Le Ministre Gary Lunn, Mme Laureen Harper et sa fille, Rachel, étaient au Pavillon du Canada lors du Calgary Stampede en compagnie de Nathaniel Miller, athlète aux jeux olympiques de Pékin de 2008 en water-polo, Courtenay Ferguson et Adriano Fisico, porteurs du flambeau, Vaughn Chipeur, espoir pour 2010 en patinage artistique, Renée Smith-Valade du COVAN, ainsi que Miga, Quatchi et Sumi, les mascottes des Jeux d’hiver de 2010.

Clubbies: The unseen world of baseball attendants

It’s a world nobody ever sees, not the coaches, not even the players.

The clubhouse attendant is perhaps the hardest working job in baseball. He’s at the ballpark from at least 7:00 AM until 3:00 AM. The visiting clubbie’s job is particularly unique.

After receiving the team’s itinerary, the clubbie goes to the airport to pick them up. Upon arrival, he assigns each player a locker, unpacks their bags, goes shopping to prepare for their meals. That’s only the beginning. He cleans their shoes, straightens their locker, does and hangs their laundry, cleans the sinks, shower stalls, and urinals. He’s on call if the parent club calls a player up or sends them down, then packs the player’s personals and takes it to the hotel.

Greg Grimaldo is the Visitors’ Clubhouse Attendant for the Colorado Springs Sky Sox. “You feed them, give them sandwiches, chips, juice, fruit, vegetables, whatever they want before batting practice.” When the players come in from batting practice, Grimaldo starts washing clothes, cleans up the clubhouse, and prepares for the post-game meal. A typical day includes 100 pounds of laundry. Grimaldo always carries a spare. “I have two washers plus a third I keep hidden in case one breaks down.”

For a couple hours throughout the game, he cooks for 30 players and four umpires on a barbecued grill. “When they come in, you get out of their way and let them eat and hope you have enough food. The worst thing in the world is to hear a player say, ‘I didn’t get anything to eat.’

Grimaldo will have shopped for the four game series prior to the team’s arrival. He might serve tacos or burritos the first day, chicken breasts and thighs with mashed potatoes, gravy, and biscuits the next. If it’s a double-header, he’ll fix a morning meal, which may include French toast, pancakes, scrambled eggs, and sausage; in between games: hamburgers or hot dogs; then spaghetti for the post-game meal.

Each player pays the clubbie individually on the last day of the series. At the start of the season, teams will ask around to see what they plan to collect. Grimaldo says it’s $14 a day. “That buys your pop, shaving cream, soap, shampoo, and food. The clubs don’t give you anything for the visiting teams. Not a thing. If you cut it right, you can minimize the expenses down to $120 a day. You have to use everything – owe people favors – whatever you can do to save money is what you have to do.”

Some teams do pay better. The clubbie may charge $55 for four days. The player pays either $60/$65 or $55.

“I can remember years ago, putting out some baseballs for players to autograph. Everybody autographed them but one. I walked up to the player and said, ‘How come you don’t sign the baseballs?’ He said, ‘You no pay, I no sign.’ I say, ‘You no sign, you no eat.’ He signed. There are more good guys in the clubhouse than bad, but it only takes one rotten apple to ruin the whole four-day sequence.”

Being a clubhouse attendant is one of those jobs you learn from experience. Grimaldo’s best advice is to let the new guys learn on their own. “The hardest thing about this job is learning what not to do and do. You can’t take care of every individual player. One will say they want chewing tobacco, go get it for me. Another wants hamburger. As soon as you make a trip for one person, somebody else wants something else. I just tell them we make one trip only. Otherwise, they’ll have to wait for the next day. The new guy will have to learn on his own. You can tell him, but he won’t believe you. When he makes a mistake, it will cost him. When you spend money and the player don’t pay you back, that’s the hard way.”

The umbrella of North American hockey growth

USA Hockey and Hockey Canada have a lot in common as the quintessential overseers of all things hockey in North America, but they also have very different roles.

USA Hockey president Ron DeGregorio sees his organization focused on four sectors: high performance, recreational, developmental, and competitive activities.

“The high performance is the one that’s most visible. The competitive is probably our core unit where you have the recreation hockey programs traveling around playing their games. Our highest growing segment is adult hockey.”

USA Hockey’s biggest job is getting more people involved in the sport. The OneGoal Program provides equipment lend-lease options to get people to try hockey without having to invest a lot of up-front dollars on equipment.

