Canadians Celebrate - IOC Grumbles

Once again, the uptight stuffed-shirts of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have decided that the olympic games are too important and somber to allow any kind of actual fun to break out. They have now determined that they must "investigate" Canada's women's hockey team.

In a hard fought battle between the two best women's hockey teams in the world (Canada and the United States), Canada won 2-0 and claimed the gold medal. For the land that claims hockey as it's own, this was a great cause for celebration (and well it should be). While I was pulling for the United States team, I have to admit that Canada played the best and deserved the win.

So what did the Canadian team do wrong? It seems they thought they had the right to celebrate their winning the gold along with their countrymen and women. After the crowd had left the hockey venue, they took their celebration back out on the ice, drinking beer and champagne and smoking cigars and taking pictures of each other.

There happened to still be some photographers around and they snapped some pictures of the celebration (see above). Of course, word of this then got back to the kill-joys at the IOC, and they were righteously horrified that athletes were actually having fun and celebrating -- especially with alcoholic beverages and tobacco products.

The IOC announced they were instigating an investigation into the fun-filled antics of the gold-medal champions. The IOC's executive director of the games said athletes drinking alcohol at an olympic venue (even though the spectators were all gone) is "not what we want to see". He said they would talk to the International Hockey Federation and the Canadian Olympic Committee and "act accordingly".

Sadly, Hockey Canada then showed they are either lacking a spine or are also self-righteous jerks themselves, and issued a statement saying, "The members of Team Canada apologize if their on-ice celebrations, after fans had left the building, have offended anyone. In the excitement of the moment, the celebration left the confines of our dressing room and shouldn't have. The team regrets that its gold medal celebration may have caused the IOC or COC any embarrassment. Our players and team vow to uphold the values of the Olympics moving forward and view this situation as a learning experience."

Ridiculous! Let me be clear. The Canadian women did NOTHING WRONG! They did not "embarrass" themselves, hockey, their country, the IOC or anyone else. The creeps at the IOC need to take their self-righteous smugness and stuff it where the sun don't shine.