Reply #33: If they were happy on the medal stand...

[nyhuskyfan]

They would be ripped to shreds for acting like they didn't give a shit. "Can you believe that? They finish third behind two soccer countries and they're up there laughing like a bunch of morons. No wonder we lost -- they didn't even care."

As far as I'm concerned, this team lost the gold medal because Argentina was better that day. We tried hard, we hustled, we dove for loose balls, etc. We didn't shoot particularly well, but that's not a problem with their character.

You can look at any competition, and the reaction on the medal stand is usually proportional to expectations. A person getting a silver who was supposed to win (or had a heartbreaking loss) is going to look sad. A person who took silver who was a total dark horse is going to be thrilled to be on the medal stand at all.