Miracle
So much for keeping those New Year's resolutions... I missed last Sunday for this post. My grandma reads this blog regularly. She kept telling me I haven't posted anything since February 2nd. Now, I'm sitting here in her hospital room writing. She's asking me what I'm going to talk about this week. I told her it's finally time to get back to a sports post. It's been a long time, but this is the week.
Well, it's been three weeks since I wrote that first paragraph. The wireless internet at the hospital was not working with me, so I just decided to wait for a less frustrating time to write. It's no fun trying to write with continual interruptions. I have no excuses for the other weekends I missed other then life got busy and I didn't take time to write. (PS. Grandma is now fully recovered and living it up at home. Didn't want you fretting over her through the rest of the post.) So without any further ado, the sport of the week is...
I'm not a huge hockey fan, mostly because I don't really understand all the rules. I didn't grow up around it, but I've been known to watch the Mighty Ducks and the Stanley cup occasionally with Dad. Hockey is not a main sport in the Kansas. This is football country! Anyhow, I have recently attended my first hockey game, and I'm happy to say I'm branching out. This picture of Katy is another one of those days when I walked in the door and Katy told me to close my eyes. I heard some shuffling and the refrigerator door opening. I opened my eyes and burst out laughing! Good times. This picture still makes me laugh every time!
History
Ice hockey originated in Canada in the early 19th century, based on several similar sports played in Europe, although the word “hockey” comes from the old French word “hocquet”, meaning “stick”. Around 1860, a puck was substituted for a ball, and in 1879 two McGill University students, Robertson and Smith, devised the first rules.
The first recognized team, the McGill University Hockey Club, was formed in 1880 as hockey became the Canadian national sport and spread throughout the country. In 1892, the Governor General of Canada donated the Stanley Cup, which was first won by a team representing the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association.
The sport migrated south to the United States during the 1890s, and games are known to have taken place there between Johns Hopkins and Yale Universities in 1895. Ice hockey spread to Europe around the turn of the century, and the first Olympic Games to include ice hockey for men were the 1920 Antwerp Summer Games.
Six-a-side men’s ice hockey has been a part of the Winter Games since 1924 in Chamonix. Women’s ice hockey was accepted as an Olympic sport in 1992, and made its official debut in 1998 in Nagano.
Unsurprisingly, Canada dominated the first men's tournaments. However, in 1956, and until its dissolution, the Soviet Union took over and became the number one team. It was interrupted only by USA victories in 1960 in Squaw Valley and in 1980 in Lake Placid.
If you are any sort of USA sports fan, you know about the "Miracle on Ice" at Lake Placid. It give me chills just thinking about it. The clip is part of every winter Olympics. I wasn't around when the game took place or I would have been yelling at the TV, jumping up and down, and cheering at home. I still cheer every time I watch the movie Miracle or I hear the clip of Al Michaels saying, "Do you believe in miracles?!? YES!" Wow! Talk about a moment in sports that shook the world.
Herb Brooks was the coach of the 1980 USA hockey team. He was definitely unconventional, but what I love most about Herb is that he was a dreamer. He wasn't afraid to dream big and believe for the impossible. Here's a quote from the movie when Herb is being interviewed for the US Olympic team coaching position.
Lou Nanne: Beat the best team in the world? Gold medalists in '64, '68, '72, '76? Pretty lofty goal, Herb.
Herb Brooks: Well, Lou, that's why I want to pursue it.
"You know, Willy Wonka said it best: We are the makers of dreams, the dreamers of dreams. We should be dreaming. We grew up kids having dreams, but now we're too sophisticated as adults, as a nation. We stopped dreaming. We should always have dreams. I'm a dreamer." -Herb Brooks
You don't have to be a hockey fan to understand the monstrosity of the this game. It came at a moment America needed something to believe in. Something to dream about. Something to inspire hope and unite a nation. These men were extraordinary. Their dedication and heart made a mark on history. They achieved the impossible, an event many believe to be the greatest moment in all of sport.
