Amen

Bonnie,

Nicely done again, not to mention that on every college campus in America, and every city around the world outside the US, kids drink, or are drunk, every night of the week.

Miss Poulin is one of the best hockey players in the world, not best female players, best players. Part of this is today’s technology where nothing is private anymore, and part of this is the world’s media, but most of this is just small minded old men from the boy’s club.

Enjoy the rest of your Olympic stay, and have a safe journey home!!

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Every night, I walk from the main press center on Vancouver's beautiful waterfront to my hotel and try my best to avoid being buffeted by reeling, drunken mobs of young people. My hotel happens to be on Granville Street, which I understand is Party Central on any given weekend, but the Olympic crowds have been on a different scale, bigger and louder and more inebriated and durable enough to keep it going until 3 or 4 in the morning on school nights, too.

I've seen only one fistfight break out in front of me during this two-week tailgate, but trust me, I've seen plenty: Guys unzipping their pants any old place to pee, guys holding their girlfriends' hair off their shoulders so they have an unimpeded means to vomit, young people of both genders propositioning each other with all the affection and subtlety of a slap shot. The real consequences of these kinds of gatherings usually arrive later on, when some percentage of these revelers get behind the wheel of a car, or get into a car with someone who shouldn't be driving, or stumble in front of a moving car, or have unprotected sex, or get date-raped.

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Alex Livesey/Getty Images
Part of the IOC's issue with the celebration: Marie-Philip Poulin, left, drinking even though she's underage.
This is a debauch wrapped in brand-name Canada apparel purchased at the Olympic Superstore -- where queuing up is a sport in and of itself -- and the attempts to explain it away as nouveau patriotism are lame. If this is a legitimate way to express national pride, then Parliament should replace the maple leaf on the flag with a keg and be done with it.

Which makes the double standard and hypocrisy coloring Thursday's brew-ha-ha around the Canadian women's hockey team even more blatant.

As you may have heard or read, the Canadians shut out the United States 2-0 on Thursday to earn a third straight gold medal in their national pastime. This was a two-nation tournament, but that's not the home team's fault. The Canadians won the game they came to win and it was the last game for a number of veteran players.

An hour after the interminable medal and flower ceremony -- can someone talk the protocol people into handing them both out at once? -- some of the Canadians came back onto the ice with beer and champagne and cigars. They posed for photos for each other and were photographed themselves by the world's biggest photo agencies. The media and the cleaning crew were pretty much the only spectators to the impromptu celebration, since the fans had long since poured outside to do their drinking where it belongs, in the streets.

A reporter or reporters contacted the International Olympic Committee for comment, and we got pretty much what you would expect at an event where most of the female athletes are officially referred to as "ladies," as if this were charm school instead of a venue where limbs are broken and physical limits tested.

Initially, one IOC official suggested the hockey players should have limited their revelry to the "changing room" and said the episode would be "investigated." Friday morning, IOC spokesman Mark Adams either contradicted or clarified that, saying the organization was drafting a letter to the team asking questions about the incident. Adams denied the IOC was aiming any special scrutiny at the players, saying the media is the only entity putting the team under a microscope.

It doesn't appear any kind of reprimand is being considered, partly because Hockey Canada issued a quick apology. Friday, Canadian Olympic Committee president Michael Chambers called the hijinks "an error in judgment" but also allowed how he enjoyed a beer after his hockey wins, which came on a much lower level.

I'll go out on a limb and say no one would be talking about decorum if the Canadian men had enjoyed a cold beverage and a stogie at center ice in similar circumstances. The photo would run above the fold in every newspaper in this country and be reissued as a souvenir poster.

The only possible hook for this "story" -- aside from flat-out sexism and the possible violation of an anti-smoking ordinance -- is that Marie-Philip Poulin, the player who scored both of Canada's goals, is still 18 and the drinking age in the province of British Columbia is 19. Canadian women's captain Hayley Wickenheiser quietly voiced her irritation at a prescheduled press availability Friday.

"We had our victory, we deserved to win and celebrate it, and I think we handled ourselves fine," Wickenheiser said. "If you watch any celebration in hockey history, the NHL or the Stanley Cup, there's champagne in the dress[ing] room and there's 18-year-olds on teams. I don't know why this is such a big deal or any different from any other celebration, and it was all done in good taste."

Wickenheiser said some players returned to the ice on a whim after celebrating privately for more than an hour with guests including Prime Minister Stephen Harper and British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell.

"The girls wanted to take a few pictures on the ice thinking the rink would be empty," Wickenheiser said. "Somebody took a picture, and of course, it's our youngest player involved.

