We Have an Unwritten Olympic Rules Situation Developing Between the U.S. and Russians

The U.S. men’s hockey team got embarrassed by Team OAR, 4-0. There was no postgame handshake between the coaches. American coach Tony Granato immediately retreated to his feelings, per ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski.

"According to NBC’s Pierre McGuire, Team USA coach Tony Granato was “furious’ with Team OAR’s coaches for having their top power play unit on the ice in a 4-0 game with less than two minutes remaining. “Keep putting them on the ice, keep putting them on the ice!” he said, via McGuire."

Team OAR did not need to improve its goal differential because today’s win cemented them as Group B winner. This means they kept playing hard because, well, it’s the big stage and it’s okay to try.

On one hand, this is extremely lame as Americans now come off as crybabies. On the other, there’s something beautiful about imparting our messed-up relationship with unwritten rules on the international community.

That’s what the Olympics are all about — people from all over the world coming together to be petty.