I'm taken back to one of my favorite football quotes of all time "Some people think football is a matter of life and death.  I assure you, it's much more serious than that."  (Bill Shankly quotes)

As a die hard football fan, hands down more than any other sport, those that know me can attest that I take it quite seriously, incredibly personally and devote endless Sundays, Mondays and sometimes Thursdays to it.  But no matter how king football may be in America, it pales compared to how 35 million+ Canadians love their sport, Hockey.  I'm not even sure the simple four letter word love is grandeur enough to describe their passion and dedication towards the sport.  You can bet that yesterday when Canada played USA, the whole country practically shut down to tune in.  Had Canada lost, I'm unsure at how anyone would have recovered from the devastation.

I spent the early morning listening to Jim Rome reviewing reactions and comments to yesterday's epic game and I agree with what he is saying, which is that the Canadians are winning with class.  As someone who's lived down here a long time and experienced how American fans can be, including myself, I'm not sure USA would have been so nice had they won.  Given there are going to be gracious folks and jerks from anywhere, most of the Canadian callers have been commending the USA team, reminding them what a fight they put and what a great game it was. Some USA responses haven't been quite as nice and Americans are used to being the type that likes to "stick it to the opponent" (quote from commenter). But then again it may be the nature.  I'll admit that in living in America for quite sometime, when I go back home to Canada, I'm definitely not the nicest one on the road. California freeways have rubbed off on me. 

Agreeing again w/ Jim Rome, yesterday's game was full of heart, grit and raw passion and I'm glad the two teams that faced off, did.  I'd like to say that the lack of class is not from the American team but from the fans.  The team actually won with class, equally commended Canada and stood in awe of the game that transpired.  Hockey players are a different breed of athlete and I absolutely respect the physical and mental game these guys play. 

There are no two other teams that I would have liked to see battle for the Gold, and as jubilant as I am that Canada won, I'm also incredibly stoked that America showed their skills in this sport.  For those of you that don't get it, imagine if Canada came to USA to play football on home turf, that's a timid comparison as to how epic this game was.  So no sore loosing, save the trash talking and really set an example of good sportsmanship.