The city of Vancouver, and the ski village of Whistler, are terrific hosts for these Olympic Games. In Vancouver, the air is clean, the public transit is scarily efficient, and the harbors, with the snow-capped mountains in the backdrop, are picturesque. Whistler, two hours to the north and home of the skiing, sliding, and Nordic events, is a winter wonderland. But let's face it: if public intoxication was an Olympic sport, Vancouver and Whistler would own the podium.
I'm not saying this because of the photographs of a few Canadian women's hockey players sipping champagne (and chugging Molsons) on the ice after winning the gold medal. Those images, however, seem to encapsulate the spirit of the host country. Throughout the Olympics, drunken revelers have overrun the streets of Vancouver. Local hospitals are reporting spikes in emergency room visits for alcohol-related sicknesses and injuries; most of the intoxicated patients are males between the ages of 15 and 24. In Whistler, the partiers have turned what should be a cozy village into rows of frat houses in need of soundproofing.
Yes, the mood is festive. And for the most part, law and order is being maintained. In Whistler, police have said arrests are lower than they would typically be during New Year's Eve or, for that matter, during your average, rambunctious summer weekend. Still, while walking through downtown Vancouver after a long day's work, you can't help but think to yourself: "These must be the drunkest Olympics ever."
Bonnie D. Ford, who is covering the Games for espn.com, has been to every Winter Olympics since 1998 in Nagano. "There's no second place," she said when asked where Vancouver ranks on the booze barometer. (In fairness, you can pretty much strike from this debate Salt Lake City, the abstemious host of the 2002 Olympics.) Her hotel is near Granville Street, close enough to hear the "Can-a-da, Can-a-da" shouts at 3 am. "It's been a two-week tailgate," she said. "I've covered a lot of college football, and this is like the Dante's Inferno version of tailgating."
When I asked one reveler if there's too much public intoxication in Vancouver, he responded: "There should be more." A roofer by day, he told me he had just consumed eight to ten beers - and he looked like it. "The police are too strict," he said. "One of them poured out my beer - and I wasn't even drunk yet." At 2 a.m., Granville Street was still packed, and there were plenty of drunks wandering about. Vancouver appeared to have more morons per square foot than the Jersey Shore house.
Impossible! If true, that's definitely some Gold Medal-worthy moronics!
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