Team GB Football Team for 2012

Awesome idea, and why not?

Sir Craig Reedie has backed the idea of an Olympic Football team for Team GB!

“Of course, there should be a British team. The fears of the Scots, the Welsh and the Northern Irish of losing their independence are in my view groundless,” Sir Craig said. “They should simply join a British team. There will be a UK football team. We have the most magnificent football footprint ... better than any other Olympic country.” The Tmes

I dont think that an Olympic UK team will threaten the SFA or Wales and Northern Ireland at all, I mean it only comes around every 4 years!

it would be amazing to see the UK kick some arse in football during the Olympics.

Fingers Crossed!

Proud to be a British Athlete

Chris Hoy has said it,
(quoted from the Scotsman Newspaper )

Speaking in Beijing, Hoy said: "Before there are any discussions of Scotland going it alone at the Olympics, he would have to look at the facilities and the resources that have been put into Scotland in the first place.

"At the moment we don't have an international facility for cycling and we don't have the coaching structures in place. In fact, we don't have anything in place, so the whole idea is ridiculous.

"I wouldn't have three gold medals hanging round my neck if I wasn't part of the British athletic team. I'm a Scottish athlete in a British team, and I'm proud to be a British athlete."

Absolute legend. If Scotland wanted to get its own Olympic team, then with enough money, time and effort then I am sure we could easily do so, but that's not the point.

We can keep dividing nations by culture, dialect, whatever and then 100 years from now we would then have the Scotland Olympic Team dividing up into the "Scottish Gaelic Olympic Team" and the "Geez-yer-wallet-right-noo! Glasgow Olympic Team"

whats the point in continuously separating everything? Unless of course a nation has a genuine gripe about some foreign occupier.

England is as independent as Scotland, less in fact, at least we have 2 votes! they only have 1! We have our own Parliament, England does not. As I keep on saying to other Scots, remember, England surrendered it status as a sovereign nation in 1707 just as we did.

Autonomy within a greater union is a great idea, diversity is also a great idea. Unity is the natural way to go, I think eventually nations will combine in Unions, Federations and Alliances. There are approx 195 countries in the world, is that not enough?

To promote splintering, fracturing, and separatism will only create a world with far more division in it and we all know what that leads to don't we?

All Eyes on London for 2012

So its all up to London now. Its a big city, with plenty of money so theoretically there should be no problems putting on some excellent Olympic games however, one thing will be for sure, money and budgets will not go as far to build what London needs than it did in Beijing.

Minimum wage, costs of materials, stricter regulations and safety standards will all contribute to a bit less glamour and extravagance than Beijing 2008.

Maybe I am being pessimistic, I reckon that London will do a great job, but its going to be extremely hard to top the standard of the stuff we saw at Beijing.

I do think however that similar to China, London and the rest of the UK also have something to prove too.

We need to show the world that we are an awesome place to hold the Olympics, a place of rich history and character with natural beauty a plenty ( although most of that is in Scotland :-P )

Being an expat I often hear the general opinion of the UK as a bunch of fish and chip eating, warm ale swilling grumps all gathered in the local pub keeping dry from the persistent grey skies and rain.

Is this true? I think that we put ourselves down so much ( UK people ) that we don't realise the amazing country we have. As an expat I know what its like to live abroad for a time and it took a while, but eventually I started to appreciate home, even though it is not really home anymore.

The UK has a responsibility to show off at the next Olympic games in 2012 by any means necessary, even if the weather doesn't co-operate, we need to show the world our music, humour, friendliness, pride and culture.

Just as China has the Great Wall, I am sure the sight of Olympic cyclists riding past famous London landmarks such as Big Ben, The Tower of London and Buckingham Palace will also provide a great backdrop.

If for no other reason, we need to remind ourselves just how "Great" Britain is.

Good Luck London, from an Expat Scot living in New Zealand, eating fish and chips and moaning about NZ.

Olympic Closing Ceremony

So its all over and I don't know about you but my interest in the Olympic games has been raised quite a bit over the last 2 weeks.

I never really watched the Sydney or Athens games but I was tuning into Beijing almost every day for these ones. Perhaps it was the controversy of it being held in China but either way I think China did an amazing job!

