Joyous celebration

A quick note before I dash out the door for work this morning:

Dear fellow hockey-mad Canadians,

It's not the end of the world. The men lost at the Olympics and were eliminated from further rounds. They played poorly. They didn't play as a team and they couldn't score. In other words, they deserve to be sent home. It's a game. For all the moaning, teeth-gnashing and talk-show second-guessing, you'd think a major cataclysm had occurred. It's just a game. A game where the playing field has been levelled. What's wrong with that? It's better for the game - remember all the bleating going on about how our Canadian women's team was TOO dominant?

Let's all get over it and move on.

I'd rather celebrate the Canadian women who won four medals yesterday - in particular, Chandra Crawford, who won gold in the women's 1.1 km cross-country sprint. She wasn't a favourite. I'm not sure people thought she'd even qualify, let alone get into the finals and win. But win she did. Her exuberant, joyous attitude was infectious. She made me smile and laugh along with her through all her interviews. Her joy was so genuine, her personality so ebullient that I couldn't help it. She made my day!

Pure joy. It was great to see.