Beer cans and cigars and champagne, oh my!
Would someone please tell me why this Canada women’s hockey celebration is causing such a stir?
You’ve no doubt seen the photos by now. I doubt you’ll find any video because the celebration that occurred on Olympic ice after the Canadians beat the United States and won the gold yesterday happened long after the game, long after the medal ceremony, long after pretty much everyone had gone home. The Canadians were celebrating but decided to return to the ice, some toting beer cans, cigars and champagne bottles.
Word was, they wanted to take some snapshots on the ice to commemorate their victory.
Totally normal.
But then when some of those photos surfaced Friday morning and some of the gals were drinking and smoking, you’d have thought they were playing demolition derby with the Zambonis. The International Olympic Committee said it was going to look into the incident. The same went for the Canadian Olympic Committee. Hockey Canada issued an apology.
On ESPN.com, a reader commented that he wondered what the hockey moms in the stands should tell their daughters as they watched the scene.
Thing is, about the only hockey moms in the arena were some of the players themselves.
The arena had cleared out almost entirely. Bob Condotta, a sports reporter with the Seattle Times, blogged about the scene that he witnessed from the arena’s press box:
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.”
Athletes have been known to celebrate with a smoke and an adult beverage after a big win, and an Olympic gold in hockey definitely qualifies as big in Canada. So, I have to wonder, is this episode being blown out of proportion because the athletes involved are women? If the Canadian men had come onto the ice after winning gold and done the same thing, would anyone have thought anything of it?
I’m not sure why this has become such a brouhaha. Athletes deserve a chance to celebrate, and as long as it isn’t disrespectful to their opponent or their sport, I don’t see any harm.
Those players deserved the chance to drink it all in.
Warren’s frustrating season turns sad
Hockey fans: What should team be named?
All right, Oklahoma City hockey fans. We want to hear from you.
We know an American Hockey League team is coming to town. We know it will be the minor-league affiliate of the Edmonton Oilers. We know it will start playing in the fall. We know it will call the Cox Convention Center its home.
One thing we don’t know — what it will be named.
So, what should it be?
We want to hear what you think this new Oklahoma City hockey team should be called and why. You can comment here on my blog, or you can e-mail me directly at jcarlson@opubco.com. Be sure to include your full name and your city of residence. Who knows? You might see your comment in The Oklahoman soon.
Sooners go the way Stevenson does
More from The Q&A: Nadia Comaneci
The Q&A has featured lots of great athletes, but never before has it had a three-time Olympic gold medalist.
Until this week.
Former gymnastics great turned Norman resident Nadia Comaneci is hosting an international meet this weekend in Oklahoma City. She and husband, Bart Conner, have expanded the event this year, adding a health fair open to the public. They have plans to continue to grow the weekend in coming years.
Then again, there’s no much that this gold-medal couple doesn’t do on a grand scale.
Here’s more from The Q&A with Comaneci.
Jenni Carlson: As a former Olympic gold medalist, what is it like watching other athletes competing and winning in the Winter Olympics up in Vancouver?
Nadia Comaneci: You just think about all the years that you spent to get to that moment, all the hard work. That moment … for some people, it takes a minute and a half to perform what they trained to do for years and years. There’s no rewinding. It’s not like, “Oh, I want to try this again because I messed it up.” They go there and this is the moment. You have to cull your best performance that you had in training and try to deliver it there with so many people watching it. Yeah, I remember and you know that everybody’s watching. In some cases, that athlete is expected to win.
See, when I went to the Olympics in ’76, the gymnastics people knew that I was good, but everybody else, after I won everybody was like, “Where’s she coming from? Who is she? What is Romania?” I made the cover of Sports Illustrated, Newsweek and Time all in one week, and I didn’t even know what that meant. (Laughs.)
JC: Maybe that was a good thing. It might’ve freaked you out had you known.
NC: I know. I didn’t understand all of those things because I was 14. I understood them later. When you’re a child, you’re like, “Is that a big deal?” Uh, yeah, that is a big deal.
JC: Were those years that followed the ’76 Games more difficult for you because of that?
