Vancouver 2010: Oh No, Canada

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

From the Maritime provinces to the metropolises of Toronto and Montreal, to the prairies of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and to the shores of the Olympic city of Vancouver, everyone's wondering the same thing:  What happened to all those medals we were supposed to get?

Canada spent $118 million training its athletes to "Own The Podium", an effort to grab as many medals during these Winter Olympics as they possibly can.  The net result?  Eleven total medals as of Tuesday night, including six gold, placing fifth overall.

So who's really owning the podium thus far?  It's none other than the United States with 26 medals, including seven gold.  Most of that is due to the performances of Bode Miller and Lindsey Vonn on the ski slopes.

There will still be plenty of opportunities for the Canadians to win gold before the competition ends Sunday.  They have an excellent chance in men's and women's curling, and the women's hockey team plays the U.S. in the gold medal final Thursday.

But the men's hockey team has become a source of concern across Canada.  You would think that, with Sidney Crosby, Jarome Iginla, Dany Heatley, Martin Brodeur and all the NHL talent the country has to offer, they'd be a shoo-in for gold.  But Team Canada needed a shootout to defeat Switzerland.  And they lost to the Americans 5-3.  Now they're in danger of not medaling at all.

(Since the U.S.'s victory occurred one day shy of the thirtieth anniversary of the "Miracle On Ice", when a bunch of college kids took down the mighty Soviet Union in a historic match at Lake Placid, some people have been comparing that game to the one on Sunday.  Please don't.  In this case, it was "our pros" beating "their pros".)

(MSNBC, normally the home of Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow, televised the U.S.-Canada game to record numbers for the news and opinion channel.  NBC broke from taped bobsledding during its prime time coverage to present the last 30 seconds of the game.  We were surprised that they showed it at all.)

Team Canada can still win the gold and calm a nation's anxieties.  They cruised past Germany 8-2 Tuesday night at Canada Hockey Place (known as General Motors Place when the NHL Canucks are playing).  But the road become much tougher when they face Russia (and Alexander Ovechkin) Wednesday night.

By not playing to its stereotype of being reserved, Canadians have been learning a valuable lesson in hosting these Winter Olympics:  Never promise more than you can deliver.  To do otherwise would be downright . . . American.