8/6/16 (Rio
2016 Day 1), “Let the Games Begin”
Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil
The Olympics
have Officially been opened, and the Games have begun. Typically at this point in a Games, I would
have woken up at 9:30 AM in whatever time zone the Games were being held, I
would have microwaved McDonald’s breakfast and a can of Coca-Cola, and I would
be watching the Cycling Road Race while planning the rest of my Day, how many
screens I would need so that I could watch every single medal event live,
whether streamed on my laptop, on my cell phone, or broadcast on one of the
networks of NBC. That is how I have
experienced Day 1 of most Games in recent memories.
This is going to be a different kind of
Olympics. “Bruh,” I said to Raymond as
we woke up a little after 9 AM, “the road race is this morning. Maybe we can catch a little of it around
town.” I will not be venturing to watch
every event this Games. Instead, I will
only be watching what I can catch in person.
Archery, that is our event for today, a key part of Day 1. It is an event I associate with Day 1 as much
as any other event. It is an event that
is typically dominated by South Korea, a place I visited just 7 months
ago. It will be fun to watch, and I am
looking forward to a very epic Games.
Okay, so what happened after I closed?
Drama, that’s what happened. I
took a bit of a nap as I charged my phone before I got ready to head out,
regaled in my Team USA gear. There was a
direct subway line from my hotel to the Stadium, and it was already dark out,
it being winter here. Once I got off the
subway at the Maracana station, there was a huge crowd waiting, and volunteers
guided us to the entrance to the Stadium.
We were definitely taking the long way around.
Finally, I got to the first security checkpoint,
where I was patted down for weapons, and we were told to keep our tickets out
at this point. That’s important to
note. A few minutes later, a woman
walked up to me. She was cute in a
bubbly way, but I wouldn’t describe her as any great beauty. She asked me if I was travelling alone and if
she could walk with me, as she didn’t want to walk alone. That seemed a little off, but it kind of made
sense. My guard was up at this point,
again, important to note. She said she
bought her ticket from a scalper outside the line and wanted to compare it
against mine to see if it was real. My
guard up, I told her to hand me her ticket, and I could compare it against
mine. She agreed, and I said it looked
legit. She was from Spain, but she is
living in Rio, or so she said. We walked
together, through the big crowd, my guard up, my ticket in hand, my pockets
snapped shut to protect against pick-pockets.
When we got in front of the Stadium, we took a picture together. Now, Reader, note carefully every detail of
what is about to follow. Since this was
a ceremonial picture, I held my ticket and water bottle in my hand. I asked my new friend for her Facebook
information, which she eagerly provided, and she seemed glad that I took the
picture, since her phone was dying, and she didn’t have enough battery. She didn’t have data, either, so she said
she’d need to wait until she got home to have Wi-Fi to confirm the friend
request. At this point, I started to
trust her, and my guard was down, especially as I was posting the picture to
social media, which required my full concentration. It was a very big crowd, very crowded, very
slow moving. I put my phone away, and
realized my ticket was not in my hand anymore.
I checked the pocket where I kept it.
The pocket was no longer snapped shut, and the ticket was missing.
FUCK!!!!!!
FUCKING FUCK FUCK!!! My new
friend seemed devastated for me. We
looked on the ground, but we couldn’t find it.
She told me that I should buy a ticket from the guy who sold her her
ticket. That seemed sketchy. I was now starting to suspect her, but
something didn’t add up. We looked for a
volunteer, and we learned that they had a procedure in place. I would need to file a police report, and
then I could show the police report to the ticket assistance office, and they
would give me a new ticket, and, if someone was sitting in my seat, the police
would eject that person. It was a
reasonable process, but no one promised me how long it would take or if it
would even work.
My new friend was now
pressuring me to buy that extra ticket, or to give her the money so that she
could buy the ticket and come back. She
asked me if I trusted her. That was a
red flag. She took down my phone number,
and I noticed something. She had a guy’s
name and phone number written on her arm.
If she was able to take down my phone number in her phone, why did she
have that number written on her arm? If
she was involved in some kind of scam, maybe that was her ICE number to call if
she got arrested. She came with me and
the volunteer (and a Pakistani man who had the same problem) to the police
station.
