Croppaganda

Remember when the U.S. hockey team tied (which is tantamount to losing to) Latvia in the 2006 Torino Games? That was about as cool as the time Chris Chelios led the hotel hissy fit in 1998.

Well, the red, white and blue, coming off one of its greater performances of the last decade with the Olympic silver medal, suffered a bit of a setback Friday in a loss to hockey powerhouse Germany at the world championships. Granted, the Germans were on home ice in front of a record crowd of 77,803 (they must have advertised that a soccer match was slated for that day), but the U.S. shouldn't lose to Germany even with a b-rate squad.

Fortunately, there is still time for the U.S. to get its game back together. In the meantime, the hockey-mad populace of the United States can concentrate on more pressing matters, like finding a place in their hearts for who should be this year's Stanley Cup Champs: Los San Jose Sharks.