Official Sochi Olympics - Backes brings home 2 stray dogs

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sj-roc
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Coast Mountain Lion wrote:
notahomer wrote:kinda glad its over and I'm not looking forward to the next one much either, methinks. Its a global event and SHOULD NOT be structured around North American television BUT that is exactly why I missed a lot of the games. Even when stuff could be watched a lot of times I'd already heard the results. Oh well. Certainly will not be as big a deal for the Summer Games in Brazil. And Brazils got the next World Cup of Soccer too.....
Actually, the schedule at Sochi appeared NOT to have any concern for NA TV. There's a twelve hour time difference from here, and most events seemed to run mainly from about midnight to noon here, thus vice versa there. That make for a lot of late starts - no morning events - and I think if it was geared to a regional TV audience it would be the European one. Western Europeans would be watching events starting at 9am and going into their prime time. Even eastern NA would have to be up at 3am for the first events of the day.
Curling was a notable exception. As with most curling tournaments there were three daily draws for the round robin — morning, afternoon and evening — with local starts in this case at 9am, 2pm and 7pm. With the 12hr time diff this meant two of the three draws fell during our west coast waking hours. So curling had at least some suitable hours for live viewing. As an aside I was initially surprised that so many of the hockey games had 9pm local starts (9am here) but I guess this was an artefact of having to squeeze in up to three games per day on a given rink and allow time between them for possible OT/shootouts, pregame skate/warmups, addressing security issues, orderly egress of fans in and out of the building, etc.

For the 2018 Pyeongchang Games we'll be 17hrs (or five more hours) behind so this would put the same curling draw times at 4pm, 9pm and 2am PT and it would also put the earliest events of each day for the other sports into our mid-evening hours. So next time out there should be more reasonable viewing hours' worth of live competition. The 4am puck drop on the men's hockey final this time around would translate into 11pm the night before (a Saturday night if the normal schedule is followed).
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
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WestCoastJoe
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http://www.sportsnet.ca/olympics/what-w ... chi-games/
What we learned from the Sochi Games

Michael Grange

February 24, 2014, 9:43 AM

Twenty years ago Canada was a much smaller nation. Not in geography, obviously, and not really in terms of population, but smaller, inarguably, where it counts most: We thought smaller and dreamed smaller and were satisfied with less.

Sports are a crude measure for these kinds of things, but there’s not much argument that they represent our secular church, and the Olympics are the centrepiece of that communal calendar. Twenty years ago we were, when it comes to our sporting passions, just happy to show up, drop some change when they passed the plate and be done with it. Now we’re all about cathedrals and grand statements of ambition and delivering on those promises.

Twenty years ago Canada played Sweden in the final at Lillehammer—the last Olympic hockey tournament that didn’t feature our best against the world’s best—and a team of college kids and journeyman pros lost to Sweden and Peter Forsberg in an infamous shootout.

Since then, not only has our hockey program transformed, but also our entire outlook on international competition and where we fit within it.

In Lillehammer the silver medal we won in hockey was just one of 13 overall, with just three gold—two won by Myriam Bédard in biathlon, another by Jean-Luc Brassard in moguls. We were sixth in total medals and seventh in golds, and this in itself was a significant improvement on our showing in Calgary in 1988, when we were 12th in the medal standings and became the first Winter Olympic host to fail to win gold, a trick we managed when we hosted the Summer Games in Montreal in 1976 as well.

We didn’t know it then, but Canada was on the verge of an athletic explosion, at least compared with what came before. In the 20 years between Sweden-Canada Olympic hockey finals we’ve had Canadians win MVP awards in the NBA and MLB, a Canadian Masters champion, a Canadian F1 champion and world champions in all kinds of Olympic disciplines. The best female soccer player in the world may well be Canadian, and more is likely to come with inroads being made by Canadians en masse in baseball and basketball. Men’s soccer success continues to be elusive, but the grassroots are being seeded more systematically than ever before. It’s at the point now where the expectation is the best athletes carrying a Canadian passport should aspire to be the best among those carrying any passport.

But winter remains our touchstone.

After two-and-a-half weeks in Sochi, Canada comes home with 10 gold—good for third overall, trailing Russia and Norway and ahead of the United States—and 25 total medals, which was fourth.

Today this seems like our rightful place. It echoes our showing in Vancouver, where we led the medal count with 14 gold and stood third overall with 26 medals, and compares nicely with the 24 medals we won in Turin in 2006, which marked the beginning of a focused Winter Games build.

The results are not only results, but a change in outlook: “Vancouver really started a brand new trend, a winning culture,” bobsleigh star Kaillie Humphries told reporters in Sochi, where she and teammate Heather Moyes—repeat gold medalists from Vancouver—were the flag bearers in the closing ceremonies. “It’s the one where we were able to show the world that we’re fierce, we’re proud, we’re determined and we’re not going to settle for anything less than the very best.”

