There are more pleasant things to discuss here I'm sure than the perfidious, odious, reprehensible behavior of Team Canada, and I hope we will, but it's as good a starting point as any. To review: Team Canada spies on the closed practices of other teams, and has been doing this for a long time, including the previous Olympics (in which they beat Sweden for the gold medal), The players, of course, are whining that they are blameless (and as individuals, they probably are, but does it matter?). They've been given a six-point penalty for the group stage (still in progress at the time of this writing) and so currently have 0 points despite two wins – they could still progress to the knock-out round if they beat Colombia. So what is adequate punishment for these nefarious acts? Not enough for those of us who are feeling self-righteously indignant! (a horrible feeling – I don't like it)
A part of me wants to believe that the 6 points deduction was the punishment just for these Olympics' drone incident. Drone-cheating from the past should be furtherly investigated and, of course, adequately punished: the good old "Ben Johnson style", just to casually drop a Canadian reference...
I find myself cheering for whomever Canada is playing, in any sport. Water polo vs Hungary? Suddenly I'm eating goulash for breakfast. Rugby 7s vs New Zealand? Suddenly I'm the biggest Fern in Fernville. Apropos of that last, here's a real exchange I had with someone: "Hey, who's playing against New Zealand in the rugby 7s final"? "Canada." "... err, oh. Who did they beat to get in?" "They managed a massive upset over Australia." "Ah. Drone strike, eh?"
First, the good: Heja heja Japan, in your quarterfinal against the US! Second, the bad: I imagine that 6-point deduction was meant to stop them but NOPE, Canada goes through. Their path to a repeat medal, which would be SO WRONG and MAKE ME ANGRY, starts with today's quarterfinal vs Germany (and if they win that, a semifinal against the winner of US vs Japan). Seriously, what are they (IOC, FIFA, CONCACAF, the pantheon feasting on Mount Olympus that was given a nod in the opening ceremony) going to do if Canada plays well enough to get any sort of medal? (Help us, Blue Dionysus, you're our only hope, because all those acronyms are useless.) [deeeeep breath] Dear Team Germany, I've said some pretty mean things about you at these boards (but only because you've wronged Team Sweden over the past 21 years [eeek] so often and in so many ways). If you beat Cheaters Canada tomorrow, I will make it up to you, and in style. (Sadly, I feel pretty safe in making this implied bet.)
As a representative of the german delegation, we would like to propose the following trade as compensation for our good deed. We get and you receive Deal?