Olympic Wrapup

The beauty of sports is that sometimes you get an ending that simply can't be written.

The best screenplay, with the best actors and the best director, couldn't have come up with a more fitting ending to what turned out to be an incredible 2 weeks. When you have the world's best competing on the biggest stage, and the biggest guy scores the biggest goal.. well... you can't really do better than that, right? I'm trying to be aware of these moments as they happen. Our parents had the summit series... The Henderson goal. The Crosby goal... the Golden Goal... that was big.

These games were an interesting experience. As a viewer, I loved them. I love what these types of events represent, and I do believe that this was a pretty special, "once in a lifetime" type of experience. There were so many incredible moments. Montgomery's walk into Whistler has to be one of the great joys I've had as a viewer. This wasn't hype and drama. There were no media-day scrums, or Superbowl scenario breakdowns... this was a guy walking into town in an impromptu celebration... cheered as a conquering hero for a gold he had won just minutes prior.

Clara Hughes' bronze winning run in the 5000m was another that stands out to me. The look on her face when she saw the clock... that wasn't "I won!" It was, "I did my best. I did what I came here to do." That does something to my own thought process...

When you try to create great moments, they rarely seem to work. Our attempts at creating heart during these games usually fell with a dull thud. They always do, right? Gathering all of our medalists around the piano for an emotional rendition of the National Anthem, Landsberg at the helm, had to be one of the single most awkward and hard to watch moments in television history. No... the great moments happened on their own. Montgomery grabbed that now-infamous pitcher and chugged in a moment of glory, no mind for who was watching, or what it might look like on TV.

It's a scenario that played itself out in the closing ceremony. For all the pomp and volume of Avril Lavigne, it was Neil Young who owned the show. Just a guitar and a good song. It seems like great moments always happen on their own, and in the midst of simplicity.

I'm learning that great TV is like great live sound. If you're aware of it, you're doing it wrong. A well mixed live gig is the one where nobody notices the mix at all. There were some truly astounding bits of work during these games. Camera's in the right place at the right time to catch that wink before hitting the ice, a smile, a scream... defining images. Cuthbert's call of the "Golden Goal" is right up there with "Henderson Scores!!!". Out of breath, unprepared for the sheer immediacy of the moment.. how quickly everything came together in the goal that turned the entire country into a giant party. I love it.

On the work side of things... well... I'm never satisfied, am I? I'm tired, I'll say that. I don't notice when I'm overloading. I enjoy my work, and I'm passionate about the quality of our end product. It wasn't that it was overly busy. It was long. I wish I was always on the bleeding edge, barely able to keep up with everything around me. That isn't usually the case in this environment. A fair amount of time is allotted to standby. Being in the building and on call means that, when you're needed, you're ready. All told, it will have been about a month's worth of work without a weekend or a break. What wears you down isn't the amount of time you spend at work, but the amount of time you spend not going for a run, or playing guitar, or eating pancakes on a Saturday morning with kar. I can't wait for next weekend.

I very much wanted to be in Vancouver, but it just wasn't a possibility this time. It's against my nature to be ok with that. It's a healthy jealousy to listen and watch from the outside, here in Toronto. If you don't want to be there, at the heart of the action, then you're probably in the wrong place to begin with. At the same time, I'm really proud of the work I did, both on the music package for this games, and on the lion's share of voicework heard across all of our networks.

The view from the inside has been a great learning experience. I'm looking forward to London, 2012!

For now, it's time to take a night or two to be home, get some groceries, get the car fixed, and do a few of the things we haven't had a chance to do over the past few weeks. I've got another two sets of tracks to mix for Bartel Audio, and then I'll be back on the horse, working on digging up gigs for the coming months.


Don't forget to file your tax returns, folks.

Life's good, isn't it?
JB