Waiting Not So Patiently...

Well as of yesterday, VANOC began charging everyone's VISA cards, though still no word on our applications. The official emails aren't expected until sometime next week, so we could still be waiting a few days.

So with that in mind, I thought it would be rather appropriate to document what we actually decided to go after in the end.

Over the course of our discussions, it became pretty clear that Cowie and Andrea couldn't commit to the full 17 day packages/plans that Pam and I were interested in, so some events are for 4 tickets, whereas others are just for 2. The general idea was to go after 3 OEP Packages, as these are what get allocated first, and then filling out the rest with single event tickets. The OEP packages were generally backed-up with alternates, with the single events being hit-or-miss.

Primary OEPs

Mixed OEP 8
Day 6 - Men's Snowboarding Halfpipe
Day 7 - Men's Hockey Preliminary (Canada vs. Switzerland)
Day 7 - Victory Ceremony
Day 8 - Men's Ski Jumping

City OEP 20
Day 12 - Men's Curling
Day 13 - Ladies Aerials Finals
Day 14 - Women's Gold Medal Hockey Game
Day 14 - Victory Ceremony

City OEP 16
Day 9 - Short Track Speed Skating
Day 10 - Men's Hockey Preliminary (Canada vs. USA)
Day 10 - Victory Ceremony
Day 11 - Women's Curling
Day 11 - Men's Curling

Single Events

Day 2 - Women's Hockey Preliminary (Canada vs. Slovakia)
Day 3 - Men's Luge Finals
Day 4 - Women's Hockey Preliminary (Canada vs. Switzerland)
Day 5 - Men's Hockey Preliminary (Canada vs. Qual3)
Day 6 - Women's Hockey Preliminary (Canada vs. Sweden)
Day 6 - Men's Halfpipe Finals
Day 7 - Men's Hockey Preliminary (Canada vs. Switzerland)
Day 7 - Women's Halfpipe Finals
Day 10 - Men's Hockey Preliminary (Canada vs. USA)
Day 14 - Women's Hockey Gold Medal
Day 15 - Women's Gold Medal Curling
Day 16 - Men's Gold Medal Curling

Backups

City OEP 7 (Mixed OEP 8)
Day 5 - Women's Hockey Preliminary (Russia vs. USA)
Day 6 - Men's Curling
Day 7 - Men's Hockey Preliminary (Canada vs. Switzerland)
Day 7 - Victory Ceremony

City OEP 21 (City OEP 20)
Day 14 - Women's Curling Semi-Final
Day 14 - Victory Ceremony
Day 15 - Speed Skating
Day 16 - Men's Snowboard Parallel Giant Slalom

City Locals OEP 3 (City OEP 16)
Day 4 - Men's Snowboard Cross
Day 5 - Victory Ceremony
Day 7 - Women's Hockey Preliminary (Finland vs. USA)
Day 10 - Women's Curling
Day 15 - Men's Hockey Semi-Final

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Expectations

I'm pretty much expecting to take in a haul. I'm cautiously optimistic. Not to jinx it. Having read through various newspaper articles and reports, it seems like an excessive amount of the $345 million dollars in applications were directed at two events: the opening ceremonies and the men's gold medal hockey game. That should leave plenty of tickets for the other events.

I'm expecting that we'll win 3 OEP's although not necessarily our primary choices. I think the one that we have the best chance of not getting would be City OEP 20, with the Women's Gold Medal hockey game which had 41,000 ticket requests. I still think we have a better than even shot here, just because I'd imagine the majority of those applications are single-event tickets rather than the OEP.

I don't expect to get single event tickets to the Men's or Women's Halfpipe or the single event tickets to the Women's Gold Medal Hockey game, there is no chance really. I think that its close to even money on the Men's or Women's Gold Medal Curling Games.....possible, but we'll need a touch of luck.

I fully expect to get all 6 of the Men's and Women's preliminary games, as VANOC has said that they didn't go to lottery. I'm really not sure if there are word to express how freaking nervous I am about these though. They should be a 'sure thing', but I'm worried that something will screw up. VANOC moving the games for an Eastern TV audience, our applications not going through right...something. Cause having tickets to ANY Team Canada Hockey games is insane, but having tickets to SIX?!!?

Come on!