Word: hockey
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...great performance by any competitor. In Vancouver, it was hard to see past American skier Lindsey Vonn or South Korean figure skater Kim Yu-na. But the sporting success of the home nation helps set the tone for an Olympics. Just ask Canada's rabid ice hockey fans. Canada topped the gold-medal count this winter, and the U.K. will be under pressure to deliver in 2012. Recent history is encouraging: Britain finished fourth in the medals table in Beijing and landed its biggest gold-medal haul in a century...
...mass entertainment, that UFC has progressed so far by riding a wave of enthusiasm for actual violence is far more disconcerting. There are many sports that incorporate physical contact, but unlike UFC, personal injury is always a secondary consequence of the game, never its purpose. Professional football and hockey are two truly physically violent games, but they each contain a constructive goal that supersedes the bodily contact in importance. Ultimate Fighting, on the other hand, puts the focus solely on its violence, which renders it a uniquely and distinctly destructive experience. In place of teamwork, sportsmanship, and health benefits...
...that aside, and appreciate that these millionaire pros just played a splendid hockey game, with the same spirit as puck-crazed kids skating on the frozen ponds of Manitoba and lakes of Minnesota. The passes were fast, the checks crisp, the saves clutch. With 30 seconds left, and Canada holding a 2-1 lead, the 18,000 fans at the Canada Hockey Place, thousands in the streets of Vancouver, and millions watching on television across all North America, could sense it. Canada would realize its dream and take the men's hockey title. (See TIME's brief history of opening...
Before overtime started, I ran into the concourse of Canada Hockey Place to talk to a few fans. I wanted to grasp Canada's collective panic for letting the gold slip away so late in the game. But here's the thing: Canadians know hockey. They know that at the end of games, when the other team pulls the goaltender to gain a man advantage, and applies dizzying late-game pressure, these things happen. No one was crying or holding their hair in the aisles...
Perfect, actually. Canada caught a fair amount of grief for its "Own the Podium" rallying cry, especially after it struggled to win medals early. But as I write this in an cold, empty hockey arena (why am I here, and not taking in the joy in Vancouver's streets?), a bunch of volunteers, who so graciously offer themselves up to the thankless task of guiding confused, angry guests around these Olympics, are popping bubbly upstairs, and singing "Oh Canada!" They deserve this moment. And the world was lucky to witness it. Just like we were lucky to witness these Vancouver...