Airline Adventures

Here's a guy in transit to Sochi. Commute began easy in Milwaukee, site of prior Olympic departures to Beijing and London. A mechanical issue ("bad valve") and weather delay (snow and fog in Detroit) led to a quick itinerary change, no sweat (and a bonus upgrade to Economy Plus via Delta and KLM).

Sadly, not much sleep between Michigan and The Netherlands, and upon deplaning in Frankfurt learned my luggage (mostly clothes and toiletries) in big, checked bag remained in Detroit, with no fresh itinerary added to the luggage ticket. Crud.

It's all good, though, as KLM will forward the suitcase to Sochi in a day or two (ETA at hotel Tuesday), and they gave me a few bucks, er, Euros to shop for essentials. The only store with my size in Frankfurt, so far, is a brand named Marc-O-Polo which is more like Abercrombie than Ralph Lauren, so I might be able to get a T-shirt there with just enough to spare for a toothbrush.

The nice sales lady sized me up stating "maybe two-XL is best for you" which sort of took the wind out of my shopping sails.

The site of Aeroflot planes on the tarmac brought to mind that line from "Bridesmaids" that was something like "This IS Happening!" (in a good way, not a bathroom/food poisoning accident in the middle of the street way). I can hardly believe Sochi is just one more flight, and that my eyes remain open (a quick in-airport shower helped).

TV monitors across the departures area here feature International Olympic Committee "thank you worldwide sponsors" ads that are getting a few folks in the five-ringed mood.

Though there was some time during the 12-hour layover, I opted to stay in the airport and get some work completed in lieu of venturing by train to downtown. The Frankfurt skyline is gleaming like Oz on one horizon, and a Hollywood Hills-like mountain-scape crosses another. It will be fun to explore the city during the return-to-USA commute (I booked a two-day layover here for later in February). Met a Brazilian business man heading home to Sao Paulo and he is excited for Rio 2016 as I am. But first let's get this Winter Games on record.

Next stop the Olympic city!

Photo by Nicholas Wolaver

Soiree Olympique

My first few Olympic viewing experiences -- for Montreal 1976, Lake Placed 1980, Sarajevo and Los Angeles 1984 -- felt like a party.

As a toddler, seven year old, and fifth grader, respectively, watching the Games on ABC Sports meant extra TV time and the rare "up past eight" opportunity.

During and after the LA84 opening ceremony, when every kid in the neighborhood went home to watch with family, I naively assumed that everyone in the world dropped everything to view the Olympics.

It wasn't until 1996, when my sister and I viewed the start of the Centennial Games ceremony on a small screen in a suburban Atlanta Chinese restaurant (we were both staying at apartments sans TV access), that it sunk in not everyone cared to watch.

Now I get it -- I may be in the minority on tuning in (LOL).

But some friends DO religiously watch the Opening Ceremonies and competitions. And today via Facebook I spotted an Olympic viewing party invitation from some five-ring fan acquaintances in Janesville, Wisconsin. Bravo! An Olympic Party, Sochi-style!

Perhaps everyone should drink a shot when NBC Olympic commentators utter dramarama terms such as "Olympic security" or "protest zone" and "figure skating controversy."

I'd like to know -- who out there in Blog Reader Land is going to attend or host a Sochi Olympic party? What are you including in your Soiree Olympique to make it authentic? Special Russian recipes and décor, or planning a fondue service with a mini-Olympic cauldron?

After the 1996 work experience, at an auction I purchased an Olympic cooler and official Coca-Cola picnic table and umbrella in anticipation of hosting a Games gathering. Later these items turned into great Ebay sales to fund travel to Sydney 2000, so I never did host an Olympic party. Please share your memories of torch-inclusive gatherings.

Meanwhile, one time I did attend a Golden Globes viewing party (and also attended several client GRAMMY viewing parties in Atlanta). Turns out in tandem with this weekend's Golden Globe Awards broadcast on NBC there will be a "Gold Meets Golden" party featuring many notable summer and winter Olympians and stars of the silver and small screen. According to a press release sent to this blogger, numerous luminaries may attend.

The second-annual NBC/Universal Golden Globes party includes Hollywood hosts Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy, Ryan Kavanaugh, Bradley Cooper, Mark Wahlberg, Sofia Vergara, Adrien Brody, Chelsea Handler, Kerry Washington, Owen Wilson and Hayden Panettiere, who is engaged to Atlanta Olympic gold medalist Wladimir Klitschko.

