Vancouver 2010

This is my 20th year living in Canada and there is definitely more Canadian pride out there tonight than ever before!

Sadly, I did not catch the game today.  I did follow the last 5 minutes online.  And it was absolutely shocking to see the score on the website go from 2-1 to 2-2 with 25 seconds left in the game.  I think every Canadian had a heart attack at that point.  But in the end, we proved that hockey is Canada's game!

This has surely been a great time for Canada.....
(1) Most golds won in any winter olympics
(2) Most golds won by hosting country
(3) First time in 30 years since hosting country won hockey
(4) Gold in women's hockey for the third consecutive time
(5) First time getting medals in women's bobsleigh
And there's probably more that I can't think of right now......

The closing ceremonies was okay.  The beginning with the mime/technician "fixing" the pillar and the lighting of the cauldron was pretty good.  But other than that, I didn't find anything too interesting.  (Although....seeing Alanis Morrissette perform kinda caught my attention.....for other reasons.......)

Proud to be Canadian!!!

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But setting that Canadian pride aside......

There are two things related to the (Winter) Olympics that bugs me......

(1)  Canada didn't let Brian McKeever compete.  The coach's reply was that they had responsibilities to the federal government and to their sponsors and so the team must perform and do well.  Fair enough.  That's reasonable.  BUT...the world would definitely look at the federal government and the sponsors in a whole new light if they DID let McKeever compete.  They might not make as much, but in this time and age, I would say that gaining the reputation is much more desirable.

(2)  I find it very unfair that the Paralympic Games, which are closely linked the Olympic games, are always held after all the hype and glamour of the Olympic games.  Specifically, they are held after the closing ceremonies of the Olympic games.  Since they go hand in hand, can't we have the respect to include the Paralympic Games and all those athletes in the official ceremonies and what not?!

This totally goes against the spirit of the Olympics!