Saturday, May 31, 2008

Back off Kristen!

Chris Osgood


I never thought I'd share such a kinship with Kristen Bell. The actress (of Veronica Mars and Heros fame) has revealed that Chris Osgood was her first crush:

"Brad Pitt be damned, he had nothing on Osgood's rookie skill and sad eyes. There was actually a day in high school when I wrote on a name tag 'Mrs. Osgood' and wore it the whole day. I really thought we were perfect for each other. I'd love to meet him and probably apologize that things never worked out."

I hear ya Kisten. Ozzie's been my man since 1996. I may have been 11 but I was convinced he was my future husband. I find it bizarre that his name is now going to show up a bunch of celeb gossip blogs.
And I hate to say I told you so but I've been saying all along that Ozzie's the most underrated goalie in the league, nice to see him finally get the kudos he deserves.

Luc Bourdon 1987-2008



On Thursday May 29, 21-year-old Canucks defenceman Luc Bourdon died in a tragic motorcycle accident in New Brunswick. I was shocked by the news like everyone else, and saddened to hear that such a young person had to lose their life. My best memory of Bourdon was when he played for Team Canada the 2006 World Junior Championships, held in Vancouver. Bourdon had been drafted that past summer by the Canucks, and the fans at Pacific Coliseum immediately embraced him as one of their own, a future Canuck with bright prospects. Every time he touched the puck, the fans cheered "Luuuuuuuuc", and I was one of them. I'm sure he must have been thrilled to be a fan favourite so early in his career, and when he made his debut at GM Place in a Canucks uniform, the "Luuuuc" chant lived on. Although he struggled to stick at the NHL level, and was overshadowed by the meteoric rise of Alex Edler, I had no doubt he would develop into a solid presence on the Canucks' blueline.

I felt a tinge of regret when I realized that I, and the hockey fans of Vancouver, didn't know much about Luc outside of hockey. All of the news reports were cold and fact-based and all I could think was that it was so sad that Luc was taken away before he could emerge not only as a full-fledged hockey star but as a member of the community. Iain McIntyre of the Vancouver Sun wrote a great tribute to Luc, giving a lot of insight on his background and I learned a lot about him that I didn't know. These personal details helped flesh out the image I had of Luc, and balanced the impersonal news reports to begin to reveal the real person. The biggest shame is that this is as much as we'll ever know.

I think McIntyre is right when he says that many fans treat hockey players as commodities. Players are people like any other, and it's really unfortunate that it takes an incident like this for people to take a step back and think about the human side to the story. Unfortunately, this won't change anything, and after the shock has worn off, it will be right back to athletes being talked about like machines with no feelings. The "win-or-go-home" reality of pro sports means that this will never change; you're either a winner or a loser, you can either play or you can't. This cutthroat competitiveness gives pro sports its high drama, but the biggest casualty is the humanity of the athelets.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

A sweet slice of vindication

When one of the worst-kept secrets in sports - corrupt judging in figure skating - was blown wide open at the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics, the masses supposedly turned away from the sport in disgust. I didn't get that memo, because the '02 Games actually reignited my interest in skating. After witnessing the incredible performances of Jamie Sale & David Pelletier and Alexei Yagudin, I didn't particularly care about all finger-waving and moralizing going on in the media, all I wanted to see was more brilliant skating. Luckily for me, just a month after Salt Lake were the '02 Figure Skating Worlds, where I saw for the first time a fresh-faced young skater who instantly became my favourite. That skater was Jeff Buttle.

Maybe after Salt Lake skating did lose a lot of fans (though I'm guessing a lot of those "fans" were just casual observers anyway) but thanks to Buttle, my voracious appetite for the sport was put in overdrive. I was so excited to see a young Canadian skater with so much talent, who skated with artistry and musicality. I suddenly foresaw all sorts of great things for Jeff: Canadian championships, world medals, and a real threat for gold at the Torino Olympics. I don't mean this in a smug-cheesy "I knew he was special before he was famous" kind of way, I was just so captivated by Jeff's unique style that I pinned all my enthusiastic wishes for a new great Canadian hope onto him (as opposed to hyper-erratic Emmanuel Sandhu - but that's another post for another day).

I've always been an advocate for the complete package in figure skating. I don't give a crap if you can land 23 triples in a program, if you're skating around with airplane arms and no expression on your face I have no time for you. In any event, Jeff Buttle, to me, is a skater who did everything right: intricate choreography, precise attention to detail, beautiful expression, and never sacrificed the presentation of a program for the sake of jumps. Oh, and tasteful costumes. Though he was often criticised for his inconsistent jumping and lack of a quad, he stuck with what worked for him and it usually paid off. When his flashier counterparts' jumps went awry, they often didn't have the strength of skating skills and complex choreography to hold a candle to Jeff's overall package. I'm sure that people who only care about big tricks and showmanship dislike Jeff, but I for one love his understated style and the way he picks up on the subtle nuances of his music. And he does ina bauers, how could you not love that?!

And so, six years after I first saw him skate as a 19-year-old at Worlds, Jeff Buttle put together two near-flawless programs to take his first World Championship gold medal. His performances were lacking in high drama but were quietly brilliant, just like his career. I think it's fitting that Jeff - often considered the poster boy for the new judging system - has finally been crowned World Champion after all the post-Salt Lake fuss about corrupt judging. A skater like him, who lacks the big jumps, probably would never have won back before the new system. I'm not saying the new system is perfect, and even a devoted Jeff fan like myself sometimes wonders if the judges aren't a bit over-eager to award Jeff big points (as Brian Joubert likes to moan about). But, in my opinion, Jeff helped revive the concept of a complete skater who doesn't just rely on his jumps, which has to be a positive for figure skating, and confirmed to me that skating isn't, as many jaded media types claimed after Salt Lake, just a tacky Vegas revue thinly disguised as sport.

Speaking of tacky...ice dancing, wow. Luckily ice dance has a Jeff Buttle-esque saving grace too, in the form of the delightful, charming, adorable (insert nauseating but accurate superlative here) Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir. They were already my favourite dance team even before they chose music from one of my favourite films, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg for this year's free dance. Maybe some are already sick of the hyperbolic praise heaped on these two, but not me because I completely agree. Much-needed breath of fresh air in a discipline bogged down by third-rate theatricality and hideous wardrobe choices. I'm already excited to see what they come out with next season.

Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir

[Photos: here and here]