The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

I'm kind of sad the Olympics are now over.

It didn't start off well. Undoubtedly, the Georgian luger who was killed crashing into a pole while doing a practice run started off the Olympics on a sad note. And the weather put a damper on events (that pun was intentional, feel free to use it) causing delays in the schedule and thousands of tickets needed to be refunded because they could no longer accommodate fans.

And while Alexandre Bilodeau winning Canada's first gold medal on home soil put the spark back in the spirit of Canadians, the "Own the Podium" program was being criticized because the overall medal haul wasn't going to be enough to put Canada #1 in the world as was previously predicted. And some were even saying it was putting too much pressure on the athletes to perform.

It took about one week to erase that negativity. Slowly but surely, Canada was racking up those medals. The wave of patriotism emanating from Vancouver was something I hadn't seen in some time. Canada is reserved about itself; proud but polite. These Olympics though, the red and white fever took over. More Canadians watched Bilodeau in his aerials event (probably the first time they ever took in the sport) then they did this year's Superbowl. Uplifting stories surfaced everwhere: Bilodeau's brother with cerebal palsy being his inspiration to compete. Clara Hughes in her last Olympics at 37 years old still managed to pull in a bronze medal. Joanie Rochette performed just days after her mother suddenly passed away to win her bronze medal.

And how about Jon Montgomery chugging a pitcher of lager after his skeleton 1st place gold performance?

Then of course, the pinnacle of the events, the men's hockey gold medal game, where Team Canada was seeking to win at home against the USA in front of a rabid crowd and country (about 26 million Canadians at one point or another tuned into the game) under the motto "LEAVE NO DOUBT". They took home the prize in dramatic fashion, a memory that will be talked about in Canadian history for as long as hockey exists.

Canada ended the events third in overall medals and first in gold with fourteen, a Winter Olympics record. Hard to believe in Calgary back in 1988 we took a grand total of five medals with no gold. Failure was almost expected of Canada at these types of competitions. But now it can be expected Canada to be competitive and in the process, give some pride and swagger back to its 33 million inhabitants.

Yes, it's ashame it has to come to an end. Many say this will be the last Olympics Canada will see in our lifetimes. Hopefully it won't be the case; the 2010 Winter Olympics showed the world Canada knows how to stage an event.

Even while in the warmest city in our country.