Did you see it Sunday evening? 8.2 million Americans did. I have no idea what the global numbers were, but I bet they were high to that big ole host country to our North. I’m talking about the USA-Canada men’s ice hockey game. The mighty heavily favored Canadian team fell to our youthful (average age 26) American hockey team. No one gave them a chance. No one believed the US could beat them. Everyone thought the US would lose in a feisty contest as they were over-matched in every possible way. Funny thing about Olympic hockey, don’t ever say that to the US team.

I watched the game mostly on the couch where I sit now, with the rest of the time on the edge of the couch or standing. I was loud and even frightened my children a little bit. But watching the team play on television inspired the same passion I saw on the ice. It was fast, hard hitting, extremely exciting, and so much fun to watch. I tried tweeting during the game but found my hands shaking too much come the end of it. Especially over all the excitement.

We won. 5-3. 8.2 million Americans celebrated a joyous victory as the underdogs. 28-30 million Canadians wept in their chairs.It’s not the end of the road for the Canadian team, they just have the hardest possible road to get to that gold medal game now. yes, they will still be favored the rest of the way.

The women of US play Thursday evening and you should watch. It’s the gold medal game and it’s against Canada. Should be a good one.

The worst part about the game on Sunday was that is was buried on a cable channel instead of the prime real estate of NBC. I assume they cut to it during the end, but they missed the rest of the build up. Instead, NBC showed preliminary round ice dancing. I’m all for exposing and showing every sport at least once on prime television during the Olympics. But ice dancing would be on the next night and this was a major event involving the United States. So many people tuned in, it was second in all time history only to the election on the news channel they put it on. Imagine if it was on the prime network where it belonged? Imagine what it could have done for the sport itself that NBC owns the broadcast rights to in the NHL. This game had higher ratings than game 7 of last years Stanley Cup final game 7.

It makes me sick to think about the missed opportunity to present and promote such an exciting game to so many more people. The game I love was spurned by the network that pays to broadcast it. For that alone, I don’t think the NHL should allow its players to compete until they get better respect for the players that were shown giving so much heart to their game. I love this game and I hate to see it disrespected like that. I even got to play for the first time in 5 months or something last week and won my game. I play again this week too, hopefully I can turn it into a full time deal. I miss playing every week.

Sure, it’s only a game. The fact that they are paid professionals means nothing. They are playing for pride and country. They are representing our nation as one. They do not get paid to participate. They are simply the best athletes we can provide to represent us at this level. Guess what though? Many other athletes in other events are paid professionals too. They do it for national pride and to embody the spirit of the Olympics. As tarnished as that may be these days by the corporate world. At least the athletes are un-phased by that though, they still compete for pride and honor.

Yesterday was the 30th anniversary of the USA Miracle on Ice in Lake Placid. A simple hockey game that captivated this nation and the rest of the world and filled us all with American pride. Times were different then, times were tougher than they are today. But yet a simple game was able to do so much for the American spirit. Watch the documentaries again, watch the Disney movie again. Hell, you could have watched NBC on Sunday leading up to the match-up with Canada as Al Michaels relived the game and moment. The current US women’s hockey team’s head coach was a member of that team. Brooks Orpik of the US men’s hockey team was named for head coach Herb Brooks of that 1980 team. It’s impact on sports is still felt and talked about today.

Sports are the true reality television. No matter what you may think, you will never know the outcome. There are only 2 alliances and no one is ever voted out of anything. When its over, both sides shake hands and show respect for their opponents. Sports are not without the flaws and politics and problems, but they mean more to people than any season of Survivor ever will. Families are brought together through sports, and even nations are brought together through sports. If you are athletic or not, if you follow any teams or not, chances are you watch at least one or two sporting events every year. In Olympic years, I bet you watch more than any other year combined. Sports span the history of the world all over the world. Nothing though showcases this like the Olympics though, summer or winter.

NBC’s Olympic coverage has been such an abomination to the athlete’s and events themselves. I’ve seen results, on the weekend, posted on the NBC website before they aired it. Yep, I knew of Bode’s gold medal before the broadcast it because they were saving it for prime-time TV. IT WAS A WEEKEND AND COULD HAVE SHOWN IT LIVE. Live is a word we don’t see much on the NBC coverage. Not even online. Online only shows curling, hockey, and training runs. I was simply going to their website to see what would be on that night and BAM, there’s the result as headline numero uno. Made seeing it happen totally not as exciting. In terms of opportunity to present the games live across all mediums, NBC has failed as hard as their late night decision making. I think the IOC should ban them from being able to cover any future games. In today’s day and age, you simply cannot drop the ball as badly as they have. I normally avoid sports websites during events like this so I don’t get the spoilers, but I never expected to get the spoilers from the broadcasters themselves. Shameful.

In the meantime, Go USA! Bring home the gold no one thought you had a chance to win. I’ll be wearing my colors with pride.