patrickanderson.ca

What day is it? I lost track a while ago. My laptop informs me that it is Thursday, and who am I to argue. If I remember correctly, we moved into the Paralympic Village last Saturday, and it’s been a blur since then.

We were among the first teams to move in, which gave us a chance to roam and explore before the crowds arrived. The Village is quite remarkable. In some ways it resembles Sydney and Athens – the cafeteria, the bus depots, the pool, the international zone with its shops and boutiques all seem quite familiar. But the distinguishing features are numerous as well. The buildings are much taller (9 stories? vs. 2 or 3 in Sydney and Athens), which means the entire village is more compact and has about it a bustling, busy, almost urban energy. Meanwhile, trees line every road and walkway. The lawns are green and well kept. There are ponds filled with lilly pads, and walking bridges to carry you over them. At night, Chinese lanterns glow red. The cynic whispers “cliche”, but it’s amazing the ambiance you can create with a light bulb and a bit of red tissue paper.

It’s not all roses though. The smell that greets you as you approach the dining hall is not coming from the kitchen, at least I hope it’s not. Computer and wireless internet access is available, but as I mentioned before, certain websites are not. Some of the image and branding policies seem a little overbearing. Event ticketing has been a mess. But overall, I have to join in with the chorus of praises and acknowledge that the Chinese are making a hell of an impression.

So I just read Stouty’s blog on the CWBA website. Since I’m giving credit where it’s due, I have to say that I respect a guy who can talk non stop all day long, skype for hours at a time, and still have the energy to sit down and write 5000 words every other night. That guy has absolutely remarkable stamina. Just to give you my own brief take on the daily goings-on of a team waiting interminably for this tournament to start already, I can 100% vouch for the fact that Richard Peter routinely lives up to his nickname. Personally, I keep my distance from the pranking, which is the only prudent course of action for someone who zones out as often as I do. I’m happy to let Ross be the easy target, and as far as I can tell, so is Ross. That guy can take a licking and almost seems to enjoy it. (I should know, but that’s another story).

It’s all in good fun of course. We all know that half the game is staying busy and keeping your mind occupied. Give an athlete too much time to reflect and you’ll likely have a basket case on your hands before too long. So we avoid getting into our own heads by getting into each other’s. Or we sit in the cafeteria, watch people, watch people watch us watching them, and listen to Stouty’s ongoing commentary, which is quite often simply a matter of saying out loud what we’re all thinking. Yeah, I said out loud.

CBC is here. I met Scott Russell tonight at our flag raising ceremony. Nice guy. Despite my repeated protests, I was talked into filming a quick spot for their Paralympic coverage. I’ve been a little prickly when it comes to some media requests. The less I say about why, the better perhaps. I’m just trying to be genuine, in my own way. Sometimes that means saying no.

While we’re on the subject of media, in addition to CBC’s weekend coverage of the Games, you can check out paralympicsport.tv for online coverage (daily schedule at paralympic.org), as well as youtube.com/paralympicsporttv and universalsport.com, which is an online arm of NBC.

I also want to plug an upcoming behind-the-scenes profile on my

teammate Dr. Jaimie Borisoff. Back in August, a CBC film crew

followed him around Vancouver for a day to see how an athlete/scientist/entrepreneur/husband/cafe connoisseur finds enough time in the day. I was there to lend moral support, offer technical advice, and to mug in the background. It’ll air sometime during CBC’s coverage.

I better go to bed. Tomorrow we practice again, the next day

(Saturday?) is the Opening Ceremony, and the following day we play our first game against Germany. My goals between now and then are to hit the sauna at least one more time, get out of the village and visit Beijing, get an aroma massage, try to give McDonalds the cold shoulder, post a few more pictures, and enjoy what’s feeling more and more like my last go around.

By far the most eventful day of the past few weeks was the media bonanza otherwise known as last Tuesday.  It started on the phone at 7am with a DJ from 95Crave, a local Top 40 radio station.  My morning cravings lean rather towards coffee than Nickelback, but I was game, the DJ was energized, and the interview went well.   As we finished, he wished me luck, which I would need, as I had to be downtown at the CBC studio by 8.  I made it with several minutes to spare, which was just enough time to have a drink of water, collect my thoughts, and get nervous.  As I wheeled into the Early Edition studio, Rick Cluff was introducing me as “Vancouver’s own Patrick Anderson”, which made me laugh.  Like last week when I was included on a list of Albertan athletes heading to Beijing.  I always thought I was from Fergus.

So we got going back and forth, and I was turning in a solid B-minus performance – about my interview average – when Mr. Cluff surprises me with a question about the cancelled torch relay, which I didn’t know about, and then another question about our lack of medals at the Olympics (we had zero at the time).  Now I have wits, as every slow-witted person does, but they do take some time to kick in.  Since I had no time, I had to go with my gut, which prompted me to respond that a) the torch relay is not on my radar, sorry to say and b) it’s a remarkable accomplishment to even qualify for the Olympics, so we should be proud and support the athletes.  Afterwards, I had time to reflect on the second question, which proved useful, as it wasn’t the last time that day that I would hear it.

Escaping with a gratifying C-plus (it is after all a remarkable accomplishment to even make it onto CBC radio, so I should be proud, and not replay every awkward pause and bumbling answer in my mind), it was off to Richmond for an autograph signing with a certain ubiquitous telecommunications company.  The Richmond Centre was surprisingly lively for a Tuesday afternoon.  Several shoppers stopped to say hi and wish me luck.  The trickle briefly became a torrent, when a half dozen news outfits showed up all at once to ask me about the Paralympics, and, of course, to get my take on our Olympic medal count. 

My response didn’t actually change much from the morning.  But frankly, it’s an awkward position to be in as a Paralympian, because these discussions always come back to funding, and relative to the rest of the world, our Olympians may be poor, but our Paralympians are rich.  The first fact may be incriminating.  The second statement is definitely inspiring.  In Canada, we are moving towards treating all of our athletes equally.  That may or may not be pragmatic, from a medal count point of view.  But I think the idea is noble. 

At any rate, it’s almost always embarrassing when a reporter contrasts our Paralympic medal count (72 in Athens) with our Olympic medal count (12 in Athens).  What am I supposed to say?  Olympians need to try harder?  They need more money?  I don’t know – I’m not an Olympian.  I live in a small enough bubble that I can honestly say I don’t know what it takes to win an Olympic medal.  All I know is that a generous amount of time and money goes into our wheelchair basketball program, so we better not screw up.

If you’d like to know what a rambling athlete on the verge of retirement sounds like (within the context of a well written and fluidly structured article), read this.  If you prefer soundbites (ditto on the writing), read this.  And if you’ve always wondered why I’m cool, read this.

Here are some photos from the North American Cup in Birmingham, Alabama.  They were taken by Ken Rathje, father of my good friend Chris Rathje.  

Achilles’ heel 2008.  The Brits can’t even bear to watch.

My patented look off.  Tough move to perfect.  I work on it constantly; ask my teammates.

Variation on a theme.

                                    The Anatomy of a 1 on 2.

                                              The Decision.

                          ”Is anyone else coming?  Guys?  Ok then.”

                                                 The Move.

 ”Holy crap, I just beat Paully off the dribble.  This might work out after all.”

                                                  The Finish.

                ”This is for Amsterdam, E Barber.”  (I owed him one).

                                           The Free Throw.

                                         “Dear Lord Jesus…”