Bottom line, DeGregorio admits USA Hockey is not just about player development; it’s involved in participation development.

“We see USA Hockey as a membership services organization that helps those who have an interest or stake in the game be able to get the most out of the game and grow as much as they can.”

Getting media interested certainly helps USA Hockey create growth, but so far, the interest is mainly regional, such as in the strong hockey markets of Minnesota, Michigan, and Massachusetts.

DeGregorio thinks hockey has a very powerful niche. “In concentrated areas, we have many views. Now with the new media – the Internet and electronic publications – we can impact that group. That’s part of our business plan – to impact that group and give them the hockey fix that they want.”

In Canada, raising the profile of the game is not an issue. Hockey is entrenched in Canadian culture. Even so, Hockey Canada knows it can’t be complacent about its role.

“We’ve really grown,” says Johnny Misley, Hockey Canada’s Executive Vice President, Hockey Operations, “but we often think we’re a third of where we’d like to be as an organization.”

Hockey Canada’s staff has grown at least 300 percent since 1994-95.

Misley admits, “While that’s great in a sense that it shows a service to the game; it also creates some obstacles. The building we’re in right now is small. We need to upgrade the training facilities that we have.”

President Bob Nicholson adds, “We’d love to have a training facility for all Olympic athletes, national team athletes for all sports, and a place that all Canadians can come and say, wow, this is the way you should prepare athletes for world championships. I’d love to see hockey become the leader in that.”

Meanwhile, USA Hockey started the STAR program (Serving The American Rinks) to provide education and resources to rink professionals to ultimately improve the quality of the existing rinks.

Every year both organizations review its programs and services to make the game better, and when budgets allow, add to what they have.

Both look at what works and doesn’t work in other leagues, review their own governance, get current and former NHL players involved in their programs, and rely heavily on volunteers.

Both USA Hockey and Hockey Canada agree that it is a great game to grow. “We’ve got a lot of opportunities,” says DeGregorio. “As long as we stay true to the game, true to the core values of the game, then the distribution of that is so much easier because of the technology of today.”

A Day in the Life of a Hockey Scout One-on-on with Jamie Hislop, Minnesota Wild Scout

What do teams look for in a scout?

To have a solid hockey background. In my case, I played at the NHL level. I coached in the NHL. I worked in the development end of things. It’s more of hiring a person that they know can assess talent: a player’s strength and weaknesses, how that particular player may fit into your team.

How much does coaching help you look at the game as a scout?

You recognize the system that a team is using. A player might look really bad on a play but he’s doing his job within the system and someone else maybe didn’t cover for him. As a coach, you realize the importance of good team chemistry and how important character is in a player rather than pure ability and pure skills, whether he’s a good team player.

How do you find out those little things? Do you get to know the players one-on-one a little bit?

You don’t really get to know the players one-on-one. You watch a player and part of your job is seeing those players enough. You have to get out and see each team you’re responsible for enough so you can have a pretty good idea what that person does or what type of person that guy is. But that’s also where you have to dig into a player’s background. If you are truly interested in a player, that’s when you start to do a little bit of research: contacting former coaches, contacting former teammates so they can confirm to you what you think you already know.

Does the team tell you who to look for or do you go about your business and spot someone who you think might fit in with the system?

A little bit of both. At the start of the year, you have meetings. You know your own team well enough that you know your strengths and your weaknesses. At the start of the year, you identify the type of player that you’re looking for, whether it’s a defenseman, a third-line winger, a good top line center man. You know your needs. Nowadays, you’re also concerned on how they fit into your payroll. That’s the real difficult part now. For instance, if you’re watching Los Angeles, you’d like to have a good read and a good book on Anze Kopitar, but chances of us ever getting Kopitar are very slim – or for me to go and watch Joe Sakic, even though he might be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. There are certain players that you’re looking for. You might file a report on ten guys on a particular team on a given night or you might try to file a report on everybody, but you’re really keying on particular players.

Do you file a report every night on them or do you just update weekly? How does that work?

There are so many teams to cover. Whenever, say Los Angeles comes into the area, up in Edmonton last night and Calgary tonight, then you try to file a report on the guys that you’re interested in every night. I’ll see them on TV but maybe I won’t see them live for a while now; it may be six weeks or something like that. You’re trying to file a report on them every time you see them. With Calgary or Edmonton, who I see a lot, I don’t worry so much about filing a report on a regular basis.

