I can probably count the times I've watched every second of a hockey game my entire life on two hands. But I watched every second of the gold medal game yesterday, and was into it the whole time. I'm not sure what my Olympic hockey expectations were going in, but it's safe to say that this tournament shattered them.

Before the game started, my friend Phil sent me the following text message:

Would you rather the U.S. win a gold medal or the Sox take two of three in Minnesota the first time they play?

It's a great question. I asked the same thing to a Cubs fan friend last night, and he said he'd take two Cubs wins in St. Louis over a hockey gold medal, no doubt. Phil said White Sox, 100 percent. Maybe it's just because I was in the heat the moment, but I went with gold for the United States. And that's for someone who loves the White Sox and recognized about 25 percent of the names on Team USA before this thing started. Sorry for not knowing you exist, Brooks Orpik. Won't happen again.

The point: this game was galvanizing. It seemed important, even for people who don't follow hockey all that closely. It seemed like An Event, and that's honestly all I could ever ask of something like Olympic hockey.

So yeah, I'm really not that bummed about the U.S. losing. A contrarian opinion? Maybe. But this was Canada's Olympics and Canada's sport. And they had the better team. The fact that the U.S. played as well and as hard as they did is good enough for me.

Other Very Important Things of Note

Crosby Hate: I think I knew people didn't really like Sid the Kid. As someone who rolls with Team Ovie all the way, I support this. But the shear amount of Crosby hate last night really surprised me.

The first reaction I saw after the game was from Big League Stew's Kevin Kaduk. He tweeted:

  Blackhawks bloggers agree. From FifthFeather:

The thing that really burns my ass about Sidney Crosby's game-winner is how much credit he's going to get for Canada's success, when in reality, he hasn't really had a vintage Crosby game since the Switzerland game.  Crosby was mostly invisible for the majority of the gold medal game, but the moment the puck snuck through Ryan Miller's legs, he was already getting credit for putting Hockey Canada on his back and carrying them across the finish line.   That couldn't be farther from the truth.  Oh well, such is life when an annoying bastard scores the game-winning goal in overtime.

And now Blackhawk Up:

Since I'm pretty upset about Canada winning that game, I'll let you go to the video for this one. Damnit, anyone but F-ing Sidney Crosby.

So yeah, DIE IN A FIRE, CROSBY. Or something. I still kinda don't get it.

Ruining A Good, Good Night: My vote for the worst song of all-time is 'Sweet Home Alabama'. Stompy once argued 'Sweet Caroline' - the white people's national anthem! - is the worst. These are both great choices, if I do say so myself. But any list of the worst songs ever should also include "Tonight's Gonna Be a Good Night", the Black Eyed Peas jam we all heard nine billion times last summer.

That song really, really sucks. I give it an F. Yet, Canada, a country that produces tons of sweet bands, played it while waiting for their gold medals.

If Black Eyed Peas played after a Chicago team won a championship, I'd be two percent pissed. But when Canada does it after winning a hockey gold medal, it's just hilarious.
 
Mazel Tov!

Die.

Don't Feel Too Bad For Pat Kane: So, as the headline notes, the Jonathan Toews, Brent Seabrook, and Duncan Keith won gold medals with Canada. Patrick Kane - or "Kaner", if you're nasty - settled for silver.

But if you think Kane came out of the Olympics a loser, you just don't know him very well. Via The Big Lead:

According to the Wall Street Journal's Market Watch, the Olympians have used all the condoms in the Olympic village. The original count of 10,000 condoms didn't last the duration of the Olympics and they're airlifting in a shipment of 8500 more condoms. Seriously.

The lesson: Chicago's premier party boy always wins.

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