I can't close this history portion without including one of the best locker room speeches of all time. I know you probably feel like you've watched the entire movie, but I had a hard time just picking these three clips. If you've never watched the movie, it is well worth your time. Even if you aren't a sports movie person, I highly recommend it.
How It Works
Ice hockey is a fast, fluid and exciting team sport. It draws big crowds at the Olympic Games thanks to the drama and tension of the matches. The fights are always a big draw, along with all those players that get checked into the boards right in front of the fans. Though the rules and equipment have changed through the sport's 131-year history, the spirit of the game remains the same. Hockey has always been a sport of speed and grace mixed with grit and a certain amount of violence. That combination has proven irresistible to fans for over a century. A crowd of 5,000 reportedly watched the first ever Stanley Cup competition in 1893. During the 2002-2003 season, attendance at national Hockey League games topped 20 million.
The gold medal match of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games between Canada and USA drew record crowds. Canada's Olympic networks claim that 22 million people – or two thirds of the Canadian population – were watching the gold medal game when Sidney Crosby scored in overtime, making the game the most-watched television broadcast in Canadian history. In the United States, NBC said that the game was the most-watched hockey game in the U.S. in 30 years, drawing 27.6 million, the largest since the United States–Finland game that decided the gold medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics. I was watching and yelling and so sad when our boys got beat. I will admit that Sid the Kid's goal was impressive. U.S. goalie Ryan Miller's performance was spectacular, and it was hard to see such a great player lose.
Hockey is played on a sheet of ice 200 feet long (2/3 the length of a football field) by 85 feet wide. The nets are 6 feet wide by 4 feet high. They are positioned with their fronts at the red goal line. To score a goal, players must get the puck into the opposing team's net. The puck must completely cross the goal line for the goal to count. The puck is a disc of vulcanized rubber 1 inch thick and 3 inches in diameter. It weights about 6 ounces. Pucks are actually frozen before the game and kept in a cooler so they don't bounce as much when they're in play.
The 60-minute game is divided into three 20-minute periods. If the teams are tied at the end of 60 minutes of play, a 5-minute sudden-death overtime period is played. During the playoffs, teams continue playing additional 20-minute sudden-death overtimes until one team scores.
Six skaters per team are on the ice at a time: a goaltender, or goalie, who stays on the ice for the duration of the game (barring injury), and five skaters who take rotating shifts that last from 30 seconds to two minutes or more. Usually, there are three forwards (left wing, right wing, and center) and two defenseman on the ice. In certain situations, some teams play with four forwards on the ice and one defenseman. Changing on the fly has always been a fascination to me. The substitution of players without a stoppage in play is just mind boggling. Being a basketball and volleyball player, you have to check in at a scorer's table and wait to come into the game. I have yet to understand how everyone knows when to come and go. It is well choreographed, and I'm highly impressed.
Penalties are also a big part of any hockey game. They can swing the momentum in a second. For infractions like tripping, slashing, roughing, charging, high-sticking, and the always embarrassing too-many-men-on-the-ice, a player must sit out for two minutes in the penalty box, while his team plays on with one fewer skater than its opponent. Additional penalties can't reduce the number of skaters on the ice below three -- any further penalties are staggered so that a new one begins as soon as one ends. If a penalty is called on a goalie, another player sits out the two minutes in his place. When a team takes a penalty, the other team goes on the power play, which means it has more players on the ice than the opposing team. If the team on the power play scores a goal before the two minutes are up, the penalty ends automatically.
The most serious rules violations result in major penalties, and possibly fines and suspensions. A major penalty lasts for five minutes, and it doesn't end if the team on the power play scores. A player who drops his gloves and throws punches will always get a major penalty, though a fighting major is usually offset by a penalty to the other team, since it takes two to have a fight. When two players on opposing teams get major penalties, five players remain on the ice per side. Major penalties can also be called on other infractions that are deemed more severe by the referees. Elbowing and high-sticking can be called as major penalties, particularly if there was an apparent intent to injure the other player. Anyone who fights in an international (Olympic) game is immediately thrown out of the rest of the game. Who wants to train that hard and get thrown out? Not me!
