I Miss Vancouver Already

I would like to begin by saying the Closing Ceremony, while very entertaining and upbeat, was kind of ruined by NBC. They thought it would be a good idea to take a half hour break so we could watch... The Marriage Ref? Please! What a horrible decision on behalf of NBC. We could have done without that AND the news. It's like... leaving a big party for no reason at all and coming back an hour later and saying, "What did I miss?" and everyone's too busy enjoying themselves to answer your silly question. Wait, that's exactly what happened!

It was good to see Ryan Miller and Jack Johnson smiling with their silver medals at the ceremony. I'm glad they weren't all "weepy weepy we feel sorry for ourselves" because you know what? Getting a medal, period, is a thing to be enormously proud and happy about! I know how heartbreaking it was to not get the gold (more on that in a minute), but I really think Canada *gulp* deserved to win this game simply because they had never won a [hockey] gold on home soil. That was hard to say, but I will stand by it.

I think the United States of America would have tied the game earlier (if not surpassed Canada) if they had done better on their powerplays. I am not going to rip them a new one because it wasn't atrocious, but every time USA got the puck into Canada's zone, Canada shot it down to the other end of the ice. It was a 2 minute tease - back and forth, back and forth. If only they could have kept it in Canada's zone, things might have been different. I don't want to stay on the topic of "what could have been," but I must mention that in overtime, right before Crosby scored, the puck had hit the ref's skate. If that hadn't happened...

Overall, it was a very exciting game, to say the least. Definitely one for the history books. It's one of those "You'll remember where you were and what you were thinking 30 years from now" moments. I was in the living room, alone, thinking Dear God, Jesus, San Juan, and Guadalupe! PLEASE LET THE AMERICANS WIN GOLD! PLEEEEASE! When Zach Parise scored to tie the game 2-2 with like, 34 seconds left, I jumped up and shouted in joy. I thought my prayers had been answered! When Crosby scored 5 or 6 minutes into overtime, my heart sank. It happened so fast I didn't even know he shot the puck and scored. I was "fine" (more like numb) watching the handshakes and the medals being awarded, but once the news came on and I knew it was all over, I cried. I seriously cried and let some sobs out. I wanted the Americans to win gold so bad. But then I must go back to how Canada pretty much needed a win in Vancouver. It would have been a huge letdown to have them win silver. The closing ceremony would not have been the same had they not received gold medals.

But then again, the women had won gold days before. Why is everyone forgetting about the women?! I guess I understand because it is more of a man's sport, but the country shouldn't have been too disappointed had the men won silver. By the way, both the men and women's standings were the same: Canada/Gold, United States/Silver, Finland/Bronze. What a nice coincidence, eh?