The hypocrisy of our media – and I’m in sure we’re not alone in this – really bugs me. In the aftermath of our gold medal winning performance on the ice against Sweden I have heard all of the following – or variations of same – repeated ad infinitum:
“This was the best Team Canada hockey team”… “Truly a dominant performance” … “Really know how to win” … “I know there were doubts but take a step back and ask yourself if this is not the best Canadian Olympic hockey men’s performance that you’ve ever seen” … “Amazing performance” … “Truly exceptional” …
Compare the above to all the whining, second-guessing and complaining that went down during the preliminary round of the tournament when we couldn’t put the puck in the net to save our asses and how, according to more than a few pundits, we wouldn’t get out of the quarter-final round … when in fact we won the gold.
Canadian character sticks out according to Sportsnet’s Nick Kyprios. Maybe that was it but do me a favour and stash the superlatives. What would the media have been saying if we had lost 3-0 instead of having won the gold medal game – because it was only one game? What would the media’s line have been had Canada lost 5-4 (or 2-1) in overtime? What would the media – and we ourselves for that matter – have said if Team Canada had not won that one game?
Note that before yesterday’s tilt vs. the Swedes that Canada had yet to trail in the tournament (and never did as it turned out) as well as having out-scored its opponents by a count of 14-3 and even with this performance the men’s hockey team received nothing less than shabby treatment from the Canadian media. Imagine what would have been said if they had lost. It’s really amazing how hypocritical and two-faced reporters can be … and even though I am not a reporter, I did come down on that dick Babcock for benching Subban but that’s all I did. I wasn’t nearly as ruthless as some others I have heard on radio and TV.
Also being discussed was whether or not the gold medal game was as entertaining in this Olympics as it was in Vancouver which it definitely was not and whether this was due only to the bigger ice which some commentators were saying was the big loser in this year’s Olympic hockey tournament.
And who does SN’s Doug Maclean think he is saying that we shouldn’t have to watch the ‘bad’ teams as many times as we presently have to? Get rid of these poor teams earlier in the tournament. What arrogance. Even Don Cherry, the height and personification of nationalist and jingoistic arrogance, has never gone that far, at least as far as I know. How are the weaker teams expected to improve if they do not get the chance to play better clubs like Canada, Sweden, the Russians, Finns and the United States? What about fans in countries with the so-called weaker teams? Shouldn’t they be allowed to see the better teams up close and personal as well as to measure their teams’ performance against that of teams like Sweden, Canada and the United States?
However, Maclean may have a point if we look at the way soccer works … But more on that tomorrow when we do what I had said we would do today: look at Canada’s overall performance in these Olympics medal-wise and compare it to how Canada did in 2010 at the Vancouver winter games.
In the meantime, there’s another MacLean who deserves to be taken to task, and that’s RON MacLean of the CBC, Hockey Night in Canada and Coach’s Corner (of freaking course). File this under “Ron MacLean is a freaking suck hole”, and also under the heading “Who knew the depths to which Ron, Don and the CBC could or would sink?” … when freakin’ Don Cherry gets an unofficial award from MacLean for predicting Canada’s gold medal win. Well, first of all, go back to yesterday’s (Sunday’s) JL as well as to the video featured today which is an encore presentation of Don’s interview from yesterday. Did that knob, Don Cherry, ever predict a Canadian win or did he arrogantly say we were gonna win because second is no good to us? Ok, ok. Maybe he did get that one right. But what about his other errors – see today’s feature for the Don Cherry interview with Heather Hiscox – like those which follow?
Cherry: Russia looks (like) dynamite, should be in the gold medal game
Result: Russia eliminated even before the quarter-finals
Cherry: Canada would win 7-1 vs. Norway
Result: Final score was Team Canada 3; Norway 1.
Cherry: “Lalongo” will be be the Canadian goalie.
Result: Price was the man allowing a mere three goals in entire tournament.
Cherry: NHL would not be going to any more Olympics.
Result: Who knows but there is no guarantee that Don’s right; as a matter of fact if the rest of these predictions are any indication, I would guess not. But I’ll tell you two things for sure.
Number one is that the next Olympics are not next year as Don mumbles in his interview with Heather H., and number two is that the next winter games are to be held in South Korea. That’s right, Don, there are two Koreas and when you just say “Korea” as you did in your interview,** you do no more than confuse intelligent, knowledgeable people … but just for a little while, until these people realize that it’s you, ignorance au bout, who’s on the mic.
**See Heather Hiscox’ interview with Cherry as he predicts what will happen in the Olympic men’s hockey tournament. (JL 144, Sunday 02/23 and JL 145, Monday 02/24)
Remember that Don’s a racist, military-adulating, ignorant twit who often makes mistakes as I have been able to show both here and yesterday as well. He too frequently blows his own horn by calling up clips to prove he was right about this and right about that but I doubt we’ll be seeing much of that type of thing with regard to these Olympic predictions. Neither he nor MacLean looked entirely comfortable while the suckhole, MacLean, was honouring that ignorant jerk with words which seemed hollow, apparently, even to the two of them.
Bye y’all.
Peace.