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The 10 O’Clock: The 2010 gold-medal game, says Kesler, was ‘the best game I have played in’

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Canada’s on the ice right now, pounding Austria in their second game of the Olympic tournament in Sochi. There’s Sidney Crosby. There’s Ryan Getzlaf. There’s Duncan Keith, and there’s Roberto Luongo, making his 2014 debut.

All those names remind me of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, remind me of that Sunday afternoon, when I was in The Province newsroom, pretty much watching the gold-medal game by myself.

I just had a chance to read nhl.com’s account of that historic event. It’s very much in the style of Studs Terkel, an American author who had few peers in the art of “oral history” — where you write a book by going from quote to quote, occasionally breaking up the quotes with bits of narration.

Dan Rosen and Corey Masisak do a great job of taking readers back to Feb. 28, 2010, interviewing at least a couple of dozen participants. Creatively, they even decided to interview hockey players who weren’t in Vancouver — like current Montreal Canadiens sparkplug Brendan Gallagher, who was the Vancouver Giants’ star at that time.

Give Rosen and Masisak credit. They even get gold out of Ryan Kesler, whose interviews are usually painful in their lack of enthusiasm. Kesler says now of the gold-medal game: “I remember it still to this day being the best game I have played in, the talent, the speed, the energy in the building. It was pretty incredible.”

Well worth your time, if you have the same great memories that I do.

And on with the 10 O’Clock:

SUFFERING WITH STEVE

Honestly, it looks like Steve Nash is having a really terrible time right about now. Between a broken leg and a nerve problem, his last year-and-a-half with the Los Angeles Lakers has been a) forgettable and b) a disappointment. After all, Nash just turned 40. His body is breaking down. That is what happens to aging athletes — even one as remarkable as the two-time NBA MVP.

Now, if you don’t mind seeing a long needle stabbing into Nash’s bare tuchus, you should check out the first episode of Grantland’s Nash documentary, called The Finish Line.

It is candid, and on some levels it’s pretty bleak. Watching him try to return to form isn’t easy.

“At this stage, I peek over that wall,” says Nash, “peering into retirement every day.”

Grantland got fantastic access. Their camera rode in the car with Nash to a game at the Staples Center — where, he regrettably admits, his home during the game is the team gym, watching the game — which probably is taking place no more than 100 feet away — on a TV mounted on the wall. “Man,” he says. “I feel like I’m watching from Europe.”

Great stuff from director Ezra Holland. Nine compelling minutes here, a rare look at a pro athlete’s self-doubts. This is not the same Steve Nash who parodied Batman, or the same Steve Nash who enjoyed playing silly with fellow NBAer Baron Davis.

 

YOU KNOW YOU’VE MADE IT WHEN YOU GET THE DJ STEVE PORTER TREATMENT

It was just a matter of time before DJ Steve Porter got into the Olympic spirit. Here he, well, takes the piss out of Russian leader Vladimir Putin:

 

KEEPING IT REAL, CANADA

There’s Steve Porter, and then there’s Annakin Slayd.

 

The Montreal rapper is a huge sports fan. Here he tells Global News that sports are as big for him as the arts. I mean, how many rappers have done tributes to Gary Carter?

 

FINALLY, QUICK HITS

Canadian pairs skaters Kirsten Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch finished a surprising fifth earlier this week — two places ahead of Canada’s top-rated pair, Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford — but they’ve been saluted for their sartorial splendour rather than their skating. USA Today celebrated five great outfits among the pairs skaters, and Moore-Towers and Moscovitch’s, uh, business attire made the cut. 

How much is an Olympic gold medal worth? Anne Marie Helmenstine investigates, by breaking down the medal’s components. And no, it’s not all gold — hasn’t been since the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. It’s almost entirely silver. So Helmenstine pinpoints the value at somewhere around $550.

And finally, which Winter Olympics competitors would be considered the greatest athletes? Isabel Teotonio of the Toronto Star decided to look into it. It doesn’t seem like there’s an easy answer, though cross-country skiers might come out on top. Says Greg Wells, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto: “They’re absolutely incredibly aerobically fit. The best cardiovascular fitness, unquestionably, is cross-country skiing.”



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