My reader should note that I am
not accusing her of being involved in this, only that things seemed very
suspicious, and I wouldn’t even go so far as to say that it was more likely
than not that she was involved. Nothing
adds up. It doesn’t add the way she was
acting if she was innocent, but it also doesn’t add up that she was involved in
some kind of scam, so I truly do not know.
Fortunately, I had texted my friend a picture of the ticket when I had
first gotten it, and that image had the barcode and seat number clearly
visible. That was a saving grace, and
that was what aided the resolution of this ordeal. I went to the ticket assistance office with
my police report and image on my cell phone.
Meanwhile, a crew from NBC 4 NY asked to interview me about my
ordeal. I told them all about and about
how much I loved the Olympics. At the
ticket assistance office, they could not reprint my ticket, but they were able
to print me out a comp ticket for a different seat. I would go to my seat, and, if someone was
there, the police would eject him or her from that seat. It seemed reasonable enough. The camera crew followed me from the ticket
assistance office to the Stadium entrance.
I told them more about how much I loved the Olympics, about how much I
love NBC’s coverage, and how it wouldn’t be the same if I couldn’t hear Bob
Costas’s introductions. I made the news,
but it was cut down to one line, “It’s still a dream. You have no idea how much I love the
Olympics.”
That was that. I was inside.
I was home. I was so home. By the time I was inside I had already missed
a lot of the pageantry, but I care more about the ceremonial stuff. The Parade of Nations hadn’t even started
yet. I got some food, a Coke, and a
beer, the beverages with collectable cups.
After I bit of the pageantry, I took my Coke cup and headed out in
search of souvenirs. As I was walking
around, I heard chants of “USA!!!
USA!!! USA!!!”
Team USA was about to enter the stadium to
take their place in the preparation for the Parade of Nations. I waited until they went in before getting my
souvenirs. I took a brief peek inside
the stadium, but they were still at Bosnia, so I had plenty of time. The US would be marching under Estat…, the
Brazilian translation of United States of America. I got a beer and returned to my seat as
Ecuador entered.
Well, guess what,
Reader. Someone was sitting in my
seat. She was holding my ticket, and it
had all the bends I recognized from being in my pocket. I showed her the police report and told her
to give me my seat (and ticket) back.
She handed it over and left the seat almost in tears. She had bought the ticket from a scalper
outside the Stadium. I have no idea how
the ticket got from my pocket to the Scalper, but it was back in my hands
now. That was all that mattered. She probably watched from the aisles. I didn’t care.
Soon enough, it was time for Team USA. I cried when Michael Phelps walked out with
that flag. I literally have no bigger
hero. None. They marched around the Stadium, and I think
I waited until France before I left the Stadium. I had another beer and a Brazilian cigar
outside the seating area as the parade continued.
I got another beer and went back to my seat
in time for Tonga. The flagbearer from
Tonga, who made the front page of all the coverage of the Ceremonies, looked
like a character straight out of Moana.
They finished the parade with the refugee team, which got a standing
ovation, and the host nation of Brazil.
Then came the ceremonial stuff.
Brazil’s interim president, seen as a usurper, was loudly booed, as he
declared open the Games of the XXXI Olympiad.
There were fireworks, and now that this was Officially an Olympic
Stadium, I took my ceremonial picture.
“23 Down, 4 to go.” I will say,
“27 Down, 0 to go. All Olympic Stadiums
Complete,” by the end of this year. Then
came the torch, and the cauldron was lit by the famed bronze medalist at the
2004 Marathon. He should have won
gold. He received thunderous
applause. More fireworks, and then they
told us to go home. My phone was at
3%.
I headed out, realized I had
forgotten my souvenir cups, ran back to the seat, found out someone had picked
up them, and then had to leave the stadium slightly dejected, but I knew I
would get more at the other events. The
line for the train was completely packed, but it moved quickly enough, and I
was home within an hour. I was pumped
and wanted to go out, but Raymond was already asleep when I got back. I charged my phone and got caught up on my
social media notifications and feeds before going to sleep.
We woke up around 9 AM and headed down for
breakfast, somehow us both being able to get free breakfasts, which was a boon. I was barely hungry. Since I would be hear for nine morning, I didn’t
feel a need to try everything. I had two
coffees, a little bit of bacon and eggs, and two bites of pastry. We then headed up to the roof, and I lit up a
Partagas. I sat down in view of the
statue of Christ and proceeded to write this entry, which I will now close so
that I can charge up my electronics a bit before heading to Archery.
