Three years ago...

Yes, it has been three years.

Three years since the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics began on Feb. 12, 2010.

The Games of the Great Recession. The Bailout Games. The El Nino Games. The Summer Games in Wintertime.

Hands up if you remember the heatwave or got sunburn; the sunsets were fabulous from my perch in the press tribune at Cypress Mountain.

Since then, the London 2012 Olympics came and went. We're now less than a year until the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.

Coming later this month is the 10th anniversary of the City of Vancouver plebiscite on the Olympic bid, which was passed by 64% of the 46% of voters who went to the polls on Feb. 22.

Relive all the memories and learn shocking, never-before told stories. Read Red Mittens & Red Ink: The Vancouver Olympics e-book by Bob Mackin. The only book of its kind on the biggest, most-controversial sport and security spectacle in Canadian history.

Special $3 off discount -- only available on Feb. 12, 2013 -- to celebrate the third anniversary of opening day.

Click here to go to Smashwords and enter coupon code UV67Y to get your copy for just $5.99.

As a special bonus, click here to enjoy the Feb. 12, 2010 opening ceremony, in full.

12-12-12

On this auspicious day when the 12s align, consider this list of 12 Things About the Number 12. 

A dozen British Columbia craft beers... refreshing.

Canadian football is played 12-aside. 

The Twelve Girls Band? There is not a prettier looking or sounding group anywhere.

Stan Smyl's number 12 was the first jersey retired by the Vancouver Canucks. Go Steamer!

The flag of the European Union has 12 stars. 

Twelve men, all American, have walked on the Moon. 

Jack Klugman portrayed a Baltimore Orioles' fan in Twelve Angry Men. 

There were 12 Tribes of Israel, 12 Disciples of Jesus and 12 Imams after Mohammed.

London 2012 soccer bronze medallist Christine Sinclair is @Sincy12 on Twitter (after her jersey number) and Canada's best athlete of 2012. 

There are 12 signs in the zodiac. (I'm a Leo who was born in the Year of the Dog. What's your sign?)

Twelve drummers drumming in the Twelve Days of Christmas. 

The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics opened on the 12th of February (watch the whole ceremony here). 

Read all about the Vancouver Games in Red Mittens & Red Ink by Bob Mackin. The only independent account of the historic Canadian event is the perfect addition to your tablet computer this Christmas. Order here with Coupon Code NS28M and get 12% off the regular price of $8.99 only on 12-12-12!

Now available on iTunes

I'm proud to say that Red Mittens & Red Ink: The Vancouver Olympics is now available on Apple's iTunes. Why so proud? The e-book was written on an Apple MacBook Pro, the same one I used for those magic and controversial 17 days in February 2010. Click here for the link. The price is the same: $8.99.

Spreading the word

Red Mittens & Red Ink: The Vancouver Olympics by Bob Mackin has scored wider distribution. The e-book about how the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics came and went is now available from the Sony Reader Store, Kobo, Diesel and Barnes & Noble. Or you can go direct to Smashwords. Wherever you buy it, the price is still just $8.99.

The story of how the 2010 Olympics came and went

A decade of political debate, protests and fevered anticipation. Two years of economic upheaval. Seventeen days of Olympic glitches and glory. The price? More than $6 billion. This is the story of how the XXI Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, came and went.

Canadians celebrated coast-to-coast-to-coast the record 14 gold medals won by their Olympians in Vancouver, Richmond, West Vancouver and Whistler. The politicians and sponsors who staged the event were quick to declare it a grand success. But was it?

Governments involved in the Games of the Great Recession were never forthcoming with all the costs, but were constantly selling the benefits. Vancouver, constantly striving to be “world class,” got new transportation, convention and recreation facilities. The massive spending diversion put a strain on hospitals, schools and courts.

The athletes of 82 nations who competed at the biggest, most expensive Winter Olympics in history didn’t all return home. Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili died on opening day in a crash at the extreme Whistler Sliding Centre, sparking questions about whether Games officials really did all they could to ensure safety.

It was the most dynamic period in British Columbia history and the Olympics were at the foreground or background of every major government decision. The scandal, the controversy, the tragedy and the comedy. Broken promises, false expectations and Canada's greatest party.

This is a cautionary tale of what happens when a boom goes bust while preparing to welcome the world. All seen through the expert observations of a journalist who was along for the bumpy ride.

This is more than a story of the thrill of victory and agony of defeat. It is about fear and greed, unity and division, celebration and anguish, life and death.

It is red mittens and red ink.

Available NOW as an e-book from Smashwords.com for $8.99. Click here.

Download the free Adobe Digital Editions e-book reader software. Click here!

Available now on BN.com

Nyuk-nyuk? Nook! Nook!

Red Mittens & Red Ink: The Vancouver Olympics is now available from Barnes and Noble. Click the link here to order.

Mackin's other titles are available here, including the e-book Unofficial Guide to Baseball's Most Unusual Records.

2010 Games: blueprint for Occupy?

On March 10, TheTyee.ca reprinted an excerpt from Red Mittens & Red Ink, about the 2006 Save the Eagleridge Bluffs movement and end of Vancouver's Olympic honeymoon.

Read it here.