You have to watch more than one game, too, because a player can have an off night. That’s why it’s important to see the players on the road, see them at home, see them in back to back games.

It depends on who you’re scouting for, who you’re looking for?

That’s right. Different organizations vary on the types of players they’re looking for, the type of team system that they play. Every organization is different. In general, I think scouts are basically looking for the same thing. Obviously, you want to develop your young drafts, bring them up through the system, and then you’re looking for the guys that kind of complement those players, whether it’s a gritty competitive type guy like Stephane Yelle or whether it’s a little bit more skill involved. Everybody’s kind of looking for the same. I think a lot of teams realize the way the game has evolved, skill, ability to move the puck, pass the puck, good hockey sense, ability to skate — those are all really important now.

Are you looking for a diamond in the rough like a J.S. Giguere a few years ago?

That’s all part of scouting and that’s kind of the difficult thing. Budget is so much of a concern these days, you really have to cover the American League and look for those diamonds in the rough. It may not be a real diamond in the rough, but it might be a guy that will fit into your third or fourth line in a couple of years or even next year, who’s a younger, cheaper player but can do the job.

Depending on whether scouting amateurs or professionals, do you look at it differently?

I think a little bit differently but then the organization has a philosophy. I know for a fact, in Calgary, they really look for players with good character. That philosophy carries through the whole organization. Amateurs, scouts are really seeing these kids at a young age and really trying to project what the player will eventually become. And in pro scouting, you’re looking for specific needs.

What’s a day in the life of a pro scout like? Is there such a thing as a typical day?

There’s such a thing. You spend so much time on the road. Generally, in pro scouting, you’re always traveling from city to city. Unless you’re in a rare situation, like going out to Los Angeles and see four or five games between L.A. and Anaheim and stay in one hotel. Most of the time you’re bouncing from city to city, game to game. You’re generally catching the early flight. It’s really early because you’re trying to get to the airport two hours prior. You fly to the city, you try to get your reports from the night before sometime, whether it’s on the plane and in the air or in your hotel room, and then you go to the game that night, evaluate the players you want to evaluate, spend the night in the hotel and the next day move on. It’s kind of the same routine every day.

Do you have to email a picture to your wife and kids so they know what you look like?

It’s bad that way. It’s a lot of travel. The good thing is in scouting is you do have the time off in the summer. It’s almost like a teacher. You work hard during the ten months so that you get a couple of months off in the summer.

Do you have to put a piece of paper by your phone to remind yourself what city you’re in?

Not so much the city. Always when you’re switching hotel rooms, I have a little cheat sheet for what my room number is. You might be in 310 one night and 715 the next night. I always have to rip off a little piece of paper, put on the hotel room number, put it in my pocket with my key or I would have no idea what room I’m coming to.

Tell me a good story

I was working in development with Calgary and went up to Red Deer. I shouldn’t have. I was raking the lawn that afternoon and they were predicting a big storm. This was in October. It was just raining in Calgary. I was raking the leaves. I went up, watched the game, and we had heard in the building, it was really snowing outside. I left the game about five or six minutes early to see if I could get out of the parking lot before everybody else. I get onto the highway coming back and was doing just fine for a while. And then I just ran into the back end of all these taillights – cars all the way to Calgary. I sat on the road, inching along from about 9:30 at night until we finally got waved off at Carstairs at 4:30 in the morning. We spent the night in a community center gym. It was full of scouts and other people. It was kind of neat the way the community all embraced us. They gave us breakfast in the morning. The roads were still closed in the morning. We spent some time there and then we all tried to brave the roads.

Are the jobs readily available in scouting? Is there a quota?

It’s up to the organization. Gary Bettman is pushing hard to almost get rid of scouting and go to a central scouting system. Buffalo has actually gone that way. I think they may have one full-time guy but they have a whole bunch of interns watching tapes. They do it all by video and tapes. I think you’d miss a lot. We’re not going to find out the results of what Buffalo is doing for the next few years. You can pick off certain things off tape if you know a player already. But for me to go in and watch a tape and scout ten guys I don’t know, I don’t think you’d do a very good job. You’ve got to be at the game to see what the player does away from the puck. TV cameras just don’t show you enough.

Bus Ride From Hell

It sent a deafening silence throughout the hockey world and beyond.

