Olympic flame farce

[Hillian1]

The ridiculous torch relay is a load of bollocks anyway. The carbon footprint is HUGE and it's an excellent excuse for more of the sponsors to get their names out and pretend that the whole thing isn't a money making exercise (well, it isn't for anyone LOCAL to the events that quite rightly want to try and make a buck).

And the Nazis came up with the idea.

That's a fair point, I seem to remember the ennobled ex Tory runner proudly saying the fuel for the torches would be the most environmentally friendly ever used by an Olympic torch relay, something like methane from fairies farts or something and the whole convoy seems to be bloody enormous, and the silly bastards took a wrong turning this morning making the whole thing 20 minutes late.

 

[Hatterlovesbrighton]

It sold for £17,000 in the end. The next one up is on £10k already with over a day to go....


I wonder if any future relay participants risk getting mugged now? I would fancy doing the Salford or Toxteth legs!!

Fools and their money. With 8,000 of these available £17k is vastly overpriced.

 

[rouseytastic]

It sold for £17,000 in the end. The next one up is on £10k already with over a day to go....


I wonder if any future relay participants risk getting mugged now? I wouldn't fancy doing the Salford or Toxteth legs!!

To be fair it wouldn't be much of a stretch mugging some of them judging by the amount of breeze block units i've seen wobbling around with them.

If thats the best we've got we might as well hand them the keys to London and have a couple of days off...................

 

[rouseytastic]

See what i mean!

 

[CHAPPERS]

Judging by the huge crowds, the British public disagree with you.

The less said about the general public, the better.

I read an article the other day that said all the carbon footprint of the Olympic Torch relay is the same as if you drove a Toyota Prius 1.4 million miles.

Here it is, in fact:

How many vehicles does it take to escort one Olympic flame on 300 yard dash? 47! | Mail Online

 

[Gazwag]

I wonder how many of the ridiculous eBay bids are real?

And how many mugs pay £1,600 for a photo of an olympic torch (because they didn't read the description), which I saw the other day and the listing still had time to run.

 

[Scoffers]

Like people spending shit loads of money on oil paintings, i don't quite get it, but each to their own, they are worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it

 

[Deleted member 22389]

Like people spending shit loads of money on oil paintings, i don't quite get it, but each to their own, they are worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it

Yes they are worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it, and I don't get it either. It's just the idea that some people are selling these torches for profit feels wrong to me. Charity, excellent idea and will hopefully help a group or individual out, personal gain, wrong.

 

[countryman]

I don't mind Drogba running with one because he scored the champions league winning goal for an english club. But Will I Am is just annoying and hasn't done anything except irritate people who started watching the voice.

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

The less said about the general public, the better.

I read an article the other day that said all the carbon footprint of the Olympic Torch relay is the same as if you drove a Toyota Prius 1.4 million miles.

Here it is, in fact:

How many vehicles does it take to escort one Olympic flame on 300 yard dash? 47! | Mail Online

Less said about the public, because what they said is right ? HUGE crowds have came out to see it so it clearly isnt a load of rubbish.

What you have said about the carbon footprint of it is 100% true though, its incredibly excessive - maybe just a few cars and a bus at most is needed.

Back to the topic - I havent got a problem with Drogba running with the torch, seeing as his penalty kick won the Champions League for an English team. Not sure about Will.i.Am though - if a sponsor is going to choose a torchbarer, at least choose someone English or someone who has a good connection to the country.

 

[clippedgull]

Someone is having a laugh!

http://www.burnham-on-sea.com/news/2012/sarah-milner-simonds-ebay-fees-22-05-12.php

£153,000 bid, surprise, surprise, no one has come forward to settle the winning bid.

I'm no Ebay expert, but surely she won't have to pay up if the bid is not settled?

 

[Razi]

I don't get why there are so many olympic torches. I thought all the excitement initially with going to Athens to light the torch, then going through the drama of bringing it back on an aircraft.. was because it was one torch, with one flame, being handed from person to person. As soon as I realised there were some 7-8,000 torches in existence... well, just seems pointless? I've heard rumours that the flame has gone out from time to time too - though not really looked into any coverage of that.

 

[TheJasperCo]

I don't get why there are so many olympic torches. I thought all the excitement initially with going to Athens to light the torch, then going through the drama of bringing it back on an aircraft.. was because it was one torch, with one flame, being handed from person to person. As soon as I realised there were some 7-8,000 torches in existence... well, just seems pointless? I've heard rumours that the flame has gone out from time to time too - though not really looked into any coverage of that.

That's what I thought. It must cost the organisers a mint to make all the thousands of torches. The fact that they sold them on the runners at a discounted price means they're making a huge loss on each one.

And yeah, the torch has gone out a few times since it reached England.

 

[CHAPPERS]

Less said about the public, because what they said is right ? HUGE crowds have came out to see it so it clearly isnt a load of rubbish.

The general public are idiots.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

I think its brilliant and have really enjoyed dipping in and out of live BBC coverageI have also really loved the days photos put up on the BBC and Guardian websites. It has made the UK look fantastic so far.

I hope that most of the sales of the torches, go for high values if the money is going to charity, I have really enjoyed reading the nominations for most of the torch bearers, they make you feel humble, overcoming adversity and raising huge funds for charity.

I think the organisers have been very clever putting celebrity runners, MUSE, Military wifes, Will I Am, Droga, Zara Philips as these get the evening headlines, hence this thread, its the part people see and keeps the 2012 publicity/vibe going.

 

[beorhthelm]

Coe and the rest have sold out to comercialism and publicity..

in other news, i heard Navarro has been released.

tbf to Coe, its the whole olympics circus, they only exist for US commercial interests. they love it and advertisers pay lots.

 

[father_and_son]

Can't really be arsed to comment on who should or should not be involved in the tedious torch relay.

I can! My gf is going to be a torch bearer during the Portsmouth to Brighton section. If it weren't for her I couldn't really be bothered, but I will be taking the day off to stand on the pavement and cheer her on. Plus I'll be helping her as she brings her touch to a couple of our local schools on a show and tell. Couldn't be any prouder of her.

 

[Hillian1]

I can! My gf is going to be a torch bearer during the Portsmouth to Brighton section. If it weren't for her I couldn't really be bothered, but I will be taking the day off to stand on the pavement and cheer her on. Plus I'll be helping her as she brings her touch to a couple of our local schools on a show and tell. Couldn't be any prouder of her.

Will she sell it though?

 

[Mellotron]

The fact that Drogba and Will.I.Am. care enough about this whole thing to go to Swindon surprises me.

Yes, because they're there (on behalf of their SPONSORS) out of the goodness of their hearts. Doesn't surprise me at all that they are willing to keep to the terms of their advertising contracts.

 

[father_and_son]

Will she sell it though?

Nope. She wants to keep