And we discovered we liked winning. It was fun. It didn’t diminish the efforts of those that didn’t win.

We recognized that perhaps the most compelling stories emerging from Sochi—as in Vancouver—weren’t always from those with gold medals around their necks.

I would nominate speed skater Gilmore Junio’s decision to give up his spot in the 1,000 meters to Denny Morrison, skier Jan Hudec’s surgery-riddled bronze and Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir’s grace in ice-dancing “defeat” for my couch-bound Olympic podium of storylines.

And our Winter Olympics excellence isn’t to say that we remain some kind of global cliché: a nation of people with backyard rinks who gather en masse at the local curling club when we’re not at the ski hill or racing to and from hockey practice.

Canada is too diverse a country now to cover with a single Hudson’s Bay blanket and a great many of the people who call Canada home will never have the luxury of truly enjoying winter. They’re too busy staying warm and paying the bills.

But when forging a common identity you have to start somewhere and there is nowhere in Canada that isn’t touched by ice and snow. And while we all don’t all curl or play hockey or snowboard or luge—we get it. And increasingly we get being good at things, even great.

So whether we identify with it intimately our not, Canada has become a Winter Olympics giant. We have coaching, we have tradition, we have resources and we have expectations. The difference between the Canadian hockey team that won a silver medal against Sweden in 1994 and the one that completely shut down the field in winning gold on Sunday is that we understand excellence in a way we didn’t before.

The significance of it all isn’t the end result—the medal counts or the celebrations. It’s the expectation that Canada is a grand place with ambition as vast and limitless as the land, and the knowledge that with the right commitment, training and drive, those ambitions can be realized. Whether you play hockey, ski, curl or prefer to look forward to spring, that is reason celebrate.
Yes. No longer happy just to show up. No longer happy to be just be in the picture. There to win. And support those that don't win.
“Vancouver really started a brand new trend, a winning culture,” bobsleigh star Kaillie Humphries told reporters in Sochi, where she and teammate Heather Moyes—repeat gold medalists from Vancouver—were the flag bearers in the closing ceremonies. “It’s the one where we were able to show the world that we’re fierce, we’re proud, we’re determined and we’re not going to settle for anything less than the very best.”
Yes. The little fireball said it right. And it was in Vancouver that we made the statement with our performance. We set out to Own the Podium. Not exactly a Canadian kind of thing to do. But we set the bar. And we reached it. No longer content to just show up, to just be in the picture. Play to win. With grace and humility. The Canadian Way. :thup:
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
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Sir Purrcival
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I'm beginning to wonder if events in the Crimea may have some effect on the upcoming Para Olympics. If the Russians decide to make any provocative moves, do we send the Para Olympic team? I know about the ethics of mixing politics with sports but if Russia were to invade the Crimea (they have done it before with Georgia under the same pretext of protecting ethnic Russians, port for Black Sea Fleet aside) what do you do? Of course the big card to play in this was the main Olympics but that opportunity is passed. Nevertheless, do you send teams to a country that may be in the midst of military operations in another sovereign nation? The west backed out of the 1980 summer games because of Afghanistan and then the Soviets came up with some lame security excuse for bowing out of the Los Angeles games in 84.
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TheLionKing
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There is swagger and confidence in the athletes, something we seldom see in Canadian athletes in the past.
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WestCoastJoe
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Heartwarming story ...

http://www.examiner.com/article/team-us ... stray-dogs
Team USA forward David Backes returns from Sochi with 2 adorable stray dogs

Andrew DemoNHL Examiner

February 27, 2014

Unlike his St. Louis Blues teammates Alex Pietrangelo, Jay Bouwmeester, Alexander Steen and Patrik Berglund; captain David Backes was not able to bring a medal home from the 2014 Winter Olympics. Finland made sure of that, blowing out the United States in Saturday’s bronze medal game.

That doesn’t mean the 29-year-old forward left Russia empty-handed.

Instead Backes and his wife Kelly brought home two of the now infamous stray dogs that were found all across the Olympic village.

"They fought for their lives every day on the street and now they're laying on our laps in flights across the Atlantic," said David Backes on Wednesday.

They named their new canine companions (who are between three and four months old) Sochi Junior and Sochi Jake; and received help from Canadian players Jeff Carter and Drew Doughty’s girlfriends (Megan Keffer and Nicole Arruda), as well as some others to get them across the pond, getting approval on Saturday.

"It was quite a mission," said Backes. "There was a lot of 'no' answers to questions when we were trying to get them out and credit to (Kelly) and a couple of the other wives from Team Canada that really bonded together. When one door closed, they looked for another way to go."

