Disgrace

For a hockey fan, the Olympics can actually provide something useful: an equivalent to soccer’s World Cup. The level of hockey in Salt Lake in 2002 was incredible, showing what a game that had grown logy could be, and culminated in a terrific final game, with the good guys winning. (It was also beneficial for my parochial interests, as the final game demonstrated Jarome Iginla having made the transition from very good player to player good enough to drag the Flames within a goal of the Stanley Cup.) I’ve been looking forward to the 2006 tournament for a long time.

Unfortunately, the experience–particularly for a fan of Team Canada–will be sullied by the inclusion of Vancouver Horsefuckers Canucks thug Todd Bertuzzi, who at the culmination of a series of brawling initiated by the Canucks in response to a (perfectly legal) hit in a previous game, grabbed onto the jersey of Avs forward Steve Moore and then sucker punched-him in the back of the head, and tried to continue to pummel Moore as he laid on the ice with a broken neck. (Had players intervened a second later, Moore might not be alive right now.) Inexcusably, Gary Bettman allowed him to return this year, although he missed only the tail end of the ’04 season and the Canucks’ glorious 7-game upset playoff defeat. His inclusion in the Olympic Team is even worse. What’s particularly bad is that the selection is borderline at best on the merits; in the high-tempo, large ice surface Olympic game younger, better, faster and more disciplined young players like Spezza, Staal and Crosby would be far more useful. And there’s also some serious nepotism going on here with Canada’s 3-man management team: Hockey Canada’s Steve Tambellini is a longtime Canucks executive, and the other marginal picks (Ryan Smyth, Shane Doan, and Kris Draper) have some connection to Gretzky, Lowe, or both. But to have Bertuzzi represent Team Canada would be indefensible even if he actually deserved to be selected.

Hopefully they will be overruled by the Olympic Committee. If not, there’s always the women’s team to cheer for unequivocally…