When this whole Vancouver 2010 thing started, it was greeted by polar opposites: Olympic hysteria, and the Olympic hate-on. I’ll be honest. I didn’t care at first. I didn’t understand why some people would buy three (3) toques with the Vancouver 2010 logo on them for $24.99 apiece. (Okay, I still don’t.) I had no plans to join any ‘BOYCOTT TEH OLYMPICS ZOMG!!1’ Facebook groups, but I wasn’t planning on watching any of it.
Somewhere down the line, it reeled me in. I think the fact that we were winning gold medals was part of it. The first Olympics I ever watched were held in Lillehammer in 1994. I’m not sure what Canada won then, but it didn’t seem to be much. For years, I considered my country the bronze medal champions of the world. This year changed that.
Maybe it was that we were on our own soil, had people backing us in the hosting country for once; maybe it was that the Olympics were very truly Canadian this year. Jon Montgomery winning the skeleton did it for me. That guy has personality from here to next Sunday. Not much beats the rip-roaring sense of sheer joy and excellence that ensued when he won. See also: Class. There’s something that fills this jaded brain of mine with a sense of full-on happy when the unexpected and seemingly impossible starts to happen from just about every sporting angle. Although, it’s no wonder we won a lot. If there’s one thing we excel at, it’s enduring crappy weather. There’s not much of an alternative in this great land of ours.
So Crosby, yes I hated was severely disappointed in your clumsy game for the past week or so, but with that sneaky flick of the puck, you redeemed yourself to me and about 30 million others earlier today. And hey, to the rest of Team Canada: Thanks for showing your country we don’t always have to suck so bad at the Games. In fact, we’re pretty okay.
That said… Nickelback?? Ugh.
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