During my first and only hockey game attendance, I was privileged to see a fight. One of the best players on the home team was skating past the visitors bench and hit several players in the face with his stick. What a brilliant idea! That doesn't seem like a plan that will backfire on you. None of the players he hit did anything, so a guy on the end of the bench jumped over the wall, threw his gloves down, and started wailing on the guy. Like I said, brilliant plan. His wife was in front of us yelling at the ref for making a bad call. What?!? He hit players on the bench in the face. Come on lady! Anyhow, I was excited to see a decent fight.
Equipment
Like other aspects of the game, the equipment worn by hockey players has evolved over the decades. At first, the only "equipment" worn was a turtleneck wool sweater and a pair of leather boots with blades strapped to them. Sticks were carved out of heavy pieces of wood.
Now the list has grown. There are elbow pads, gloves, helmet, shin guards, shoulder pads, skates, jerseys, and the stick. The helmet is made so that the lower edge is not more than one finger-width above the eyebrows. That still leaves a lot of face open to get hit by a puck or a stick or a flying fist in my opintion. Some players wear a clear plastic shield attached to the helmet that comes down to the lower edge of the player's nose when they get hurt. I've been told it's not a very popular option, even when your face may be mared for all eternity. Male players born after December 31, 1974 must wear, at the very least, a visor that meets approved international standards. All women players must wear full face masks.
Goalkeepers have slightly different gear. It includes a goalkeeper stick, goalkeeper skates, blocking glove, catching glove, helmet with full face mask and leg guards. They need all the protection they can get with pucks flying at them so ridiculously fast. Painful! I have to say I'm glad they got rid of the Jason mask though. Just look at those two pictures. Same guy in both, but Ryan Miller is way creepier in that old mask. The research and development that goes into goalie pads is astonishing. Every surface of the pad is designed to deflect the puck in a certain way, depending on the goaltender's style. Even the graphics on the pads can be designed to create the illusion of a gap for a player to shoot at. While today's goalies are completely armored, with virtually no spot on the front of their bodies going unprotected, their gear weighs less than ever.
And I can't forget the zamboni. (Threw this in here for you Dad!)
The Stanley Cup
It has been called the most famous trophy in all of sports: the Stanley Cup. The original cup was purchased at the request of Frederick Arthur, Lord Stanley of Preston, the Governor-General of Canada, who felt the growing sport needed some "outward sign" to designate a champion. It was first awarded in 1893, and for several decades, various amateur athletic associations and hockey leagues would compete for it.
The design of the Stanley Cup is kind of complicated, as far as sports trophies go. The trophy Lord Stanley purchased was just the wide bowl that sits atop the cup. When the tradition of engraving the names of every player who won the cup was formalized, extra bands were added to make room. For a while, the cup had a different shape almost every year. It didn't take on its current form until 1958.
The silver rings on the bottom portion of the cup are where players get their names engraved. It takes 13 years to fill a ring, at which point the top ring, the oldest, is removed and placed in the Hall of Fame.
The Stanley Cup that teams carry around the ice when they win the NHL championship isn't even the original Stanley Cup. In 1969, league officials realized Lord Stanley's 78-year-old trophy was getting brittle. Worried that it would be seriously damaged, they commissioned an exact replica. The original bowl was retired, and the replica is used today.
Wait -- it gets even more confusing. If you've been to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Ontario, to see the Stanley Cup, you might not have seen the real Stanley Cup. Each year, every player on the winning cup team gets to spend one day with the trophy. In addition, the cup travels 250 days per year to charity events and NHL promotional activities. When the cup is out, yet another replica takes its place in the hall. How can you tell the difference? The real cup has about a dozen misspelled names, like the name of goalie Jacques Plante, and the word Boston in the 1972 engraving. All the errors are corrected on the replica.
