I still wonder what the average Latvian thinks about all this but at least this story makes a little more sense than needing to shut public booze sales and politicians drunk driving. Yet the International Olympic Committee is not amused:
Nearly an hour after the Canadians won their third consecutive Olympic gold medal with a 2-0 win over the Americans, the players came back out on the ice in the near-empty arena, smoking cigars and swigging champagne and beer. (Rebecca Johnston even tried to drive the zamboni.) “I don’t think it’s a good promotion of sport values,” Gilbert Felli, the IOC’s executive director of the Olympics, told the Associated Press after learning about the celebration. “If they celebrate in the changing room, that’s one thing, but not in public. We will investigate what happened.”
Gold. Literally. What’s that IOC? Leave it in the locker room? Hide your beer drinking?? What a joke. Remember, these are Canadian hockey players and remember what the Russian goalie said when the mens team gave them the boot the other night: “They came like gorillas coming out of a cage.”
Yet is that what we are? Is that what the world sees? Are we really the wild men and women of the north, clubbing and hammering poor Russians and American athletes as mere foreplay for a good beer? Sadly, no one appears to have taught the women’s hockey team on the ways of good beer. Does she really need to be sucking down a Molbat macro-blurt?
[Original comments…]
Pok – February 26, 2010 9:23 AM
Oh sweet victory! Oh sweet irreverence! Canada should launch a parallel investigation to discover the truth of what is up the IOC’s arse. We are amused.
brent – February 26, 2010 9:39 AM
Gold is no excuse for underage drinking.
Alan – February 26, 2010 10:05 AM
Good catch. Ms. Poulin was born on March 28, 1991 so only turns 19 in four weeks. But to be fair, she is legal in her home province of Quebec.
br – February 26, 2010 11:09 AM
whatever, these women have no stanley cup. Men have been behaving far worse far longer after stanley cup victories in public. Smoke a cigar and chug a beer on ice? No harm done – have fun ladies, you deserve it.
br – February 26, 2010 11:10 AM
…and who hasn’t wanted to comandeer a zamboni at least once?
Carmen – February 26, 2010 11:51 AM
http://www.mylifeinanutshell.ca
Holy jeebus. Can we now please get mad at Jon Montgomery for publicly drinking a jug of beer in the streets of Whistler after his skeleton win?
The IOC needs to deal with some real issues…
Stephen Beaumont – February 26, 2010 11:58 AM
http://www.worldofbeer.com
Tempest in a bleedin’ teapot, says I. And gold is an excellent excuse for underage drinking!
Andrew Tourtellot – February 26, 2010 12:34 PM
In some countries, 18 is legal drinking age. In other countries, it’s less. Are arbitrary laws an excuse to get all pissy about “underage” drinking? Not in my book.
Alan – February 26, 2010 12:57 PM
Is Mr. Beaumont looking like a character in Dickens leading the innocent astray? A sympathizer of Fagan??? No! No, I say!! I defend him utter against this harsh (yet, strangely, so often heard) claim.
Fact: Ms. Poulin is 4 weeks from BC majority. Further, Andrew, the drinking age is not uniform in Canada and this particular 18 is legal in her own province of Quebec. This makes this situation most stupid as she is exercising her inherent legal rights and, as Mr. B. states, her inherent human rights to beer.
Alan – February 26, 2010 1:01 PM
Furthermore, I am reminded of these fine lassies and their exercise of their inherent human right to beer.
Matt – February 26, 2010 1:07 PM
http://onebeeratatime.wordpress.com/
I guess the question would be, what is the difference of the media seeing this in the dressing room compared to on the ice. One of the girls states in an article that this only happened after the crowd was gone…….
Stephen Beaumont – February 26, 2010 1:15 PM
http://www.worldofbeer.com
I would happily lead innocents astray, just with something other than Canadian.
Alan – February 26, 2010 1:30 PM
Isn’t that the real tragedy here?
Stephen Beaumont – February 26, 2010 1:58 PM
http://www.worldofbeer.com
As I noted at my thatsthespirit.com blog, I suspect the choice of brew was strictly because of Molson’s sponsorship meaning it was the only thing around.
And speaking of which, if the beer was provided by Molson as part of the sponsorship deal, wouldn’t that make the company guilty of providing beer to a minor?
Alan – February 26, 2010 3:18 PM
Well, wouldn’t that be a kick in the pants. Section 33 of the BC Liquor Control Act states:
33 (1) A person must not
(a) sell, give or otherwise supply liquor to a minor,
(b) have liquor in his or her possession for the purpose of selling, giving or otherwise supplying it to a minor, or
(c) in or at a place under his or her control, permit a minor to consume liquor.
So there are plenty of actors between brewery and Ms. Poulin to be strung up if need be.
Pok – February 26, 2010 3:20 PM
Your not in Austria anymore Mr. Wankerd McWankerson of the IOC. And what the frig is with Hockey Canada getting all apologetic at the first sign of tisking – wussies – all of ’em.
As a sign of support for our well deserved beer drinking girls I recommend mass public urination while etching the five rings into your local snowbank (sorry girls – a men’s only sign of civil disobedience).