Sports - KINETIC MOTIONS

June 21, 2017

That Anxious Jittery Feeling when your Team is Playing in that Key Game

It’s Sports Wednesday everyone, and today’s topic comes from a conversation I had last week with my son. If you are a sports fan in general or you are a fan of a specific team or teams you will understand exactly what I am talking about in today’s sports post. I don’t think I can find one word to describe the feelings, emotions and your general physical state when your team is playing that important game so I will describe it in various ways and provide examples of when I was in the state.

Let’s start by going back almost 25 years ago, to October 18, 1992. It was the World Series, as the Toronto Blue Jays faced the Atlanta Braves. Game 6, bottom of the 11^th inning, with the Blue Jays ahead 4-2. The Braves had one man on with two outs. A homerun would tie the game and an out would give the Blue Jays their first ever World Series win. My heart was racing and I could not sit still. I was so nervous that I couldn’t watch but I also couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. My mother and I were so fidgety that we started to dance around the room together. And then it happened – the player laid down a bunt to Mike Timlin the pitcher, who threw the ball to Joe Carter at first, and the Blue Jays won the World Series.

Race ahead to June 19, 2006, the day my Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup. I remember watching that game, wearing my Hurricanes hat, surrounded by naysayers (did anyone else in Toronto support the Canes? I think not). I stood up and sat down. I shifted from foot to foot and paced around the room. I felt this strange mix of fear and excitement deep inside and was so nervous in those final minutes of the third period, in game 7, with Carolina leading 2-1. My body relaxed and anxiety was replaced with elation as Justin Williams shot the puck into an empty Oilers’ net to seal the win.

It doesn’t have to be the World Series or Stanley Cup Final; it can be a game against a division or league rival in the middle of the season as well. Take this past Monday night for example. The Blue Jays were down 6-5 in the top of the 9^th versus the Texas Rangers. Ryan Goins led off with an incredible double. Kevin Pillar was next at the plate, and I stood in front of the TV talking to him, willing him to get a hit to at least tie the game. I felt my heart rate increase and that anxious feeling build in my chest. It didn’t work – he got out. Next was Josh Donaldson, and I was too nervous to watch, so I left the room and paced in the hallway. Well that worked because Donaldson singled to score Goins and tie the game. After Bautista walked, Morales came through with a single, scoring Donaldson, giving the Blue Jays a 7-6 win.

Is there a sport where this feeling is heightened the most? My son and I think that nothing makes the heart race more than hockey, in particular sudden death overtime hockey. How about sudden death overtime playoff hockey? How about the dying seconds of a basketball game when a three-point basket can turn the whole game around? I even get this sensation when a Canadian athlete is competing at the Olympics. Will the skater land the triple Axel? Will the runner cross the finish line first? It’s just so stressful!

What sport, game or team gives you that anxious jittery feeling? Tell me how a sport can make your heart race and makes your stomach flutter. Comment here, post it to me on Facebook or Tweet me @AliciaRichler.

June 14, 2017

Why I am a Fan of the Carolina Hurricanes

It’s time for sports Wednesday! My son told me that Wednesday is the only day of the week he reads my blog because all he cares about is sports. Today I am going to share my story about why I love the National Hockey League’s (NHL) Carolina Hurricanes.

How could someone from Toronto, with no connection to Raleigh-Durham or any part of North Carolina, be a fan of the hockey team that plays there? It’s simple – they’re good people.

My personal connection to the Canes goes back to the fall of 2001, when I worked as a producer in my first job at the Team 1050 sports radio station. I was young, inexperienced and had few connections in the industry. I did not produce my own show as I was more of a floater, producing the evening and weekend shows and filling in for producers during the day. I didn’t have a black book full of phone numbers of players, coaches and management in sports. I want to thank my colleagues at that radio station once again for giving me names and phone numbers so that I could build my own black book.

By late in the fall I started to produce a regular Saturday hockey talk radio show and found it challenging to book players, coaches and management from Canadian hockey clubs. Every journalist wanted to interview them. But I had to fill my show. So, I looked south of the border and decided to contact hockey personalities in American markets where hockey was not so popular.

That’s when I found the Carolina Hurricanes. This team was having a good but not great season and somehow, I felt they were going somewhere. And nobody noticed them or gave them really any attention. I contacted the team’s public relations department and asked if the captain, Ron Francis, could be on my show. They were thrilled to help me out and Ron was booked.

That Saturday Ron Francis was the featured interview on the show. He was knowledgeable, polite, friendly and really everything a great guest should be on a radio show. I had a chance to speak with him after the interview, and he actually thanked me for booking him! He told me that they don’t get too many interview requests in Carolina and that he and other players would be happy to come on my show again.

For the rest of the NHL season I regularly booked various people connected with the Carolina Hurricanes on my hockey show and other shows, and I saw for myself that this was a first-class organization. When they won their division and made the playoffs I was excited to keep the relationship going and to continue to feature them on my shows.

