Opening Ceremony!

[Robert]

Some observations...

It was obvious 80% of the tickets went to PRD people
Don't ask why, it makes me cringe!

The music I thought was good and made it for me, especially some of the drums.

Pedro received the biggest cheer when he picked up the torch.

RNN (TV Channel) missed the DR team introduction. Good one guys!

RNN commentators talking over the top, like who cares what they have to say?

CBC had 19 cameras covering the event. Looks like 19 is a popular number

Stadium announcers mixed up Peru and Paraguay.

American team had the 73yr old team coach holding the flag. The first time a non-athlete had done that. I thought that was a little sad and embarrassing to be honest. Why couldn't they be like everyone else?

The Brazilian team received the 2nd biggest cheer. Didn't see any football players, so they must have sent the C team

The "Bandera" piece didn't work out. It would have been real good, but they had a few problems rolling outthe white center of the flag.

A few of the displays didn't make any sense. It looked really colorful and I'm sure if I knew what they was trying to portray it would have been even better.

Felix Sanchez looked like he was having fun and did a great job of hyping up the crowd.

Pitch lighting was a little off, but they eventually got it right. Somebody found the flood light switch. I'm sure CBC had lots of fun

Sound was excellent on the TV, hope it was that good in the stadium.

The had a young kid hitting a lighted baseball in the air to light the flame.
Looked ok on the TV, I'm sure it looked better at the stadium.
Thought that was a nice touch!

Bottom line...

It was a long way off of the Olympic or World Cup productions, but it wasn't bad. Under the circumstance and current situation, I think they did a pretty good job.

[newuser]

Originally posted by Robert
Bottom line...

It was a long way off of the Olympic or World Cup productions, but it wasn't bad. Under the circumstance and current situation, I think they did a pretty good job.

I saw only the last part of the production, from the symphonic orchestra till the end. Using part of your quote, I would ammend it to say that under the circumstance and current situation, they did an excellent job!

Felicidades a los Dominicanos!

[bochinche]

have to agree with most of what you (robert) say.

the lighting looked to be the real spoiler on the telly.
i don't know how bad it really was .

after the political stuff, i had to cringe when they passed the torch onto pedro martinez (and then juan marichal).
i don't know that much about the panam games, but they do seem to have some connection to the olympic federation.
so what is the connection with pedro martinez?
he is obviously a very good baseball player and very much admired in the d.r., but felix sanchez (even though he is about as dominican as that lady tennis player mjfernandez) has to be a much more respected athlete in olympic terms.
mind you, all that olympic spirit, etc. was killed off when they sent that nightmare basketball team.

all i know is, if david beckham was to carry the torch at the european games i would cringe just as much.
daley thompson, yes, that makes a lot of sense. beckham a professional football player, no.

all in all, the money taken from our pockets to fund the opening ceremony, wasn't put to as bad a use as it could have, but let's see how the rest of the games go.

[Pib]

Except that some of the formations where meant to be seen from straight up. Like the yellow unbrella, it took me a while to figure that one out... bad camera positioning.

And yes, they did a good job at portraying the Dominican culture. I didn't agree with mixing up the Virgin Mary in the whole thing, but I have to admit that "Tatica" is an important part of our popular culture...

I watched in two TV stations, so I switched channels when one had commercials.

[LynnCox]

I was fortunate enough to be at the opening ceremonies live, so I can't tell you what the TV's showed.

I can tell you what they didn't show: they didn't show the 30 minute+ warm up, which came before the official opening at 7:00pm. It was a horrible depiction of what someone perceived to be "Dominican Folklore". Every person, within my immedite view was horrified and absolutely embarressed! As an American that has lived here for over 5 years, I know they could have done something more tasteful. All of the Dominicans that I was with were appauled!

After that it was great. The energy was fantastic. The huge drawback though, there was nothing to drink nowhere inside the stadium, water... nada!!! Which is all we wanted, water! They were selling hotdogs, only hotdogs. My son commented on how they could've made a fortune if they had sold something with those hotdogs. You had to go outside to get comething to drink. Towards the end...drinks miraculously appeared. Thank God for small favors! Getting into the park was also a "sardine" trap. They'd open a gate let a few in and shut it. Were we animals? They sure thought so. Some of us aren't used to that..hahaha.

But it was a great experience, and again the energy was fantastic. The athletes had a great time. The torch was spectacular..what a cool depiction of athletism: the present Pedro, the past Juan and the future..the young boy. What more can we ask for?

We trully enjoyed it...but we'd like to forget about the first 30 or so minutes before 7:00.

PS. Sorry so lengthy...

[Jan]

I don't really know much about the games but the opening ceremony looked good to me.
I was in a colmado(of course) with a bunch of Dominican friends. The place was packed. When the Dominican team walked out everyone was cheering and yelling. Like they won the world series or something. There was so much energy and pride for their team that I was excited and I don't even care!

[jojocho]

I have to agree with Lynn. The ceremony was fantastic, but the pre-show was plain embarrasing.

One of the figures that was formed and that could only be seen with an aerial shot was the logo of the games, that's why a lot of people couldn't understand what was it they were trying to do.