Atlanta Olympic Village visitor Arnold Schwarzenegger will host a table for winter and summer athletes to attend the Globe Awards ceremony.

The celebrities will join scheduled-to -ttend Olympians including gymnasts Mary Lou Retton, Nadia Comaneci, Bart Conner, Gabby Douglas, Carly Patterson, Nastia Liukin and Jake Dalton; figure skater Sasha Cohen; speed skaters Apolo Anton Ohno, Bonnie Blair and Dan Jansen;  athletics greats Bruce Jenner, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Alyson Felix, Carmelita Jeter, Will Claye and DeeDee Trotter; diver Greg Louganis; swimmers  Nathan Adrian, Rebecca Soni, Eric Shanteau, John Naber, Jessica Hardy and Summer Sanders; water polo player Tony Azevedo; freeskier Nick Goepper; fencer Tim Morehouse; beach volleyball players Kerri Walsh Jennings, Misty May Treanor, April Ross and Jen Kessy; original Dream Team basketball player Magic Johnson, and ice hockey player Caitlin Cahow (recently announced as members of President Barack Obama’s Presidential Delegation for the Opening Ceremony of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games) will also participate.

An Olympic auction is set to launch at the event, with items available for online bidding including VIP tickets to exclusive parties to celebrate the Sochi Games with Olympic legends at Team USA Clubs in Los Angeles (Feb. 7) and Vail, Colo. (Feb. 15), official Team USA apparel, and a Cola-Cola snowboard to be signed by Gold Meets Golden party attendees. The auction launches Jan. 12 and continues this month via CharityBuzz.com/USOC.

I will probably do a party dance when my visa application for Russia Federation is finally processed -- getting anxious for "official" access to Sochi to arrive by mail. Why must this take so many days?

Images via Rich Fletcher and CW3PR

315 and Counting

With just 315 days until the Opening Ceremony for Sochi 2014, today's New York Times featured a full-page photo essay by Moscow-based photographer James Hill.

The online gallery gives a good overview of the upcoming Winter Olympic host city, so sharing it here.

The palm trees remind me of New Orleans.

Photo by James Hill via NYTimes.com

Sochi Mascot Competition

Across the world in Sochi, organizers of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games kicked off a mascot competition with a public selection process involving 11 finalist mascots.

Scanning the choices on Fourth Place Medal and RIA Novosti, I quickly narrowed the field with three Nick picks.

First, take out all of the animals. The bears (one is too similar to the 1980 Moscow Olympic mascot, Misha), the leopard, the too-close-to-Twitter-mascot bird, etc., all seem too silly and too difficult to replicate as a body-suit costume.

Next, take out the foursome of Russian dolls (too many mascots clutter the field).

This leaves Father Frost (St. Nick of Russia ... for some reason, a Saint Nicholas Olympic mascot has a nice ring to it), the Snow Flake girl and Fire Boy.

Earlier today, the first time I saw the renderings, these last two options (the girl and boy) appeared as a pair, and they seemed decent as a duo. Too bad I have just one ballot.

Photos via Novosti

Sochi2014.ru Afterthoughts

The more I've reflected on it during recent days, the more the new Sochi2014.ru logo is growing on me.

But also, it still troubles me. Here's ... the .RUb:

While the logo is original and "a first" to incorporate the organizing committee's URL into its official mark, this logo may also prove to be "the first" that -- in the future -- will cause Olympic historians and anyone to look at the Sochi logo with a smirk of "What were they thinking?"

Why?

From my view, with the fast pace of the Internet changing and being constantly reinvented --taking only months, weeks, days or hours for something/anything online to become "outdated" -- the Sochi2014.ru mark puts a neon sign on their Games for thinking short-term marketing over long-term staying power (will the URL even function come 2016?).

In other words, I think it's logical that in 10 years (or fewer?), the Internet will have changed to the point where ".ru" or ".com" or ".gov" (or any similar nomenclature for a Web address) will be extinct, leaving future generations to gaze upon Sochi2014.ru and scratch their heads with wonder "what is the purpose of .ru? What does '.ru' mean?"

Oh, bother. It's likely the International Olympic Committee, Russian Federation and Russian Olympic Committee -- as well as the Sochi 2014 Olympic officials -- considered all of the potential T.ruth or Consequences of their decision.

Sochi, .RU Kidding Me?