The Stanley Cup has probably endured more indignity than any other major professional sports trophy. In 1905, it was kicked into Ottawa's Rideau Canal on a dare. In 1924, it was left on the side of the road after the players carrying it home stopped to fix a flat. In more recent years, it was reportedly dropped from the second story of a house when a Dallas Stars player attempted to throw it into a swimming pool. One player christened his child in the Cup. It has been taken to the top of a mountain (Fisher Peak, in British Columbia), and has even traveled to Russia and Japan. A team of three Hall of Fame employees travels with the cup to maintain its safety and security. Whew! That cup never gets a break.
The Great One
I definitely couldn't end this hockey tribute without mentioning The Great One. If the career of Wayne Gretzky can be considered a single event, then it is surely one of the most pivotal in hockey history. From 1979 to 1999, Gretzky set 61 NHL records. He has the most career goals (894) and most career assists (1,963). He holds the record for most goals in a single season, putting in an astonishing 92 goals during the 1981-82 campaign. The closest player to that mark is… Wayne Gretzky, who scored 87 goals in 1983-84. He not only holds the record for most assists in a season (163 in 1985-86), he actually holds the top eight spots for that record, and 11 out of the top 12.
He was chosen to light the Olympic cauldron for the Vancouver 2010 Games. He is an amazing person and a legendary hockey player. I think the reason Canada and the world fell in love with Wayne Gretzky was more than his amazing skill, it was his character. He is a likeable guy who everyone can route for, no matter who your team is.
On a personal note, Zoom is going really well. My running is getting smoother and stronger every day. I can run 16 mph without any assisstance (aka holding me on the treadmill while my legs try to keep up). 17 mph is my current roadblock. I tried it again this last week. I was feeling great leading up to that last sprint. My 16 mph sprint for 6 seconds was perfect. I was feeling confident, and then The Beast took over... I was very close to shooting off the back. Kylie caught me just in time. John is confident that once I start going multiple days a week, 17 mph will be easy and I'll continue to progress.
Weightlifting and my other cardio are going well too. I'll be really excited when it's warm enough to swim again! It's been toasty down here the past few days, and I think I can hit the pool by the end of the month. It's so crazy to think about swimming in an outdoor pool in March. March! It's still snowing and freezing cold in Kansas. It would be like a Polar Bear Run if I tried to do that back home. Brrrr!
Speaking of cold, I got to spend a day snowboarding this past weekend. I was in Colorado on a business trip, and we had an extra day to kill. I took my second snowboarding lesson in the morning. I was doing great till my second to last run down the hill. I was trying to do a toe to heel side turn and bit it hard. It was a bone jarring fall, the first of about a half dozen really hard falls. The rest of my falls were all pretty minor.
I asked my instructor what I should do that afternoon. Stick around the beginners hill? No Way! Neil said I was ready to shred the mountain, so I fled the safety of the bunny slopes and set off to the great unknown. I took a 2 mile long lift to the top and took off. I found that I am not at all practiced at following trails, and things can get out of control very quickly. I'm pretty sure I was on blue slopes most of the time, but I figured since there weren't any black runs on my side of the mountain I was safe. That was probably a poor assumption, but I lived to tell the tale.
I'm not very good at exiting the lift yet though. Having only one foot strapped in is not my forte just yet. I was doing fine on the beginners hill, but the exit zones on the mountain were significantly shorter. I didn't hop off quite soon enough my third trip up. My board started to move down and I was moving up. I ended up just jumping off and crawling to the side. The guys in the booth probably had a good laugh, but I had to get off somehow. Good thing I didn't know any of these people!
I had a "Little Joe" experience as well. If you're wondering what that means, go check out the beginning of the Applauding the Clap Skate post. Traumatizing! Anyhow, once I fell off the lift to the left side, I decided to head down that way. I was doing great for about 500 feet, until I realized I couldn't see anything past the ledge of snow I was about to cross. Maybe because it was ridiculously steep! There were two little girls sitting on the skis, inching their way down. All I could hear in my head was my mom from all those years ago, "See. That little girl can do it. Come on. Let's go." So down I went. It was a very controlled descent, and I made it down without incident. Just as I was in the clear and patting myself on the back for making it down without falling, I tanked. Figures. Anyhow, I shredded the mountain for a few hours. I can now link my turns, albeit more slowly than most everyone else out there. But hey, it was only my second day on a board, so I felt pretty proud!
