Bitter. Lethargic. Depressed. Shocked. Angry.
BY RICK TITTLE
I pretty much felt all those feelings after Sidney Crosby scored the overtime goal against my fellow Yanks in the gold medal hockey game. I don’t care about how much Canada “needed” to win. I have no concerns over the fact that Canada likes hockey way more than any other country. I’m not interested in hearing that they simply had to win. If Canada winning the gold medal in men’s hockey came at the expense of the United States, then I’m very upset about that.
But inside my rage there exists some perspective, thankfully. We sent a young team up there. Canada was fraught with future Hall-of-Famers. I seriously doubt if any USA player could have even made the Canadian team. Perhaps Kane or Miller. Maybe. Still, despite the Americans overcoming all their shortcomings, we came up short in the end. I would have loved to have crushed the hopes of all Canucks by taking that gold medal from them, one which they thought was theirs by birthright. If that’s so, then the USA should always win every World Baseball Classic and Olympic basketball gold medal, too. You have to earn it!
When Parise’s equalizing goal went into Luongo’s net with 24 seconds left, there was a big dogpile in my house. I figured that the Canadians would not be able to come back from such a terrible moment for them. But Sid the Kid would not be denied, even though he basically threw the puck at the goal and it went 5-hole. Gold medals ensued for the boys in red, with the RCMP holding the maple leaf flag under the tones of O, Canada!. We lost, they won. Dang.
It’s hard to hate Canada, so I won’t even try. They’ve never hurt a flea. They tried to at Dieppe – didn’t work. I suppose the last time the Canadians got over on us was back at Montreal, when Benedict Arnold was still fighting for us…that’s a long time ago, indeed. So go ahead and have your hockey celebration. You’ve earned it, but just barely. Canada is the best hockey nation on the planet by the fraction of one solitary goal. Chew on that, hockey puck.
Rick Tittle can be reached at
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Blue Goo Medicine Minute
Head and Mouth Protection: Think about whatever sports you're into these days and be prepared to take a shot to the head or mouth somewhere, some time, or some how. There are several ways to protect your precious cargo. Click below to listen.