Let's Not Get Personal

Right, so the YOG has started and personally I echo Seinfeld's sentiment that any sport that brings nations together is a good thing.

Let's again make this clear. I am FOR having the YOG organized in Singapore and for all the inconvenience that it brings us for the 2 weeks, I'm actually pretty alright about everything. Then again, I usually take the MRT so I have not actually seen the YOG buses with their mobile "get-the fuck-outta-the-way" cams.

In a strange way, I'm even okay that we blew our budget and overshot by 3 times. It's fine. This is the first ever Youth Olympic Games and frankly if that is what it takes to put up a good show, I say go for it.

Now the ONE thing I have a bone to pick, is the ORGANIZATION of the event.
First up, I don't know when the preparation for the YOG started, but it sure as hell sounds like a lot of things are only done last minute.

Sure, there were a fair amount of hype a couple of years ago when we first got the YOG hosting. The committee asked for volunteers, got some things in place, then everything tapered off and it was all quiet for a couple of years.

What we see now, seems to be a hodge-podge of last minute efforts by people who's trying not to fuck up too badly under scrutiny.

Sure, it's the first ever Youth Olympics, and Mr. Murphy is always at play. But still, some things just should not happen. Really.

• The food is ridiculous.
• The athlete's village look like a concentration camp and is all the way over in NTU because somebody decided to comandeer the halls of residence.
• Last minute raises in budgets. Come on folks. If you have been planning and putting consistent effort into the whole organization, you'd see a consistently increase in the budget, not a last minute spike like this.
• The YOG cheer song by JJ Lin. I don't blame him actually. I blame the tone deaf midget who approved it.
• The whole marketing effort is slipshod and last minute, and frankly, simply BS.

I am concerned, that the best story that come out of the entire gig, was Low Wei Jie. If the National Sports Council had half a mind. Enlist this boy to be a national runner dammit! 15km in the rain, carrying a camera, in slippers, UNDER 2.5 hours? FUCK!
Now I'm proud of our boys and gals who are competing in the sports, whether they win the medals or not. I am proud that they trained, and lived the dream. Even for a while. I am proud of each and everyone who put in blood, sweat and tears who in one way or another contributed to the spirit of the Olympics.

What I am NOT proud of, is the way we screwed up the organization of such a historic event, the politics, the red tape, the bureaucracy and all the BS that led up to it.

PS. You think we can install the "get the fuck outta the way" cams onto ambulances, police cars and fire trucks once the YOG buses are done with them? It irritates the hell out of me that there are stupid drivers who would block the way of the REALLY important vehicles.