I am a sports fanatic, well, fanatical about certain teams especially and still like to play any chance I get. Those who know me see a completely different Jesse when I get on the court or field, an intense individual who wants to win. Where did I get that drive? It's a question I ask myself many times. What moments in time shaped who I seem and want to be while competing? I can't say for sure what it was, but I do have memories of a certain few key moments that played a part for sure.
#1-Tony Gabriel....One of those earliest 'sport' memories was walking with my Dad when I was only 5 or 6 yrs old. We were walking down a street in Ottawa (where i was born), my Dad holding my hand, when a very large man walked by in this blue suit. He was a giant to me and it looked like Dad thought this man was something special as well as he nodded hello to him. After he had passed us, Dad crouched down and said, "You know who that was? That was Tony Gabriel! #77 for the Ottawa Rough Riders. The best receiver in the world!". I of course found it strange that he was in a suit because as a kid you just think that sports heroes are always in their uniforms, but on this day he was a business man. We would later go to many games at Lansdowne Park, watching Tony Gabriel and his magic hands leading Ottawa to victory. I became a huge fan of the Rough Riders (and not the Western Riders either) and I believe it was that passing by of Gabriel that did it. When they left Ottawa the first time, I gave up watching the CFL. Haven't watched it since. A real sports fan understands this. A Cleveland Brown fan feels my pain.
#2-Montreal Canadiens...Growing up most of my life in Nova Scotia meant you were either a Boston Fan or Canadien man (Leaf fans were in Cape Breton and NFLD). I picked the Bruins early on before I really knew what hockey was, taking a liking to their logo and their jersey colours. That quickly ended one Saturday night as I tuned in to Hockey Night in Canada and heard Danny Gallivan and Dick Irvin Jr (biased SOB) call the game. Gallivan and his 'cannonading shot!', with old Irvin talking about his Dad all night and this great Montreal Canadiens team who were flying all over the ice! How could I possibly like the Bruins?! Guy Lafleur, Larry Robinson and Bob Gainey sold me that night on what was a dynasty and still the last Canadian team to win a Stanley Cup. Yes, a sad truth, it was 1993 when our country last hoisted the most famous trophy in all of sports.
#3-Green Bay Packers...No televised sport has captivated me as much as the Green Bay Packers and the NFL has. In all other sports I will only watch my team play, but sit me down on any Sunday during the NFL season and I'd watch the Buccaneers take on my buddy Buff Benoit's 49'ers, i don't care! I love NFL football that much. Green Bay has always been my team though and everyone that knows me can attest to that. Brett Favre's pic is on my wall, waving good-bye from his last game as a Packer (he'll be the source of his own post here very shortly) and I bet I own 35 Packer hats and tons of other gear. I got to see them play at Lambeau in 2003, the year they rebuilt the stadium and on opening week-end had a huge party. It was amazing to just walk on the field. This year of course I get to enjoy immensely as Super Bowl XLV was won by them and a new great QB in the making has emerged. What made me a GB fan all these years? Once again it was a simple moment in time, a jersey i received when I was 8 or 9, a Bart Starr #15. After that I started to read up on the famed dynasty, Lombardi and the tradition and I was sold once again............Next up, "The Expos, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and a thing called Passion"
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