Buffalo Boy's Blog

Yesterday the Canadian women's hockey team won gold and deservedly so, I am not writing this to take anything away from their victory, I am however, writing this to state that the way the Canadian women chose to celebrate was and should have been an embarassment to their country.

Smoking cigars and not just drinking, but underage drinking on the ice after the awards ceremony was not the way to do it. Not when there were still journalists around and even if there weren't underage drinking is underage drinking.

Toronto Mike and other readers on his site felt otherwise. That what the Canadian womens hockey team did to celebrate was okay.

The celebration should not have spilled out onto the ice where whether there were fans in the building or not, they could have potentially been seen by fans or a kid and how would you explain that?

Even big league, professional athletes take it into and keep it in the lockerroom after championships. And lets be clear right here and now, underage drinking is underage drinking, it doesn't matter if you are from Quebec and come to New York to drink, when you get to New York if you are 19, you are shit out of luck if you want to drink because the drinking age is 21.

Here are some of the blinded comments made by Toronto Mike and other Canadian readers:

From Toronto Mike:

"Here's my opinion on this... These women just won gold, defeating their arch rivals in a hard fought game. If they want to crack open a beer and smoke a victory cigar after everyone's left, I'm okay with that. They deserve it, and it's pretty much standard after winning a championship. Ideally, the 18-year old would abstain so we can avoid this nonsense, but damn... 18 is the legal drinking age in Quebec. I hate the fact we have to apologize for this. We won. I'm proud of these women."

So what example are these women setting for younger girls?

Another from Toronto Mike:

"BBM, you're missing a key detail. Everyone had left the arena. All spectators were gone. All that remained were a few journalists, who did what journalists do, and took pictures. They did not crack open a beer and light up a cigar in front of kids or fans or during live television coverage."

Here is a comment that agrees with me on the issue, bad idea to celebrate on the ice yet not taking anything away from the victory.

McNulty writes: "There is a time and a place for these things. Partying on the ice wasn't a good idea. Having the arena empty mitigates the idea but it still just looks bad. I am not taking away anything from their victory, it was hard fought and deserved."

I don't mind the celebration but if it involves booze and cigars do it in a more discreet fashion. The Olympics have to maintain a clean image, if it were a pro game I don't think anyone would bat an eye lash. I did however question the cigars, for a sport that requires cardiopulmonary endurance like nobody's business these girls were puffing away quite readily.