"I am not ashamed or embarrassed at all. It's really unfortunate. We just won an Olympic gold medal in our own country and today we're having to defend how we celebrated our Olympic gold medal. Nobody got hurt."

Right -- in contrast to the luge track at Whistler, for example. Get a grip, folks.

Wickenheiser's words count more than most. She was selected to represent all athletes by reciting the Olympic oath at the opening ceremonies before a worldwide audience. That pledge, by the way, includes references to sportsmanship and competing drug-free. It doesn't mention anything about refraining from unladylike behavior.

People are already talking about how dicey it could get downtown if the Canadian men win the gold medal Sunday. I wish someone would apply a code of conduct to the sodden mobs that have clogged the streets here; I'd be less worried about how I'm going to get home after the closing ceremonies.

Yet while the massive, excessive outdoor carousing passes for Olympic atmosphere, female hockey players intoxicated on nothing stronger than adrenaline and joy are being told they should have restrained themselves. Every once in a while, it becomes clear that baby, we haven't come very far after all.

Bonnie D. Ford covers tennis and Olympic sports for ESPN.com. She can be reached at bonniedford@aol.com.

Thank you again for getting this far with me.

Bicycles, Rocks and Other Fun Stuff

Does anybody even know what a "banana seat" is anymore? Great for popping wheelies or giving a cousin a ride. You all should know not to throw large, sharp rocks in the direction of other people, if you don't I can tell you it is not a good idea.

Want to know what else is not a good idea, drinking Fanta orange soda bottle after bottle, 43 to be exact. If you don't throw them up you win. If you do throw them up you feel better afterwards.

Little tiny weights and old clamps, first in the bedroom upstairs and then in the basement. This was just the beginning. Taking out your frustrations over fathers on the heavy bag next to the table saw, that was kinda fun too.

There was the toy gun incident when it seemed like all the siblings came to get me...what was I going to do the one holding the gun was bigger and stronger than all of us at that time. If only that could have lasted.

Oh, and lets not forget the attempted use of a cousin to break one's fall on the ice. Waking up in the training room to smelling salts and not skating again until adulthood.

A ride to Boston planned. Another hour spent beating up the bag instead, and bleeding knuckles.

How about waking up on the double yellow line in the development just on the other side of Mineral Spring. Just one of many things you introduced me to that we probably should have known better about, but then again we never did.

And then there was all that time on the water in the summer.

We spent a lifetime together, having fun and causing trouble. Who knows which ideas belonged to whom, they were almost all bad ideas, and that is what made them fun, and crazy and worth doing. Actually, having a partner in crime is what made them fun, and crazy, and worth doing.

I am sorry I was not there as we grew older. I am sorry that life was so hard for you and I very much wish now that there had been something I could have done, or at least that I had tried. I guess we both just got too busy trying to get out of our own way.

I am glad we had the childhood we had to build a lifetime of memories, and as always seems to be the case, I wish I had an opportunity to tell you all of this now.

Farewell Ant, all my love.

Thank you again for getting this far with me.

Houston.......? We have a problem!

After the brain injury coverage in Time magazine and on ESPN's "Outside The Lines" several weeks ago I have been inundated with letters and emails from former football players around the country who are still having neurological issues long after their playing days. You would think the mail would be coming from former NFL players, instead the mail has been coming from guys in their 30s, 40s and 50s who never played on the NFL level. These guys played on the high school and/or college levels. Their emails are much like yours which brings me to think there are some major problems with concussions sustained in contact sports (but especially football) that have not been adequately addressed. It seems that the head trauma train is not solely an NFL issue but in this case (a football issue in general) that is coming down the track and is rapidly picking up speed!

Harry Carson

It Is Ok to Do What You Want to Do Until It Is Time to Do What You Are Meant To Do

This is a quote from yet another movie, and one that I like very much. The only problem is, at least for me, what it is you are meant to do. What is the one thing that will get you jumping out of bed in the morning to go do, or be willing to work until the wee hours of the morning. What is that one thing that no matter how many hours a day it takes to get the job done time flies by, the one thing that does not feel like work? What is that thing that you could do day in and day out, year after year, and it would truly make you happy?

As I said I like this quote, I believe in the true meaning behind it, and ironically, the character that receives this message does not see it as the prophetic statement it in fact is about his life. The movie, by the way, is The Rookie, and it is Dennis Quaid's character that hears this from his father. A movie worth seeing and a thought worth pondering.

Thank you again for getting this far with me.

Unfinished Business

Three years of work. Three years of sacrifice. Three years of focus on doing the job that I was hired to do. Taking what amounted to a program as bad as the "Bad News Bears," with recreational drugs, and working towards a standard set by Virginia, North Carolina, Gettysburg, Middlebury and Salisbury. Three years of trying to get players that wanted to play the game more than they wanted to...pick your own phrase for moronic, adolescent, irresponsible, college behavior.

