Olympic Ending!!

The International Olympic Committee, known more formally as the “IOC” and less formally as the” idiots who run the Olympic games”, could not have scripted a better ending to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. The United States-Canada gold medal hockey game will probably go down as one of the “where were you when you watched” sport moments of our lifetime. Something like 27.6 million people watched the game in the United States (and another 26.5 million in Canada, 80% of their population!) and I am sure that number will swell to 100 million people who will claim to have watched it one day. I know I will always remember where I was because I missed the freaking overtime!! We will get to that in a moment, but first what a great game those 50 million plus people got to see. Even when the U.S. went down 2-0 the game was crisp, fast-paced and had you on the edge of your seat. When Ryan Kesler scored for the States to make the game 2-1, the intensity and anticipation went up to a whole new level, lasting for a solid period and a half until Zach Parise scored to tie the game with 25 seconds left on the clock. When Sidney Crosby, the official hero for the Canadian Olympics, scored 7:40 into the overtime the nation to our north could collectively breathe out again. The homegrown superhero that has been in their lives for almost 10 years despite being only 22 years-old came to the rescue and where was I to witness this…stuck on an airplane sitting on the runway!

That’s right, I missed the overtime. I had to travel the past few days for business and knowing the gold medal game was scheduled for 3pm on Sunday, I booked a 5:45pm flight thinking that would be plenty of time to catch the game before boarding since most of these Olympic hockey games have lasted right around two hours or so. I got to the airport around face-off and settled into a seat at TGI Friday’s amongst a large crowd that had a certain big game buzz running through them. It was actually a pretty cool atmosphere to watch the game in. You could almost feel the immensity of the moment. Of course the game was pushed back and even started a little later than the new 3:15pm eastern start time, but that was still fine as we got the ok from our gate to delay boarding until 5:30pm. Then overtime happened! As I sat on the plane trying to follow along with the action on my Iphone, we got an announcement that we would be stuck on the runway for at least 45 minutes. Talk about a kick in the groin when you are already down….

I got this text from my brother that signaled the end of the United States’ brilliant run through the Olympic Games, “sid the kid gamewinner!” Unbelievable was the first word that came to my mind. How could they have possibly scripted this game and this ending better than it turned out? The second thing that came to mind was wondering how much this goal would mean to Crosby financially, $50 million, $100 million, more? I mean, we are talking about the guy who was already the face of Canadian hockey, now becoming the face of the entire country and the Olympics themselves. Crosby will be the hero now amongst his countrymen forever and probably has vaulted himself to Gretzky level in terms of fame and potential fortune. I will also say that if the U.S. was going to lose, we could not have asked for a better way to go down. Crosby has proven himself to be a respectable, humble and mature person despite being just 22 years of age. As hard as the loss was to take as an American, I am sure most Penguin fans and hockey diehards could at least appreciate how and who ended the game. At the very least, millions and millions of Americans and Canadians will remember where they were for this game….especially if they were stuck on a plane for overtime!