Summer Olympics: Opening Ceremony Promises Wild Menagerie of Farm Animals

The Summer Games are the perfect time for nations to come together to highlight our shared enthusiasm for competition and farm animals. 

Bwhaaa?!?!

It wouldn't be the Opening Ceremony without one bizarre aspect being featured on the hours-long broadcast. 

The favorite to steal the show this time around is the minor zoo that may break out at some point during the proceedings. 

Chris Chase of Yahoo Sports reports that the following list of animals will be used in the Opening Ceremony set to take place in London: 70 sheep, 12 horses, 10 chickens, nine geese, three cows, three sheep dogs, two goats. 

Oh dear.

I wonder if 70 sheep may be overkill. I mean, why not stop at 65 and call it a job well done. 

As for the meaning behind such farmtastic endeavours, the animals are being used to recreate the English countryside. 

The totals on the event list the cost at $41 million ceremony, and there will even be 10,000 volunteers involved in the Olympic kickoff. 

This might sound like a boatload of animals, but it's also something I am quite confident will be spectacular. 

Famed director Danny Boyle is the man behind the opening Ceremony, which is entitled "Green and Pleasant." 

Boyle understands the dilemma facing the director of such a lavish event as the Opening Ceremony; he tells Yahoo Sports, "It is not an easy challenge to get the Opening Ceremony right, how can you present something that feels decent and people recognize as being truthful, but yet is a celebration."

The cast has practiced over 150 times and will soon do a dry run with a stadium filled with people. It sounds like any other ceremony, enormous and expensive. 

With Boyle at the helm, I am not only confident, I am geeked out of my mind. 

I am eager to see what the director of Sunshine, 127 Hours and Slumdog Millionaire has in store for us. The visuals and art direction should be vibrant and cutting edge. 

Sure, that's an immense number of animals, but I am game to see where they all fit in. 

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