Thursday, February 25, 2010

Team Canada v Team Russia (W 7-3)

HOW SWEET IT IS!!! :)

That's A-hOle's™ "hurt" hand he's using to shake Siddo's hand. I've injured my hand before. (I caught a baseball barehanded and broke a bone.) I've got a pretty high tolerance for pain but believe me, the LAST thing I wanted was for anyone to even touch it let alone shake it!

Once again Siddo's team got to send A-hOle's™ team packing! Can I just say that "I hurt my hand but not really because now Russia's on a power play" move was super lame? I better not hear anymore "Crosby is a diver" comments or I'm going to have to answer with "Ovechkin is a faker." ;) To be completely fair, all of Team Russia was weak. For it being the equivalent of a Game 7 scenario, not one Russian player - Geno and Gonch included - brought his A game to the table. Team Canada got off to a shaky start in these Olympics, and not many thought they'd be able to get past Team Russia. But in the end, Team Russia simply did not want victory as much as Team Canada.



Sadly, the most talked about moment from the game wasn't actually from the game itself. No, it came after the Canadian victory with NBC analyst Mike Milbury's derogatory description of the Russian team's performance:
I was shocked that it was this one-sided. And I was really disappointed that these guys came with their Eurotrash game. It was just... no heart, no guts, no nothing there to back it up. I mean Alex Ovechkin was an average player tonight. I know they're going to bounce back, but to be that poor and to be that intimidated physically by the Canadians... that really shocked me.
I couldn't believe he said it. I really thought I was hearing things.



His comment clearly shocked fellow analyst Jeremy Roenick as well. With wide eyes he exclaimed, "Just for the record, he did just say that on TV!" Even Sean "sloppy seconds" Avery, prone to diarrhea of the mouth himself, acknowledged the inflammatory nature of the comment when he twittered afterwards, "Did Mike Milbury just say EuroTra$h on CNBC, not good!"



Mind you, because he was at the Olympics, this was said on a global stage. It's pretty clear that he was deliberately trying to get everyone talking; however, this is definitely NOT the kind of attention that we need on our beloved sport. Milbury's been saying stupid crap for years now, but at least not too many people outside of the hockey world have really noticed. It just really saddens me that the only time I see stories about hockey in the mainstream news is when there is a catastrophic injury that results in a suspension, an out of control fight, or now when some moron spews a hateful comment into a microphone.



I think the most upsetting thing is that reaction to Milbury's prejudice is overshadowing Team Canada's domination of Team Russia - something they haven't done in a half century! It's frustrating, and now is the time for NBC to get rid of Milbury. It's not always true that "any press is good press." Hockey is SO MUCH MORE than just physical and/or verbal thuggery, and Milbury's shock jocking is not exactly a good way to help convince NBC to carry the ice hockey game instead of ice dancing in 2014. You can share your thoughts about Milbury's comments in The Friends' Zone below.



Now I want to get back to celebrating this big Canadian win! Tomorrow night Team Canada faces Team Slovakia in the semifinals. We're two wins away from Gold, folks.

DO IT.






GO TEAM CANADA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!







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