Today's word of the day is "Pride" and can be described as: (1) a feeling of personal worth and self respect. (2) satisfaction with your (or another's) achievements.
Well who'd of thought? I'm back and much like my last gig, I once again get to talk about Canadian pride in sports. Last time it was about our national sport of hockey and its continued lack of NHL support in a country where the sport was born. Much like my last entries this one is about that same topic, only now it's Olympic sizes.
How excited were we as a country when Alexandre Bilodeau won not only the first gold medal for a Canadian this Olympics but also the first ever when we hosted the Winter Games. Talk about a proud moment for him, his family and our country. So does the pride we feel reflect his achievement or is it more about our own feeling of worthiness in finally winning THAT gold?
The thing that struck me as odd was the hype and expectations that were put on an individual to win a certain color medal for a country that at times doesn't even know who they are or what they compete in. Sure there are those that follow certain sports but Men's Moguls?
Instead of all the pressure we are putting on our athletes to win a record amount of medals (preferably the gold ones it seems) just because the games are in our country, maybe the pride we need to feel is for them accomplishing their dream, not ours and leave it at that.
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