That's it. I have nothing else to tell you. You are now caught up on the past month of my life. I hope you enjoyed the read. I'm not making any promises, but I hope to post more than one time this month. I'm going to be quite busy living my life, but I'm looking forward to writing again now that I'm back in the swing of things.
Well, it's been three weeks since I wrote that first paragraph. The wireless internet at the hospital was not working with me, so I just decided to wait for a less frustrating time to write. It's no fun trying to write with continual interruptions. I have no excuses for the other weekends I missed other then life got busy and I didn't take time to write. (PS. Grandma is now fully recovered and living it up at home. Didn't want you fretting over her through the rest of the post.) So without any further ado, the sport of the week is...
ICE HOCKEY!
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| This is another one of my favorites! |
History
Ice hockey originated in Canada in the early 19th century, based on several similar sports played in Europe, although the word “hockey” comes from the old French word “hocquet”, meaning “stick”. Around 1860, a puck was substituted for a ball, and in 1879 two McGill University students, Robertson and Smith, devised the first rules.
| 1880 Nova Scotian Hockey Team |
| 1924 Gold Medal Match |
The sport migrated south to the United States during the 1890s, and games are known to have taken place there between Johns Hopkins and Yale Universities in 1895. Ice hockey spread to Europe around the turn of the century, and the first Olympic Games to include ice hockey for men were the 1920 Antwerp Summer Games.
| 1890 Women's Hockey Team |
Unsurprisingly, Canada dominated the first men's tournaments. However, in 1956, and until its dissolution, the Soviet Union took over and became the number one team. It was interrupted only by USA victories in 1960 in Squaw Valley and in 1980 in Lake Placid.
If you are any sort of USA sports fan, you know about the "Miracle on Ice" at Lake Placid. It give me chills just thinking about it. The clip is part of every winter Olympics. I wasn't around when the game took place or I would have been yelling at the TV, jumping up and down, and cheering at home. I still cheer every time I watch the movie Miracle or I hear the clip of Al Michaels saying, "Do you believe in miracles?!? YES!" Wow! Talk about a moment in sports that shook the world.
Herb Brooks was the coach of the 1980 USA hockey team. He was definitely unconventional, but what I love most about Herb is that he was a dreamer. He wasn't afraid to dream big and believe for the impossible. Here's a quote from the movie when Herb is being interviewed for the US Olympic team coaching position.
Lou Nanne: Beat the best team in the world? Gold medalists in '64, '68, '72, '76? Pretty lofty goal, Herb.
Herb Brooks: Well, Lou, that's why I want to pursue it.
"You know, Willy Wonka said it best: We are the makers of dreams, the dreamers of dreams. We should be dreaming. We grew up kids having dreams, but now we're too sophisticated as adults, as a nation. We stopped dreaming. We should always have dreams. I'm a dreamer." -Herb Brooks
You don't have to be a hockey fan to understand the monstrosity of the this game. It came at a moment America needed something to believe in. Something to dream about. Something to inspire hope and unite a nation. These men were extraordinary. Their dedication and heart made a mark on history. They achieved the impossible, an event many believe to be the greatest moment in all of sport.
I can't close this history portion without including one of the best locker room speeches of all time. I know you probably feel like you've watched the entire movie, but I had a hard time just picking these three clips. If you've never watched the movie, it is well worth your time. Even if you aren't a sports movie person, I highly recommend it.