Go from a roster of 17 players, 5 of whom could play the game, to a roster of 34, 30 of whom can really play the game. Go from everyone is at risk for academic probation to one or two are. Go from a team that is top heavy, and that does not care, to a team that is loaded with underclassman that can play the game and love to do so.

This did not happen by accident, and it happened in the exact amount of time planned for, discussed, and promised. The only problem is that somehow this is no longer my job to finish. Not because the results were not there, not because I did not do what I was hired to do, and not because the program was not on a path to continued success, but because I did what I said I was going to do and too many people were made to look at themselves in the mirror and did not like what they saw.

It is much easier to get rid of the mirror than it is to change.

Thank you again for getting this far with me.

Dead Man Walking

I am a 26 year old kid in a 46 year old body, with a 66 year old heart, or maybe a 46 year old heart with a 66 year old body, I am not sure. I have tried a number of things in my 46 years, some successful, some not, I guess, although everyone's definition of successful is different. More often than not these days I feel as though I am simply walking around in a shell, my passion, my intensity, my sole seemingly gone.

The simple answer is that I have let "them" win. How many times can you here tone it down, it is too much, you are too intense, too serious. These were all good things when I was on a field doing what I loved, or on snow, or in a classroom, or in a conference room on the other side of the world. What it comes down to is I have just always been too...

Now, as my body, which I asked way too much of for too long, is broken. From my toes to my head, literally. I watched a piece the other day with Harry Carson of the New York Giants speaking about the issues professional football players have to deal with related to post concussion syndrome. I knew far too well every bit of what they were discussing, I was never famous, but I was fearless for way too long. I did not realize just how much we pay for each thing we do to our bodies.

I can't ski now, I can't really run, I can jog a little, haven't played basketball or hockey in forever, and haven't played lacrosse or football in even longer.

You can't undo what you have done in life, nor can you go back and do the things you wish you had done. As it says at the top of the page, "it is what it is," and there ain't much one can do about it.

Thank you again for getting this far with me.

Walk A Mile

I am not famous. Quite the opposite. Nonetheless, I have had enough situations where the spotlight was bright enough for people to judge everything and anything I did to know that it is not fun.

On the other end of the spectrum is Tiger Woods, and Michael before him. There are two people, quite literally, on the planet, that have ever known what it is like to be in their shoes. People seem to lose sight of this, but it is an indisputable fact. No other athletes have ever been as dominate as they have, as early in their careers, or to such an extent, and no two athletes have ever made the kind of money they did for being as good as they were/are.

There are two facts about this money, one, they make these kinds of sums because of how good they are, and how recognizable they are for their success beyond their individual sports, and even beyond sport itself, and two, having that kind of money, while wonderful I am sure in many ways, brings a pressure, and responsibility, and "temptations" as Tiger said, that none of us mere mortals can possibly have any vague appreciation for.

If you cheat on your wife, you are wrong. If you gamble on any athlete that moves as a professional athlete you are wrong, even though lots of people have forgotten Michaels involuntary vacation from basketball, or at least the reason for it. But, both men knew they were wrong. Michael did what he could to make it up to the fans, the NBA, his family, his teammates, and three more championships later people sort of forgot. Tiger is trying to do the same.

My friends at ESPN are the ones that once again have me writing this, and although I thought Mike Tirico did a very professional job with his post "game" coverage of yesterdays speech by Tiger, there are still too many "journalists," most at ESPN, taking shots from the cheap seats.

As I said with the Bret Favre coverage of his interception against the Saints, two weeks later Americas Quarterback Payton did the same thing in the same situation to the same Saints Safety to lose the Super Bowl, I would challenge any of the so called "peanut gallery" to stand on the field and try to throw a pass to open space thirty yards down field with a New Orleans Saints linebacker or Defensive End running you over as you do it. We will have the Medivac waiting I promise.

I don't know that there are any on the PGA tour that could walk a mile in Tigers shoes let alone in the press. Not to mention the most important part of all of this, Tiger as worked from the age of two to be mentally and physically tougher and more talented than every other golfer on tour and he succeeded, which is why all the sponsors want him, and why everyone else does as well. Can anyone out there imagine what it is like for most of the world to want a piece of you in one way or another, and what it is like to try and figure out how many of those millions are sincere. Not many I would guess, and I know I could not handle it, not for a minute, not that I wouldn't want to try mind you, but I am just simply not that mentally tough.

Thank you again for getting this far with me.