This picture right there is the only reason why I am happy that I didn’t go to Vancouver for the Olympics.
While I was missing out on all of the party invitations, meeting up with colleagues, witnessing one historical act after another, I don’t regret missing out on Team USA’s locker room after the game. For one simple reason…
Seeing Zach Parise crying. That would have had me running out of the locker room in tears myself. See, I remember what he looked like after Game 7 when the Carolina Hurricanes came from behind to defeat the New Jersey Devils in the first round of the playoffs.
I took one look at Zach sitting in his locker and I had to run out of the locker room. I was about to weep for him and the Devils.
That one look at Zach Parise gave me nightmares for a week. I even told him that at the Awards.
Granted, he thought I may have been poking fun or being mean, but really…it was just an overemotional upset that had me weeping for him and the team. And YOU DON’T CRY IN A MEN’S LOCKER ROOM! [So far 2 Devils have almost made me cry in the locker room. 1. Zach Parise and 2. David Clarkson]
But with Team USA losing the way that they did…it’s a pretty hard loss to stomach. Everyone watching the gold medal round between USA and Canada got to see that look I saw. It’s heartbreaking.
Here are some quotes from Team USA after the loss:
“You win a gold. You win a bronze. You lose a silver.” – Jack Johnson
“No one knew our names. People know our names now.” – Chris Drury
“It’s devastating. It was the biggest game any of us have played in.” -Jack Johnson
“It feels like shit.” – Ryan Miller
“It sucks. It sucks being that close and then losing in overtime.” – Zach Parise
I was reading some poetry by the Sufi mystical poet Rumi after the game. He said, “Winning and losing is the same.”
No matter who lost that game, both USA and Canada walked into that round as winners. What they would be a winner of was what the game would tell. There are no losers in the gold round. Only the two best teams in the world get to compete in that round. Those two teams were the winners over everyone.
Those two teams get the top two awards in the Olympics…the gold and the silver. They walked in as winners. They left as winners.
Today, while I was grabbing my coffee at the NHL store, Commissioner Gary Bettman was upstairs in the XM Studio box talking about Zach Parise’s goal to tie up the game and send it into overtime.
He wasn’t talking about Sidney Crosby. He was talking about Zach Parise.
Two suits in Starbucks then started talking about Zach Parise…what team he plays for, etc. I followed them into the store to see one pick up a Parise t-shirt.
Zach was the winner to the world in that game. No matter what the front of his jersey said, he was the one everyone was talking about…NOT SIDNEY CROSBY who won the gold for Canada.
They were talking about Zach Parise, the kid that saved the USA.
When the secret weapon was finally unleashed, it was Parise the world started to talk about. People stopped talking about Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby. They started to talk about Zach Parise…all of them asking…where’s that kid from? Who does he play for?
As a New Jersey Devil, Parise has just created a whole lot of new fans of not only the sport of hockey, but Devils fans, and most of all, Parise fans. He has the world’s respect now. He has their attention.
And he did it all without a Gatorade, Nike or CCM contract.
Zach, you have something to be proud of…yourself. Congratulations.
2014
So the most important thing the day after the gold medal round is something called 2014…the next Winter Olympics (to be held in Sochi, Russia).
While the hockey community keeps saying that the numbers prove that the NHL has to continue playing in 2014, there’s a business side to all of this…and Sochi is not in North America.
My stance, which is a concern I heard echoed by Mr. Bettman today, deals a lot with the schedule and how the 2-week break does put a damper on the schedule.
Most of the elite players don’t always play at elite levels going into the finals during an Olympic year. Many receive very dangerous injuries during the Olympics.
Many players continue to play through injuries during the Olympics (and that’s not something NHL teams would allow their players to do).
The Olympics are a very dangerous time for hockey. Nationalism weighs out when it comes to friendships or teammates. Alexander Ovechkin doesn’t care. If you’re on the other team and he can wipe you out of the game…YOU’RE GONE. He doesn’t care, even if he has to come back and win a Stanley Cup with you on his team. He doesn’t care.
That, to the NHL, is very dangerous, especially for players.
Discipline at the league level is not possible when players play dirty. Those little jerks (like Jerko Ruutu…oh wait, I think he calls himself Jarkko) get away with practically killing the opponent on the ice. If he leaves you bloodied and unconscious on the ice…he’s done his job.
Yet, he’ll be back on the ice when he gets back to the NHL. The NHL can’t do anything.
The safety of the players is and always has been an issue going into the Olympics. Nationalism weighs out…not NHL contracts, and the importance of guaranteeing the health of a player.
Those are things that not only the NHL will be concerned about, but also the NHLPA. They will also be concerned with how the players perform post-Olympics going into the Stanley Cup.
For NHL fans, we want to see great games like that gold round in the Finals. It doesn’t always look that way in a Cup race after the Olympics.
Don’t forget how hectic the schedule is during Olympic years. 22 games in 41 days. That’s a lot.
The business side of things are a little different than player concerns.
First, Vancouver was a North American game. Of course, the numbers for people watching would be higher. It was a 3-hour time difference for those of us on the East Coast.
Sochi, Russia is 8 hours ahead. Figure in what bars will be open on a Sunday morning for an early afternoon game like what was played in Vancouver. You would probably have to set your alarms to the wee hours of a Sunday morning.
Not so much party and fun like the Vancouver gold games.
No broadcasting rights have been signed yet. NHL is going to want to know who will be broadcasting the games. Sochi has not agreed to any broadcasting rights for the games.
That will factor into the NHL’s decision.
What the NHLPA believes is right for the players and agreed to with the NHL in compliance with the collective bargaining agreement also plays into whether the NHL will continue into the 2014 games.
Mr. Bettman said that these are all the same factors that went into making the decision to play in 2006 and 2010. He is not saying NO yet. He is not saying YES yet.
Think realistically here. They already know that the numbers in Sochi are not going to be the same as it was in Vancouver. You have the Turin, Italy numbers to compare with here.
It’s not getting better. Vancouver was just more convenient for the 2010 numbers.
