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A Northern view of Nagano
by Richard Gleeson
NNSL (Feb 16/98) - For many Northerners snowboarding, curling, skiing and skating last week in Nagano was no more than a warm-up for a march to gold by the Canadian men's hockey team.
Asked if he's been watching much of the Olympic Winter Games, Baker Laker
Pootoogook Noah said, "Sometimes I do, but the only thing I'm waiting for
is men's hockey."
Noah said he's hoping the higher number of young players on this
team, compared with the last Canadian team, will help speed up their level
of play.
Steven Makayak of Pangnirtung agreed: men's hockey is No. 1.
"I'm not into the Olympics, I'm just waiting for the hockey," he
said Thursday. Makayak added that the furore over the blood test that
uncovered trace levels of marijuana in Canadian gold medallist Ross
Rebagliati's blood has done nothing to interest him in the other events at
this year's Games.
Igloolik's Isaac Gullage had an opinion on the Rebagliati incident.
"I think the gold medal should have been taken away from him. We
send people over there to be role models, and I don't think pot-smokers
make good role models," said Gullage.
Gullage said he's been watching some of the men's and women's
curling, but added that he, too, is tuning in mainly for hockey.
Gullage was one of the few people surveyed who admitted to watching
curling, a sport that should, he noted, remove the need to use slow-motion
replays.
"It's a slow game," said Noah. "You need a lot of patience to watch
that game, more than I have."
At the risk of being accused of standing too close to snowboarders,
xxxNews/North offers the following solution to Northern disinterest in the
winter games -- Olympic dog-sledding!
"Sure," said Eileen Angiers of Sachs Harbour. "It's one of the
oldest things going. A lot of Northern countries have had to use it for
transportation for centuries."
Men and women already compete side-by-side in the sport, so only
two more competitions would need to be added -- Eastern Arctic style
sledding and Western Arctic style. That way both Robert Tatty and one of
the many Yellowknife Beck members could make it a clean Nunavut-Bob
gold-medal sweep.
"That would be nice to see," said Gjoa Haven's Teddy Carter.
What do you think the chances are of seeing it anytime soon, Teddy?
"It's hard to tell, but they are letting more and more sports in
all the time, so maybe it has a chance."
"They should (include dog-sledding)," said Noah. "At least that
will be something more challenging," he added. |