On December 30, 1986 at 3:45 PM, the unthinkable happened. Two days after the Christmas break, the Western Hockey League Swift Current Broncos embarked on a two and a half-hour drive to Regina, Saskatchewan, when its team-owned bus, a 1968 Western Flyer, skidded off the highway overpass, hit a sign then slid down an embankment nose first. It flew approximately 50 feet in the air, landing on its side when it skidded to a halt.

Four players were dead: Scott Kruger, Trent Kresse, Brent Ruff (Lindy Ruff’s brother), and Chris Mantyka.

The scene was chaotic. The ditch was strewn with sleeping bags, blankets, pillows, and personal items. Two ambulances drove back and forth to the Swift Current Union Hospital, and passing motorists were flagged down by police to help transport the less seriously injured for medical attention.

The day before, temperatures were unseasonably warm – almost t-shirt weather, but there was a weather advisory in effect at the time of the crash – cold and blizzard conditions.

The plan was to have the bus loaded and ready to go by 3:00 PM in order to arrive at the rink in Regina by 6:45. However, Scotty Kruger forgot his dress clothes and was ordered to go home and get them. (The players often traveled in comfortable clothes then changed on the bus when they reached their destination.)

The bus still had the old green and blue from when it served the Lethbridge, Alberta team. There was no bathroom on board, some of the windows were taped together, and the seats had tears and many stains. It hit a patch of black ice, and in the aftermath, inside the bus was a scene out of a horror movie.

One of the players, wearing shorts, a t-shirt, and no shoes, was knocked out and woke up on top of another. The bus was on its side. In searching for his shoes, he went back to where he was sitting, lifted up a seat that had been torn off, and saw the legs of a teammate, whose torso had been buried underneath the bus. He then discovered another player, whose upper body was pinned inside with his legs under the bus – his arms reaching out for help as he died in front of him.

Kruger and Kresse played on the same line, had adjacent lockers, were friends and always together. They were found two feet apart from each other. At the time, the two were both were tied for second in team scoring, behind Joe Sakic.

Sakic got out of the bus by climbing through the shattered windshield.

“I was sitting at the front of the bus. Sheldon Kennedy and I were probably talking about the Christmas holidays we just had.”

The four players were playing a card game at the back of the bus. The coroner said they died of trauma to the spinal cord.

“It was halfway through the year, so it was tough getting back into the season,” adds Sakic. “That was difficult – the first game back. The season after, we did real well. I think we finished second or third and got knocked out in the second round.

“It pulled the whole city even closer. Everybody, right from day one, was so good to all the players. It was our first year there. They tried to make us feel at home. Even after that, they pulled together even more.”

Close to 4,000 attended the memorial service held at the Swift Current Centennial Civic Centre. Sadly, the Krugers’ uncle, Herman Kruger (67), suffered a fatal heart attack on the way to it.

Joe Sakic kept it to himself. He will rarely talk about it. ”The best thing was during practices and games – that was the best time to get away. You just focused on hockey.

“It was the first time a tragedy happened in my life. Kind of reality checks in. You’re a little more careful about the things you decide to do. You weigh the options, I guess.”

This incident was the first fatal crash in WHL history.

Face the Media

Face it. If the organizations want to survive as a going concern, they have to get with the times.

Take the NHL as an example. Yes, it has revamped its Website to include interesting blogs, live video and audio feed, and numerous other features. The updates on the media site score sheets are still two to three minutes behind the actual game clock, but it has improved. (See the National Lacrosse League site at www.nll.com for actual real time updates.) However, its media credential policy still lives in the Dark Ages.

There is an old saying — maybe it’s this writer’s old saying: if you want to find your target audience — go where they go.

We are in the middle of a media revolution: out with traditional and in with new technology. It’s ever changing but those that learn and move with the ebb and flow of the Internet will likely find more success than those stuck in the old traditional formats that are drying up.

For example, many have stopped buying newspapers because a) they pile up faster than you have time to read them and b) it is a pain in the backside to take the bulky weight of them to the recycling bin. But more so, people are getting their news and sports online and through cable television because it’s instantaneous; it’s easy; and you get a broader viewpoint.

