Sports is something that brings forth a great deal of emotion. ABC's old Saturday afternoon program, The Wide World of Sports, used to touch on this in the opening sequence of every program with the line "The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat." It was and is something that is acknowledged as being a part of doing something that is competitive like a sport.
The emotions that are evoked by sports are powerful things. I remember crying whole heartedly after losing in my final football game. After all the time and effort, all the pain and blood, sweat and tears that go into something like that there is going to be an emotional response from the players. There will be celebrations by the victors and there will be dejection on display when it comes to the defeated. It is Michael Jordan weeping and clutching the NBA Championship trophy after his Bulls won the title on Father's Day the year Jordan's father was murdered; it is the look of exuberance on Tom Brady's face after winning his first Super Bowl. It 's the frustration shown by LeBron James upon losing the Eastern Conference Finals to the Magic by simply walking off the court rather than congratulating the winners.
When we win, we celebrate. This was demonstrated last night in the Olympics when the Canadian Women's Hockey team defeated the USA Women for the gold medal. And their celebration has become a big deal. Not the fact that they reveled in the victory and the accomplishment of winning a Gold medal for their country, but more how they did this. They did not begin their celebration on the ice with the other teams in their presence, thus seeming showy and arrogant. No they were classier about it than that. They waited until the ice had cleared and until the stands had cleared. They waited until it was just them as a team there to celebrate what they had done together. The problem it seems is that there were still some photographers and other media people still around to catch the celebration.
It seems that these women decided to bring the typical locker room celebration onto the ice. So they re-entered the rink and brought with them some beer, champagne and cigars. They then proceeded to partake of these things. And this is where it is a big deal. There were pictures taken of the celebration that were then made public (as tends to happen with this kind of thing). Now Hockey Canada has issued an apology, and the IOC (International Olympic Committee) is doing an investigation. All I have to say is--really?
I can understand it they did this immediately following the win, gloating and rubbing it in the faces of the defeated Americans. But true to Canadian form, they waited a polite amount of time before having this little shindig. Lets be real here: this is the exact same thing that happens in the locker room. The difference is that they brought it out of the locker room, when they felt it was an appropriate time and they could be there alone as a team. I know that there is talk about the one young lady on the team who is 18 being seen drinking a beer (or champagne or whatever) and the legal drinking age being 19. OK, so she is just underage. I don't condone it, but I can understand it. It is part of the emotion that winning brings about.
In the end, I think the apology and the investigation are silly and needless. Let the team celebrate a huge accomplishment and a job well done. Peace and Love y'all.
1 comment:
What a classless, trashy way for the Canadian women’s hockey team to act! I can understand being excited to have won the gold medal, but they crossed the line and were TOO exuberant. The team totally embarrassed itself after playing a great game against the United States and an outstanding tournament overall.
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