NC: In the ’80 Olympics … people expected me to win. I was good enough to win, and I made a mistake and ended up second, which is pretty good, too. When you’re growing up, you realize you’ve got a lot of heavy things on your shoulders. I didn’t have anything on my shoulders when I was 14. After that, I was like, “Wow, what would’ve happened if I would’ve made a mistake?” (Laughs.) There would be no 10 and none of those things.
JC: Now, you did a lot of amazingly difficult and dangerous skills as a gymnast. I’m wondering — any chance you would’ve ever done any of the Winter Olympic sports like ice skating or snowboarding or downhill skiing?
NC: I think it would’ve been fun. A lot of people that do tricks … they were gymnasts before. It is harder because there’s no cushioned mats when you hit the snow. It’s daring, and kids like to do daring stuff. They don’t like to do safe stuff. But you have to look at the safest way to do crazy stuff. (Laughs.) If you learn them the proper way, all ends up good.
JC: I know especially ice skaters, a lot of them have gymnastics backgrounds. Do you ice skate at all?
NC: Yeah, but I’m really bad.
JC: So, no triple toe loops in your future?
NC: Yeah, I can do many of those sitting on the ground. (Laughs.)
JC: I have to ask about your 4-year-old, Dylan. Between you and Bart and your still-strong roots in gymnastics, is Dylan destined to be a gymnast?
NC: He comes to the gym because he likes to jump on the trampoline. He takes one class a week for 45 minutes. I think it’s great for kids. They don’t do gymnastics; they roll on the mats, they learn how to sit in line and wait. Kids who do these kinds of things present themselves much better in kindergarten in school.
JC: There’s some discipline built in already.
NC: There is. They don’t want to do that; they want to go wherever they want to go. But they have to learn to stay in line.
JC: He’s learning patience, but is he taking his jumping and rolling home to all your furniture?
NC: (Laughs.) No, he’s not allowed to do much in the house because we have the gym. I’ll say, “Dylan, you’ve got to go the gym.” It’s a big playground for him, so we’re lucky that we have that.
Trouble brewing for OSU women
Hey, Thunder fans: Crazy for Collison?
Nick Collison has never been an All-Star. Probably never will be either.
He’s not the fastest guy or the strongest guy and the most athletic guy on this Thunder team, but that hasn’t kept the veteran big man from becoming a fan favorite. Any time he checks into a game at the Ford Center, the ovation is loud and long.
So, are you a Thunder fan who’s crazy for Collison?
I’d love to hear from you. E-mail me at jcarlson@opubco.com, and tell me what it is about Collison that you love, appreciate and cheer. And be sure to include your full name and some contact information so I can get in touch with you if necessary.
Is the slam dunk contest dead?
Winter Olympics: Break out the brooms
None doing it better than Coale
Sherri Coale has taken her Oklahoma women’s basketball teams deep into the NCAA Tournament in recent years. She even guided her squad to the Women’s Final Four a year ago, a difficult accomplishment regardless of the talent or the experience.
And yet, this year is the best coaching performance of her career.
The Sooners have lost so much — except for games.
This season was bound to be a struggle after the departure of Courtney and Ashley Paris. You don’t lose two of the greatest players in the program’s history without some sort of a letdown. And when they’re two players who’ve been integral since the moment that they stepped on campus, going on without them is even more difficult.
Then you add in the fact that this squad was going to be short handed. It doesn’t have a full compliment of scholarship players, so depth of talent and, well, just plain depth were bound to be an issue.
Then came the season-ending knee injury to leading scorer Whitney Hand.
A recipe for disaster, right?
Wrong.
The Sooners stand 17-6 overall and 7-3 in Big 12 play after a gutsy overtime victory against Baylor on Wednesday night. It was their second consecutive victory over a top-15 team and a continuation of an amazing season.
Credit Coale.
Oh, the Sooner coach will likely never take any credit. She’ll always point to the play of her guys, as she likes to call them. And while it’s true that Danielle Robinson, Amanda Thompson, Nyeshia Stevenson and Co. have done an amazing job, Coale and her coaches have worked some magic, too. They have figured out a way to maximize the talent that they have, and while it may not always be pretty — the Sooners hit only a third of their second-half shots against the Bears — they are getting the job done.
The scheme is right. The plan is solid. The motivation is high. That is all a testament to Coale.
This could’ve been a lost season for the Sooners. Because of their coach, it is anything but.