Here are the facts:

• The high fixed costs of printing and distribution are not going down any time soon.
• The Rocky Mountain News, which closed its doors in February, was said to be failing in 2001 when it joined forces with the Denver Post; owner E.W. Scripps Co. says it lost $15 million in Denver in 2008
• The Philadelphia Inquirer, Baltimore Sun, and Boston Globe shut down their foreign bureaus; Time and Newsweek downsized their foreign correspondents (LJWorld.com)
• The Tribune Co., owners of Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, is in bankruptcy proceedings and outsourcing its foreign news coverage; the New York Times is in financial trouble
• (Pew Internet and American Life Project November 19 to December 20, 2008): 70 percent Internet users get their news online; 45 percent get sports scores online; 29 percent listen to live or recorded radio broadcasts; 36 percent get their news online daily; 29 percent look for their hobby or interests online daily; 15 percent look for sports scores online daily
• (Statistics Canada, June 2008): 73 percent of the population 16 and older go online for personal reasons; 68 percent are online every day; men stay online longer than women; most online users earn over $95,000; 84 percent of online users have some post-secondary education
• (The Conference Board and TNS): close to 16 percent of Internet-using U.S. households watch television broadcasts online; 3/5 of those that watch online broadcasts say it’s more convenient
• Television networks have lost 17 percent of its 18- to 49-year-old demographic to Internet TV (comScore)
• (Awareness Inc.) 93 percent of organizations surveyed use some form of unpaid social media in an era of declining marketing budgets

Howard Kurtz adds insight to this issue on his CNN show Reliable Sources and with this column: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/02/28/ST2009022802422.html.

The NHL and other like organizations cannot ignore what is happening. The desired demographic is online, not on the networks or reading newspapers. Pew reported in December 2008 that 74 percent of adults use the Internet and if you look at the demographic breakdown – it’s exactly who the NHL is trying to reach to keep its business afloat.

18-29: 87 percent use the Internet

30-49: 82 percent

50-64: 72 percent

65+: 41 percent

And the higher the income, the more Internet use.

One of the jobs of PR departments is to control the company message; whereas the media’s job is to relay the message to the general public that doesn’t have the upfront access. For the organization, the media actually provides free advertising. If the media organizations all dried up overnight, the NHL would not have a venue to market its business.

Because the mainstream media industry is changing, NHL PR departments have to rethink their priority heirarchy when it comes to media importance. They can no longer afford to “diss” the electronic media, as they may be the last ones standing in the new era that is taking place at this very moment. That doesn’t mean accrediting every Tom, Dick, and Jane that has a sports blog or Website. But if the NHL brass actually took a moment to click on the most frequented sites and blogs that are continually updated and those with writers that are serious about writing, the NHL might consider adding those outlets to the list.

Look no further than the presidential campaign of Barak Obama to see where the future is going in media. He brilliantly incorporated social networking (Facebook and Twitter, etc.) as part of his marketing campaign. As of this writing, there are 5,842,010 supporters that have joined his Facebook page and 393,269 Twitter followers.

Rick Sanchez of CNN, who calls his show “Your” newscast” has basically changed the way his fellow anchors deliver the news overnight. He skillfully incorporates viewer feedback through Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace, reads and shows some of the comments live. He has 63,383 followers on Twitter.

The time is now for the rest of the word to get with the times.

The Legendary Eddie Robinson

More than a legendary college football coach, Eddie Robinson reflected the progress of a nation.

His tenure stretched from the 1941 Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, to the Korean War, Jim Crow and the Civil Rights Movement, to the Vietnam War and the Kent State shootings, women’s liberation, moon landing, the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union, to the age of the Internet.

Some of the elements that draw in fans of college football are tradition, innocence, purity, and big name coaches. The likes of Joe Paterno, Bobbie Bowden, Bo Schembechler, and a handful of others are in a league of their own.

Eddie Robinson is also a member of this exclusive club. However, he didn’t coach a Big 10, SEC, Pac 10, Big 12, or even a WAC team. He coached the Grambling State University Tigers. Chances are the only time you might have seen them on TV would have been during the traditional annual Bayou Classic when Grambling faced Southern University.

But even if you never saw Robinson coach one of his 588 games, you can learn much from this man. At the very least, you will be inspired. The biggest lesson he bestowed was being able to face your fears with courage.

Considering the cultural climate during his upbringing in Jackson, Louisiana, as the son of a sharecropper and domestic worker, Eddie Robinson could never have dreamt there would eventually be a stadium or a prestigious Football Writers of America award named after him.

