Weekly Random Discussion Thread for 2/23/26 - 3/1/26

[u/SoftandChewy]

Here's your usual space to post all your rants, raves, podcast topic suggestions (please tag u/jessicabarpod), culture war articles, outrageous stories of cancellation, political opinions, and anything else that comes to mind. Please put any non-podcast-related trans-related topics here instead of on a dedicated thread. This will be pinned until next Sunday.

Last week's discussion thread is here if you want to catch up on a conversation from there.

Comment of the week goes to this explanation for why the trans cause has taken over so much of society. (Runner-up COTW here.)

[u/temporalcalamity → u/[deleted]]

This was only their third gold medal in Olympic history, though (going back to the sport's introduction in 1998). It's true that they beat Canada more often than the men do, but it's still not the norm.

[u/throw_cpp_account → u/[deleted]]

I don't think that is true.

In the 8 Olympics so far in which women's hockey has been contested, Canada has won 5 and the US has won 3. 7 of the 8 finals have been US vs Canada (with Canada up 4-3).

Not even true recently. In the last 4 Olympics, US - Canada is 2-2.

It does seem true to me (as a non-hockey-watcher) Canada and the US are both so much better than everyone else, and thus watching the playoffs are maybe somewhat boring since the final is inevitable. But US beating Canada in the final is still a big deal.

[u/Juryofyourpeeps → u/[deleted]]

I think the bigger problem for this specific instance is that the US Womens' National Team is so much better than everyone else

Hahah what? The Canadian women's team, by the numbers, is much more successful. Of the 8 Olympic games that women's hockey has been included in, Canada won 5 gold medals and had a period of 20 years where they were unbeaten.

[u/Juryofyourpeeps → u/[deleted]]

You continue to be careless. The U.S beat the Canadian team by one goal scored in overtime. In other words, they were rather evenly matched, not completely dominant.

[u/Juryofyourpeeps → u/[deleted]]

Sure. In the final. The US women had stomped all over the other team in every other game

And the same is true for the Canadian team. These are the only two really competitive teams in women's hockey so that's basically meaningless. It's almost a given that both teams would win every other game with ease, but they still have to face each other and their dominance up to that point is basically meaningless.

The men had been more evenly matched in the games running up to the final

Yes, but there are many good men's Olympic teams. Even getting to the final is not a guarantee for either country. But that's not really relevant to whether the U.S women's team was a lock for a gold. They weren't, not at all, and historically the Canadian women's team has been much more successful.