Thursday, February 22, 2018

To Be The Best...You've Got To Beat The Best


Last night (or, this morning, or yesterday morning, depending on where you live...) two teams squared off for all the marbles. The US and Canadian women's hockey teams played for gold. I knew the game was on--it started at 8:45pm our time.

I had a choice to make. 

I could stay up and watch it, or I could record it and watch it later.

Each had its pros and cons.

If I stayed up, I ran the risk of missing sleep, but more concerning for me, I'd get all emotionally tied up in the game. So if America beat Canada, I'd be all wound up and not able to sleep. And if they lost, I'd be bummed and not be able to sleep. The lack of sleep seemed guaranteed.

If I recorded it, I'd miss out on all that emotional awesomeness, but I could re-live it (partially...) if I recorded it. I chose the latter. I hope I'm not spoiling anyone's olympic experience, but the US women won in a fantastic game (if you're rooting for the Americans, that is...).


Canada has owned the USA in women's olympic hockey for twenty years. But, as with all winning streaks, it inevitably comes to an end, as it did last night, or this morning, or yesterday morning. The shootout was as good an ending as I've seen in a while. I'm not the biggest hockey fan, but I do love a good game where the athletes give their all to win.

I noticed something as I watched the Americans celebrate the win--it meant so much because they beat the best in the world. Their celebration is an honor to a great program, even though I'm sure the Canadians watching didn't feel like the Americans were honoring them--they were crushed. They'll come back better, stronger, faster next time. And if they beat the Americans in four years, they will have beaten the best.

And they will celebrate.

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