Fresh out of Leland College, Robinson wasn’t able to find a job in coaching, so he went to work in a Baton Rouge feed mill. A relative helped him find a position with the Louisiana Negro Normal and Industrial Institute, where after an interview with Dr. Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones, the 22 year old took the reins as the team’s sixth head coach. That team eventually became the Grambling State University Tigers.

Most coaches do more than just coach, but for Robinson at the beginning, he also had to mow and line the football field, direct the girls’ drill team at halftime, and write a recap of the game for reporters. These duties earned him $63.75 a month.

His first season was unimpressive – a 3-5 record. In his second year, the Tigers were undefeated. An interesting fact is that among the university’s male student population, 33 of 57 played football for Robinson.

Coach Robinson became more than just a coach to his players. He was a father figure, a mentor, a friend, and cheerleader. He understood that football was more than just a game. It shaped lives. It gave individuals the discipline they needed to create their own success down the road. Robinson was personally involved with his players and taught them more than just x’s and o’s on the chalkboard.

Some of his players didn’t know how to eat properly with a knife and fork before they met Coach Rob. He taught them that hard work, dedication, and determination pays off and to never give up.

He said, “You have to coach ‘em as though he were the boy who was going to marry your daughter.”

In 1949, he saw one of his players, Paul “Tank” Younger, become the first player from a historically black college sign with an NFL team with the Los Angeles Rams. By the early 1970s, there were 43 former Grambling players attending NFL camps.

Robinson was named the Coach Who Made the Biggest Contribution to College Football in the Past 25 Years in 1966. But one of his biggest highlights was in 1974 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans. This was a place where blacks were not only unable to play, they couldn’t even watch a game. In a game between Grambling and Southern University, 76,000 came to see them play.

The school had to hire a public relations person to handle the national publicity campaign when Grambling scheduled games against other historically black schools in Yankee Stadium, Rose Bowl, and Los Angeles Coliseum.

Then in Tokyo in 1976 against Morgan State, Grambling played in the first regular season game on foreign soil.

Another proud moment for Coach Rob was January 31, 1988. He was in stands at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego and watched former Grambling quarterback Doug Williams lead the Washington Redskins to a Super Bowl win over the Denver Broncos. It was the first time a black quarterback played in a Super Bowl. Williams was also given the game’s Most Valuable Player award.

Robinson’s accolades are too numerous to mention, but during his overall record of 408-165-15, he became the winningest coach in college football history until 2003, when John Gagliardi recorded 409 wins for St. John’s, a Division III school in Minnesota. He was the first coach to chalk up 400 wins and guided over 200 players into the NFL.

Because of coach Rob, Grambling State became a nationally recognized power and had only eight losing seasons during his tenure. He won nine National Black College championships, 17 Southwestern Athletic Conference titles, and coached over 4,000 players during his 57 seasons.

Robinson shares his overview of his career, “I guess you could say I’m proud of the fact that I can summarize my life by saying I had one wife and one job.”

Sadly, Robinson reluctantly resigned in 1997. He suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. When he died in April 2007, nearly 6,000 attended his funeral.

Debbie Elicksen is the author of Self-Publishing 101 (Self-Counsel Press) and offers publishing support to both royalty and self-publishers. You can reach her through her Website: http://www.freelancepublishing.net/.

Dissing the Media

One of the questions I sometimes ask professional athletes is: what do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your job? Very often, the answer has something to do with what most people don’t see: what they do on a daily basis to keep themselves in the game, or that they’re human with feelings.

Interviewing Steve Smith

It just dawned on me that perhaps the players ought to be asked: what do you think is the biggest misconception people have about the media? While for the most part, most of the people we encounter around the game are gracious, accommodating, and appreciative. However, some environments do tend to give off the “media are pond scum” atmosphere.

What is fascinating is what the former pro athletes now media think. They have a much different perspective. They’re even annoyed at the former mates that are still playing because they are now lumped into the same “pond.”

It isn’t just sports. You hear it in politics and every other area of life where things are not going according to plan. Whose fault is it? Not the people actually making decisions or playing the game. It’s the media’s fault. It’s their fault for focusing on the story.

Well guess what? The media, like the players and everyone around the game, are also human. We also have a job to do — to be the link from the team to the fans. This is where the disconnect lies. Without media, even the bad ones, people outside the rink, pitch, football stadium, and any other playing arena have no reason to follow the team.