"You were born to be a hockey player (or a bobsledder),You were meant to be here.This moment is yours."-Herb Brooks
How It Works
Ice hockey is a fast, fluid and exciting team sport. It draws big crowds at the Olympic Games thanks to the drama and tension of the matches. The fights are always a big draw, along with all those players that get checked into the boards right in front of the fans. Though the rules and equipment have changed through the sport's 131-year history, the spirit of the game remains the same. Hockey has always been a sport of speed and grace mixed with grit and a certain amount of violence. That combination has proven irresistible to fans for over a century. A crowd of 5,000 reportedly watched the first ever Stanley Cup competition in 1893. During the 2002-2003 season, attendance at national Hockey League games topped 20 million.
Hockey is played on a sheet of ice 200 feet long (2/3 the length of a football field) by 85 feet wide. The nets are 6 feet wide by 4 feet high. They are positioned with their fronts at the red goal line. To score a goal, players must get the puck into the opposing team's net. The puck must completely cross the goal line for the goal to count. The puck is a disc of vulcanized rubber 1 inch thick and 3 inches in diameter. It weights about 6 ounces. Pucks are actually frozen before the game and kept in a cooler so they don't bounce as much when they're in play.
The 60-minute game is divided into three 20-minute periods. If the teams are tied at the end of 60 minutes of play, a 5-minute sudden-death overtime period is played. During the playoffs, teams continue playing additional 20-minute sudden-death overtimes until one team scores.
Six skaters per team are on the ice at a time: a goaltender, or goalie, who stays on the ice for the duration of the game (barring injury), and five skaters who take rotating shifts that last from 30 seconds to two minutes or more. Usually, there are three forwards (left wing, right wing, and center) and two defenseman on the ice. In certain situations, some teams play with four forwards on the ice and one defenseman. Changing on the fly has always been a fascination to me. The substitution of players without a stoppage in play is just mind boggling. Being a basketball and volleyball player, you have to check in at a scorer's table and wait to come into the game. I have yet to understand how everyone knows when to come and go. It is well choreographed, and I'm highly impressed.
Penalties are also a big part of any hockey game. They can swing the momentum in a second. For infractions like tripping, slashing, roughing, charging, high-sticking, and the always embarrassing too-many-men-on-the-ice, a player must sit out for two minutes in the penalty box, while his team plays on with one fewer skater than its opponent. Additional penalties can't reduce the number of skaters on the ice below three -- any further penalties are staggered so that a new one begins as soon as one ends. If a penalty is called on a goalie, another player sits out the two minutes in his place. When a team takes a penalty, the other team goes on the power play, which means it has more players on the ice than the opposing team. If the team on the power play scores a goal before the two minutes are up, the penalty ends automatically.
Equipment
Like other aspects of the game, the equipment worn by hockey players has evolved over the decades. At first, the only "equipment" worn was a turtleneck wool sweater and a pair of leather boots with blades strapped to them. Sticks were carved out of heavy pieces of wood.
Goalkeepers have slightly different gear. It includes a goalkeeper stick, goalkeeper skates, blocking glove, catching glove, helmet with full face mask and leg guards. They need all the protection they can get with pucks flying at them so ridiculously fast. Painful! I have to say I'm glad they got rid of the Jason mask though. Just look at those two pictures. Same guy in both, but Ryan Miller is way creepier in that old mask. The research and development that goes into goalie pads is astonishing. Every surface of the pad is designed to deflect the puck in a certain way, depending on the goaltender's style. Even the graphics on the pads can be designed to create the illusion of a gap for a player to shoot at. While today's goalies are completely armored, with virtually no spot on the front of their bodies going unprotected, their gear weighs less than ever.
And I can't forget the zamboni. (Threw this in here for you Dad!)
The Stanley Cup
| The Original Stanley Cup |
The design of the Stanley Cup is kind of complicated, as far as sports trophies go. The trophy Lord Stanley purchased was just the wide bowl that sits atop the cup. When the tradition of engraving the names of every player who won the cup was formalized, extra bands were added to make room. For a while, the cup had a different shape almost every year. It didn't take on its current form until 1958.
The silver rings on the bottom portion of the cup are where players get their names engraved. It takes 13 years to fill a ring, at which point the top ring, the oldest, is removed and placed in the Hall of Fame.
