Do you think that your post (particularly the bits about alcohol) is a particularly American, even Americanist, attitude towards the post-gold medal celebration?

The whole lesbian/dyke meme is not something that should be laid on the Canadian hockey players. Correct me if I’m wrong, but this meme is common and probably will likely be in circulation whether beer and cigars are involved or not, no?

It is not any individual player’s job or team’s job to circumscribe their behavior to allay heterosexist, prejudiced, and ignorant accusations. Nor is it their responsibility to bring their behavior into some sort of hetero-normative or gender-normative compliance. In fact, the more those sorts of expectations can be broken down, the better. I actually appreciated the joy that is evident in the Canadian team’s post-game celebration.

The Canadian women won gold – the biggest game of the year (or the quadrennial – there is no real equivalent of Lord Stanley’s Cup for women). They celebrated – and they celebrated in the context of a long standing tradition of Canadian hockey which they grew up watching and playing.

As for the Olympic Committee looking into the celebration, I honestly don’t think that they have an ethical leg to stand on, especially after the disgusting manner that they blamed Nodar Kumaritashvili for his own death (for more on the Olympic committee – http://www.progressive.org/zirin022510.html).