Team Canada's shame
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It's a shame that Team Canada '06 is coming out of the gate like this, with the selections of an outstanding group of athletes clouded by the decision to add [the goon] Todd Bertuzzi. Team Canada officials have tried to make this all about forgiveness, all about "moving forward." But it's not about forgiveness. It's about selecting athletes to represent the country at the world's most significant sporting event. Bertuzzi, given his actions, simply does not reasonably represent Canada's aspirations and ideals in the sport.
Who can honestly argue that?
Fact is, Gretzky and Co. were always annoyed with the public portrayal of Bertuzzi as a goon, and were dead set on making him part of the roster more than a year ago come hell or high water. There was never to be an honest evaluation of Bertuzzi's play this season. They simply don't care what Canadians believe an Olympian athlete should be.
Nobody disagrees that Bertuzzi is a very talented player. But by putting him on the team, Hockey Canada has essentially gutted the essence of its fair play programs in favour of expedience and convenience. The man has never even explained to the Canadian public why he did what he did to Steve Moore that horrible night. He has asked for forgiveness, but only on his terms while surrounded by lawyers, agents and spin doctors.
The idiots and meatheads who have been insisting for months that Moore deserved everything he got that night have thus been vindicated in their perverse thought processes. Hockey Canada has told them, emphatically, that they were and are correct in how the game should be played, that vigilante justice on the rink is okay, and that those who believe that Bertuzzi's actions essentially disqualified him from ever representing his country should go hug a tree or take up figure skating. This has created, sadly, an unprecedented environment in which some Canadians will be actively hoping for an athlete wearing the Maple Leaf to fail at an international event.
It's a shame that Team Canada '06 is coming out of the gate like this, with the selections of an outstanding group of athletes clouded by the decision to add [the goon] Todd Bertuzzi. Team Canada officials have tried to make this all about forgiveness, all about "moving forward." But it's not about forgiveness. It's about selecting athletes to represent the country at the world's most significant sporting event. Bertuzzi, given his actions, simply does not reasonably represent Canada's aspirations and ideals in the sport.
Who can honestly argue that?
Fact is, Gretzky and Co. were always annoyed with the public portrayal of Bertuzzi as a goon, and were dead set on making him part of the roster more than a year ago come hell or high water. There was never to be an honest evaluation of Bertuzzi's play this season. They simply don't care what Canadians believe an Olympian athlete should be.
Nobody disagrees that Bertuzzi is a very talented player. But by putting him on the team, Hockey Canada has essentially gutted the essence of its fair play programs in favour of expedience and convenience. The man has never even explained to the Canadian public why he did what he did to Steve Moore that horrible night. He has asked for forgiveness, but only on his terms while surrounded by lawyers, agents and spin doctors.
The idiots and meatheads who have been insisting for months that Moore deserved everything he got that night have thus been vindicated in their perverse thought processes. Hockey Canada has told them, emphatically, that they were and are correct in how the game should be played, that vigilante justice on the rink is okay, and that those who believe that Bertuzzi's actions essentially disqualified him from ever representing his country should go hug a tree or take up figure skating. This has created, sadly, an unprecedented environment in which some Canadians will be actively hoping for an athlete wearing the Maple Leaf to fail at an international event.
-- DAMIEN COX, Toronto Star (2005/12/22)
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posted by þΛųL jØŋαŦhΛŋ @ 19:15
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