(Sambodromo
Archery Venue)
Well, Team
USA has clinched a medal in Archery. The
only question that remains is, will it be silver like it was after our
heartbreaking loss to Italy in the finals four years ago in London, or can we
actually pull off a gold medal victory.
Korea is our competitor in the gold medal match, which will be starting
in a little over half an hour. If they
shoot anything like they did in the semis, Korea will prove a difficult
opponent to beat in the finals. If Korea
brings home the gold, it will be well-deserved.
I can only hope our boys are up to the challenge. It will be quite magical for my first
in-person Olympic event to result in a Team USA gold, but silver will be
marvelous, too.
I feel so at home here
in the stands, as if I’ve been waiting my whole life to sit in this seat. I am surrounded by fans from all around the
world, representing almost every team that is competing here this
afternoon. The Team USA fans know even
more about archery than I do, but most of them are archery fans, rather than
Olympic fans. They may have done
professional archery themselves. I would
be lucky to hit the target with one of three arrows from the line.
The bronze medal match between Australia and
China will be starting soon. I will, of
course, be rooting for Australia, where I will be ringing in the New Year in a
few months. I suppose it is of some
interest that our path to gold puts us up against three Asian nations:
Indonesia in the quarters, China in the semis, and Korea in the finals. It will be an exciting match, and I am
looking very much forward to it.
After I
closed, we charged our electronics and got dressed for the day. Since this was the first Day, I put on my
t-shirt from the first modern Olympic Stadium in Athens, especially since
Archery is an ancient sport. We headed
to the subway station, picking up a lighter on the way. At the station, we went to the ATM and then
Ray got his metro card for the week. It
was a short subway ride to the station, and we were able to get all of our
tickets for the rest of the events at the box office. There was a long line to get inside, but we
were very early.
The event was being
held at the iconic Sambodromo, which is used as the main parade route for
Carnival. The long, thin form with the
bleachers made it perfect for an archery venue.
We got some snacks outside before we were let in. First we got souvenirs, then drinks, before
heading to our seats. We watched the
first match, in which Australia beat France, before heading out to have a
cigar. We lit up a pair of Montecristos
and sat in the shade while the next two quarter-final matches occurred, before
returning to watch Team USA. They handedly
beat Indonesia.
Next up was the first
semi-finals match, in which Australia lost badly to Korea. We beat China in kind in our match-up. After that, I moved over one seat for a
better view, where I proceeded to write this entry, which I will now close so
that I can watch the end of the bronze-medal match, in which Australia is
trouncing China, and then the gold-medal match.
After this event, we will head out to a cigar shop to get supplies for
the rest of the Olympics.
When I was
on my trip to Antarctica, I knew that every epic night would be a night that I
would remember for the rest of my life.
Most of my entries were written around 3 AM after an epic night of doing
whatever. I have come to the realization
that this trip will be the same. I will
remember tonight, Night 1, for the rest of my life, and I hope that I will be
able to say the same about the next 7 Nights.
The Days will be filled with Olympic activities, but the Nights, those
are when the memories are made.
I had no
such experience during my Eurotrip or during the trip to the American
West. Those Nights were reserved solely
for winding down. It was midnight by the
time we got back to our hotel. I suppose
that will be the norm for this trip.
Tonight was just the first of many such nights. When we had left the hotel this morning, we
had packed everything we might need to stay out the entire night.
After I closed at the archery venue, I
watched Australia hold on to their commanding lead against China. Korea than trounced Team USA with a
record-setting performance. Korea got
117 out of 120 point and beat us in straight sets. I respect greatness when I see it, and I
witnessed today what was quite possibly the greatest performance in the history
of Olympic team archery. Team USA didn’t
stand a chance, and I was happy with their silver medal. We watched the medal ceremony, and then I got
an ice cream before we called a car, which would take us the Casa del Habano,
which was housed inside a restaurant called Esch Café. Of course, we would be eating there.
The cigars were overpriced, likely due to
taxes, but we each picked out some cigars.
