The Family (Or most of them)

The Family (Or most of them)
The Family

April 11, 2007

FINALLY, IT'S OVER.
UGH.
CANADA 5 U.S.A. 1
CANADA WINS GOLD



For those bloggers in the single digits who have been following my "coverage" of the 2007 World Women's World Hockey Championship, it was a long road to Tuesday's gold medal final.

The leadup to an event like this is staggering. Countless hours spent researching on the Web, interviewing on the phone, in meetings planning coverage strategies...

Then compiling all that information as you go and writing, endless writing.

Writing for supplements, covering press conferences for months before the first puck is dropped or football is kicked or homerun is hit or three-point shot is made.

Joining the Canadian team in a small town a few hours away and getting to know them, letting them get to know you, doing features on them, a week before they even start competing.

Then another whole week of reporting on the games themselves, leading up to Tuesday night's predictable final between the Canadians and Americans and yet another Canuck victory.



And now, it's over.

Aside from sleeping and just trying to come down from the forced adrenaline rush that covering these kinds of big events always requires, there's some reflection about it all.


There's a final look at the media accreditation pass, a thing that's been virtually stapled around my neck for the past week, that will make you completely persona non grata if you don't have it...

And then the filing away of it, along with the other credentials for past Olympic Games, World Cup qualifiers, NHL Stanley Cup finals, Canadian Football League Grey Cup championships, etc.

Then a couple of days off, then it's back into something else.

See you in a day or two. Hopefully spring will have actually arrived by then. I wouldn't know.

23 comments:

  1. Your job sounds very high energy and exciting. It seems inevitable that you would need to relax and unwind after working such a grueling schedule. I hope your days off are wonderful and you return to work ready for the next great adventure.

    And I’d like to suggest you use your press pass photo as an avatar. (*Runs away to hide and wait for the inevitable onslaught of comments about your current photo*)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Noel Coward said it for you..."even Carious lie around and snooze..."
    Enjoy. Oh, yes, congrats to the ladies.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous5:21 p.m.

    At least the press card doesnt look like the police mug shot you have been using on your blog... Else they would have let you in the door:)

    Congratulations to Canada..

    PS do you want to swap jobs?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I still don't care about hockey, but I did want to tell you that I LOVE that song! One of my favourites. :)

    Hope you enjoy a much deserved rest.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Laurie:

    Thanks, and to some extent you're right.

    But it's more like it gets monotonous after a while than that it's gruelling in any physical sense.

    How many different ways can you say this player is great, that player isn't and Canada and the U.S. always play for the gold?

    And it's also like you're continuing to watch the same movie over and over again. OK, you love the movie. But let's try something else now, OK?

    This whole avatar thing (see even Aidan's comment below) has grown a life of its own.

    I'll have to do something with it...

    Dinahmow:

    Yes, even we do (*runs to find the quote and reference Noel Coward to his own situation*)

    Aidan:

    Ewwwwww, Mate, that hurts!!!

    Stay tuned (has the young lass of a wife been influencing you, by any chance?), we'll deal with that.

    I will swap jobs only if you'll swap wives (I don't have a wife, but that's beside the point).

    JUST KIDDING!!! (*Stace, better cancel that trip to Canada*)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anna:

    Yeah, that tune is hoppin, huh? Makes you wanna dance...

    Now if only I could find Rock Lobster by the B52s, I could do the worm...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow, that's great news. Congratulations!

    I agree with Aidan, can i trade jobs and then cover the World Cup?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Menchie:

    But did you not see my conditions outlined with Aidan about switching jobs?

    Er...well, maybe that wouldn't work, actually.

    I'm not sure your hubby would appreciate it or that your kids would like me singing Power Rangers songs in a baritone voice.

    Besides that, I don't think I could wear stiletto heels and do your job, whatever it is...

    ReplyDelete
  9. hows u WW? I missed ya.

    Keshi.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I was thrilled at the victory and now I'm awaiting the puck drop on the CANUCKS' FIRST NHL PLAYOFF GAME. Can you say "fair weather hockey fan?" (I love playoffs when the Canucks are in, even if it is against a city like Dallas who don't deserve a hockey team.)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Keshigirl:

    I know, sorry. I'm doing well. :-)

    I come and go, I know, recently. I've been reading, but not commenting so much.

    Thanks for visiting, I do appreciate it. I hope to be more "regular" in the next while.

    Andrea:

    I've missed you, and I accept responsibility for that.

    Those Easter egg thingies on your blog were brilliant.

    But if you're talkin' hockey, you DO know, right, that the Canucks' farm team is none other than the Manitoba Moose?

    Winnipeg is tied, inexplicably or at least inexorably, to Vancouver and the Canucks.

    We're watching you. We fully expect you to go to every playoff game...or explain why not...

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  12. Haha. I had the same thought as aidan - at least that photo doesn't make you look like a criminal. That is always a bonus. Especially when you want to be let in somewhere :).

    ReplyDelete
  13. So now you're the Riddler?

    I know that you had to do a ton of prep work for that series and now you can veg and start taking pictures of your parking lot again and..HEY where the hell is the

    I-Saw-Ma Bin-Lady?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Lee:

    I think it was the Moody Blues who did the song, Question? Given all the remarks about my passport (penal) photo, I figure it's about time for a change...

    But to what?

    Hermaphrodite Entrails:

    You started this!!! Now I have developed a severe identity crisis. So what else but a question mark?

    Yes, now I can start taking pix of my parking lot lady or the declining levels of snow or somesuch.

    As far as the bin-lady goes, I have no clue...but don't go spreading any rumours...

    ReplyDelete
  15. OK, I pinched the line from "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" where it goes "...even cariboos lie around and snooze when there's no further work to be done..."
    I guess it's my day for quoting better minds!

    ReplyDelete
  16. OK You leave me no choice!
    I'll go and find some suitable avatars for you to choose from...back in a while.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Dinahgirl:

    OK, now I gotta look this up. Of course everyone called me Caribou as a kid and they still do...

    HE:

    Skip it, punkboy. I'll accept any and all submissions, but I already have a whole bunch of possibilities, which I will be submitting to my 5.9 readers to contemplate.

    However, I will reserve the right to choose in the end.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Okay so there's you and an ecstatic women's hockey team.

    What's really on our minds is, did you get lucky?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous4:38 a.m.

    Sleep well ! Have a relaxing two-days ! and let me know if it is spring out there :-)

    ReplyDelete
  20. MJ:

    Yes, I did get lucky in Dauphin...when I correctly picked the scorer of the winning goal in an exhibition game they played and won $3 over a couple of TV type broadcasting weinies.

    Hildegarde:

    ZZZZZZZZZZ...it's not quite spring yet, although it's supposed to reach 17C on Saturday.

    I'll believe it when I feel it.

    ReplyDelete
  21. All I am interested is that now you would be free to come visit your friends or enemies as you see them.

    A I am neither you are free to decide either way. To visit or ignore.

    Do I congratulate you? For what? The ladies winning?

    ReplyDelete
  22. Oh is that a question mark? I thought it was your nose.

    :o)

    Well done the Canadian Girls for winning whatever it was.

    Are you going to give us a line up of pictures to choose from then? And like when? Come on, get a move on, lying around and snoozing is not an option when you have avatars to fill.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Gautami:

    I could never ignore you for very long, and I'll get there when I can, once I find an avatar...

    Ziggi:

    Yes, yes, yes...the process has started on the avatar selection...do be patient...

    ReplyDelete

If you choose to use anonymous to comment, it is only fair that I reserve the right to obliterate your comment from my blog.