Not only a big bill, but Vancouver will once again become the "no fun" city it is known to be. We had something good going there for a while, since the Olympics, but I think it's probably over now.
See, this is one thing that pisses me off. The officials kept hyping this series up like the Olympics, and so did the people.
Except nobody thought to themselves that we won the hockey game in the Olympics, nobody thought to themselves that that event had the benefit of the Olympics' billion dollar security infrastructure.
I will be fine if Vancouver remains a no fun city, I am thoroughly disappointed in what went on. I'm serious, I didn't even go to bed last night and just collapsed on my couch because I was just in such a state of shock. There is just no comparison made to the Olympics IMO, though there probably would be if we had lost because I don't think as a city we are very sportsmanlike.
Those of you who read these forums with regularity know how much any kind of spectacle downtown bothers me since I live in the city and since I have no interest in such social gatherings. For three years I watched them set up fan zones and close off major streets for events, and I thought I was just a no fun person who didn't want to see other having fun. But I was right, getting hundreds of thousands of people to pack into the downtown core is a bad idea, especially given our poor reaction in 1994.
Seriously, would it be any different in we lost the hockey final in the Olympics last year? When did Vancouver come really close to such a huge win in sports, lose it, and then people don't riot? Heck, we rioted when Axl Rose didn't show up to a GnR concert... maybe it's just the sting of watching yesterday's events, but I think under the pristine, open-minded and friendly image of Vancouver lies a city with as many problems as any other big city.