1323 replies to this topic

[Guardian]

Jim may be an idiot to some of you out there, but he does had a point about Calgary's little charade about wanting to get the 2014 Commonwealth Games. That news, when I went to work, just came out of the blue one day. It got Calgary City Hall so off-guard that our local tourism head guy had to explain himself to mayor Bronconnier about it. You see, something like this has to get the approval of the mayor and aldermen before the news can get out. The reaction was obvious in the end and the people who tried to pull that stunt was sent packing quietly.

Sure, having a Games like that would help the city's image a little more and give Calgary some venues that it needs to conform to international standards. However, being realistic has to be addressed, too. For that, there are too many questions and factors to consider at this time.

[Sir Rols]

Guardian, on Sep 7 2006, 11:54 AM, said:

Jim may be an idiot to some of you out there, but he does had a point about Calgary's little charade about wanting to get the 2014 Commonwealth Games. That news, when I went to work, just came out of the blue one day. It got Calgary City Hall so off-guard that our local tourism head guy had to explain himself to mayor Bronconnier about it. You see, something like this has to get the approval of the mayor and aldermen before the news can get out. The reaction was obvious in the end and the people who tried to pull that stunt was sent packing quietly.

Sure, having a Games like that would help the city's image a little more and give Calgary some venues that it needs to conform to international standards. However, being realistic has to be addressed, too. For that, there are too many questions and factors to consider at this time.

Of course, Jim's entitled to his opinions, but I just wonder why he bothers posting such long, boring diatribes on a site full of people who aren't gonna be the ones who make the final decision on the games and are not likely to be swayed by his arguments anyway _ c'mon, most of us are here because we're games fanatics. And his posts do tend to be spam on threads which otherwise aren't about Halifax. I mean, there's far far more of his rants against Halifax's plans on this thread than there is any comment on Abuja.

Then he's a bit disengenuous, with his total opposition for a rich country to stage the games because of its costs, and then wishing it religiously on a developing country where 90 per cent of its people are still without basic services (despite it's supposed huge cash reserves and lack of wealth).

He also doesn't serve his case well when he gets some very basic facts wrong. I can't speak for his comments on the minutae of Nova Scotia and Canadian federal politics and financing, but I've picked him up a number of times on some very glaring errors he's made on claims about the Commonwealth Games in general, and tthe past experiences of Olympic and Commonwealth hosts like Sydney and Melbourne (which I know a bit about, as many of us here would as well).

I'm sure he sees himself as preaching to the heathens, but in the exchange of dialogues here, he's pretty close-minded himself.

[jim jones]

roltel, on Sep 7 2006, 02:53 AM, said:

Of course, Jim's entitled to his opinions, but I just wonder why he bothers posting such long, boring diatribes on a site full of people who aren't gonna be the ones who make the final decision on the games and are not likely to be swayed by his arguments anyway _ c'mon, most of us are here because we're games fanatics. And his posts do tend to be spam on threads which otherwise aren't about Halifax. I mean, there's far far more of his rants against Halifax's plans on this thread than there is any comment on Abuja.

Then he's a bit disengenuous, with his total opposition for a rich country to stage the games because of its costs, and then wishing it religiously on a developing country where 90 per cent of its people are still without basic services (despite it's supposed huge cash reserves and lack of wealth).

He also doesn't serve his case well when he gets some very basic facts wrong. I can't speak for his comments on the minutae of Nova Scotia and Canadian federal politics and financing, but I've picked him up a number of times on some very glaring errors he's made on claims about the Commonwealth Games in general, and tthe past experiences of Olympic and Commonwealth hosts like Sydney and Melbourne (which I know a bit about, as many of us here would as well).

I'm sure he sees himself as preaching to the heathens, but in the exchange of dialogues here, he's pretty close-minded himself.

Well if it is bad to wish Nigeria to host a commonwealth games on poverty grounds then why allow
New Delhi the hosting duties in 2010????

more people and more poverty then nigeria.

The problem I have about Halifax is it will come from my pocket book directly . If you have the laundry list of problems with revenues in the last edition of the games with a population of ten times the size of Halifax then Halifax having a great ammount of capital costs for cover in construction is going to be a financial disaster for the city and province. The information comes from a Ron walker chaired Media group . So what does that say then the situation in melbourne is probably worst then portayed . His own paper has basically said he inflates the numbers in favour of the events he runs.

Nigeria as the african bid deserves it from a social justice standpoint , they have the resources financially and they have the list of facilities needed in international sport bodies standards.

Go to parts of Halifax and Preston Nova Scotia and you will se as much in the line of poverty as anyplace including nigeria. The thing with halifax is they keep their poverty well hinden and will display black communities like africaville right across the harbour from the proposed games site in shannon park .

Again nothing to be gained for a federal conservative government in halifax by writing a blank cheque. The western canadian base of that party does not like that alberta hand money to Ottawa right now to provide 21 percent of the annual funding to the province of nova scotia.
The conservatives are no a mission of getting the region off the reliance of mother ottawa.

jim jones

[Sir Rols]

I just wonder why you bother, Jim. Obviously you are passionate about NOT wanting the games in your backyard, but you are a single issue poster on a board that is almost 100 per cent comprised with people with a passion about getting any sort of games to their home country or towns.