I got a box of Bolivar Exclusivo Brasil and some loose sticks, and we
split a box of Hoyo de Monterrey. We
looked at the menu and tried to pick out as iconic a meal as possible. We ordered the national cocktail to drink,
something called Caipirinha, which was basically a mojito. I lit up the Bolivar, seeing at was the
Brasil regional exclusive. They brought
bread and a full cigar box of crackers, along with a big thing of chopped
liver, olive oil, and butter. We could
have very happily made a meal out of the cigars, the alcohol, and that spread,
but we wanted to experience the whole thing.
I got a stewed jerked beef thing with all the fixings. It was delicious. In fact, I would go so far as to say the
whole thing was one of the best meals of my life. We weren’t even done yet. We got coffee as we considered the dessert
menu.
They had a local dish called Romeo
y Julieta, some kind of guava-filled crème brulee contraption, which we
split. That was good, too. After the Romeo y Julieta, and two more
espressos, I had, of course, a Romeo y Julieta cigar. We paid the bill and walked to the beach with
the rest of our cigars.
We were in
Leblon, right by Ipanema. Long story
short, we wound up walking to Ipanema, to a hotel called Praia de Ipanema and
wanted to go up to the roof. We pressed
the elevator and two elevators opened.
We each took one of the two, and Raymond’s elevator arrived at the roof
first. The bar there was dead, so we
took the elevator back down. Well,
that’s when things started to get interesting.
Raymond didn’t quite understand that Floor 1 was the first floor above
ground outside the US, so he pressed that button. In total, he pressed four buttons, including
the correct one for the lobby. The
elevator stopped at the 14th Floor and I told Raymond he was going
to have to explain what happened. A
woman walked on, and I immediately said that Raymond pressed all the buttons. She thought that I was way too eager to
volunteer that information and accused me of leading the buttons. We started talking, and it turned out that
she was the manager of the Australian canoe/kayak team. Oh!
My! Fucking! God!!!
Raymond wanted to go someplace that was more lit. I was ready to go home. She was on the phone trying to find a spot
for us with “hot people.” My reader will
note that I have not mentioned anything about said manager’s physical
appearance. There was nothing worth
mentioning about it. I didn’t care. She was an Olympic coach. That was all that I cared about. I didn’t care about these “hot people” she
was trying to find for us. I only had
eyes for her.
She also mentioned that
she had some extra tickets to random events if we wanted them. Of course we did. We decided we’d all have a drink up on the
roof. She wanted sparkling wine. She got off at the 14th Floor, and
we looked at each other excitedly the moment the doors closed, for different
reasons. “Dibs,” I announced, invoking a
particular aspect of the Bro Code. “I
don’t care,” Raymond responded. He just
wanted the free tickets.
We sat down in
the indoor section of the bar, and I ordered a bottle of Brazilian sparkling
wine with three glasses. We both wanted to
sweeten her up, for different reasons.
Spoiler alert: neither of us got what we wanted. She showed us the tickets, and Raymond’s
heart broke. They were all for after we
left. We then went outside with the rest
of the sparkling wine and joined up with some other members of her coaching
staff. We talked about our travels and
about Australia. Now it was my turn for
my heart to break. In reference to Gold
Coast geography, she mentioned, “My husband works in Brisbane.” Welp.
Meanwhile, we had been joined by none other than Marianne VOS’s
manager. I write it that way because
that was how I wrote out Marianne VOS when I recorded the gold medalist of the
Cycling Road Race four years ago. Yes,
she managed an Olympic Champion. Before
my reader gets any ideas, she, too, was married and had a kid. Well, the coaches needed to turn in earlier
than we did, but we took a picture with the Australian coaches. Raymond made plans for tomorrow night to
visit the Holland House while I was at swimming.
We had finished our drinks and cigars (we had
earlier lit up the local Brazilian cigars I had gotten from duty-free. I then, using a phrase only a few of my
readers will understand, told Raymond to “walk slowly,” and we did. We took a taxi back to the hotel as we laughed
about the epicness of what had just happened.
When we got up to the room, I charged my laptop up a bit as I changed
into my pajamas. We grabbed some cigars
and headed up to the roof, where I lit up an Hoyo de Monterrey from our box and
proceeded to write this entry, so I can publish it and get to sleep. We have an early day tomorrow.
Oh yeah!
ReplyDeleteSo Official!
Delete