Their persistence paid off, as the animals are now in quarantine in St. Charles, Mo.; were they will remain for 30 days.

With six rescued animals already in the Backes household; Sochi Junior and Sochi Jack will be put up for adoption after their containment period.

"These two lives aren't going to make a huge impact on the stray population of Sochi, we're well aware of that,” said Backes. “But, the stories they can tell and the examples they can set for people is something that will be exponentially multiplied."

Helping animals is nothing new to Kelly and David; as the couple founded Athletes for Animals, a non-profit organization that’s not only promotes pet adoption, but educates about responsible pet ownership and helps raises funds to help support the cause.

Athletes for Animals is hosting a charity event in St. Louis featuring several of the Blues’ Olympic participants on March 16th called the “Stars of Sochi.” For more information about the fundraiser click here.
Wonderful story. Made my day. I know Mike Gillis tried to acquire Dave Backes a few years ago. St. Louis matched the contract offer. Backes plays a gritty game. Great leader. And now I have much respect for him beyond hockey. :thup:
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
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WestCoastJoe
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http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=706362
"We're just trying to widen our scope to help animals across the (U.S.) and across the world, and doing what we can," Backes said Tuesday.

Backes said he and his wife did not originally intend to bring any animals back. They were hoping to create awareness about shelters that have been set up in Sochi to help hundreds of stray dogs that have received international media coverage.

"She doesn't take no very lightly," he said. "So when she saw those two pups and a few more, she said we've gotta do something to get these out of here and tell their story and broaden the awareness of some of the mistreatment of animals - and just the difference in (how) they treat their companion animals and we treat ours."
The Backes, who have four rescue dogs and two rescue cats in their home set up their own foundation, Athletes for Animals, last November, received helped from Canadian winger Jeff Carter's girlfriend Megan Keffer and defenceman Drew Doughty's girlfriend Nicole Arruda and others. The three-to-four-month-old pups, named Sochi Junior and Sochi Jake, were brought back to the U.S. on an Air Atlas charter to Newark and another flight to St. Louis.

"They fought for their lives every day on the street and now they're laying on our laps in flights across the Atlantic," said Backes.

Approval for their U.S. trip was only granted Saturday when "there were tears" of joy in the Backes' group. The pups slept in carriers on the Sochi-Newark leg and then were taken out on the Newark-St. Louis leg.

"It's like a baby sleeping," said Backes. "Don't disturb them when they're resting. It was a very peaceful flight."

The two male "purebred mutts" befriended the Backes and others while hanging around and looking for scraps at a resort where players and their families stayed. Soon, said Backes, they were getting bathed in a hotel tub and sleeping in its rooms.

"Once you hang around with a little pup that long, they grow on you and you try and do everything you can for them," said Backes.
Great publicity for a worthy cause. :thup:
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
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Toppy Vann
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Coast Mountain Lion wrote:
notahomer wrote:kinda glad its over and I'm not looking forward to the next one much either, methinks. Its a global event and SHOULD NOT be structured around North American television BUT that is exactly why I missed a lot of the games. Even when stuff could be watched a lot of times I'd already heard the results. Oh well. Certainly will not be as big a deal for the Summer Games in Brazil. And Brazils got the next World Cup of Soccer too.....
Actually, the schedule at Sochi appeared NOT to have any concern for NA TV. There's a twelve hour time difference from here, and most events seemed to run mainly from about midnight to noon here, thus vice versa there. That make for a lot of late starts - no morning events - and I think if it was geared to a regional TV audience it would be the European one. Western Europeans would be watching events starting at 9am and going into their prime time. Even eastern NA would have to be up at 3am for the first events of the day.

It's a no win situation with time zones for a world event. The only country in the world that is quite large that can run a TV event so that all see it at the same time and often live national performances is China where the far western reaches like the Xinjiang region where if done like other countries would be 2 hours behind Beijing Central time. Taiwan is in this time zone but Japan is one hour different making it 9 am in Japan and 8 am in China. I like it as it makes our business easier as everyone is on the same time.

The money for TV rights is huge in the Olympics I suspect and they have to run winter events on the local times if they are outdoors to avoid bad conditions or darkness in some cases.
"Ability without character will lose." - Marv Levy
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sj-roc
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Coast Mountain Lion wrote:
TheLionKing wrote:
Coast Mountain Lion wrote:
Someone tell me why Ted Nolan isn't coaching in the NHL?
He is the Buffalo Sabres coach
Thanks, that shows how much attention I pay to the NHL these days. I'm still thinking 5-10 years ago when he couldn't get hired as a puck boy in the NHL.
The Sabres let him go again at the end of the 2014/15 season but he is currently interviewing with the Vancouver Giants to fill their HC vacancy as per this from the Province.
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
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