Late yesterday I heard that the Sochi 2014 Olympic office planned to unveil their new official logo today, delayed by recent news events in Russia.

A few minutes ago I found the new Olympic logo news online, and my brain is still processing Sochi2014.ru (that's it!).

Knee-jerk initial reaction: Not crazy about this logo design, which for the first time is simply a custom font with the URL for the organizing committee. Unlike the clever "intercrossed C's" for Calgary 1988, the Northern Lights-inspired look for Lillehammer's 1994 logo, or the detailed skyline/snowflake for Salt Lake 2002, the Sochi 2014 Olympic logo does not really stir the soul.

According to the Associated Press ...

" ... The word 'sochi.ru' appears above the number '2014' in an apparent reflection, symbolizing the southern city's water-based location on the Black Sea ... Interbrand produced the logo, which was subsequently approved in a series of national and international surveys, [officials] said. [Officials] said the new logo would help break Western stereotypes of a Russia stuck in the past, instead promoting the country as a dynamic and modern nation capable of reaching out to new audiences in a digital age."

Borrowing a phrase from an English:Russian translation site: Ya ne paneemau.

It may take some time, and reading a few hundred pages of "Dr. Zhivago," to help me respond "da" to the new Sochi 2014 logo, but I'm sure in time my five-ringed brain will come to terms with the [dot] .ru - infused logo, and eventually the Sochi 2014 typeface will get added to favorite fonts.

I do like the video for the new logo, and encourage folks to view it in Russian or English. The views of the Black Sea and snow-capped Russian mountains are inspiring.

In honor of the new logo, I'll send a Moscow 1980 Olympic pin to the first international reader of this blog who posts a comment with their views on this new Sochi 2014 logo. Thanks/спасибо for reading!

With a name like Smucker's ...

... it had to be good.

And it was, er, they were -- the interviews with 2006 Olympic silver medalist Sasha Cohen and 1998 Olympic gold medalist Ilia Kulik, that is.

Both skaters are now touring with Smucker's Stars On Ice, which stopped by Atlanta's Philips Arena on Wednesday (the tour continues with several dates through April 11).

I'll let the videos and Cohen/Kulik speak for themselves -- both Olympians were helpful and direct with their answers on camera, and cordial off-camera. The biggest surprise: Cohen apparently is an AC/DC fan, given her T-shirt and lip-synching to a couple of the band's tunes during a pre-event warm-up session.

The main question for Sasha -- what's up regarding Vancouver 2010? For Kulik: His involvement with Sochi and the 2014 Winter Games preparation to date, as well as future plans for getting in the mix for Russia's first Winter Olympics.

Many thanks to the tour and venue publicists for their help and time to accomodate the interview requests.

And if you were one to "Elf Yourself" a few holiday seasons back, you might enjoy transforming your headshot photos and friends into Stars On Ice skaters.

That Is So Sochi!

As noted in previous Sunday Gymnastics post, that day was on track to become "best day ever" by noon. The later hours of the day proved to be fantastic!

On the way back to the B.C. Canada Pavilion from the Olympic Green, the skies opened up on Beijing. Big, fat rain! This was a welcome relief from the heat. But the torrential downpour filled the metro station by the pavilion with three inches of standing water in the entryway, where a nice local lady sold me an umbrella that survived for about an hour (made in Taiwan?).

My Edelman colleagues Lorraine and Andrew stopped by for a visit to the pavilion just before many of our Canada colleagues and I embarked for a drenched evening at The Russia House, a spectacular party pavilion that spans several blocks of lakeside property and hutongs.

Sunday night's Russia House party theme was a Vancouver 2010/Sochi 2014 celebration, toasting the 2010 Winter Games and the recently confirmed 2014 Winter Olympic site, Sochi, Russia, which is on the banks of the Black Sea (coincidence they rented a lakeside space here, perhaps).

Oh, man! What an amazing event!

At every turn there was a VIVIP! Jean Claude Killy (yes, that Jean Claude Killy), Vitaly Smirnov and other IOC Members to Japan, Korea and many other nations all spotted on site. Also, Dr. Liston Bochette, former Atlanta Olympic international relations head Charlie Battle (a fellow Atlantan) and about every Russian news organization and several of Russia's gold medal athletes were a buzz. Russian beer and watermelon-infused vodka mojitos contributed to the good times had by all.

The event provided a great introduction to Sochi and what will certainly be an outstanding future Olympiad. Gonna have to ease up on the mojitos the next time we visit Russia House.