the closing ceremonies.

The 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada have come to an end. Canada won the most gold medals and broke a Winter Olympic record. Canada beat the USA in both men's and women's hockey. Canada was amazing.

All athletes worked extremely hard and have encouraged youth everywhere to strive for the Gold. Canada has done it, and I am a very proud Canadian.

Something that I was not very fond of, though, were the Closing Ceremonies. We Canadians do have an astounding ability to make fun of ourselves but was it necessary to go to the extent of having blow up beavers and moose everywhere? Must we have given proof to every single stereotype? I do say "eh" and I do say "sorry" quite often, but the purpose of these Olympics in Vancouver was to show the world what Canada is really about. Did Nickelshit (Nickelback) really need to perform? Of all bands, why were Avril Lavigne and Simple Plan there, tonight? One of those bands wasn't enough?

We Canadians are laid back and we do use satire, sarcasm, and our interesting sense of humour but most of the time only other Canadians understand what we mean when using these special qualities. I think the Closing Ceremonies of the 2010 Olympics were not horrible but they did show that the majority of Canadian celebrities went to the USA to make it big.

I don't think the Closing Ceremonies did Canada just because I was expecting more. We have come so far as a country and I think we owed it to ourselves and the rest of the world to make the ending of the 2010 Olympics more honest.

Those who performed tonight, besides Hedley (I can't believe I just said that), Michael Buble, and K-OS, were typical bands we Canadians have to hear on Canadian radio, even though we may not enjoy it, because the law demands it. Where were Dallas Green and Sam Roberts? Where was Metric? What about the Great Lake Swimmers, Stars, Feist, Broken Social Scene, and Arcade Fire? What happened to all of the Canadian greatness that Canadians actually appreciate? Yeah, maybe some of those names I mentioned weren't very big ones, but they are Canadian.

We showed that we could own the Gold podium this 2010 Olympic season, but I don't think we showed our artistic talents as well as we could have.

Nonetheless, I am extremely proud of the true north, strong and free. We went from horrible death, to embarrassing technical difficulties in the Opening Ceremonies, to kicking ass, to ending the Olympics in one piece.

Perhaps the ceremonies were not our greatest efforts, but everything else was fantastic.

Let's hope that the Canadian flag doesn't lower just yet because we Canadians like to party. Though the Olympic flame has been laid to rest, the celebration doesn't have to.

Go Canada Go.