please empty your brain below

Tee-hee. Would a Douglas Adams analogy be too inappropriate? You make it sound a bit like 'So long, and thanks for all the fish'
(Not just The Army...)
North Korea/South Korea?????
Westfield West End
Hit: Fireworks Miss: Missiles
Hit: Nick Skelton Miss: Helen Skelton
Hit: A national natural high Miss: drugs cheats
Hit: Thomas Heatherwick Miss: Anish Kapoor
I'm not a huge fan of McDonalds, but are we being a touch unfair here - after all, all the volunteer Games Makers were all trained by McDonalds.
Olympic Hit:

Seeing the Cauldron on TV

Olympic Miss:

Seeing the Cauldron in the Olympic Park

Olympic Hit:

Pele at the Closing Ceremony

Olympic Miss:

Becks at the Closing Ceremony

Olympic Hit:

Noisy supporters at venues

Olympic Miss:

Noisy music at venues
Can we talk about kittens now?
I respectfully disagree with you preferring Becks on a boat. All he did was do a bit of driving. Posh was STANDING ON TOP OF A TAXI COVERED IN LEDS AND POINTING. While Spice Up Your Life played. That wins in any universe.
Hit: Olympic Park gardens
Miss: Pleasure Gardens
who ever is doing the PR for McDonald's needs firing, they appear to be getting zero credit for their role in hiring and training the volunteers

but aside from that, some pairs from me:

Hit: BA Park Live / Miss: BT London Live
Hit: Andy Murray / Miss: Alex Salmond
Hit: Horse Dancing / Miss: Boris Dancing
Hit: DG commentary / updates

Miss: Several of the BBC presenters who were sullen, humourless and annoying.
I agree with IslandDweller, McDonalds were supporters of the games, and also according to a dg blog report dated July 31st they charged High Street prices inside the Olympic Park, "and by far the cheapest place to eat"
The BBC are to be congratulated for opening several temporary digital TV channels (and a dedicated radio channel) and covering all events, they spoilt it with poor TV commentators and too much bias towards only showing UK contestants.
I would put the cauldron as a miss as it was not mounted high enough to be visible outside of the arena.
Clarify a point please, you say cyclists a miss, is that Olympic cyclists cyclists in general?
Danny Boyle Kim Gavin
Hit: John Amaechi
Miss: Mike Carlson
Hit: Brad's sideburns
Miss: the William's sisters' haircuts

Hit: Arnie
Miss: Mitt Romney
@mclm - Surely cyclists should be a miss - the Bow Flyover complex has had too many hits as it is.
McDonalds trained the games makers? Is that why when you asked for directions they said "Do you want fries with that". :-)
Hit: Diamond Geezer extensive coverage, getting in where most of us failed, and reporting everything we wanted to know over so many years.

Hit: McDonalds, not just cheapest food but shelter in a rainstorm too!
Hit: beautifully landscaped Olympic parklands
Miss: beautifully landscaped Olympic parklands in the rain (nowhere to shelter!)
Hit- David Beckham's haircut
Miss- Brian May's haircut
Cornish Pasty £5 McDonalds High St prices
Logo was a big miss.
Why was Queen a miss?
Hit: Michael Johnson
Miss: Boris Johnson

Hit:Greg Rutherford
Miss: Mike Rutherford
hit: 4 years of hard training
miss: instant celebrity

Mr BW
I'm almost reluctant to say this, because (as noted before), I actually like the bloke.

Hit: The Queen on a Parachute

Miss: Boris on a Zipwire
Hopefully it'll not turn out to be ...
Hit: Olympics
Miss: Paralympics

But unfortunately there is never the same buzz about the latter.
@RogerW, I'd reverse that, actually. Queenie on a parachute was quite obviously faked. The BoJo actually got onto a dangleway. Although I must say, at her age, one couldn't really expect HRH to be doing anything more physical than a spot of horse riding. Does she still get in the saddle? I bet she does.
DG can we have a non olympic post please. All the running, leaping and jumping is over, the atheletes have departed. You may have the shivers and the cold sweats, but you can wean yourself off olympic addiction.
Hit: In venue fans' atmosphere
Miss: In venue comperes' atmosphere

Hit: Public transport
Miss: Public transport advice
Hit Nelson's Column
Miss Trevor Nelson
Hit: David Beckham
Miss: Stuart Pearce
DG, I just wanted to thank you for making the Olympics for me. We referred to your posts frequently while planning our own trips to the Park and the wealth of information you provided made a massive difference to the quality of our day.