The Telegraph.co.uk describes as-it-happened last night with the awesome closing ceremony and handover to the UK of the Olympic Flag for London 2012

Scottish Olympic Team

Chris Hoy will carry the Union Jack during the closing Olympic Ceremony! There is simply no better choice than a proud Scot and true Brit.

This photo sums it up for me, Chris Hoy a triple gold medal winner and absolute legend for Scotland and the UK. He competes in Team GB, he is Scottish but lives in England.

I don't know the guy, but I would like to think that he is proud not only to be Scottish, but British as well.

To me this is a perfect example of why Scotland should be proud to be in Team GB, proud to be part of the UK, proud to show that we can shine even if the vast majority of the UK is English.

Scots Rule! No Separatists please...

Beijing Closing Ceremony 2008

I dont know I will get to stay up for it, since the closing ceremony of the 2008 Olympics Games in Beijing happens around Midnight NZ time, Darn!


I am sure they will put on a great show but I really want to see the segment where they hand over the reigns to the UK for London 2012. Apparently the UK BOC gets an 8 Minute slot to plug the 2012 games to the world.

read more at the bbc >

Team GB Wallpaper

I made this up for Team GB, Its not great but its the best I could do with what I could find.

If anyone has a grump about copyright, let me know.

36 Medals for Team GB!!

RULE BRITANNIA!!

Team GB is Bathing in Medals! , well not quite but still, Great Britain is doing amazingly well at these Beijing Olympics, maybe because we are used to the smog? perhaps conditions are just right for us.

As of writing, we have 16 Gold, 10 Silver and 10 Bronze !!!

What legends, all those people who thought GB was crap at sport, well we have just proved you wrong, go and spin. :-)

Whats particularly incredible is that Chris Hoy has just gained 3 Gold medals in Cycling, how awesome is that? and he is a Scot too which definitely propels Scotland's contribution to Team GB into the spotlight for all of you who think that GB means England.

Can Team Great Britain be stopped !?!

Olympics Closing Ceremony

I am really looking forward to the Closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, I just hope that those nasty terrorists don't get up to any nonsense.

( hope they go 100% real this time too! ) I can spot those CGI's a mile away.

Team GB what makes Great Britain Great!

Its been a long time coming but finally GB is on the right track, at the time of writing Great Britain has won 27 medals! 12 Gold, 7 Silver and 8 Bronze, That's more medals in one weekend than have been won in 3 separate decades last century according to the BBC Magazine .

This is why I am proud to be British ( although I'm sure you would not think it by looking at the Saltire at the top ) I think its best to compete together, instead of fractured states. I know that many people would much prefer that Scotland Wales and England has their own Olympic teams and I know plenty of people who talk up independence at the mention of Team GB but I guess I am the black sheep. Go Great Britain, go all the athletes! especially the Scots but I support them all!

Olympic Ceremony, Fake Fireworks

When I was watching the Opening ceremony last week, I was in awe of the overall show, it was amazing. The fake fireworks did catch my eye good CGI, but for some reason it did not bother, or surprise me. I am an avid Science fiction viewer and a huge fan of visual effects, I can spot a good one from a mile away.


Maybe there is so much fakeness going on these days in the world that it just doesn't bother most of us in the west, although I see many people are talking about it as if it is a scandal.

What interests me most though is that many people saw it as real. This makes me ask the question, what other things do people believe when they watch TV? News reports, documentaries, indeed anything can easily have some faked / staged footage thrown in but 99.9% of people will probably think its real.

Keith Quinn said it @ TVNZ

Convince people of what they are seeing on their TV and you have lots of influence over them.

Aw well, if more people watched Sci-fi, the world would be a better place anyway.

Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony

Well, it was 8 minutes past midnight before the opening ceremony got underway NZ time, took a bit of effort but I managed to stay up for most of it. Those Chinese sure know how to throw a party, I couldn't believe the precision with which they executed the whole show, not a single person was out of step and of course the Chinese invention (fireworks) were put to grand use, I have always loved the Olympics, but this is the first time I have been really excited about it. Controversial yes, but still, I think China has gained its place in the world as a true powerhouse of a nation and not just in business, but entertainment too.