During the 2010 Olympics, the Canadian women’s hockey team was strongly encouraged to apologize for their celebration after winning the gold medal. After the fans had left the arena, the team celebrated with beer, champagne and cigars and of course photos surfaced. That is when the controversy began.
You can read more about the story and the apology from Hockey Canada on the Huffington Post.
So I ask you, what’s wrong with celebrating? Did the Canadian women’s team go over the line in their celebration, or are we too concerned about what others think when we celebrate a victory?
For your consideration:
- Some school systems shy away from giving a student a failing grade; academic achievement is not promoted like it has been.
- Some school systems prohibit keeping score during games.
- Achievement Punished in Tennessee? An article about banning honor rolls; read the full article it here.
- End zone celebrations in the NFL are penalized.
So, what’s wrong with celebrating? Are we being forced to contain our celebrations or apologize for them?
I will choose to celebrate. I join with those that work hard and then celebrate the victories in their lives. The student that passes the exam; the adult that has finally lost the last ten pounds; the person that works hard every day just to make it through the day due to health challenges; the wounded veteran that with family and health care professionals cheering them on, makes the first few steps when learning to walk again.
I choose to celebrate. What about you?
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
I CHOOSE to celebrate!!! Great post!
John, I agree with you 100%. I don’t actually follow football much these days, so it was a shock to me last year when I heard that players were being penalized for doing the endzone dance. I used to think that was one of the fun things about football — that you could celebrate in a quirky way and the fans could enjoy it too. Some players got famous for their particular dances. Now, it seems that is considered unsportsmanlike, since apparently those big, tough players on the other team are getting their feelings hurt when someone scores against them! I would think it would be the same with Olympic hockey teams.
As for the academic achievements, it’s deplorable that some folks feel it isn’t appropriate to single out the hardworking students who could act as role models for others. Nobody wants to fail, yet receiving a failing grade could be the wake-up call that turns things around for that student. And having a special honor (and the celebration that comes with it) to look forward to would be a huge motivating factor, I would think.
The teams and individuals who experience a less-than-desirable outcome are the ones with enormous opportunities to grow and become more. If we shy away from that and downplay it, we are doing everyone a disservice. We are truly making that incident a failure and a stopping place. How sad.
Thanks Suni, I appreciate the feedback! Let’s celebrate!
Thanks Laura! Punishing achievement is just plain wrong and demotivating! I agree, we should celebrate and motivate, not punish! Thanks for the comments!
“Celebrate” according to Webster’s is “to commemorate with festivity” or “to have a convivial good time”. In a society that tends to focus so much on the negative, why would we not take joy in seeing others celebrate such a significant occasion. A celebration can be in many forms whether it be the sharing a bottle of champagne, a ritual, a religious ceremony, or an all-out, “get down with yo’ bad self” party. I was particularly touched by the photo of the girls sitting on the floor passing a bottle of bubbly. That, to me, was the essence of the celebration of teamwork.
Oh, and one other thought I had – and I hope this doesn’t start a gender riot. But, what if this had been the men’s team? Would that have caused the same ruckus?
I am 200% on board with you. I briefly heard about the women’s Canadian hockey team win “fail” and I thought to myself: “I really don’t get it – WHY is this newsworthy/controversial?” After you posted this I did more research and went deeper and deeper and…yeah it doesn’t go very deep. I think fellow reader/fan Kathy above is right – what if it was the men’s team? Stop spinning the story – some hard-working athletes just kicked ass – so go find real news to cover! I think there IS such a thing as being a sore winner – but this is nothing even close to that capacity.
And by the way – I miss back when you had a chance to fail, so you can really know where you’re at and what you need to get where you want to go. I feel the same way about the stimulus but that’s a whoe ‘nother topic of discussion =P
What an article! But first – I love the new blog. Sweet!
Okay back to celebrating. It took me a few days to look into my Tennessee connections (since I live just South of Nashville.) This was the first time I asked my kids about the names of honor roll students being posted anywhere as I don’t see them any more in the little newsletter. My kids said it was cause “there are too many names.” They had never thought about it either – but they do have a bit award ceremony at the end of each year to celebrate the high achievers. (including those with perfect attendance – whatever the heck THAT is!)
Okay.
As for celebrating everything else- I am all for it! The thrill and hope of celebrating is the fuel that empowers the process, for heaven’s sakes.
Nice post!
One of the reasons we win is to celebrate. Not to celebrate seems to take away the joy in completion and in victory.
Many of my mentors teach that celebrating your wins in life is one of the ways to keep yourself and your life vibrant.
If there was a fault in the celebration by the Canadian Women’s Hockey Team it was in the reporters slant on the story. They deserved to celebrate and be lauded by the world,
Thank you Edward, I couldn’t agree more. We need to celebrate all of the victories in life, and not worry about what others think. Others do not know what we went through to achieve the victory.
Thought provoking post John. I love it. Who ever heard of such craziness? I agree with the others that it really hits home when you see all of these ‘celebration killjoys’ together. As an overachiever since birth, I can say that students/adults don’t usually drive for the glory, but for excellence. And to not stop and appreciate a spirit of excellence when you see it, is just plain said … what a boring, vanilla existence. BTW, love the new look John. Blue is definitely your color (strong, trustworthy, kind).