Let us have a moment of sympathy for the immediate family and close relations of Gilbert Felli, who must be no fun at all to be around.

Mr. Felli, the executive director of the Olympic Games, is the IOC official who threw a big wet blanket over the spontaneous celebration that busted out when the Canadian women's hockey team won the gold medal on Thursday night.

The champions had accepted their hardware on the ice, waved politely to the crowd, and retired to the dressing room where, in the tradition of every climactic sporting event since the dawn of time, the winners broke out the Champagne. And, in this case, beer and various tobacco products. Thanks in part to the advent of cheap digital cameras, some of the women then popped back onto the ice to take photos of each other on the ice. Although the fans had long since left, the media was still around, so photos of the revelry were soon anywhere.

Enter Mr. Felli and his wet blanket: "It is not what we want to see. I don't think it's a good promotion of sport values. If they celebrate in the changing room, that's one thing, but not in public. We will investigate."

Call in the gendarme! There has been carousing! With alcohol and cigars and cigarettes! Possibly unfiltered cigarettes! 

First, the criticism that the celebration was in "public," as opposed to in the dressing room, shows a rather breathtaking ignorance of the medium of television. When athletes party in dressing rooms, there is invetiably a camera to record the glee, and given that Canada's broadcast consortium has a lot or air space to fill, it's a safe bet that the footage of all that drinking -- even by underage people! -- would have been out there for all to see. In public.

Second, you know what is a "good promotion of sport values?" How about working extraordinarily hard for four years in pursuit of an athletic dream that has absolutely no payoff -- other than that very moment when the gold medal is won and you can bask in the glow a little? There is no million-dollar contract to be earned. There is no professional league to go back to. There is just that moment of success. Achievement just for the sake of athletic achievement. How's that for sport values?

Beyond parsing the silliness of Mr. Felli's statement, there is the fact that the hockey team was only doing what every athlete does at that moment of victory: cut loose. It's why Jon Montgomery swilled most of a pitcher of beer on camera after winning the men's skeleton. It's why some of the most iconic photos of Michael Jordan involve the NBA trophy, a slightly askew championship cap, and a cigar. It's why locker room dressing stalls are covered in sheets of plastic before the celebrating begins. They don't put the plastic there to shield the flow of tears, either.

Hockey Canada, not surprisingly, has taken the high road in response to the IOC. "The members of Team Canada apologize if their on-ice celebrations, after fans had left the building, have offended anyone," said a statement from the team. 

I'd like to think the unwritten final thought is: "Even if anyone who was offended needs to lighten up a little."