The Canadian women's Olympic hockey players "scandal"

Let it first be known that I am Mormon and as such don't drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes or cigars. I don't personally identify with celebration by way of boozing and smoking.

Despite my bias, I think the offense that's being taken over a few players on the Canadian women's hockey team drinking and smoking on the Olympic ice after hours is an overreaction.

The story appears to be dying out in the media, but Facebook friends and acquaintances are still reactionary. One Facebook friend used the words "disgusted" and "stupid".

I'd like to make some quick points:

1. Celebration by boozing is more than just a Canadian past time, it's a worldwide ritual.
2. The players were likely exhausted.
3. They were likely still high on adrenaline.
4. They are young and naturally in a post-win self-absorbed state of mind. 
5. This was their off-time.
6. The arena was near empty. It possibly did not occur to them to analyse the last few people left to see if they appeared to be of the media.
7. I've read no mention of coaches being present or near.
8. If there were no photos and no one but the few players were there, would we still care?
9. Would we be more pleased if they were out getting drunk at a public bar, possibly being obnoxious, as drunk people tend to be?
10. What if they were getting drunk in their jerseys privately at home?
11. Is it just about the fact that they were on the ice that bothers people? Is the ice sacred? The holy temple containing the very soul of Canada? Dude-- it's ice. No ice was harmed in the making of this sitting that happened to include alcohol and a cigar (the traditional accoutrement for celebrating the birth of babies, a tender and sanctifying event).
12. It was their home ice, their hockey win, their hard work. Their right to savour a moment?
13. One player was a few weeks shy of being able to drink legally. But she is from QUÉBÉC. Everything is more lax there. It's the most liberal part of Canada. Her standard of morality is naturally going to be different from an Albertan's, for example. Although, speaking of Alberta, the team has been training here, where the drinking law is 18.
14. Their behaviour was no worse than most people's. Most people drink alcohol. Most people drink alcohol during celebrations or to release tension. Many people drink alcohol in bars and make jerks of themselves; these girls didn't do that. They didn't vandalise anything. They didn't hurt anyone. They were not crude or lewd. They're not "most people"? Okay, I'll give you that, but if we're to judge them on a different standard because of career choice, why not take age and circumstance and state of mind into consideration also? We wouldn't want to be hypocritical.
15. This entire thing is all about perception. You don't have to see this as something offensive, so why do it? Do people really think these players meant to be offensive on their own turf, after the whole country rejoiced in them? Did they mean to be disrespectful? Would they have done it if they had known their photos would be taken and some of Canada would be upset? Of course not. So, why be offended?

My feeling is that people who like to be judgmental and negative by habit will have a heyday over this.

Everyone else will realise that it's really nothing more than tacky. There's no rule book about how to behave at the Olympics. There's no set morality to dictate this situation, only opinions.

This is mine. 

This is an original blog post for Canada Moms Blog. Natasha also blogs at BecomingSomething.com.