Wait -- it gets even more confusing. If you've been to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Ontario, to see the Stanley Cup, you might not have seen the real Stanley Cup. Each year, every player on the winning cup team gets to spend one day with the trophy. In addition, the cup travels 250 days per year to charity events and NHL promotional activities. When the cup is out, yet another replica takes its place in the hall. How can you tell the difference? The real cup has about a dozen misspelled names, like the name of goalie Jacques Plante, and the word Boston in the 1972 engraving. All the errors are corrected on the replica.
The Stanley Cup has probably endured more indignity than any other major professional sports trophy. In 1905, it was kicked into Ottawa's Rideau Canal on a dare. In 1924, it was left on the side of the road after the players carrying it home stopped to fix a flat. In more recent years, it was reportedly dropped from the second story of a house when a Dallas Stars player attempted to throw it into a swimming pool. One player christened his child in the Cup. It has been taken to the top of a mountain (Fisher Peak, in British Columbia), and has even traveled to Russia and Japan. A team of three Hall of Fame employees travels with the cup to maintain its safety and security. Whew! That cup never gets a break.
The Great One
I definitely couldn't end this hockey tribute without mentioning The Great One. If the career of Wayne Gretzky can be considered a single event, then it is surely one of the most pivotal in hockey history. From 1979 to 1999, Gretzky set 61 NHL records. He has the most career goals (894) and most career assists (1,963). He holds the record for most goals in a single season, putting in an astonishing 92 goals during the 1981-82 campaign. The closest player to that mark is… Wayne Gretzky, who scored 87 goals in 1983-84. He not only holds the record for most assists in a season (163 in 1985-86), he actually holds the top eight spots for that record, and 11 out of the top 12.
He was chosen to light the Olympic cauldron for the Vancouver 2010 Games. He is an amazing person and a legendary hockey player. I think the reason Canada and the world fell in love with Wayne Gretzky was more than his amazing skill, it was his character. He is a likeable guy who everyone can route for, no matter who your team is.
"At elite levels of competition, coaches and managers are always looking for people with character, or what they call the 'intangibles.' What constitutes good character? I would say self managers who are motivated by challenges, are mentally tough and have good attitudes. All are important and complex, especially motivation and attitude. Those types of individuals, who are highly motivated and have a positive attitude, see possibilities in tough situations rather than obstacles." -Herb BrooksWell, that wraps up my hockey post. For not really being a hockey fan, I found out I knew more about the sport than I thought. As always, I just love being inspired by sports and getting to write about it. Grandma, I know the boring factual section was really long on this post, but I just couldn't leave anything else out. It was all so interesting.
On a personal note, Zoom is going really well. My running is getting smoother and stronger every day. I can run 16 mph without any assisstance (aka holding me on the treadmill while my legs try to keep up). 17 mph is my current roadblock. I tried it again this last week. I was feeling great leading up to that last sprint. My 16 mph sprint for 6 seconds was perfect. I was feeling confident, and then The Beast took over... I was very close to shooting off the back. Kylie caught me just in time. John is confident that once I start going multiple days a week, 17 mph will be easy and I'll continue to progress.
The legs feed the wolf, gentlemen. I can't promise you we'll be the best team at Lake Placid next February. But we will be the best conditioned. That I can promise you.-Herb Brooks
Speaking of cold, I got to spend a day snowboarding this past weekend. I was in Colorado on a business trip, and we had an extra day to kill. I took my second snowboarding lesson in the morning. I was doing great till my second to last run down the hill. I was trying to do a toe to heel side turn and bit it hard. It was a bone jarring fall, the first of about a half dozen really hard falls. The rest of my falls were all pretty minor.
That's it. I have nothing else to tell you. You are now caught up on the past month of my life. I hope you enjoyed the read. I'm not making any promises, but I hope to post more than one time this month. I'm going to be quite busy living my life, but I'm looking forward to writing again now that I'm back in the swing of things.