Truly, you should be awarded an honorary purple jacket a beige slacks. You **were** a GamesMaker.
Hit: Brad. Miss: Vino
Hit: Opening Cermony. Miss: Closing Ceremony
Hit: Ticket website. Miss: Ticket website
Hit: Hazel Irvine. Miss: Trevor Nelson
Hit: David Rudisha. Miss: Taoufik Makhloufi
Hit: Gold post boxes, Miss: Red post boxes
"Clarify a point please, you say cyclists a miss, is that Olympic cyclists or cyclists in general?"

(gets on high horse) I imagine it's cyclists in general who were:

-promised safe cycle routes to the venues, which simply didn't happen so no-one cycled to anything
-arrested in their hundreds for no good reason at the Critical Mass ride
-completely ignored or delivered with shite when facilities and infrastructure were produced
-not allowed in Zil lanes, and therefore further squeezed into traffic-infested roads (where everyone was going a lot faster as there were fewer cars)
-run over and killed by an olympic bus (in the tragic case near the stadium)
-treated to an olympic legacy of a 2-day festival where they will close off bits of London so people who are too scared to go there usually can ride around and see what they are missing the other 363 days of the year, rather than something meaningful
-forced to what that fat cyclist-killer **** Boris again and again on TV
-embarrassed as they saw Wiggo get ambushed and have his words interpreted as if he wanted mandatory helmet law
-annoyed when Barclays cycle hire stations near venues shut as they were not sponsored by HSBC

(gets off high horse)

But watching the cycling, tae kwon do and athletics on the telly was quite good.
Hmmm. Want something good about the cycling?
Hit: Leatherhead.
I was able to watch the Men's Cycle Race at two places in Surrey, first on the outbound leg and later on their way back. I couldn't believe the lengths Leatherhead had gone to, to make the day special. A big screen tv, a steel band, magicians, dancers, morris dancing, kids' entertainers... you name it! They even had cyclists on stilts. It put a smile on your face just to be there!
Miss: the other place I went to, but I don't think it would be fair to single it out by naming it.

Many thanks for this blog DG, please tell me you are going to be covering the run up and the Paralympics??
Just cause you never got to meet Wenlock...my kid's a big fan and had his photo taken with 'it' at the bandstand.

I liked the bandstand, so:

Hit - bandstand
Miss - beatbox
I thought Brian May's hair looked terrific. Silver rinses are all the rage with famous oldies these days, including, I suspect, Her Maj.
One more:
Hit: Imagine Miss: Hey Jude
Hit - The Who (what's left of them)
Miss - George Michael. What's left of him.
Hit - Olympic Shuttle Buses (for visitors, media and competitors)
Miss - Moaning Taxi Drivers

Hit - Competitors on public transport
Miss - BMWs swanning all over London
I've got more:

Olympic Hit: Towpath on River Lea (in Olympic Park)

Olympic Miss: Towpath on River Lee Navigation (outside of Olympic Park and very missed)

More Hit than Miss: Getting your tickets on website 15 months ago

More Miss Than Hit: Getting your tickets on website during the games
How is the Mascot not on the miss list???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiXKhalV5vE
Ah come on, I love Wenlock, as seemingly, do many others. I saw a car with one hanging from the rear passenger window yesterday - and that was in Merseyside! Have you watched the animation of Wenlock trying all the Olympic sports - its so cute, and the story of how Wenlock and Mandeville are created and get to the games is lovely. Definite hit for me. Miss would be lack of decent signage for the toilets in the Olympic park, although once you'd found them I thought the loos themselves were fine.
We like Wenlock too. We didn't before the games, but without a mascot the games would have been just a touch more drab. The statues in the Olympic park, the vignettes on the screens, the Wenlock bumbling round the stadium - all added to the atmosphere.
Hit: Lewisham Big Screen on Blackheath
Miss: Peninsula Festival










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