Ignorance ain't bliss, Ms. Hockey Puck.

USA Olympic women's hockey team Angela Ruggiero was recently interviewed by the Daily News in Los Angeles. Ruggiero is one of the oldest members of the team, winning hockey gold in 1998 at Nagano, silver in 2002 at Salt Lake City and bronze in 2006 at Turin.

DN: "Is there any chance of you playing on the 2014 U.S. team?"

AR: "I don't want to pull a Brett Favre. I'm leaning toward no, but I'm not saying either way. I'll take it year by year. In 2006, I thought I'd retire, but all I needed was six months off and I felt rejuvenated. I'll keep training. But a lot of pieces have to come together."

I take offense (imagine that). First off, this chick's not in the same league as Brett Favre, though one could argue you can't fairly compare NFL football to Olympic women's hockey. And sure Brett has retired and unretired numerous times, driving the world (seemingly) and anti-Favre fans batty (not me). A more accurate statement from Ruggiero might have been:

AR: "I don't want to pull a Brett Favre or a Roger Clemens, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, Junior Seau, Mario Lemieux, Reggie White, George Foreman, Lance Armstrong, Magic Johnson, Ryne Sandberg, or a Sugar Ray Leonard...". All athletes who've retired at least once - if not more times.

Then Ruggiero contradicts herself. "I'm leaning toward no, but I'm not saying either way. I'll take it year by year." Isn't that what Favre does? Didn't she just say she doesn't want to pull a "Favre"?

While representing the United States at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, Ruggiero made comments to Sports Illustrated website regarding the Canadian team's behavior during the preliminary round of the women's hockey tournament, for which she received some criticism: "I'm upset that Canada has been running up the score, especially against the host nation...There was no need for that. They're trying to pad their stats...Canada is running up the score for whatever reasons - personal, short-term."

When it comes to sporting events, it's my philosophy that - regardless if it's amateur (Olympics, but how "amateur" is it anymore?) or professional - you play to win and you score as many points as your opponent will allow you. Ruggiero graduated Cum Laude from Harvard University with a B.A. in Government, wrote a memoir on her hockey-playing experiences and was a contestant on The Apprentice. She's savvy enough to understand she should just keep quiet and play hockey.