I thought I knew what was going to happen during my (at least) five days here in Canada: talk about tennis, talk more about tennis, eat a few Montréal-specific delicacies (then tell you about it on here), and talk more tennis. Day 2 proved to be much more than that, as I befriended staff from the French-Canadian sports television station RDS. Because of what happened on Day 2, here’s what took up the majority of my time on Day 3, as we start our observations from a packed sporting day in Montréal from hier. (That’s French for “yesterday.”)
Game. Set….Touchdown
As a fan of the gridiron, I believe that I just made my pilgrimage to “football Mecca” last night.
While we could have stayed for the night session at the Rogers Cup, our new friends at RDS cordially invited us to attend the Canadian Football League game that was going on the same evening, a matchup between the Edmonton Eskimos (the team that eerily looks like the Green Bay Packers) and the Montréal Alouettes. Not only did we accept the invitation, but we soon found out that the professional footballing experience, as a fan and as a journalist (at least in Montréal), has some very pleasant differences.
When we arrived, I noticed that the entrances fans used to come into the stadium at Stade Percival-Molson were field level, something that would be looked upon as a virtual security risk at any National Football League stadium. It was fascinating to be walking on the race track oval encircling the playing field after getting clearance from security. (Both journalists and fans walked along the track on their way to their assigned seats in the stadium.) The stadium was right in the middle of downtown, creating such a community feel to the event. I can only imagine what it must have been like to attend a football or baseball game at such urban community gathering places like an Ebbets Field or the Polo Grounds. This was probably the closest I would come to being part of such an experience.
Oh, and then I learned something very neat when I entered the press box and started looking at the game notes; everyone in the world might owe their football fandom to our neighbors to the North! According to historical accounts, the first ever football game in Montréal was also the first football game played in North America, back on Oct. 10, 1868. Way back when, a team of officers from the English troops stationed in Montréal played a team of civilians, mostly made up of McGill University students, at the Ste. Catherine Street cricket grounds in the city. So our appearance at the stadium took on much more than just reporting on a football game; it was knowing my origins as a football fan.
Crazy, isn’t it?
After the game, in a ritual that I was told by the Edmonton media relations director was specific to this stadium, many fans came down onto the field, gathering right in front of the locker room entrances of both teams on the sidelines, waiting for their footballing heroes to come out to have some friendly discourse. Seeing a few of the Edmonton players in their green warmups, headphones draped around their necks, talking with a fan wearing an Eskimos jersey with “ANOTHER BEER” stitched on as the name tag made me do a couple of double takes. Then another double take after that. Then it made me smile. A lot!
Who cares if there was only one offensive touchdown scored and a whole bunch of sacks in the game? (I didn’t.) Who cares if I had to walk up a near endless amount of steps to get to press row because of the lack of an elevator? (OK, that I did care about! My knees are wrecked as we know it!)
Here’s hoping beyond hope that the NFL experience can mirror a little bit of what occurs in Montréal on game day. It’s only the birthplace of gridiron competition for goodness’ sake!
Class is NOT in session
We were blogging last night’s observations during the Stan Wawrinka-Nick Kyrgios match, the contest now known for Kyrgios’ obscene comment insulting Wawrinka while “referencing” another player’s relations with Wawrinka’s supposed girlfriend. The following morning, Kyrgios was fined a total of $12,500 by the ATP, who also served Kyrgios with a “Notice of Investigation,” allowing the sanctioning body to determine whether further punishment (e.g. additional fines and/or suspension) should be levied on the 20-year-old Australian.
The Sydney Morning Herald just headed an article with “Nick Kyrgios is a national embarrassment.” Many others have weighed in about the incident, almost all painting Kyrgios in a negative light, and correctly so.
But hearing from a couple of players on the tour about the incident was eye-opening, given its sagacity and putting the embarrassing three seconds in a proper context.
This from Victoria Azarenka: “But I think the tough part and an issue here comes from education from the parents. And I’m not saying there is good or bad parents in any case. I’m just talking in general. I think when you are young and you have so much pressure on you and you are a lot of money at this young age, it’s difficult for your parents to be a parent to you and restrict you and restrict you from a lot of things. So it’s very easy to get out of control and and lose the sight of reality. And I think that’s what happens to a lot of athletes in a lot of sports. So I think the issue in that is a little bigger, from what happened yesterday.”
Rafael Nadal put it in a succinct way, yet encompassed that sentiment thoroughly: “Age is not an excuse.”
I hope I can get the words “spoiled brat” out of my mind quickly when thinking about Kyrgios, because I want to think about his mercurial, yet explosive tennis game more than this incident. But I can’t do that right now. Being raked over the coals is the least he deserves in the next few days, but it’s in the hopes of being a better sportsman, and not being really good at playing a sport.
Bonne journée!
[Cover photo (Nick Kyrgios) courtesy of Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images North America]
