By JOSE RODRIGUEZ -- Calgary Sun

You go, girls!

As the Flames miracle march to the Stanley Cup hits full stride, there are countless party girls around town willing to give the shirts off their backs to show their support for the home team.

During this unforeseen playoff run, numerous women have resorted to flashing their breasts in the post-game revelry that has transformed 17 Ave. into a party that would make the Electric Ave. of old blush.

These braless martyrs want to ensure 2004 goes down as the breast playoff run this city has ever seen.

And now, the contribution, dedication and hard work of these selfless ladies is being condemned. The nerve!

The puritan parade is beginning to circle the wagons and shrinks are even weighing in to say that the poor bare-breasted souls stand to suffer a lifetime of regret and embarrassment as pictures begin to appear on the web.

So, strictly for research purposes, I tracked down the websites in question.

I stress, I did this strictly for research purposes.

What I found, is that some people's guns are better left holstered while others are truly blessed.

I also discovered that this city can host 35,000 maniacal party-goers on one of its busiest streets without any serious crime. Except for, of course, a few boobs which the cops are wisely choosing to ignore.

The whole hangup with nudity reminds me of my first trip to Europe.

As a young teen, my parents took us back to Spain for a vacation.

I remember it well because it was probably the only real vacation we ever took.

Anyway, after meeting all my cousins and uncles and other assorted relatives -- most of whom were named Jose, by the way -- I sat down with one of them to watch a heavy-metal music video playing on some Spanish TV station.

The channel then cut to a commercial.

It was an advertisement for soap.

The ad showed a model in the bathtub lathering herself up.

She was buck naked.

There weren't any strategically placed bubbles to cover up the naughty bits.

I was, let's say, moved by the whole experience. My cousin, on the other hand, seemed unfazed.

It's because, unlike Europe, we've developed a prudish approach to nudity.

We've demonized the human body and come to the conclusion that boobs mean sex, sex is bad, and therefore anything or anyone that displays nudity is damaging the moral fibre of society.

It's OK to show dead bodies and blood and deadly chases that end in a shoot-em up, but we won't tolerate any boobs.

It's ridiculous.

We each have our own comfort level when it comes to nudity.

Would I like it if my daughter was on 17 Ave. showing the world her God-givens? Of course not.

My mom or any other woman in my family? Nope.

But if a stranger is willing to doff her top and show off her femininity late at night on a crowded street, I'm going to look.

Gawk uncontrollably, to be honest.

I'm a man. Men do that.

The whole condemnation of bare breasts on 17 Ave. is a bit of a tempest in a D-cup if you pardon the pun.

The human body is a beautiful thing.

Now, Go Flames Go!