We're not the ones who are going to be voting on various hosts (except in our own polls or fantasy contests) and we are probably the last group that is ever going to be convinced by naysayers such as yourself. We get the odd single-issue anti-games posters now and again _ the anti-London 2012/British sports shooters people, the anti-dog-meat-trade-in-Korea deny PyeongChang zealots, the free-Tibet-Boycott-Beijing idealists _ and they all get short shrift here and get seen off pretty quickly.

You're sure persistent, but you're not converting anyone here and I'm not sure what you're achieving beyond letting off a bit of steam (or maybe rather getting more steamed up by the replies posted here to your comments).

And it's not as if we are all unrealistic, wishful thinking daydreamers here _ we are the first to decry the overambitous fantasies of supporters of two-bit burgs from Minneapolis to Baku. And most of us would love to see the games go to new frontiers like South America and Africa, and there is a lot of goodwill on our part towards bidders from those areas. But many of us, particularly the veteran posters, are also hard-headed enough to recognise that this isn't an easy task, it can't be done on goodwill alone, and it can only happen when it can be done responsibly. For my own part, I would be happy enough to see Nigeria awarded the 2014 CWGs, but I've yet to be convinced they are the best and most responsible hosts to be entrusted with the task.

I just suppose that in your posts, I don't see any love for such events, or even a love of sports _ I just see a blinkered NIMBYism. That's fine, local opinion is certainly a consideration for any city or locality looking to host an international event, and every bidder for every big event has its local sceptics, but you're barking up the wrong tree if you see this board as a avenue to convert people to your cause.

Edited by roltel, 10 September 2006 - 10:07 PM.

[mr.x]

He's also doing it to another forum called Skyscrapercity.....yep, that's right - in front of Haligonians (Halifax locals) and Canadians who love their urban planning, buildings, condos, towers, and stadiums. At least use proper grammar.

[Sir Rols]

mr.x, on Sep 11 2006, 11:06 AM, said:

He's also doing it to another forum called Skyscrapercity.....yep, that's right - in front of Haligonians (Halifax locals) and Canadians who love their urban planning, buildings, condos, towers, and stadiums. At least use proper grammar.

A bit of debate is a good thing, and Jim certainly keeps the Commonwealth Games forums here more alive than anyone (even if he tends to preach more than debate). But he's been picked up a number of times for some very basic errors of fact about the Olympic and Commonweralth games in general and the games bidding process in particular, which doesn't help his credibility. And when his support for Abuja is more motivated by his NIMBYism than any real idealism, and he accuses anyone who expresses doubts about his opinions on Abuja's abilities as being racist pukka neo-colonialists, it's no wonder that he alienates himself from most people here.

Edited by roltel, 10 September 2006 - 09:35 PM.

[Rafa]

jim certainly does playa positive role in these forums, i dont get why he adds his names to the end of every post...isnt that what an avatar is for?

- mo rush

[jim jones]

Mo Rush, on Sep 11 2006, 08:51 AM, said:

jim certainly does playa positive role in these forums, i dont get why he adds his names to the end of every post...isnt that what an avatar is for?

- mo rush

well I will tell you why I sign jim jones to every post Mo rush . It is because I beleive the very small group of people who support the games committee in nova scotia or canada for that matter are like the followers of cult leader Jim Jones who made over 900 people commit suicide in Guanna by drinking poison laced Kool Aid. That is how passionately I feel the hosting a commonwealth games would be a financial disaster for my province and how idiotic we look in trying to grasp for a commonwealth games for over 2 decades. When we lost the domestic bid in 1987 to victoria it should Have been realized go on to something else to acquire a stadium for a canadian football lleague team. The thing is Moncton, New Brunswick the rival city to Halifax in our region will have a 12,000 seat stadium for the IAAF world juniors before 2010. Halifax never seems to get it.

And now for some great news from Abuja Mike Fennell has inspected the city and the sports facilities this past friday and has endorsed the bid stating the nigeria has what it takes to host the commonwealth games in 2014.
http://www.thetidenews.com/article.aspx?qr...qrColumn=SPORTS

I wonder what Mr. Fennell will say when he arrives in halifax and is shown cad renderings , an abandoned military housing park (that the city has not even applied to the federal government to purchase the land) and a city hall that cant even fund a very minor league baseball park to get the halifax team off the probation list for the nova scotia mens senior baseball league. The capital city team is the only team on such a probation list and places with only 10,000 people in rural nova scotia have their act together on the baseball field issue. Sounds like a place that will be able to host an outdoor world sporting event like the commonwealth games athletics competition.
Perhaps the halifax committee would interest Mr. Fennell in a couple of free tickets to a 2/3 sold rolling stones show on the 23rd of september.

Mike Fennell is stating what is apparent to you and I Mo Rush . Abuja is most likely to host the games as they have the facilites more then the others. Mike Fennell also stated in abuja about keeping the standard high. Halifax wants to somehow roll back the games to victoria or just a little more because they know the funding is very limited.

again jim jones

[Rafa]

well the glasgow project excites me the most, however if i had to vote, id have to vote abuja,i do believe that glasgow would technically host a better games though. Halifax was never in the race really...and i dont see them doing very well.

[Sir Rols]

jim jones, on Sep 11 2006, 11:20 PM, said:

Halifax wants to somehow roll back the games to victoria or just a little more because they know the funding is very limited.

again jim jones

And why is that a bad thing?