Selah.

Sigh. My apologies for turning on my broken record player but it looks like I have to shine an uncomfortable light yet again on the idiocies of competition.

Canada’s women hockey team beat Slovakia 18-0. At least that’s nothing compared to Slovakia’s 2008 blowout of Bulgaria 82-0. You heard me. That’s just stupid.

“It’s not a game you want to play in, and you don’t take a lot of pride in a score like that,” Hefford said. “But it’s the Olympic ideals. We train for four years, and we’ll hopefully play five games in this tournament. So, to take one night off, that’s unfair to us.”

I’m embarrassed by that statement. Olympic ideals? Wow. Just wow. And this “unfair to us” business? Or point differentials? Utterly lacking in regard for your fellow human being.

Trust me, I’ve played on losing teams all my life. I’ve also played on a few occassions on championship teams. In hockey, ten goals is about the limit. There’s something about double digits that reeks of disrespecting your opponent.

Especially in a sport where you’re trying to help other teams you’re doing more harm than good with a hopeless game. At least give them their dignity by winning your game in a modest fashion and letting it go.

But, no, somehow, somewhere, this idea that blowouts are a necessary evil has gotten us actually convinced. Where did we learn this from? That our sports organizations are teaching young people these insane ideals is atrocious. Leaders who do not respect their pupils lose the respect of their pupils and no longer act as leaders. They are simply viewed as pompous asses.

And, hey, if you don’t like hearing it from me, Don Cherry has made similar comments about making the other team look bad. You just don’t do it. It’ll come back to haunt you.