have, never will.
 
It's not that i've stopped liking football but the emotional involvement is different, the nature of the support and the connection you have to those competing, particularly after this.

Some of the things players and fans do or moan about seem so petty in the aftermath of the Olympics. Football can still help itslf though and you never know.

And doesn't "Club England" come across as a part time outfit when compared to Team GB and UK Sport. When was the last time they met a target and put in such meticulous preparation? But then lottery and government funding do necessitate a transparency we rarely get from the FA or PL.

There is something infectious about the olympics in general that football can't give, it can give a lot of stuff but not that.

When you hear a crowd in a packed stadium that is so pleased to just be attending a small part of history that is happening on their door step and won't happen again whilst an athlete is chasing the absolute peak moment of their lives. The fact that the athletes will mostly go back to being normal working people soon with the games over and that some managed to truely go down in legend is a great feeling and just what makes the olympics so special. Put this in your home country and it's just unbeatable, really sad to think that the cheer you heard from the crowd when a GB athlete was participating won't happen to the same degree again.
 
And doesn't "Club England" come across as a part time outfit when compared to Team GB and UK Sport. When was the last time they met a target and put in such meticulous preparation? But then lottery and government funding do necessitate a transparency we rarely get from the FA or PL.

To me that is so totally 100% true. And sums up my feelings about why I called the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish FA's "cry babies" about the Team GB, err, team. It's soooo petty, it's beyond petty, it's ridiculous. All four FA's should be trying to put a team out for every Olympics not crying over fecking having somehow ended up qualifying for one automatically.

feck my life, practically every Englishmen in the world is sympathetic to the Welsh, Northern Irish and Scottish separate identities. Every Englishmen in the world respects their rights to put forward their own nation in the Rugby and Football world, we've had some crackers against them and visa versa. But in the Olympics it's a single entity, a single Team GB, a single chance every 4 years for men and women to have equal rights. For young people from each of the four nations to have the opportunity to shine.

Bolt is a United fan, Mo Farah is an Arsenal fan. I almost hope the next generation are fans of Team GB over United, Arsenal, Chelsea, City, or even England.
 
There is something infectious about the olympics in general that football can't give, it can give a lot of stuff but not that.

When you hear a crowd in a packed stadium that is so pleased to just be attending a small part of history that is happening on their door step and won't happen again whilst an athlete is chasing the absolute peak moment of their lives. The fact that the athletes will mostly go back to being normal working people soon with the games over and that some managed to truely go down in legend is a great feeling and just what makes the olympics so special. Put this in your home country and it's just unbeatable, really sad to think that the cheer you heard from the crowd when a GB athlete was participating won't happen to the same degree again.

The girls man. The Spanish, French, British, Italian, Brazilian, American. Jumping up and down like they are just happy, lovely and young. Like your friends or your girl, like your family, like your aunt when you where a kid. They where amazing.
 
It's not that i've stopped liking football but the emotional involvement is different, the nature of the support and the connection you have to those competing, particularly after this.

Some of the things players and fans do or moan about seem so petty in the aftermath of the Olympics. Football can still help itslf though and you never know.

And doesn't "Club England" come across as a part time outfit when compared to Team GB and UK Sport. When was the last time they met a target and put in such meticulous preparation? But then lottery and government funding do necessitate a transparency we rarely get from the FA or PL.

Agreed. Got to be the best sporting occasion I've ever witnessed....the massive effort from the team after many years hard slog....I'll never forget those rowers who could hardly walk and talk after their events! Certainly puts some of the supposed superstars of football to shame who manage to put half hearted displays in week in week out!

I sincerely hope the next generation are inspired and dare to dream they could be the next Mo Farrah or Nicola Adams or Ali Brownlee....takes hard work but it can be done!

Brilliant games which I will remember for a very long time! Well done GB!
 
Well it started badly, then got worse, but by the time Annie Lennox came on channeling the Demon Headmaster in a gothic pirate nightmare, I got quite into it. But by the time it'd gotten to the obligatory interpretive dancing, I felt it had gone on too long. Plus I was disappointed they didn't do "tree in a strong wind"...That said, always nice to see pimps at the Olympics.
 
There was a lot of stiff competition, but I think the brown medal for shittest part of the night has to go to Liam Gallagher for singing Wonderwall entirely through his nose.
 
It's not that i've stopped liking football but the emotional involvement is different, the nature of the support and the connection you have to those competing, particularly after this.

Some of the things players and fans do or moan about seem so petty in the aftermath of the Olympics. Football can still help itslf though and you never know.

And doesn't "Club England" come across as a part time outfit when compared to Team GB and UK Sport. When was the last time they met a target and put in such meticulous preparation? But then lottery and government funding do necessitate a transparency we rarely get from the FA or PL.

There is something infectious about the olympics in general that football can't give, it can give a lot of stuff but not that.

When you hear a crowd in a packed stadium that is so pleased to just be attending a small part of history that is happening on their door step and won't happen again whilst an athlete is chasing the absolute peak moment of their lives. The fact that the athletes will mostly go back to being normal working people soon with the games over and that some managed to truely go down in legend is a great feeling and just what makes the olympics so special. Put this in your home country and it's just unbeatable, really sad to think that the cheer you heard from the crowd when a GB athlete was participating won't happen to the same degree again.

The thing is, it's a different kettle of fish. You say these people will go back to being normal, but it's not that, they won't. It's that people will stop paying attention to them. They'll still be doing exactly the same thing, running, cycling, dancing on horses, but people won't be as excited by it. In the harshest possible way, no one will care.