There are some media who do a lot of prep work before they even get to the facility, armed with a game plan of getting player A, B, C, D, or E for the first choice, then A, B, C, D, E, F for the second choice and so on. It doesn’t help them do their job when the media also has to field insults before they get their questions out.

Media is actually free advertising. Imagine what organizations would have to pay to get the same coverage. Perhaps the only way to let teams and players know why the media exists is for US to go on lockdown. If there was no coverage whatsoever for even one week during primetime, perhaps then the media would just get their questions answered instead of first fielding insults about the profession.

CFL QB Henry Burris uses inspiration to succeed

When the Calgary Stampeders said they would continue with Henry Burris’ contract in 2005, it was the first time he experienced it in his career.

“What every quarterback has had, whether it’s in the NFL or CFL, they’ve always been with the team for a number of years and have been able to achieve success and settle down and play their game. For me, this is the first time it’s happened. This will be the first time I’ve played back to back seasons. I can look forward to going into camp and actually knowing what the snap count is, knowing what Joe Schmoe’s last name is, where he’s from. A lot of times, you have to catch up on all those things. It takes time, especially when you run a hundred guys in training camp. You’re trying to get to know them all, their body language.”

With a newborn son at the time, Burris was looking forward to some sense of stability.

His position is not an easy one. The quarterback is the target. Everyone is gunning for him. So how does he prepare for the constant physical pounding?

“Repetitions. You get used to being hit. If a guy thinks about a hit, it’s going to hurt. The hit looks better to the fans than it does to us. When we actually feel it, it happens, and goes away real quick. With repetitions, you become used to everything. You’re the guy that’s wanted and everybody wants to hit you, but when you know that, you know you’re doing something good. Especially when the fans are getting on you and razzing you, you’re doing something good. If you weren’t, they wouldn’t care less about you. Nobody would say anything about you. You know you’re doing something good when people are saying something and trying to get in your head. As a quarterback, if they can capture your mental state, you’re basically done. Game’s over. You should take yourself out of the game. Bring in the substitute. Bring in the back up. Therefore you have to work on repetitions of staying focused, being mentally tough, and making sure when you step on the field, you know exactly what you’re going to do and how you’re going to get it done. Over time, you’re going to make adjustments.”

So what’s it like to walk out onto that field? Can it be described?

“Your first year, it’s a wow experience. When you first take the field, and especially when you’re announced as the starting quarterback, you hear the fans go crazy, it’s like, oh my God. Your heart really pumps. You talk about butterflies major. You’re nervous as can be. Going into my sixth season, I’m able to zone things out. As you play more, you become used to the environment you’re placed in and adjust well to things. Therefore, I’m just able to relax and go out and play without thinking about things. Now, I don’t even hear it. I just focus on what our game plan is – you want to beat that team. You know you only have so many years to go. Each and every day you want to give it your best and make sure when you step on that field, you’re in tip top shape. You know the game plan. You want to make that team wish they never want to play you. That’s how we, as players, approach the game. That’s our competitive spirit.”

Because of his background, getting the opportunity to quarterback has not been easy. There were times when a black quarterback was thought to be inferior – such as the days when Warren Moon and Randall Cunningham played.

“Times have changed a lot. The African-American quarterbacks you have playing in the NFL now, they’re supermen. If you’re an average quarterback, it’s tough still as an African-American quarterback. You have to be able to run as fast as a speeding bullet or you’ve got to be bigger than Dante Culpepper – 6’6,” 260, who runs the 4-4. Me, I’m not 6’6,” not 260, and can’t run a 4-4. Those guys still have those distinct athletic features that just separate them from the rest. But it’s a lot better than what it used to be. We’re still working on that curve. You’ve got guys like Quincy Carter who are now in the NFL. He had some troubles, but he’s continued to work at things. But still, guys like Damon Allen, there’s no way he shouldn’t be playing in the NFL. There are a lot of guys up here that should be down south. It works both ways. Guys like Dave Dickenson should have had a chance, Danny McManus, Ricky Ray, Anthony Calvillo. We’re guys that are enjoying our time here. Canada has done nothing but be a magnificent blessing to our lives. We’re more than thankful for it. It if wasn’t for this, we wouldn’t be playing football.”

Burris started his charity softball tournament in 2005 and supporting Big Brothers and Big Sisters is particularly important to him.

