Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Hope the neighbours didn't mind

I've always been amused by people who scream at sports on TV, who's going to hear you? C'mon. Granted, I have thrown some comments at the tube during hockey, but the Canucks can be frustrating enough to elicit back talk from anyone. I have never, however, been one of those sports fans who screams at the TV, veins popping on their forehead.

Until last night, that is.

Yesterday was the men's triathlon at the Olympics. I've been following the blogs of Simon Whitfield, Paul Tichlar, Colin Jenkins and their coach Joel Filliol for almost a year and, like a true cyber-stalker, feel like I know them all. These weren't just Canadians vying for gold, these were my people,

For the swim and most of the bike I threw a few comments at the TV, and there were some nervous moments when the break away on the bike got more than 30 seconds lead. Then the run started and Simon kept dropping off the lead pack. My comments and encouragement got a little louder and he'd catch up. I'd quiet down and he'd drop off the back so I'd yell again and he'd catch up again. And the louder I was, the faster Simon went. Now I can occasionally be a bit clueless but I'm no dummy and I figured out what was going on, in pretty short order I was screaming at the top of my lungs . In the last 500m when he made that mad dash from the back I was jumping up and down in front of the TV screaming and yelling, veins most likely popping out all over (although I didn't dare look away from the TV to check). What an incredible finish! He didn't get gold but we'll take silver no problem.

In closing, I apologize to all the couch potato sports fans I've mocked over the years. The athletes can indeed hear you so go ahead and yell your heart out!

3 comments:

Captain Cactus said...

I'm glad to hear that you were yelling at the TV too! That race was so exciting and I'm so proud of Simon for racing so incredibly! As for your comment on my race report, I'm totally in for half the therapist! Clearly I could use one!

Alison said...

Apparently the men's race got the highest rating of any sport CBC has shown this Olympics! Very, very cool. They did hype it a lot but they also hyped other sports and other athletes.

Maybe this means we'll see more televised tris? Some of the ITU media is pretty darned good, I could handle more of that on the tube.

Alison said...

Apparently the men's race got the highest rating of any sport CBC has shown this Olympics! Very, very cool. They did hype it a lot but they also hyped other sports and other athletes.

Maybe this means we'll see more televised tris? Some of the ITU media is pretty darned good, I could handle more of that on the tube.