I don't know how many football tournaments you lot have been to, but I bang on about them all the time. They're all a lot like this, save the novelty of being in your country. Big party atmospheres, everyone pulling together, cultural showboating etc etc....Except the Olympics has the advantage of the home country not going out at any stage. If a Team GBer fails at the speed walking, you can support them tomorrow in the syncronised diving. Quite happy and uncritical of their performance, because you know feck all about either.

That's not to say footballers can't learn a lot from humble athletes, or that this wasn't a particularly wonderful tournament, but it's a bit unfair to compare football to it in many ways.

Iain Macintosh and (barf, barf) some guy over at the Anfield Wrap have written good, in depth pieces on this very thing fwiw.

http://bet.unibet.com/football/2012/08/07/stop-kicking-beautiful-game-teeth/41

http://www.theanfieldwrap.com/2012/08/the-olympics-football-the-media-a-two-way-street/
 
Also, Brian May's solo was the epitome of lead guitarist self indulgence. "Yeah, we'll play We Will Rock You, and you can use Freddie's image....just as long as I can have a long, rambling 10 minute solo in a bath robe...alright?"

Should've played We Are The Champions instead anyway.
 
The thing is, it's a different kettle of fish. You say these people will go back to being normal, but it's not that, they won't. It's that people will stop paying attention to them. They'll still be doing exactly the same thing, running, cycling, dancing on horses, but people won't be as excited by it. In the harshest possible way, no one will care.

I don't know how many football tournaments you lot have been to, but I bang on about them all the time. They're all a lot like this, save the novelty of being in your country. Big party atmospheres, everyone pulling together, cultural showboating etc etc....Except the Olympics has the advantage of the home country not going out at any stage. If a Team GBer fails at the speed walking, you can support them tomorrow in the syncronised diving. Quite happy and uncritical of their performance, because you know feck all about either.

That's not to say footballers can't learn a lot from humble athletes, or that this wasn't a particularly wonderful tournament, but it's a bit unfair to compare football to it in many ways.

Iain Macintosh and (barf, barf) some guy over at the Anfield Wrap have written good, in depth pieces on this very thing fwiw.

http://bet.unibet.com/football/2012/08/07/stop-kicking-beautiful-game-teeth/41

http://www.theanfieldwrap.com/2012/08/the-olympics-football-the-media-a-two-way-street/

I agree with a lot of that and suppose I didn't exactly word my post well. I think you are right though, having not been to an international tournament I can't really comment on them but I can say I have never enjoyed watching one as much as I have enjoyed the Olympics this time, and I guess a lot of that is down to your point about the home team or Gb team can never go out.

Think the other thing is though is the Olympics to a TV watching fan is different, these sports aren't as easy to see outside of it, you have no vested interest in them the rest of the year and seeing some of the athletes perform at a level of attention and atmosphere that they will almost definitely never see again is incredible and just infectious, with all the years of quite often isolated hard work paying off in an instant.

Football tournaments are brilliant for many different reasons but do lack some of the magic of an Olympics, as really it's all just the same as you see all year, same size stadiums, same players, same fans in a lot of cases and once it's all over you can go back to watching your club side which usually you have a bigger vested interest in anyway. I can imagine going to them is a very different kettle of fish but I am speaking purely as a TV watcher of both.

I guess my point is more about this olympics, I'm certain I enjoyed euro 2008 more than Bejing with this olympics the feeling of watching a true one off and also being able to enjoy so many events in it has just been brilliant and I can't really see what will ever give me such a sustained feeling of that again.

EDIT: Having now read both articles I would like to add that I at no point was trying to slag football or footballers for the money, something which I really can't say I give a shit about. The "Oh footballers earn more than INSERT MORE IMPORTANT JOB they should give them some of their money" argument annoys me simply because it has no basis in reality, and if you are going to complain about that then why lump in film stars, pop stars etc... My point was more that seeing an athlete really reach their one peak moment and 15 minutes in the spotlight is something infectiously brilliant that you don't see it football.
 
Thought the closing ceremony was brilliant and I thought London did a great job and I was proud to be British. I watched more of these games than any others for a long long time.
 
I did like the way the Closing Ceremony was basically a concert for the athletes...Even if they were kettled, didn't have a bar and blatantly needed a piss for about an hour and a half.
 
I want to make this a reaction gif for something.....feck knows what.

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I like how he was the only one to demand the obligatory diva compromise of "yeah, I'll play one of my classics....as long as I can play a shit new one no one wants to hear"

There should also be a gif of the moment Posh Spice's car started moving slightly before she was ready for it.
 
:lol:

Almost as bad as somebody on Big Brother the other week, saying how amazing blind people's eyesight in the dark is.
 
Emilie Sandi was being plugged so much by the BBC, she butchered Imagine with her fecking aguilera warbles.



Also "I didn't think people existed 3000 years ago" what a tool.
 
Also, Brian May's solo was the epitome of lead guitarist self indulgence. "Yeah, we'll play We Will Rock You, and you can use Freddie's image....just as long as I can have a long, rambling 10 minute solo in a bath robe...alright?"

Should've played We Are The Champions instead anyway.

Perhaps the lyric "no time for losers" might not have gone down too well with most of the athletes who won nothing?
 
Why did we have Alvin and the Chipmunks butcher Wonderwall?

But yeah, not the best closing ceremony, but what an amazing event. Well apart from the beeb getting the maths wrong. How can it be 3000 years when it's only 2012? That flies in the face of twittermaths.