Inspirational Sports Television

There are very few sporting events that are covered by TV that I make it a point to watch. No, they aren’t the usual things that most people break out the TIVO for. I have no patience or time for the usual North American big money sporting events. The CFL, NFL, NHL and NBA all leave me cold. Watching Tiger Woods or Mike Weir, crank out a 340 yard drive or sink a 30 foot putt won't put me on the edge of my seat. And frankly, since the Toronto Blue Jays haven't had a team worth watching since the mid nineties, baseball hasn't done it for me either.

There are only a few sporting events that grab my attention that I'll make a special effort to watch. Most of them are individual events, one person against the rest of the field, the merits of individual effort, the measure of the day.

What do I make a point to watch? Well, the Olympics for one, the Tour De France for another and lastly the Hawaii Ironman competition.

With the exception of ice dancing (don't get me started on the whole French and Russian judge thing), and rhythmic gymnastics, I'm a sucker for all the Olympic events, winter or summer. Sometimes the coverage leaves a lot to be desired, especially if you watch it on the US stations. Where else can you see the very best of what the worlds athletes can do? You also get to watch some pretty strange events that you'll never see on TV anywhere else.

Despite the drug issues that seem to plague professional cycling, I'm still amazed at the athleticism of the Tour riders during this three week trip around France and neighbouring countries. I am humbled at how these cyclists can ride, day after day and still have enough left to attack and sprint after a hard 200 kilometre race. Yes, I know about the peloton effect, I understand that not all days are 200+ km rides, but when you see the lead riders climbing in the Pyrenees or the Alps, parting a sea of spectators, how can you not be inspired.

The NBC broadcast of the Hawaii Ironman is something else. It's produced not to showcase the race, but to promote the Ironman ™ mystique. It's all about making the term "Ironman" something special, it's pure marketing spin. Yes, it is smaltzy and overly melodramatic. Yes, they don't cover the elites well enough or the average hero's either for that matter. Yes, it’s both too short and too long, depending on what your point of view is. The only thing a lot of people living the athletic lifestyle agree on is that, good or bad, it's something that most of us will catch a part of, just because it's there.

Here's my own very personal connection to the Hawaii Ironman broadcast.

Quite a few years ago I was sitting at home, all by myself, on a gray, cold, December Saturday afternoon with nothing better to do but surf channels on the TV. At that time, I'd been running for a number of years and barely knew what a triathlon was. When I stumbled in to the NBC Ironman broadcast that year, I had no idea the journey it would inspire me to take.

I flipped into the show near the middle and was immediately dumb struck. There was a stocky guy riding a funny looking bike with what looked like another man strapped into the front. This was my introduction to Rick and Dick Hoyt. Most of you know who they are now, but at that time I had never heard of them.

I watched in amazement to the retelling of their story and the unfolding of Team Hoyt's race. It struck home like nothing I'd ever experienced before or since. I was literally in tears by the end.

You see, I have a daughter that is similarly handicapped. That TV show and the Hoyt's example inspired me to not only train and complete an Ironman distance race myself, but to start running with my daughter Amanda.

Since that first five miler with Amanda in her standard wheelchair the next spring, we've come a long way together. We've been racing for over seven years, competed in everything from 5 km to 50 km, completed nine marathons, and have had the honour to qualify and start the Boston Marathon twice with my personal hero's, the Hoyts. On that first April day when I shook both their hands at the start of the Boston marathon, I felt I had come full circle.

The NBC Ironman coverage may be cheese of the broadest kind, but it's still able to touch some of us deeply enough to change the direction of our lives.

 

By Mark G. Collis

Revised: January 19, 2008.