The 2,500 accredited print and online media personnel covering the 2010 Winter Olympics will get a bagful of surprises when they show their badge at a nondescript table in the Main Press Centre. Here is the detailed swag inventory for Vancouver 2010:
1: Black, multi-pocket computer backpack with silver trim, branded with Acer and VANOC logo (manufactured by Eagle Bags and Leather Products Co. Ltd., Guangdong, China);
1: Vancouver 2010 Media Handbook (with greetings from VANOC CEO John Furlong and press operations director Lucia Montanarella);
1: White Ethernet cable;
1: Richmond Olympic Oval at sunset mouse pad (with contact information for Richmond's official chief syrup sucker Ted Townsend);
1: McDonald’s reporters’ notebook (billingual, includes coupon for six-piece Chicken McNuggets or Big Mac... which is Big Mac, in French);
1: Tourism Vancouver pen;
1: British Columbia 7.98 GB USB electronic media kit with lanyard;
1: Government of Canada lanyard and laminated card with canada2010.gc.ca\media URL (Yes, the slash is the wrong way!);
1: Visa Passport: Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (bilingual, includes "navigating the Canadian culture-do's and don'ts");
2: Newfoundland Labrador tourism postcards (screech not included);
1: Prince Edward Island tourism postcard (bilingual; that's Anne of Green Gables not Pippi Longstocking);
1: Saputo pin with smiling cow in blue toque holding red skis (moo!);
3: packages of Wrigley’s gum, including two Excel and one Juicy Fruit;
1: Snickers candy bar with special edition Believe package and Hockey Canada logo (may contain nougat);
1: McDonald’s nutrition facts pamphlet (Big Mac is 540 calories and 29 grams of fat in both official languages!);
2: Cold-FX one-day booster packs containing six capsules each (Don Cherry not included);
1: Cold-FX pin with a movable hockey goalie in net;
1: Royal Canadian Mint media kit on a thumb drive shaped like a loonie (in a metallic box with a window);
1: British Columbia host province Ez-V digital pedometer (made in Taiwan).
