TORONTO, Canada—It was one of those Toronto winter days where, despite a week of heavy snowstorms, the weather was reminiscent of warm and sunny April days when the snow is melting and the grass shows through once again.
It was the last day of the Vancouver Olympics and, as a “responsible” university student, I reminded myself I had a seminar presentation to host and a quiz to write the next day, and so I went to the library with my roommate, while my friends headed to the pub to watch what we will likely remember as the hockey game of our time: the gold medal game between Canada and the United States.
We were nervous. The wireless Internet system in the library appeared to be down for a while before the game began and, when it worked again, the speed was too slow to stream and run properly on my laptop. “Would we miss it completely?”
I spotted students at computer terminals with Internet speeds high enough to watch the online streams from CTV or TSN, and we went to watch along. The setting was most peculiar—we had no sound, just the images coming from the computer. Pages flipping, pencils dropped on tables, chitchat about how to solve problem sets, gum chewing and the like were the soundtrack. But it didn’t matter. We were as “into it” as anyone watching the historic face off, whether they were at the pub, at home in front of the TV, or at the Canada Hockey Place in Vancouver.
It was the last day of the Vancouver Olympics and, as a “responsible” university student, I reminded myself I had a seminar presentation to host and a quiz to write the next day, and so I went to the library with my roommate, while my friends headed to the pub to watch what we will likely remember as the hockey game of our time: the gold medal game between Canada and the United States.
We were nervous. The wireless Internet system in the library appeared to be down for a while before the game began and, when it worked again, the speed was too slow to stream and run properly on my laptop. “Would we miss it completely?”
I spotted students at computer terminals with Internet speeds high enough to watch the online streams from CTV or TSN, and we went to watch along. The setting was most peculiar—we had no sound, just the images coming from the computer. Pages flipping, pencils dropped on tables, chitchat about how to solve problem sets, gum chewing and the like were the soundtrack. But it didn’t matter. We were as “into it” as anyone watching the historic face off, whether they were at the pub, at home in front of the TV, or at the Canada Hockey Place in Vancouver.
And, thus, for three hours, and three hours only, people to whom we would not even bother nodding hello on a regular day, became our friends. A student from Korea, who studies electrical engineering and had two midterms the next day, sat to my left. He didn’t know much about hockey, but for three hours, three hours only, he was as cheerful as I was for Canada.
A crowd of about 20 students had gathered as our team was winning 2:1 with the minutes and seconds winding down. The game was coming to a close and those of us that broke library “customs” to watch the game were becoming less and less silent as we were anticipating the gold.
However, after Team Canada had two shots that hit the goal posts and our star player Sidney Crosby missed a breakaway opportunity in the third period, tension rose when the United States pulled their goalie to add a sixth player on the ice. With less than 25 seconds to play, library protocol was definitely broken when Zach Parise tied the game 2:2. For the first time of the day, we doubted, “out loud” that Canada might win. Disappointed, everyone went back to their books for the intermission, nervously waiting for the game to resume, fearing the last-minute U.S. goal would shift the momentum away from Team Canada, which had thus far been able to dominate its opponents in what was a physically intense game.
The overtime period began and more of us gathered around a computer, and other groups of people followed our lead to watch the ultimate Olympic action of these Vancouver games on their computer.
For unknown reasons, at one point the screen froze for half a second and, jokingly, I said, “Imagine if the bandwidth goes down and miss the final goal?” And right then, jinx! Our screen went blank and two meters away from us people rose up to celebrate: “They scored! It’s Sidney Crosby!”
“What!?”
I couldn’t believe it. We missed the winning goal and the replay! For a few minutes, the library floor appeared to be more of a residence hall common room than a place of study as people text-messaged and called friends and family to share the good news, and as we all described to each other how our star player, Sidney Crosby, scored. “The perfect scenario.” My father called me:
“Don’t tell me you stayed at the library the whole game?”
“Yep.”
“I hope you guys screamed at least?”
“Oh yeah.”
And off we all went, easy friends for a moment, strangers the next, and slowly but surely the usual gum chewing, page flipping, pencils falling, and murmurs overcame the Olympic spirit that had taken part of our library floor for three hours, three hours only.
A crowd of about 20 students had gathered as our team was winning 2:1 with the minutes and seconds winding down. The game was coming to a close and those of us that broke library “customs” to watch the game were becoming less and less silent as we were anticipating the gold.
However, after Team Canada had two shots that hit the goal posts and our star player Sidney Crosby missed a breakaway opportunity in the third period, tension rose when the United States pulled their goalie to add a sixth player on the ice. With less than 25 seconds to play, library protocol was definitely broken when Zach Parise tied the game 2:2. For the first time of the day, we doubted, “out loud” that Canada might win. Disappointed, everyone went back to their books for the intermission, nervously waiting for the game to resume, fearing the last-minute U.S. goal would shift the momentum away from Team Canada, which had thus far been able to dominate its opponents in what was a physically intense game.
The overtime period began and more of us gathered around a computer, and other groups of people followed our lead to watch the ultimate Olympic action of these Vancouver games on their computer.
For unknown reasons, at one point the screen froze for half a second and, jokingly, I said, “Imagine if the bandwidth goes down and miss the final goal?” And right then, jinx! Our screen went blank and two meters away from us people rose up to celebrate: “They scored! It’s Sidney Crosby!”
“What!?”
I couldn’t believe it. We missed the winning goal and the replay! For a few minutes, the library floor appeared to be more of a residence hall common room than a place of study as people text-messaged and called friends and family to share the good news, and as we all described to each other how our star player, Sidney Crosby, scored. “The perfect scenario.” My father called me:
“Don’t tell me you stayed at the library the whole game?”
“Yep.”
“I hope you guys screamed at least?”
“Oh yeah.”
And off we all went, easy friends for a moment, strangers the next, and slowly but surely the usual gum chewing, page flipping, pencils falling, and murmurs overcame the Olympic spirit that had taken part of our library floor for three hours, three hours only.
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