Wow, what a mouthfull!! Some of the biggest disrespect came right out of this authors mouth!! Maybe it would have been more acceptable if the women had faught and gotten blood all over the “uniform” or perhaps even tear it to shreds while fighting???

I believe it’s more insulting to not play your best in an official game. You must have lost respect for Shaun White when he had gold in his pocket after his first run but ended up doing an over the top second run. He probably should have just done a token slide up and down, right? Gimme a break. These girls did not insult or disrespect their country. They celebrated all their hard work – hardly a raunchy party, destroying things! You’ve lost my respect for your narrow view and sour grapes (that you claim you don’t have).

By public you mean the media were there….the fans were already gone. I saw you make that distinction but wish to restate that.

They were called out for some photos, still ‘high’ on their climatic win. Some Champagne and cigars were handed out and they, admittedly, got caught up in the moment. Big deal. They responded and apologized immediately. If people can’t appreciate a showing of, AND admitting of, human error…well, it says more about them then it does about who they are pointing fingers at.

I’m not arguing what’s right or wrong….you are. I’m stating that your perspective with statements of “completely disrespectful to the entire nation.” " act like crass, ill-mannered, spoiled college frat boys" Or, “winning an Olympic gold medal doesn’t make a person a good human being.” (implying they are not good human beings), etc. etc. etc. etc. is extreme. Laws, rules…..they CELEBRATED on the ice rink. Then apologized.

Again, big deal.

‘Perhaps my choice of words was a bit strong in retrospect’.

You mean you let your emotions get the better of you in a PUBLIC rant?

Pots and kettles. Except, the pot apologized.

Typical sore-loser rant coming from a pouty little boy.

You’d NEVER read trash like this from a Canadian author. Canadians don’t make a habit of slandering anyone ( let alone Olympic athletes) as a rule. What a unique American trait you seem to have developed.

Maybe you should watch this to improve your view about things:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYoTJItSPt0

..oh gawd.. you’re not a boy. Even worse.
Shame on you.

They did nothing wrong and there apology was for people like you who have a pickle up there you know what.

Heres what one of the reporters who was there wrote just after it happened.
“This is the dumbest story of the Olympics.

As anyone who read my post below knows, I thought it was kind of a neat moment, players who may never have an experience like this again in their lives drinking it all in. And if they drank a little beer and champagne along the way, so be it. I mean, who knew hockey players might drink beer after winning a big event? (And is this the same IOC that sanctions the selling of alcohol at all of its venues, making God knows how much along the way?)

A dozen or so players came out with a few beers, a couple bottles, a stogie or two, hung around on the ice for a little while, took a lot of pictures. One of them drove the ice-resurfacing machine around for a minute or two. I’ve seen more lawless activity at my local library.

And as for the "public’’ that saw this drinking, it pretty much consisted of me and about 25 or so other reporters and a few VANOC employees. Not sure we even qualified as a quorum, let alone a "public.’’
"

Give these gals a break! they won gold ~ good & clean. Perhaps it was not the best judgement to have this personal team celebration documented. The author of the Raw Charge post and the associated negative comments are just reflective of some very poor losers.

I won’t comment on the b.s. about the high scoring game (USA won games 12-1 and 13-0… why didn’t they stop at, oh, lets say 8 or 9???). But I will comment on a word that was brought up several times… disrespect. The ultimate form of disrespect and general disgusting behaviour would have to be putting your opponent’s flag on your dressing room floor and stomping on it. The American women’s hockey team of ’02 should appear in the dictionary beside the word disrespectful. But the better team came out on top there as well.

I would beg to differ with your self-assessment that this isn’t a ‘sour grapes’ assessment of Canada’s tournament play. Your comments regarding running up the score are nothing but.

In making your argument that Canada was disrespectful for running up the score you conveniently ignore some of the high scoring U.S. games while at the same time downplaying the idea that goals decide ties. Do you really think the U.S. would have slacked off in any competitive game simply to as not to embarass their opponents – especially if they saw Canada doing just that and they knew they could own them in a tie? I think not.

Then you say scoring goals against an inferior team is somehow disrespectful. I would suggest that it is more disrespectful to your opponent to lay back and not try. You go on to make the argument that they could have pracised their passing instead, without considering that the point of passing is to move the puck to a teammate with the best chance to score. Why pass if you aren’t going to finish the play?

And if you actually support women’s hockey how do you expect its calibre to improve if everyone plays to the lowest common denominator?

I would also suggest that your remarks come off as somewhat sexist, regardless of your being female. Would you expect the men’s teams to put in a half-hearted effort simply because they were more skilled than their opponents?

And what about the credo of the Olympics – faster, higher, stronger – should that be ignored too, just so somebody’s feelings aren’t hurt? If so, what’s the point of even competing if you aren’t trying to do your best?

Lastly, no one in Canada is embarassed by the actions of our women’s hockey team – on the ice or after the gold medal game. So they had a drink to celebrate – so what? With the media trailing him Canadian Gold medalist Jon Montgomery walked from the flower ceremony through Whistler Olympic Plaza on his way to a TV interview and along the way grabbed a pitcher of beer that was thrust his way and drank a third of it in one gulp as he walked. Nobody blinked an eye. A few days later the women’s hockey team cracks open a couple of cans of beer after the game and it’s suddenly a big deal? I call hypocricy on anyone claiming it is.

And try as I might I simply cannot understand your objections on this. Championship teams shower each other in champagne and drink openly in front of the media while still in uniform every season. Shoot even race car drivers do. So why the double standard?

Or is it just a problem in this case because it’s women and beer and cigars and somehow that’s not ‘lady-like’ enough for you?

My God, your complaint about running up the score comes down to one game? Please.

Re: drinking and smoking a cigar in national uniform, Jon Montgomery was in uniform as well and there was no outcry or investigation. Suddenly it’s girls swigging beer and it’s a problem?

And a team uniform is a team uniform, regardless of whether it’s your nation or the team that pays you $5 million a year to represent it. If it’s acceptable in the NHL, NFL, NBA and MLB and for a male Olympian why is it unacceptable in this case?

Please also note that not once have I called you any name or been disrespectful in any way. I also don’t much care about hockey – I’m an NFL fan – so I don’t take critical comments about their play to heart. I would, however, point out that your main objections had nothing to do with their play but rather with their method of celebration, and this I do take to heart. Whether it would be your chosen method or not is inconsequential; it is not your place to judge.

What I also care about is people like yourself making sweeping negative judgements about an entire nation based on something as ridiculous as a group of women celebrating the biggest possible win in their sport by having a beer and a cigar. If it had been the men no one would have cared, but somehow it’s different because it’s girls – and that pisses me off.

show me where I’ve “judged” you

I signed up on facebook just so I could post a response on this article but after reading all the responses so far, it seems I’ll just be echoing everyone else. Tells you how slanted and blatantly wrong your article was, eh.

My main beef with your writing was your claim that the Canadian women didn’t behave “pretty”. Who the hell cares how pretty they behaved? Saying that completely demeans their performance as players and women. It was a fact that they played better than any other team on the ice, including the Americans and there’s nothing disrespectful about being the best or celebrating for it.

NEWSFLASH: Champagne is a celebratory drink. Normally, people like to enjoy it after a momentous occasion like, say, winning a gold medal at the Olympics.
 
You should have a drink and relax.

Complaining about a non-issue will do that to ya.

A brief section of this article, or one like it from this website, aired on a national news broadcast for about 15 seconds and seems to have pissed off a lot of Canadians who consequently posted their sentiments above.