Because of my loyalty to the Canes all season the public relations staff thanked me by giving me great access to interviews during the team’s incredible playoff run. I remember that I got one of the first interviews with their General Manager, Jim Rutherford, when they won the first round of the playoffs. Even though it was 15 years ago I clearly remember our conversation after his on-air interview. He told me that he appreciated my support for the Canes all season and that I would get some of the first interviews with him, the head coach Paul Maurice and the various players each time they advanced to the next round.

At that moment I knew I had become a fan of the Carolina Hurricanes and I told Jim as much. I told him they were going to make it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals and that I would be there to support them all the way. They didn’t win the Stanley Cup that year, but they did make it to the Finals! Jim Rutherford, Paul Maurice, Ron Francis and so many of the team’s players were guests on my shows during that incredible playoff run. I told them all that because of them I had become a fan for life of the Carolina Hurricanes.

I can’t even begin to explain the excitement I felt a few years later, in 2006, when my Canes actually WON the Stanley Cup. I wasn’t working in sports media anymore, but it didn’t stop me from cheering my team on and wearing my Carolina Hurricanes baseball cap proudly.

I will always be a fan of the Carolina Hurricanes and the players, coaches and management associated with the team during the 2001-02 season. Thank you to all of them for making my time as a hockey producer so memorable.

June 7, 2017

There’s Something Cozy about Late Night Sports

I have decided to establish a weekly feature of sports themes on Wednesdays. I love reading, writing and discussing sports (as does my son), so I have decided to pick a sports topic every Wednesday. For readers who enjoy sports I hope you can look forward to my weekly column on the topic. For those of you who aren’t sports fans I hope you follow along anyway and enjoy the ride. Today’s topic: there’s something cozy about late night sports.

I have been a Toronto Blue Jays’ fan since their first game on April 7, 1977 (the fact that I was only 9 months old on this date is secondary but you get the idea). My favourite sport is definitely baseball. I will clarify that – my favourite spectator sport is baseball. As a child and teenager, I loved listening to Tom and Jerry on the radio as I did my homework in the evening. I have always liked watching the Jays on TV and of course a trip to the ballpark to actually be at the game is the best.

Since the Blue Jays play in the American League East, they play most of their games in the Eastern time zone or Central time zone. But that does leave a number of games each season for west coast teams. They always make a few road trips each season to play in cities such as Los Angeles, Oakland or Seattle, and that means a late night sports start.

My son is not a fan of west coast road trips because the games start at 10:00 pm or even a ghastly 10:30 pm sometimes. While Matthew is a night owl and desperately tries to stay awake when his beloved team plays in California, by 10:17 pm I usually find him in a deep sleep in my bed, with the game blaring on the TV.

I have a little more staying power than my 10-year-old. The Blue Jays are currently on a west coast road trip, with stops in Oakland and Seattle. The game has started at 10:07 pm the last couple of nights, and I decided this morning that there’s something cozy about late night sports.

For the last two evenings, with the kids asleep and the kitchen clean, at 10:00 pm I sat down in front of the TV, turned it on to Sportsnet and sat back to watch the baseball game. The house was quiet and the game was mine to enjoy. By 11:00 I started to nod off on the couch, so I moved a sleeping Matthew to his bed and climbed in to my bed to watch the rest of the game.

The only problem, for me, with late-night sports is that I am incapable of staying awake for the whole game. Hard as I tried to keep my eyes open, by 11:30 pm I am quite sure I was fully unconscious. The game entered my dreams, and there’s a chance I hit into a double play or got a double.

It’s too bad the Blue Jays have lost the first two games of this six-game west coast road trip, and today’s game is in the afternoon. But Seattle is up next, with a couple more 10:00 pm starts. That means I can enjoy a couple more cozy evenings of late night sports.

May 31, 2017

First Blue Jay Game of the Season

“Mommy, we are going to the game today,” my son excitedly bellowed at me as I lay in my bed early this morning, while I was in that delicious state between deep sleep and consciousness. Matthew, I must note, is not an early riser, but today he popped up bright and early, ready to head downtown to his first Blue Jay game of the season.

While we watch a lot of baseball in our house (Matthew rarely misses a game on radio or TV), we don’t get the opportunity to actually be at too many games at the Rogers Centre each season. So when I secured four tickets to today’s afternoon game, thanks to SeatGeek, Matthew was ecstatic. Today was our first Blue Jay game of the season, and also the first as a family of five.

I believe my parents took me to my first Blue Jay game back in 1977, when I was just a baby, back at the old Exhibition Stadium. I grew up loving the Blue Jays and cherished every game I went to. I remember when the SkyDome opened in 1989, and I went to a game that season when the weather changed and the roof had to be closed. Fifty-thousand fans ignored the game and watched, for 45 minutes, as the roof closed. It was an extraordinary sight.

