I think everyone is in agreement that the friendly-fire deaths were an unfortunate tragedy. I could make comparisons with how many lives the US has saved, or how many of our own have been killed by friendly fire, but such comparisons are unnecessary, and would ring quite hollow to those whose hearts have been touched by loss.
As for the poor sportsmanship, judging a country by it's sports fans is a mistake any way you slice it. There's a reason they are called fanatics. At least no one got pressed to death by a mob of european soccer fans...
Canada isn't alone in having it's anthem mauled by an american singer. Happens all the time to us. That hack, Macy Gray, being the latest offender I can recall. The fact is, you pick someone to perform the anthem, and then it's up to them whether or not their performance is up to snuff. Some people get out in front of all those people and they choke. And that's when they are singing an anthem they grew up singing, then you ask them to memorize another country's and "bad stuff" sometimes happens.
Having been a geek in school I never liked jocks or sports fans, and though I make no generalizations about either, I'm still not a big fan of either of those groups, for the most part. All I can say is that these incidents are unfortunate, but don't be surprised. Apes act like apes, dogs and cats will be dogs and cats, ants will invade your picnic, and sports fanatics are more prone to fanatical behavior than your average joe.
There's a reason those drunk guys with the painted bodies aren't ambassadors.
This was supposed to be short.