“We wanted to come up with an original event that has never occurred here in the city. Let’s put together some of Calgary’s finest celebrity athletes, mingle with corporate Calgary, the fans, and also enable those who can’t afford to go to a gala-like event.

“My father was always my ultimate big brother. I was blessed to have a father. A lot of people come from single-family homes. I wanted to take what I’ve been able to learn from my father and mother and share it with those out there. Big Brothers and Big Sisters enabled me to come about from my high school days, college, professional ball, and help give back to those who are less fortunate. I was at the other end of the spectrum in Detroit, in professional football, having an opportunity to meet those guys while I was growing up. It’s the wow factor. Through their troubles and how they were able to overcome some of the obstacles in their lives. I want to be able to share those with some of the little kids here in the city – mentorship. That’s why we need more males to spend the time with kids. Maybe an hour a week, come out and spend the time. It will change somebody’s life.

“Growing up in Oklahoma, it’s primarily a football state. We’re just blessed to have sports, whatever it is, it’s just there at our discretion to let us choose which route we want to go. You kind of catch onto looking at certain teams, certain athletes. Whenever that athlete is on television or on radio, we’re glued to that television set or to the radio. You’re listening for something that might stick out to you, like what I call a high-catcher. Just being able to see what guys like Emmitt Smith, the obstacles like guys like Warren Moon had to overcome by going to the CFL and work his way back to the Houston Oilers and impact the lives like myself. To see those guys go through those obstacles and to know that if they can do it, then I know I can do it. Emmitt Smith told me when I met him the first time at his football camp, if you have a dream, despite what obstacles are set up against you, you can make that dream come true.

“I had to go through where people said I was too small. I continued to work my tail off. I’m not the fastest. I’m not the biggest, not the strongest. But nobody plays harder than me. With Emmitt’s passion and playing through a separated shoulder, broken ribs, he’s definitely showed that passion.”

The Iginla Factor

There is some argument as to who is the quintessential “Cam Neely” power forward: Vinny Lecavalier or Jarome Iginla. You could say Lecavalier is more finesse, while Iginla is grit and grind. Cam Neely was both.

They can both fight their own battles. They’re both media darlings. They both have scored enough to challenge for the NHL scoring lead. They both have faced adversity in that their teams have struggled to make the playoffs over the years.

Which player gets the nod depends on which conference you reside in. I happen to reside in the west, so Iginla is my choice on the matter. While it’s doubtful any team would turn down a chance at Lecavalier, if they had a choice, I think Iginla would have the edge due to the extra grit factor.

He might have been an afterthought for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. (He was called in by Wayne Gretzky after the September 2001 evaluation camp had already started.) That was before he took ownership of the 2001-02 NHL season, when he won the Art Ross Trophy as the leading point getter, the Maurice Rocket Richard Trophy for leading goal scorer, and the Lester B. Pearson Award as the Players’ Association most valuable player. He missed out on the league MVP – the Hart Trophy – by an eastern conference media vote.

And still, he faced trade rumors.

In 2003-04, there was no question of Iginla’s leadership. His team traveled the unlikely journey straight to the Stanley Cup final and pushed for a seventh game in the series, only to come out on the short end. He won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy for leadership qualities on and off the ice plus humanitarian contribution. He tied Ilya Kovalchuk and Rick Nash for the Maurice Rocket Richard Trophy.

With all this history, it’s hard to believe there was a time when the Calgary Flames’ acquisition of Jarome Iginla had people thinking “bust,” where he didn’t fulfill immediate expectations. He was touted as the next coming of Theoren Fleury when he arrived at the Pengrowth Saddledome in time for the 1995-96 playoffs – the last time the club would see the post-season until 2003-04.

During his tenure thus far, Iginla has gone through seven head coaches, three team presidents, and three general managers. The team traded an icon in Joe Nieuwendyk (along with Corey Millen) to acquire Iginla December 1995, which is likely why he’s faced so much criticism. But you could say they ultimately traded one icon for another.

The 2007-08 season marked another milestone year for Iginla. He was named captain of the Western Conference All-Star Team, netted 50 goals on the season, and became the franchise all-time goal scoring leader. He received the team’s J. R. McCaig Memorial Award for extolling the virtues of respect, courtesy, and compassion for all individuals he encounters in both his professional and every day life.

With yet another chapter to go in his career, there is no doubt Jarome Iginla has proved his worth, and the naysayers have been noticeably silenced.