I remember the sold-out crowds during the World Series seasons of 1992 and 1993, when the Blue Jays, and their fans, were literally on top of the world. Getting my first press pass to a Jays game, in 2001, was almost surreal, and I recall the incredible, and also very uncomfortable feeling, when I interviewed Carlos Delgado in the locker room, surrounded by a sea of only male reporters. I asked my questions and looked at him straight in the eyes, which was challenging since he wasn’t wearing much!

Another great memory is Matthew’s first Blue Jay game, in 2013, when he was 6 years old. His school’s choir performed the national anthem, and we, with other families, were at the game to cheer them on. Matthew’s eyes were locked on the field, and I knew there and then that he was hooked.

Each visit to the ballpark is special to me, and today’s game was definitely no exception. When Matthew jumped around the house this morning, so excited about the Jays game ahead, I will admit I felt that excitement too. When we arrived at the Rogers Centre and pulled out our tickets it was like my heart skipped a beat and it definitely started to race as we found our seats, heard the national anthems and watched the first pitch.

The cherry on top today…. the Blue Jays beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-4. Go Jays Go!

May 24, 2017May 26, 2017

Sportsmanlike Conduct

My son is a huge sports fan. I’m talking about living, breathing, touching, feeling and every other sense and emotion out there. Matthew starts his day checking the scores from the previous evening, spends much of his free time shooting hoops or throwing a baseball in our backyard and likes to watch his favourite teams play well into the night, every night.

I guess you can say that my dream came true. I have loved playing, following and watching sports since I was a child. I grew up on a quiet street and played ball hockey and baseball with the boys, I collected and traded baseball cards and I religiously listened to Tom and Jerry on CJCL AM 1430 radio (today the Jays can be heard on Sportsnet the Fan 590) as I did my homework every night.

I had my aha moment in grade 11 chemistry (yes the same class though not the same day that I created Kinetic Man) when I suddenly realized that I wasn’t bright or ambitious enough to go to medical school but instead wanted to be a journalist. Oh and not just a journalist but a sports journalist. Everyone, and I mean everyone, laughed at me.

It took me a few years to get back on track, but I took the first step in graduate school when I interned at ABC Sports Radio, in my final semester of journalism school at New York University. With a small production staff I had a quick learning curve, and it all culminated in the fall of 2000 when New York City hosted the famous Subway World Series – Yankees vs Mets. ABC handed me the ball one night and I handled the reporting duties, on the field at Shea stadium!

When I returned to Toronto the following year some great people took a chance on me and hired me to be a producer at the short-lived Team Sports Radio Network. Then I got an opportunity to join the Assignment Desk at Rogers Sportsnet, working with some of the greatest names in sports media. Many of those talented journalists are still at Sportsnet today or have moved on to other careers in sports media in Canada, and I want to thank all of them for teaching me so much about sports and sportsmanlike conduct.

So it thrills me that my son loves sports. Matthew loves baseball and basketball most and can’t bear to miss a game. Hockey is close behind. He lives for the Blue Jays, Raptors and Leafs (I’m a fan of the Carolina Hurricanes but that story is for another day) and he will support really any team if it’s home base is in Canada. Sometimes he takes the term “fan” to the level of “fanatic,” like when he insists that he watch the last quarter of the Raptor game in the car on my phone or he must watch the Jays game in full at 10:00 pm when they are on the west coast.

A child looking at the baseball diamond in awe — Matthew looks on in awe at the ballpark

Mom and son selfies at the Jays game — Selfie at the Jays game last year

Matthew loves sports so much that if none of his preferred sports are on TV he will choose almost anything, just to get his sports fix in. Maybe some of you love it, but I can’t bear to watch darts, poker or bowling. I draw the line at entertainment that involves throwing sharp objects at a board with people cheering them on.

Sporting the number 17 jersey playing basketball — Note his jersey number – that’s right, 17!

Defending on the basketball court — He takes pride in his basketball defensive skills on his school team

My husband doesn’t care much for sports, so it brings me a smile every day that I found my sports partner in life in my son. Matthew loves my encyclopedic knowledge of baseball and its many rules, and we literally can sit together for hours discussing the many nuances of the game.

showing off his baseball bat — Matthew has joined his school’s softball team

getting ready to swing the bat — Matthew’s first at bat of the season with his school’s baseball team

Matthew asked for one thing for his birthday this year – a trip with me, his mother, to Chicago this summer, to watch his beloved Blue Jays play the Cubs. Our flight has been booked, the hotel is reserved and we have a pair of tickets to the Jays at Cubs game on Friday afternoon, August 18. As a bonus, Toronto’s MLS soccer club is in Chicago that same weekend and we have scored a pair of tickets to the Toronto FC at Chicago Fire game on Saturday night, August 19. Now that’s a perfect mother and son weekend.