Honorable Hosts
From Chicken Soup for the Soul: O Canada
By Jim Bove

Thank you, Canada. For being such good hosts. For your unfailing courtesy... For reminding some of us we used to be a more civilized society. Mostly, for welcoming the world with such ease and making lasting friends with all of us.
~Brian Williams, NBC Nightly News

I was lucky enough to attend the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. It was a wonderful experience in many ways, and I was particularly struck by the pride Canada displayed on the Saturday night before the closing ceremony. Not necessarily the pride in showing off their city or even in their usual kindness to others, but in their love of hockey.

That pride was never more apparent than it was that evening, hours before they were to face the Americans for the gold medal, as citizens filled the streets — displaying flags, yelling, celebrating, and excited about a rematch against an underdog, less talented USA squad that had defeated them a few days earlier. They had been embarrassed on their home ice in a sport that is their craft. Their expertise. Their pride and joy. It draws absolutely no comparison to anything we support or watch in our own country. Not baseball. Not football. Not reality TV. Nothing. It’s their life. And for them, on Canadian soil (er... ice), in the gold medal Olympic game, stacked with talent and expectation, in a rematch against their rival who had already defeated them a few days earlier, there may not have been a bigger game. And the cost of my ticket proved it. (Keep reading)